Somehow - and this really is a miracle, by the way - Mark Clattenburg managed to transform Craig Bellamy into a sympathy figure over the weekend, when he issued a red card for “diving”. Most would agree that the Welshman is many things, but a diver he is not.
Unfortunately, there could well be more to this story too, and like peeling away the layers of an onion, when you get to the middle of it, it totally stinks.
According to “an insider” in today’s Mirror:
“At half-time Clattenburg said to some of our staff ‘how do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?’”
It seems that the ref for the day was tired of getting it in the ear from the gobby speed merchant, and that this might have been a case of using any excuse to remove a pest from an otherwise lovely dinner party. Certainly, Mark Hughes appears to see it that way.
“I don’t appreciate when referees are going out in the second half and are passing comments on who they like and who they don’t like in my team, which he did to my support staff.”
“He might have been having a laugh and a joke, but if that’s in his head then possibly that might… I’ve got to be careful here because we’re talking about integrity.”
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