Mark Clattenburg, a former Premier League official, announced his resignation on Friday, saying he had turned into “more of a hindrance than a help.” He was a referee analyst for Nottingham Forest. Since joining the relegation-threatened Forest in February, Clattenburg has been involved in two significant incidents: first, he publicly criticized the refereeing during Forest’s game against Everton on April 21st, after speaking out against a drop ball incident in a match against Liverpool.
In a statement posted on the team website, he claimed that he had become “more of a hindrance than a help” to Forest and that he had created “unintended friction” with other clubs.
The Football Association questioned Clattenburg, who writes a column for the British daily Daily Mail, last month about his remarks regarding the referees during Everton’s 2-0 loss.
The decision to not award Forest three penalties during the game infuriated them, and they called it “extremely poor.” They also mentioned that Stuart Atwell, the official for VAR, was a supporter of Luton, who are fighting to stay in the league.
In a Daily Mail editorial, Clattenburg elaborated on his remarks about Forest and called the penalty calls in the Everton game a “hat-trick of howlers.”
“I performed my services under the consultancy agreement in good faith, to the best of my abilities, and in the hope of using my extensive experience as a match official to help NFFC understand how decisions in relation to key match incidents are made amid the workings of VAR,” the former referee said in a statement released on Friday.
But it’s now evident that the availability and efficacy of these consulting services have unintentionally strained relations between NFFC and other players to the point where they are now more of a burden than a benefit to NFFC.
“It has also resulted in some participants and pundits unfairly singling me out for criticism.” Clattenburg expressed his “sincere belief” that there is a role for this kind of expert.
