THE CLATTENBERG ROW GOES ON

If Mark Clattenburg uttered a racist remark to
Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, then his career as a
referee died on the pitch as dusk fell at Stamford
Bridge on Sunday Oct 28, 2012.
If Clattenburg is innocent, as the elite refereeing
community gathering at St George's Park on
Monday believe he is, then it is Chelsea who
need vigorously calling to account by the FA.
"Mark said nothing,'' insisted a leading official.
Nothing.
The feeling among certain referees contacted on
Tuesday is that this is a trumped-up charge, that
Clattenburg would never resort to such
offensive, discriminatory language. They want
the FA to address the matter today, moving
swiftly to still the latest storm to buffet the
national game.
Chelsea dispute the referees' support for
Clattenburg rigorously, alleging the Tyneside
official called Mikel a "monkey" when booking
him for dissent shortly after Javier Hernandez's
controversial winner for Manchester United.
Chelsea also infer that Clattenburg described
Juan Mata as a "Spanish t--t".
Chelsea tempers were running high midway
through the second half, the mercury sent
spiralling skywards by Clattenburg decisions. He
sent off Branislav Ivanovic correctly for bringing
down Ashley Young. Ten men went to mow, to
borrow a line from the Matthew Harding Stand.
Clattenburg then dismissed Fernando Torres
incorrectly. Nine men went to mow, went to mow
a meadow full of red-shirted opponents who duly
reaped a harvest of three points with
Hernandez's offside goal, sending the game
hurtling into meltdown.
Chelsea hit back off the pitch. They claim to
have three players ready and willing to
corroborate the testimonies of Mikel and Mata. It
is understood that one of their dressing-room
number is known to be uneasy at his employer's
aggressive stance towards Clattenburg.
Hardly pausing for breath or second thought,
Chelsea point out that Mikel went into the
referee's room to confront Clattenburg. This is
where the story becomes messy and confusing.
The Nigerian midfielder is one of the more
sanguine characters in the madhouse of English
football, not an individual whose blood races
quickly to boiling point, so something must have
piqued him. But what? An order by Clattenburg
to calm down? A misunderstanding of what
Clattenburg said?

CHEIK TIOTE SET TO MISS THREE GAMES

Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote will miss
Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash
with West Brom as he starts a three-match
ban.
The Ivory Coast international is suspended after
being sent off during the first half of last
weekend's 1-1 derby draw at Sunderland.
However, manager Alan Pardew is likely to
restore most of the men he left out of the
starting line-up for last night's 1-0 Europa
League victory over Club Brugge.
The likes of Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Fabricio
Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas
Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Shola Ameobi and
Demba Ba can all expect to return to the team
after being rested by Pardew in Europe.

TOP PLAYERS CAN PLAY IN ANY SYSTEM- MANCINI

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini
claims that top players should be able to
play in any system ahead of their Premier
League clash with Swansea this weekend.
Mancini's City lost 3-1 to Ajax in their
Champions League group game on
Wednesday night and defender Micah
Richards questioned the Italian's approach
to the game, sparking rumours that there is
unrest within the City dressing room.
But Mancini believes that top players should
be able to play in any system and that he is
not worried about the comments made by
Richards after Wednesday's defeat in
Amsterdam.
He told Sky Sports: "If you are a top player it
is not important which system you use. If you
don't understand then you are not a top
player and you can't play for a top team.
"I don't want to speak about Micah. He just
answered the questions. It is not important
what Micah said after the game. We work
hard everyday and all of the players know
the system.
"We didn't concede a goal because we
changed the system. We conceded the third
goal because we made a mistake."
Mancini also admitted that his team are
capable of bouncing back from their
disappointing loss to Ajax because his team
are not a weak side.
"I think that when you play an important
game and you lose you are disappointed. I
am disappointed like all of my players," he
added.
"Despite everything, we played a bad game.
Maybe now it is difficult to go through, but
we have an important season. If we are like
this after one defeat then we are really weak.
But I don't think this."