Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has described the relentless pressure that Manchester United players under Sir Alex Ferguson would put on match officials. He explained how they would consistently challenge decisions in order to influence future calls. Clattenburg reveals that he started saying to the United players to 'tell Ferguson to f*ck off' and that he knew what was happening.
Clattenburg speaks out on Man Utd tactics
Clattenburg refereed in Englandās top flight between 2004 and 2017, and was widely regarded as one of the top officials of his generation. However, he has claimed that during his early days in the Premier League, Fergusonās United would try to get into his head.
AdvertisementAFPWhat Clattenburg said about Ferguson's 'mind games'
Speaking on the podcast with Adebayo Akinfenwa, Clattenburg said: "Sir Alex would send one of his players in, not to influence that decision because he knew referees weren't going to change their mind, but it was the next one, and it was the next one. So you would make a decision and then you would have Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane, then they would send somebody else and it would be one after the other after every decision. Chipping away, chipping away, it was mind games.
"It never shaped [decisions] because I always wanted to get the next one right, I used to pride myself on getting everything right, but unfortunately you canāt and thatās human fact. Thereās nobody perfect in football… but what it did was I would go away and analyse myself and I would go: āHow can I manage that better? How can I manage them without becoming arrogant or pissing them off?ā
"So the way I started to handle it in the future, when they would come in one by one, I would just say: āGo and tell your gaffer to f*ck off', and tell them what's happeningā¦ Man Utd were the ones because there werenāt many doing it at that point.
"I remember Rio Ferdinand once, I said to Rio, ātell him to f*cking behave himselfā, and he says, āI'm not telling him. I'm not telling himā!"
Ferguson let his mask slip on one occasion
When asked if Ferguson was ever intimidating, Clattenburg replied: "Sir Alex never really did much, it was just his presence. He would never be there, he would never come in with the team sheets. He never tried to do anything in the team exchange, which some coaches tried to do, they would intimidate you, and he was never there afterwards.
"But I remember before my first big fight with him, and I lost, I was refereeing Bolton, and he believed Kevin Davies was kicking Patrice Evra up in the air too much in the first half. When youāre at Bolton, itās a battle, as referees you know itās a battle, and refereeing Bolton vs Man Utd is not an easy game. You know itās going to be physical and Man United players didnāt want it physical. He didnāt believe I was protecting Patrice Evra, and at half-time he volleyed me. And I mean really volleyed me. And I went, āIām not f*cking having thatā. I said to the policewoman in the tunnel, āyou can tell him heās not coming back outā, and she said āIām not f*cking telling him, you can tell him!ā. Everybody was frightened of him."
Man Utd's dark arts failed to work
Clattenburg's account provides insight into the tactics used by Ferguson's United away from the actual football, highlighting the intense pressure referees faced when officiating the Red Devils in that time. In the case of Clattenburg, who went on to referee Champions League and European Championship finals, he has insisted he didn't let these ploys distract him from the task on hand on any given matchday.
