Referee Mark Clattenburg has been accused of aiming a racist insult at Mikel Obi of Chelsea in the 3-2 home defeat by Manchester United. Chelsea made a complaint to the Premier League after Mikel stormed into the referee’s room to demand an apology after claiming Clattenburg made a racist slur when he booked the Nigeria midfielder in the 76th minute.
One of Chelsea’s Spanish stars is also involved after players claim they heard Clattenburg refer to him as ‘a Spanish t**t’, according to the Daily Mail.
Chelsea made the official complaint at 7.45pm on Sunday night, but Clattenburg had already been confronted by then. Chief executive Ron Gourlay, with Mikel and manager Roberto Di Matteo, demanded an apology during stormy scenes in the referee’s room.
Clattenburg refused and Chelsea decided to take the incredible action of launching an immediate complaint to the Premier League over his language.
According to sources close to the players, they are willing to make statements to the FA’s disciplinary committee this week. A club spokesman said: “We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regards to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents in today’s match. The match delegate will pass the complaint to the FA”
The matter is now in the hands of the FA and Premier League officials, who will ask Sky TV for footage from the 20 camera angles used for live matches. While not all are recorded, they should help confirm whether Clattenburg made an inappropriate or racially aggravated comment.