 Thursday, 24th Nov 2011 00:22 by Clive Whittingham Rangers may be beset by injuries ahead of this weekend’s trip to Carrow Road, but at least our lucky referee Mark Clattenburg will be there to greet whatever side Neil Warnock is able to field. Referee >>> Mark Clattenburg (County Durham) sacked in 2007 over debts accrued by his business and threatening e-mails sent to associates but successfully appealed and was reinstated, after serving an eight month ban. Refereed our promotion game at Hillsborough in 2004, home play off semi final against Oldham in 2003, and the final game of last season when we were presented with the Championship trophy. Refereed 1-1 draw with Blackburn in October Assistants >>> Stephen Child ( Kent ), ran the line for Clattenburg in both his QPR appointments last season and against Blackburn this term, and Simon Beck (Bedfordshire) who was also on duty at the Blackburn game. Fourth Official >>> Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire), veteran Football League referee. PreviouslyQPR 1 Blackburn 1, Saturday October 15, 2011, Premiership Mark Clattenburg has been something of a lucky omen for QPR during his refereeing career, taking charge of two fixtures where the R’s celebrated promotion and a successful play off semi final. The R’s were grateful to the County Durham official for his leniency in the ninth minute on Saturday asFitz Hall crunched Jason Roberts with a very late tackle but escaped a yellow card even when the advantage broke down thanks to some fine defensive work by Shaun Wright Phillips. Hall was later booked for a similar hack at Martin Olsson. Strangely Rangers crafted a chance on the half hour at the other end by beating Samba in the air. Helguson was the man who intelligently flicked Paddy Kenny’s kick on into the path of Wright Phillips and the diminutive winger drilled a low shot about a foot wide of the post from range with Paul Robinson well beaten. Within a minute Rangers were going forward again with Luke Younglaunching a free kick into the penalty area that was knocked down towards Hall and he appeared to take a boot in the face as he attempted to attack the ball. I don’t think this was a penalty and Clattenburg was right to wave it away but it was one of those decisions that probably would have been given as a foul elsewhere on the pitch – Rangers would suffer another of those in the second half. Givet made the most of a foul by Shaun Wright Phillips on the hour but again a yellow card was probably the right decision, and Traore followed his team mate into Clattenburg’s little black book when he miscontrolled the ball, lost possession and then hauled down Hoilett who had run away with the ball. I cannot stand it when Alan Green, in what to me and many others is a dream job of commentating on football for a living, says that the game he is watching is boring but to be fair it’s hard to think of another word to describe this contest at this stage. Were it still taking place now, more than 24 hours later, I doubt there’d have been another goal. It was a day to make the most of the sunshine that bathed the South Africa Road Stand and regret the decision not to bring a good book. Anyway the change almost brought immediate reward when, incredible, Shaun Wright Phillips won a header in the centre of the field and flicked the ball into the path of Adel Taarabt who brilliantly chested it into the space behind the Blackburn defence, taking Salgado totally out of the game in one brilliant move, but then he betrayed a rare lack of confidence with a hurried and scuffed finish that bobbled hopelessly wide. Armand Traore may have done better from an identical position two minutes later as he ran clear on goal but frustratingly referee Mark Clattenburg hauled QPR back to give them a free kick for a bad foul by Lowe on Faurlin for which he was booked. Clattenburg didn’t have a bad game but this, and another incident a moment or so later when Taarabt seemed to be felled on the corner of the six yard box but had his appeals waved away, didn’t do much for the home fans’ mood. Had N’Zonzi found the back of the net on the subsequent counter attack after Taarabt’s appeal rather than the back of the School End things may have turned ugly.
