Man Utd news: Jose Mourinho forced Mark Clattenburg into quitting refereeing role

Clattenburg stunned football last season when he quit being a referee in order to work in Saudi Arabia.

The 42-year-old has recently opened up about his decision, and also dropped major bombshells about Chelsea and Tottenham.

And now, Clattenburg has revealed he made the call to quit refereeing because of Mourinho, who blasted him after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Stoke last term.

Wayne Rooney scored a thunderbolt free-kick to secure a point for the Red Devils but Mourinho was livid at Manchester United’s failure to be given a penalty.

And Clattenburg says it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I was refereeing the game when Wayne Rooney broke Bobby Charlton’s record and Mourinho came into my dressing room and he was unhappy about a handball penalty that I didn’t give,” he told the Men in Blazers podcast.

“I’d walked off that pitch at Stoke, which was always the coldest stadium, it was always wet and miserable, and refereeing Man United was never an easy match.

“To come off that match it felt immense that I’d actually had a good performance, and for him to come into my dressing room and criticise my performance for a handball that I’d seen, that had clearly come off his chest, I knew that I was right but he’d put a seed of doubt into my mind.

“I drove home 250 miles thinking I’d made a big error, my wife knew my attitude had changed, and I thought to myself, ‘do I really wanna be a part of this anymore? Do I really want to referee?’

“And I went soul-searching, I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to and I had to get out.

“When I was offered the opportunity with Saudi Arabia it was an easy decision.”

This revelation just comes a day after Clattenburg revealed he allowed Tottenham to implode in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

“I allowed them [Tottenham] to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went: ‘Tottenham lost the title,’” Clattenburg said.

“If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines? ‘Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title.’ 

“It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title.”