‘I was out of my depth’: Former PL figure explains ‘nightmare’ that sparked Everton hiatus

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Mark Clattenburg has explained on Jamie Carragher’s The Greatest Game podcast why a ‘nightmare’ Merseyside derby led to him not refereeing Everton for seven years.

The Premier League tasked Clattenburg with officiating the derby at Goodison Park in October 2007. But two Liverpool penalties and sending offs for Everton duo Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville caused outraged among home fans.

Incidents involving Dirk Kuyt and Carragher also left Toffees supporters raging after Clattenburg missed both. Everton lost the game 2-1, despite leading at the break after Sami Hyypia sliced into his own net.

Kuyt, who scored both spot-kicks, was fortunate not to see red for a high challenge on Neville.

And Clattenburg did not award a penalty in stoppage-time when Carragher hauled Joleon Lescott down inside the box. A mistake with huge consequences for the former Premier League official.

“I was out of my depth,” Clattenburg told Carragher. “I don’t know why I was refereeing it. I’d just done the Manchester derby and the London derby, so it was my third derby in three or four weeks.

“I had underestimated it – the ‘working-class derby’. The other two were different derbies, this one was brutal. Some derbies are different in certain stadiums. Sunderland-Newcastle is more intense at Sunderland and Everton-Liverpool is more intense at Goodison.

“I remember the first half I did okay, but in the second half I had an absolute nightmare. I listened to my assistant referee for the Dirk Kuyt challenge, which when you look back was a stonewall red.

“Look at what you did with Lescott – you killed us! I wasn’t allowed to referee Everton for seven years because of you! When I was a young referee in the Premier League, I didn’t understand balance. If I’d seen it – and I still don’t know why I didn’t see it to this day – the easiest decision was to blow for a penalty.”

Premier League took Clattenburg out of Everton firing line

Clattenburg certainly endured a nightmare during the Merseyside derby in 2007 that proved costly for Everton. His mistakes denied David Moyes’ side a chance to pull level with Liverpool in the closing stages.

The Premier League then, seemingly, elected to take Clattenburg out of the firing line of Everton supporters. And, clearly, they had no rush to put him back in charge of a game at Goodison Park.

But putting his errors down to naivety at a young age may not be the justification Clattenburg hopes it is. The Premier League already valued him, having just refereed derbies in London and Manchester, after all.