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 7, Ferdinand 6, Hall 5, Traore 6, Derry 5, Faurlin 6, Wright-Phillips 6 (Smith 83, -), Barton 6, Mackie 6 (Taarabt 64, 5), Helguson 7 Subs Not Used: Murphy, Orr, Bothroyd, Buzsaky, Puncheon Booked: Hall (foul), Wright-Phillips (foul), Traore (foul) Goals: Helguson 16 (unassisted) Blackburn: Robinson 6, Salgado 6, Samba 8, Dann 6, Givet 6, Lowe 7, Petrovic 6, Nzonzi 7, Olsson 7, Hoilett 7, Roberts 5 (Goodwillie 67, 4) Subs Not Used: Bunn, Formica, Rochina, Yakubu, Vukcevic, Hanley Booked: Nzonzi (foul), Lowe (foul) Goals: Samba 24 (assisted Lowe) Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 7 A trio of controversial moments from a QPR point of view, two I thought he got right and one he clearly didn’t. The penalty appeal for a high boot on Fitz Hall in the first half would have been a harsh award, the one in the second half on Adel Taarabt was a bigger appeal but didn’t look a penalty to me at first sight. His big error on the day was hauling the play back for a QPR free kick when Traore had already been played through on goal. QPR 1 Leeds 2, Saturday May 7, 2011 Neil Warnock then decided to play his first card from the bench, sending on Adel Taarabt instead of Akos Buzsaky. Taarabt’s firt action was to swing over a corner that Schmeichel made a right pig’s ear of under pressure from Smith who then reached the rebound, headed it toward goal and forced a fine save from the young goalkeeper. Now on such a day of celebration and against a team with such a meagre defence this could have been a fill your boots afternoon for Adel but either through lack of fitness or a questionable attitude he just didn’t look interested from the moment he came on. Probably his worst half hour of the season culminated in a daft yellow card from mark Clattenburg. Kilkenny, tired of berating his own team mates, set about winding Taarabt up by kicking him when the ball was in play and sledging him when it wasn’t. After one such episode where the Leeds man thrust out his lower lip and plucked it backwards and forwards with his index finger ending in a handbag session while a throw in was being taken. The linesman on the far side of the field drew Clattenburg’s attention to it and he then tried to call both players together for a discussion. Taarabt refused to go and was rightly booked as a result. To add to the mild frustration of going behind Clattenburg’s persecution of Heidar Helguson stepped up a gear thereafter. The giant Icelandic striker was penalised constantly, regardless of what had happened, and that came to a head after the hour mark when he went to meet a long ball down the field but was caught flush in the face by Richard Naylor’s elbow before he could reach it. The result? A Leeds free kick. You could hardly make this stuff up. Helguson was absolutely fuming, and had to be restrained from confronting the match official by physio Nigel Cox. Clattenburg was happy, rightly, to wave away Richard Naylor’s penalty appeal when he clashed with Kaspars Gorkss under a high cross and to be fair he had a very decent game in the middle once again. Clattenburg played two minutes of added time, but didn’t advertise the fact on the board to give the players a fighting chance of making it off the field before the inevitable pitch invasion at the final whistle. Why? Who knows. Announcements had repeatedly told supporters that any pitch invasion would merely serve to delay the presentation of the Championship trophy and yet the selfish few went on anyway. To make matters worse still after the pitch had been cleared and the trophy presented the players’ lap of honour was interrupted by a second invasion that forced our wonderful squad of players, some of whom had very young children with them, to go running for the tunnel for a second time. If the first invasion was selfish, the second one was dangerous, and brought the lap of honour to an end before they had made it all the way around the pitch with the cup. Those involved should be ashamed.
QPR: Cerny 5, Orr 6, Connolly 6, Gorkss 6, Hill 6 (Ramage 65, 6), Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Routledge 6, Buzsaky 7 (Taarabt 55, 5), Smith 6, Helguson 6 (Shittu 72 6) Subs Not Used: Putnins, Agyemang, Moen, Ephraim Booked: Taarabt (dissent) Goals: Helguson 1 (assisted Smith) Leeds: Schmeichel 6, Connolly 6, Naylor 6 (Kisnorbo 79, 7), O'Brien 6, Lichaj 6, Gradel 7 (Watt 85, -), Kilkenny 6, Howson 6, Johnson 6, McCormack 7, Paynter 5 (Somma 65, 6) Subs Not Used: Higgs, Bruce, Livermore , Bromby Goals: Gradel 38 (assisted Naylor), McCormack 68 (unassisted) Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 7 Seemed to decide quite early that Heidar Helguson was always the sinner, and penalised him constantly thereafter including the ridiculous incident in the second half where he had a free kick given against him for being elbowed in the face. Other than that though he was very steady indeed, and while I’m sure I’ll moan like hell next season about the officiating favouring the bigger clubs I am looking forward to the improved standards of officiating we can look forward to. QPR 1 Forest 1, Saturday February 13, 2011 Forest spent much of the pre-match lamenting the loss of their midfield enforcer Guy Moussi to a thigh injury which is likely to rule him out for the rest of the season. He was replaced by former Preston man Paul McKenna, a man with a history of good performances against QPR to his name and, following in the footsteps of Graham Alexander, Liam Lawrence, Jem Karacan, Matthew Milles, the latest player to come to Loftus Road with the intention of both playing and refereeing the match. Fortunately Premiership referee Mark Clattenburg, who has twice refereed crucial QPR promotion games with positive outcomes against Oldham and Sheff Wed, was on hand to ignore McKenna’s constant (and I mean constant) volleys of abuse and advice and keep a firm grip on the game.
