There have been plenty of controversial moments in the Premiership this season, but here are just a few you may remember...
26 Feb 2011 – With the scores level Wayne Rooney elbows James McCarthy at Wigan. United win 4-0
5th Feb 2011 – At 1-1 Gary Cahill is booked for diving at Spurs for what looked a clear penalty. Spurs win 2-1
23 Jan 2011 – At 0-0, WBA are awarded a free kick for a foul clearly in the box vs Blackburn. They lose 2-0
30 October 2010 - At 1-0 to Man United, Nani handballs but no free kick is awarded to Spurs. No free kick is awarded against Nani, allowing same player to take advantage of confusion to score into empty net
16 October 2010 – Late West Ham winner at Wolves ruled out for controversial handball.
The common denominator in this lot of course is the referee, Mark Clattenburg.
Now, regular readers of my match reports and blogs of the past will know that I have a lot of time for referees. They have an incredibly difficult job to do, and most do it honestly and pretty well. But Clattenburg...well as he yet again proved today, he is either incompetent or a liar.
He saw the Rooney incident apparently, but felt he dealt with it appropriately. Not even the most dyed-in-the-wool Man United fan could argue what Rooney did was worth a red card, although Fergie of course, a knight of the realm no less, seems to think it was ok. But Clattenburg is not prepared to admit he erred. He cannot bring himself to be shown as fallible. And that his is main problem, his own vanity.
Like in Politicians, vanity in referees is the worst possible trait. Look at Mark Clattenburg's perma-tan. Look at the way he teases his hair into asthetically pleasing angles before he takes to the field. Hair that, by the way, he has already had treatment on to cure balding.
Vanity means you think too much of yourself, and this means he cannot see his own mistakes...which is why he makes so many, as he has never learned. So is he simply incompetent...the evidence suggests so.
But many contend he is simply craven to the 'big' sides, blinded by being involved in the big games, desperate not to upset them so he is still centre stage when they play. The Rooney incident is the latest, but let's go back a little further.
When Emmanuel Adebayor's studs made contact with Robin Van Persie's cheek, Mark Clattenburg said he didn't see the incident, and if he had he would have dismissed the Manchester City striker.
Well, here is that incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBBdG_Tfow
Mark Clattenburg is looking right at it. In reporting to the FA that he didn't see it, he is either admitting that he is useless, or not telling the truth. That in fact the governing body considers him one of the best there is is very very worrying.
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