Clattenburg stood down by referee body

Manchester United's Patrice Evra, Chelsea's Mikel (third right) and Juan Mata (left) arguing a decision with referee Mark Clattenburg (centre) during the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge. Photo credit: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Monday, October 29, 2012
5:00 PM

Mark Clattenburg was stood down from refereeing for a week today after the Football Association launched an investigation into allegations he used “inappropriate language” towards Chelsea stars John Obi Mikel and Juan Mata.

Clattenburg was last night accused by the European champions of making offensive comments, which are understood to have been interpreted as racist, during their acrimonious Barclays Premier League defeat to Manchester United.

Chelsea lodged a formal complaint with the match delegate, sparking an almost inevitable chain of events that this afternoon saw the FA announce an investigation and Professional Game Match Officials withdraw Clattenburg from the firing line.

After deliberately omitting the 37-year-old from the games the refereeing body were due to officiate on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, PGMO said in a statement: “Professional Game Match Officials believe that, with any football match, the focus should not be on the officials but on the players and the game itself.

“Mark Clattenburg is one of the elite referees in world football and, in these circumstances, the intense level of scrutiny would detract from the match and be unfair to the clubs and the supporters of both sides.”