Mark Clattenburg responds to Danny Simpson’s claim he purposely helped Leicester win the league ahead of Arsenal
Mike Dean’s comments about his own refereeing ‘games’ have caused a huge stir this week.
Dean spoke on a podcast with Jamie Vardy about essentially not booking or giving players cards due to own internal games between himself and other officials.
The comments have been criticised widely, with fans annoyed, former players perplexed, and former referees having to come out and speak on it too.
Of course, Dean’s comments have opened up Pandora’s box now in terms of past comments and decisions.
Luckily for us at Arsenal Insider though, we’ve spoken exclusively to former PL referee Mark Clattenburg, who has shot down a story involving himself and Leicester City.
Mark Clattenburg shuts down Danny Simpson’s past comments
Arsenal fans might be wondering why this is relevant to Arsenal but back when Leicester won the title, it was the Gunners who finished second that season, meaning any big decisions would have been crucial.
In an old interview, former Leicester full-back Simpson suggested Clattenburg did not show Danny Drinkwater a card insisting the ref ‘wanted them to win it’.
However, Clattenburg has responded to those claims in an exclusive interview for Arsenal Insider.
“As for Danny Simpson’s comments some years ago regarding on a podcast where he accused me of not giving Danny Drinkwater a 2nd yellow card which would have resulted in a red card in the season they won the title is another example of fabrication or trying to make himself more popular,” Clattenburg told Arsenal Insider.
“The fact was that I did not even caution Danny Drinkwater in that season and therefore leaves what Danny Simpson said about me was clear fabrication.”
Friendly reminder Danny Simpson said this about Mark Clattenburg after Leicester city beat Arsenal to the league in 15/16.
— Fan_Monty (@AFC_Monty_) September 3, 2026
They’re all part of the same little circle. Cheats. https://t.co/lsxnxhvcl6 pic.twitter.com/JYXjj8EBXr
Clearly, Clattenburg is well within his rights here to shut down what appears to be nonsense.
As for Mike Dean, he has done referees up and down the country no favours whatsoever.
He has just brought scrutiny and eyeballs to things now which didn’t need to be and ultimately, has opened up a can of worms which only hurts his fellow refs.
