According to former referee Mark Clattenburg, Manchester United is the team with the most 'dirty players'. Out of the five notable names mentioned, two of them belong to the red half of Manchester.
"I always felt frustrated and uncomfortable with Rio Ferdinand. That big-mouthed guy really excelled at 'mouthing off'. He enjoyed playing mind games with the referees," Mark Clattenburg said about the legendary MU center-back.
According to Clattenburg, Ferdinand's common action was to drag the referee to a corner, then get in the face of the "King of the Pitch" and unleash a torrent of words that Clattenburg can't even remember completely. "If you're not tough, Ferdinand would intimidate you to the point of fear," emphasized the English referee.
Clattenburg stated that the more players liked to "press the referee" like Ferdinand, the stricter he would be in his decisions. Perhaps due to such treatment, Ferdinand became less confrontational with the English referee's decisions as time went on.
Another member of the "Red Devils" was also deemed "ugly" in Clattenburg's eyes. That is the former captain of MU, Roy Keane. "He is a two-faced, double-dealing type of person. I always felt "apprehensive" because I didn't know how he would behave on the field," revealed Clattenburg. Keane could cheerfully shake hands with opponents to calm things down as per the referee's request. But right after, he could deliver kung-fu kicks to those who annoyed him.
"He never reacted aggressively. Whatever I said, he obediently agreed. But then he would do terrible things as if he had never heard my warnings," shared Clattenburg, affirming that Keane is a hypocrite. What made it particularly annoying was that Keane's behavior made it difficult for the referee to show him a red card.
The remaining three names on Clattenburg's list of the dirtiest players he ever encountered are center-back Pepe, goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, and forward Craig Bellamy. "They were players who frequently engaged in brutal challenges," stressed Clattenburg.
Clattenburg pointed out that Bellamy was a crude and rude individual. "If there was any player who annoyed me the most, it was Bellamy. He was always at war with the referees. I remember one time he dived and I showed him a yellow card. Bellamy got angry with me. He threw a fit as if the whole world had betrayed him. Even after the match ended, he appeared in front of the media to badmouth me, even though I didn't do anything wrong," recalled Clattenburg.
Pepe, on the other hand, didn't confront referees directly. Instead, the center-back was very adept at playing tricks on opposing players. "If you're not alert, you'll fall into Pepe's trap and caution his opponent. In this regard, Pepe is number 2, no one is number 1. That's why, on the days I officiated matches involving Real Madrid, I always kept a special eye on the Portuguese center-back," Clattenburg revealed.
Although not having much sympathy for the MU players, Clattenburg sees Cristiano Ronaldo as an exception. "When he was still playing for the Manchester team, after every match, he would come to me, shake hands, and embrace me in a friendly manner. I liked that gesture from him," Clattenburg recalled CR7 with great respect.