Rangers would no doubt have been glad to see the names of Robert Earnshaw and Dele Adebola missing from the Forest line up – Earnshaw scored a hat trick on this ground in his Cardiff days while Adebola has goals against Rangers for four different clubs and presents the type of physical challenge that our centre halves have struggled with this season. As it was they had more than they could handle in the former of McGoldrick and Tudgay. That became apparent within the opening ten seconds as Forest kicked off, quickly lobbed the ball up to the edge of the box and won it, and then struck the inside of Paddy Kenny’s post with a low shot on the turn by Tudgay. The flag had been raised and the goal would not have counted had it gone in, although in all the confusion it appeared to be Matt Connolly rather than a Forest player who poked the ball into his path. This gave McKenna his first opportunity to scream in the referee’s face. QPR have kept a league leading 17 clean sheets this season and have never lost from a winning position. They’re not the sort of team you want to fall behind against, particularly at Loftus Road , and Forest ’s situation worsened within seven minutes. Different teams have taken different approaches with Adel Taarabt this season and it was pretty clear from the first minute here that Forest believed the best way to combat the threat of the Moroccan was to kick him. Repeatedly. At the exact halfway point of the half though Radowslaw Majewski took the niggly tactic that had been well metered out by McKenna and the giant Wes Morgan to this point and went too far with it. Possibly seeking to make an impact so that QPR would remember him in future (the big screen had bizarrely listed him as Gary Majewski on the pre-match team sheet) the Pole left the ground and almost snapped Taarabt in half with a crude two footed, studs up hack that had Clattenburg producing a red card before the QPR man had even hit the ground. McKenna complained about it, but few others did – a nasty and wholly unnecessary lunge that brought the correct punishment. That was the good of Taarabt, the bad came moments later as is so often the case. The QPR captain had been showing signs of descending into a sulk at the end of the first half, as he had done at Hull a few weeks ago, with frustration at the constant failure to find his feet with the ball by his team mates playing out from the back and the physical attention he was receiving from the Forest defenders etched across his face. After another clash with Morgan on halfway Taarabt foolishly aimed a kick at the impressive Forest centre half which would have resulted in a red card had it connected. Clattenburg settled for yellow and Taarabt can count himself very fortunate. I had suggested in the pub before the match that I had a horrible feeling we may miss our first penalty of the season in this game. Lee Camp saved a spot kick on his first return to Derby in a Forest shirt and having converted all eight of our penalties this season successfully it feels like we’re due a miss. I thought we may get to find out 18 minutes from time when Wayne Routledgeaccelerated into space in the left channel and headed straight for the penalty area. A foul inside the area looked inevitable as Routledge outpaced Gunter and reached the ball before him, but the Welsh fullback had telegraphed his opponent’s intention and did well to make sure he made no contact whatsoever. Routledge hit the deck anyway and Mark Clattenburg, five yards away, should have booked him for diving as well as waving away the appeals. Clattenburg added three minutes on to the end of a game that was rather petering out. Wayne Routledge crossed for Vaagan Moen to plant a header wide but a draw was a more than fair result on the overall balance of play and although Forest celebrated it like one of their European Cup successes while QPR looked quite downbeat at the final whistle it’s not a bad result for either team. QPR: Kenny 6, Orr 6, Connolly 5, Gorkss 5 (Chimbonda 73, 6), Hill 7, Faurlin 8 (Moen 79, 6), Derry 7, Smith 8 (Miller 46, 7), Taarabt 6,Routledge 6, Hulse 5 Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hall, Helguson, Shittu Booked: Taarabt (unsporting conduct), Gorkss (foul), Derry (foul) Goals: Smith 16 (assisted Faurlin) Nottm Forest: Camp 6, Gunter 7, Chambers 8, Morgan 8, Konchesky 7, Cohen 6,Majewski 5, McGugan 6 (Anderson 68, 6), McKenna 7, McGoldrick 7 (Tyson 74, 7), Tudgay 7 (Lynch 46, 5) Subs Not Used: Smith, Adebola, Earnshaw, Moloney Sent Off: Majewski 23 (serious foul play) Booked: Tyson (foul) Goals: McGoldrick 26 (assisted McGugan) Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 7 I could nit pick – Routledge should have been booked for diving, Morgan got away with plenty without being booked, Derry’s yellow card was a little harsh, McKenna shouldn’t have been allowed to scream in his face all afternoon – but overall he controlled the game very well and got the big decisions spot on. Ran the game with the calm authority and assuredness that the better Premiership referees have. Burnley 2 QPR 0, Saturday August 5, 2006 The