Mark Clattenburg says Everton were affected by the worst refereeing performance of his career

Mark Clattenburg has come out and admitted that he made multiple mistakes in an Everton game.

Clattenburg, who was widely regarded as one of the best referees in the world for a time, officiated just shy of 300 Premier League games during his career.

The Newcastle-born official was often placed in charge of the high-pressure games and in December 2005, he was selected to do the Merseyside Derby between Everton and Liverpool.

Speaking on the Whistleblowers YouTube channel this week, Clattenburg has admitted he made multiple mistakes in that game.

Everton vs Liverpool in December 2005.

Mark Clattenburg says he wants to re-referee Everton vs Liverpool in 2005
Clattenburg was asked what game he’d want to re-referee to correct any mistakes made, and he pointed to the Merseyside Derby in December 2005, which saw Liverpool win 3-1 at Goodison Park.

“I would definitely love to re-referee and that was something that caused me huge problems and it was the Merseyside derby,” Clattenburg said.

“Just to give people a background, if you’re an Everton fan you will remember very well, and there were things in the game… I was a young referee, and it would have been what was it 2005 I think if I recall. It would be 2005 if I recall correctly.

“I was appointed to referee Everton vs Liverpool. And I’m not saying it’s an excuse. I hadn’t experienced this type of derby before.”

“One that Everton fans think that I’ve changed my mind because Steven Gerrard was walking past the camera when I’m changing the pockets, when I’m thinking I’m getting a yellow card out, when we’re talking about all the equipment in the pockets.

“I’ve pulled out the red card and I’m thinking it’s not a yellow card, it’s a red card. It’s a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. But they think that Steven Gerrard said something which clearly never happened.

“It’s just because he was walking past the camera when I changed the cards, but it was always a red card. That was Tony Hibbert and I sent off Phil Neville for a handball on the line. But the big mistake was there was a challenge by Dirk Kuyt where he goes airborne.

“He doesn’t make contact, but he jumps into a challenge. So when you watch the still and you watch the video back, you go, how is he not sent off? And I took advice from the assistant referee who was very experienced who I probably needed to think I should rely on because he had more seniority. He was more experienced than I was. He’d officiated in these derbies many times. I hadn’t. And I took his advice. He’d said a yellow card and I’d give a yellow card, which was a mistake.”

Mark Clattenburg says he made an even bigger mistake towards the end of the game
Clattenburg then revealed that he made an even bigger blunder in the game, which came towards the latter stages.

“I don’t know if I’m just mentally fatigued or what was going on in my mind but Jamie Carragher has pulled down Joleon Lescott for an easy penalty.

“This we talk about football understanding… if I’d give this penalty and Everton had the chance to equalise, this would have got some criticism in the game

Clattenburg added: “All the big decisions seemed to go against Everton and everything went in favour of Liverpool and in such knowing what a derby means to everyone, being a Newcastle fan and how it would be for Everton and Liverpool to make them errors and have such a bad performance.”