Clattenburg pays the price
22 Oct 2007 - 14:21:35
Referee Mark Clattenburg will not take charge of a Premier League fixture next weekend after coming in for heavy criticism over his handling of the Merseyside derby.
Clattenburg awarded two penalties to Liverpool at Goodison Park, with the first leading to the sending-off of Tony Hibbert, after the official had initially seemed to be about to issue only a caution.
He then allowed Reds forward Dirk Kuyt to escape a red card for a late, two-footed lunge on Phil Neville, with the Dutchman going on to net a last-minute spot-kick to secure a 2-1 victory.
Finally Clattenburg denied the Toffees a seemingly definite penalty from the last attack of the game, after Jamie Carragher had hauled down Joleon Lescott in the penalty area.
That performance has led the Professional Game Match Board to give Clattenburg a break from top-flight action.
A furious Everton boss David Moyes had fumed after the game: "It can't just be me being bitter, people asked was the referee biased and I can't comment, but we got nothing at all.
"Referees do their job as best they can, I have tried very hard in the past year not to talk about referees. We have had referees into training and we are very supportive.
"They have a tough job, but do they understand how tough my job is and what it would have meant for us to get those points in the bag."