Referee quits job in Premier League because of Mourinho

Mark Clattenburg has decided to retire from refereeing after facing heavy criticism from the Man Utd coach.

Clattenburg left the Premier League at the end of last season to become head of refereeing for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. He revealed the decision came after being criticised by Jose Mourinho for not awarding a penalty to Man Utd in their 1-1 draw with Stoke.

Clattenburg has refereed many matches involving teams coached by Mourinho. Photo: Reuters

"I refereed the game where Wayne Rooney broke Bobby Charlton's scoring record and Mourinho came into my dressing room. He was not happy because I didn't give Man Utd a penalty after a handball," Clattenburg said. "I left Stoke. It's always the coldest stadium in England, it's always damp and miserable, and it's never easy to referee a Man Utd game."

Clattenburg started working in the Premier League in 2004 and was at one point considered the best referee in the league. The match between Man Utd and Stoke took place in January 2017. Clattenburg announced his retirement from the Premier League in February.

Clattenburg was once a famous referee in the Premier League. Photo: AFP

"At the end of that game, I felt very confident that I had done a good job. And then he came into my dressing room and criticised the way I worked because of a handball I had seen. That must have been in his head. I knew I had done the right thing but he made me think," Clattenburg said.

In the match, Mourinho's team fell behind to a Juan Mata own goal, before Rooney equalised in the fourth minute of stoppage time with a free kick. In the second half, two Stoke players, Erik Pieters and Ryan Shawcross, handled the ball in the box but were not penalised.

"I drove more than 400 kilometers home and thought I had made a big mistake. My wife knew something had changed in me and I said to myself: 'Do I really want to continue doing this job? Do I really want to be a referee?'. Then after careful consideration, I knew I was no longer as happy as before being a referee and I had to leave," the former referee confided.

According to VNE