Just saw Chunt'75's link confirming the twitter reports I have been reading. This will get interesting. I would imagine we will see a good effort from Chel on Wednesday.
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Also, over/under on a) number of verbal exchanges on the bench next week, b) number of yellow and red cards issued to either team, and c) amount of Fergie time added?
For bonus points, how much do you think Di Matteo will be fined for yesterday's comments, and who will Wednesday's referee be?
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"In 2007, three years after his Premier League debut, Clattenburg came in for arguably his fiercest criticism of his refereeing following a Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool.[24] The first notable incident involving Clattenburg was the award of a penalty kick for an apparent professional foul by Everton's Tony Hibbert on Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. Clattenburg initially took out his yellow card, seemingly to book Hibbert, but after an interaction, albeit brief, with Gerrard, Clattenburg changed his mind and showed Hibbert a red card.[25] He later elected not to dismiss Dirk Kuyt for a waist-high lunge at Phil Neville.[26] One final controversy arose when he declined Everton appeals for a penalty in the third minute of injury time, with the score at 1–2, when Jamie Carragher appeared to foul Joleon Lescott in the Liverpool penalty area.[27][28] Clattenburg was not appointed to referee another Everton match until 2012.
In December 2009, Clattenburg took charge of a tie between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City. City personnel alleged that at half-time Clattenburg asked members of their bench: "How do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?" In the second half that followed, he booked Bellamy twice, once for dissent and then for diving, although replays suggested he was actually fouled. City manager Mark Hughes later said: "I've seen Mark Clattenburg have a lot better games than he's had [here today]"[29] and described his decision to send off Bellamy as "laughable".[30]
Clattenburg has also encountered contempt when officiating two fixtures between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. In 2005 when Tottenham's Pedro Mendes had a long-range shot fumbled over the goal-line by United goalkeeper Roy Carroll, neither Clattenburg nor his assistants were in a position to award the goal. Five years later, in October 2010, he allowed to stand a United goal scored under controversial circumstances (although strictly correct under game laws) when Nani tapped the ball into the net while Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes believed his team had a free-kick.[31]
Clattenburg was the recipient of good feedback after an incident-filled game between Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest in February 2011. QPR manager Neil Warnock described the official's handling of the match as "absolutely fantastic". Clattenburg issued an early red card to Forest's Radosław Majewski for a two-footed lunge on Adel Taarabt, and he also dismissed QPR appeals for a penalty when Wayne Routledge went tumbling in the box late on. Despite that, and a total of 27 fouls during the game, Warnock praised Clattenburg for being "so in control."[32][33]
On 28 October 2012, Chelsea made a formal complaint to the Football Association against Clattenburg about his alleged use of "inappropriate language" towards two of the club's players during a match against Manchester United. United won the game 3–2, scoring the winning goal after Clattenburg had sent off Chelsea's Branislav Ivanović for a clear professional foul and then showed Fernando Torres a second yellow card for alleged diving. The Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) stated that Clattenburg would fully co-operate with the FA over the complaint.[34][35] The PGMOB later announced that it would not appoint Clattenburg to referee a match the following weekend, stating that the "scrutiny [of Clattenburg] would detract from the match and be unfair to the clubs and the supporters of both sides."
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John Brewin @JohnBrewinESPN
The 'Clattenburg: Referee, leader, legend' banner is up. *cough* Big United support here, and clearly not looking to kiss and make up.
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"You're worse than Clattenburg," sing the Chelsea fans.