REFEREE CLATTENBURG "DROPPED" FOR THIS WEEKEND - CRAZY?

Referee Mark Clattenburg travelled alone to officiate West Brom v Crystal Palace - which is against rules - so he could attend Ed Sheeran concert

Referee Mark Clattenburg has been dropped from this weekend's Premier League fixtures after breaching regulations in order to attend a pop concert, it emerged on Tuesday night.

Clattenburg was punished for travelling alone in his car to Saturday's match between West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace, as well as speaking on the phone to visiting manager Neil Warnock from the vehicle following the controversial 2-2 draw.

Referees are required to travel to and from games alongside their assistants, who must also be present during any post-match discussions with managers - in both cases for the purposes of integrity and security.

Clattenburg will certainly be embarrassed at being caught cutting corners to get home from the Hawthorns in time to watch Ed Sheeran performing at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena, but the unauthorised contact with Warnock was viewed as the more serious breach of protocol.

The governing body of England's elite referees, Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, does not want lone employees to speak to managers in potentially highly-charged circumstances where witnesses may be required.

In the aftermath of Saturday's game Warnock attempted to discuss with Clattenburg two controversial incidents: Wilfried Zaha being denied a penalty; and a challenge by Craig Dawson on Julian Speroni that led to the injured goalkeeper being substituted.

Clattenburg is widely regarded as having become England's top referee since Howard Webb retired after the World Cup.

However, his career has been dogged by several serious controversies, including an eight-month suspension following an investigation into his personal life and business debts.

Tuesday was two years to the day since he suffered the nightmare ordeal of being accused of racially abusing John Obi Mikel during Chelsea's ill-tempered home defeat by Manchester United. He was completely exonerated by the Football Association.

He was also found to have no case to answer last season when Southampton claimed that he had "abused and insulted" Adam Lallana by suggesting that the midfielder's attitude had changed since he made his debut for England.

While Clattenburg was dropped from this weekend's fixtures, another referee was restored to top-flight duty after Stuart Attwell was handed Leicester City's home game with West Brom on Saturday.

The Nuneaton-based official became the youngest referee in Premier League history aged 25 when he took charge of Blackburn Rovers' game against Hull City in January 2012.

However, he made a series of high-profile mistakes that tarnished his reputation and eventually led to him being deselected from the top tier in 2014.

Perhaps the most infamous error that he made was to award the 'ghost goal' he awarded to Reading at Vicarage Road in September 2008 even though the ball went clearly wide of the post.

Stephen Hunt, whose Reading side benefited from the decision, called it "probably the worst decision I've ever witnessed in football"

How embarrassing for him.
Deserves a ban for admitting to seeing Ed Sheeran

He deserves to be dropped on his performance in the West Brom v Palace game alone. He had a shocker.

Blatant penalty on Zaha not given and then Dawson pole axed Speroni before West Brom scored.

Referees are not being held to account for sub standard performances.

Actually, it wasn't him who gave the ghost goal v Watford, it was Stuart Atwell. Poor journalism there.

Knowing our luck he'll be reffing our game on Saturday.

Was it him who sent off both Chopra and Simon Walton a few seasons ago at Ninian when we beat Leeds 2-1?

Seems fair.

Bit strange that he is refereeing tonight though.

I'm sure he's aware of the rules & therefore can have no complaints.

Shame Clattenburg the clown isn't dropped for every single game, along with Phil Dowd. The pair of them specialise in ruining good games of football with horrendous, controversial decisions which severely impact the final result of a game.

Have I missed something here Ray,but doesn't it say that Atwell gave the ghost goal