best chance of the half fell to QPR though, and to Ward who met Rowlands' outswinging corner firmly from eight yards but sent the ball straight into the arms of Jensen. Either side of the keeper and it was in, despite the men on the line. Ward took his frustration out on the ball two minutes later with a stinging twenty five yard effort that screamed towards the bottom corner until Jensen diverted it wide. The Australian midfielder was QPR's main driving force and he drew two Burnley bookings in the final fifteen minutes of the half. Jon Harley and Michael Duff were both carded for upending Ward around the edge of the penalty area. After half time the home side stepped things up a gear. The home fans in the side stand started to back their players with increasing volume and gusto and right from the kick off they looked more up for it and fitter than QPR. O'Connor flew into Ainsworth right from the restart and was booked and then after another decision against his team manager Steve Cotterill launched a ball into the away end in frustration. He was ticked off by the referee but these two incidents raised the tempo in Burnley 's play. Burnley: Jensen 7, Thomas 7, Harley 7, Sinclair 6, Duff 7, J O'Connor 7 (Elliott 62, 6), Mahon 7 (G O'Connor 90, -), Jones 8, Gray 7, McCann 6, Lafferty 6 (Hyde 62). Subs: McGreal, Foster. Goals: Jones 58, 69 Bookings: Duff 33, Harley 45, O'Connor 46 QPR: P Jones 6, Bignot 5, Stewart 6, Rose 5, Milanese 5, Ainsworth 6, Rowlands 7 (Donnelly 78, 6), Lomas 7 (R Jones 65, 5), Ward 7, Cook 6, Czerkas 7 (Bircham 71, 6). Subs: Cole, Kanyuka. Referee: M Clattenburg 8 - Excellent start to the season refereeing wise. Played a good advantage, only used the cards when necessary although I remember thinking one of Burnley 's was a bit harsh, and allowed some physical contact which was a blessed relief after the World Cup. Good job all in all. Prior to that Clattenburg was the referee who awarded a late QPR goal from Georges Santos in a 2-1 win at Coventry in January 2005 when the home side believed the ball had not crossed the line. He was also the man in the middle the season before for one of the finest moments in QPR’s history – a 3-1 win at Hillsborough in front of 8,000 travelling fans to seal promotion into the Championship. A year earlier he was in the middle for our 3-0 win at Huddersfield on a Tuesday night with Paul Furlong scoring twice – he rather harshly booked Richard Langley in stoppage time for over celebrating a goal he didn’t even score, one of seven cards handed out on the night. Later that season he refereed another memorable QPR game as the R’s beat Oldham 1-0 in W12 in the play off semi final – the Latics’ Wayne Andrews was sent off late in the game. His first ever QPR appointment was in January 2001 – a 1-0 defeat at Norwich on our way to relegation from the First Division. StatsSo far this season Clattenburg has shown 39 yellows and three reds in 11 games, although 15 of those yellows and two of the reds have come in his last two games prior to this match – Swansea v Bolton and Man Utd v Man City. His biggest single haul this term was eight yellows and a red in the Manchester derby. Last term he showed 123 yellows (3.075 a game) and eight reds in 40 matches – split between the Premiership, Europa League, Champions League, Championship and both cup competitions. He showed six yellows and a red in a single match on four occasions, including Arsenal v Huddersfield in the cup. His biggest haul in a single game was seven yellows and one red at Bolton v Blackburn in December. The season before he showed 105 yellows (2.5 a game) and five reds in 42 games. It’s games between Spurs and Man Utd that he seems to have the biggest problem with – he was the referee for the infamous Pedro Mendes goal that never was at Old Trafford when Roy Carroll dropped the ball three feet over the line and got away with it, then in February 2008 he refereed the fixture between the two at White Hart Lane and showed ten yellow cards, then this season he allowed Nani to roll the ball in and counted the goal after failing to award Tottenham a free kick when the Portuguese picked the ball up with his hands in the build up. Other ListingsPremiership >>> Martin Atkinson was taken off the Chelsea v Liverpool game last weekend and replaced by Lee Probert oweing to international commitments, but he’s clearly the top man in the eyes of the Premiership this year as he’s straight back in with the weekend’s top game Liverpool v Man City on Sunday.Championship >>> Both problem children in the refereeing fraternity have Championship appointments this weekend – Gavin ward does Coventry v Brighton while Stuart Attwell has Peterborough v Middlesbrough. Premiership referee Mike Jones pays for his controversial calls in our game at Stoke with demotion to Hull v Burnley. League One >>> Our old mat Andy D’Urso has Bournemouth v Oldham. League Two >>> Premiership referee Jon Moss drops all the way down to take charge of Oxford v Cheltenham. Tweet @loftforwords Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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