Mark Clattenburg has acknowledged that he made a mistake by sending off Craig Bellamy, and the former Manchester City player always reminded him of it. Clattenburg, who is no longer working as a referee, oversaw important matches from 2006 to 2017, such as Premier League games, the 2016 Champions League final, and the Euro 2016 final. He typically managed to find a good mix of enforcing rules and friendly banter with the athletes, but Bellamy was a player he consistently found challenging to deal with. Clattenburg shared on the Ben Heath Podcast that the winger, who was part of City’s team from 2009 to 2011, was the toughest player he had ever officiated. The Welshman expressed his anger towards Clattenburg after receiving a second yellow card for a dive, which Clattenburg now acknowledges was a mistake on his part. Additionally, the Welshman reflects on his decision to continue playing for England despite criticism from Manchester City fans. Man City are trying to disrupt Real Madrid’s deal with a promising player from River Plate for a record-breaking transfer. The 49-year-old mentioned that Craig Bellamy, in particular, was always a challenge for them. My downfall occurred while refereeing a match between Bolton and Man City, where he was constantly being watched by the referees. Whenever we made lists of the most challenging players, he was consistently at the top. The speaker felt fortunate that they didn’t have to referee him while he was playing for Newcastle, but once he transferred to a different team, they had to deal with his difficult behavior. The speaker acknowledged that they may have contributed to the situation by trying to manage these players too much to prevent conflicts, and realized that it might have been easier to simply leave them alone. The situation became more unfavorable when Clattenburg erroneously issued a red card to the player for diving against Bolton. (Image: Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
