Mark Clattenburg has accused Chelsea hero John Obi-Mikel of ‘swinging punches’ at him during a blazing row back in 2012.
That year, Manchester United beat the Blues 3-2 during a dramatic match at Stamford Bridge – with Javier Hernandez netting a dramatic late winner.
However, the match was marred by controversy with Chelsea seeing two players dismissed.
Branislav Ivanovic was dismissed for a foul on Ashley Young, while Fernando Torres received his marching orders for diving.
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Mark Clattenburg has accused Chelsea hero John Obi-Mikel of ‘swinging punches’ at him during a blazing row back in 2012
As the match slipped away from Chelsea, their players were left enraged by Clattenburg’s decision-making.
Mikel was livid and later alleged the referee had called him a ‘monkey’. However, Clattenburg was later cleared following an investigation having always denied any wrongdoing.
Now, the ex-official has told the Undr The Cosh podcast that Mikel tried to throw punches at him and pin him against a wall following the high-octane match.
He said: “There was a bit of commotion outside the dressing room door [after the Chelsea vs Man United game]. I opened the door thinking, ‘what the f*****g h**l is going on here?’
“As I opened the door, John Obi Mikel came bursting through and started swinging punches. I ducked. He tried to pin me against the wall and went: “F*****g h**l!”
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“I didn’t know what had gone on, I thought somebody had maybe accused me at that point!
“Everyone just went white, like, “f*****g h**l, what has happened there?”
“The funny thing was, about 30 seconds later, there was a knock on my door. I thought, “not again, Obi Mikel is coming through the door.”
“I opened it and it was one of the security guys and he went, ‘Obi Mikel has left his flip-flop in the dressing room, can he have it back?’
“I went, “are you taking the f*****g p**s?”
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Mark Clattenburg was cleared after he was accused of racism by former Chelsea star John Obi-Mikel back in 2012
Back in 2012, John Terry was found guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand by the FA.
The Chelsea legend was stripped of the England captaincy as a result, with manager at the time Fabio Capello quitting his role.
And Clattenburg believes Chelsea players were out for ‘payback’. He continued: “That John Obi Mikel situation, I didn’t want to come back. I wanted to finish refereeing after that. It was an absolute disgrace what happened.
“I had a family, a child, a mortgage. If I had left, what could I do? I didn’t have anywhere to go.
“I was accused of being a racist. I was supposed to have called him a monkey after the Chelsea vs Man United match.
“It took around a month of investigating by the FA. For the first few days I couldn’t eat or drink. You go through questioning yourself – have I done it?
“How could I referee? I was in bits. I was mentally gone. We threatened to strike because we felt the behaviour of the football club was wrong.
“To leave us out high and dry and with the media outside my house ever day of the week, being accused of something I hadn’t done was tough.
“That moment of attempted assault – he never laid a hand on me but swung at me a couple of times – I don’t know if they’re thinking, ‘f**k, we’re in trouble here, he’s trying to report.”
“All the match observer was talking about was, what I was going to report. Nothing about racism, all it was about was, what I was going to report. What happened in the dressing room with Obi Mikel. And an hour later I was accused of being a racist.
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“I know the game was volatile and a lot was going on. I don’t know if he was just upset with the result and lost it. Had he been drug tested?
“Players didn’t like being drug tested. So maybe he couldn’t go the toilet. All these little things upset people. I thought he was just upset and I’d got in the line of attack.
“He shouldn’t even have got near the dressing room with the security. Where did the security go?
“He got banned three matches a lot later after my investigation went on.
“I think it was a payback for John Terry and Anton Ferdinand at QPR vs Chelsea., where Terry was accused of saying some words to Anton.”