Former Leicester full-back Danny Simpson has revealed that ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg told him that he deliberately didn’t send a Foxes teammate off as he wanted them to win the title.
Leicester stunned the world by claiming the 2015-16 Premier League title having only just beaten the drop the season before under Nigel Pearson.
Claudio Ranieri led the 5000/1 shots to the impossible, but Simpson claims they were given a helping hand by Clattenburg, who told the Leicester star he should have sent one of his teammates off, but didn’t as he wanted the Foxesto go all the way.
“I remember Clattenburg, mate. Wow,” Simpson told the Under the Cosh podcast. “I think he should have sent someone away. He said something like, ‘I should have sent you there, but I want you to win.’
“Dude, that was crazy. That was crazy, you know, I swear to god. Good job there is no VAR but yes.”
“I had to pretend I didn’t hear it. I was laughing my bollocks off inside and I thought, ‘Yeah, we’re doing this.’
“I think it was Drinky [Danny Drinkwater] actually. It was his second yellow or something and he could’ve easily sent him off but he didn’t.”
READ MORE: From Bruce to Hodgson and our hero Jones: Five wildly unpopular Premier League managers
It’s quite the revelation from Simpson, though Leicester ended up winning the title by ten points, so it wasn’t a moment that defined their season.
Though it does lead us to question every decision Clattenburg made in his long career as a Premier League referee, and whether he decided who he wanted to win and made calls to suit his wants and desires.
Clattenburg took charge of Leicester four times during their title-winning season, the last of which came in April against Swansea.
It’s not the first time Clattenburg has come under professional scrutiny, after he previously admitted he wanted England to get knocked out of Euro 2016 so that he could referee the final, which he did as the Three Lions fell at the last-16 stage to Iceland.
Leave a Reply