![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_Screenshot-81.png\")
Mark Clattenburg recalled one of the livelier on-pitch clashes he got involved in during his refereeing career(Image: Undr The Cosh)<\/p>\nFormer referee Mark Clattenburg has lifted the lid on a wild encounter involving Ashley Young in a Second City derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City back in 2008<\/p>\n
09:30, 02 Aug 2025Updated 09:33, 02 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
Mark Clattenburg recalled one of the livelier on-pitch clashes he got involved in during his refereeing career(Image: Undr The Cosh)<\/p>\n
Mark Clattenburg has spoken out on how he was forced to restrain Ashley Young<\/a> in a headlock to prevent a mass confrontation from erupting on the field. The former official spent 13 years overseeing Premier League<\/a> matches and witnessed numerous heated exchanges throughout his tenure, and he’s not been shy about discussing various incidents <\/a>of late.<\/p>\n Having observed countless clashes<\/a> during his career, including an episode with former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a>, the 50-year-old acknowledged playing a direct part in one particular moment while on the Undr The Cosh<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n When questioned about whether he’d witnessed any tunnel altercations during his refereeing career, he instantly recalled his experience of overseeing games between Birmingham City and Aston Villa<\/a>. One specific occurrence stood out for Clattenburg<\/a>, who described the intensity of the Second City derby.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Mark Clattenburg claims ‘Chelsea wanted payback’ when star ‘swung for him’ in racism row<\/a>READ MORE: Ex-EPL referee Mark Clattenburg admits taking ‘goodies’ from clubs and was ‘offered a female’<\/a><\/p>\n “It proper rocked,” the former official said. “[There] was a lot of animosity after the game and them games were quite unique. They were fierce. I remember refereeing once at Villa and I nearly got charged by the FA.<\/p>\n “It was a bit stupid of me but Villa were on the attack and it was [Mehdi] Nafti playing for Birmingham and Ashley Young clashed in the middle of the pitch. I think Young played the ball off to the wing and they [Villa] got a good attack going.<\/p>\n “So, me not wanting to stop it, these two are clashing in the middle of the pitch and they started shoving and pushing each other, so I pushed Nafti out of the way and put Young in a headlock to release them so they could f***ing run away from each other.<\/p>\n “Young f***ing runs off, the ball gets squared off and Young scores. I was saying, ‘I played a great advantage’, but nobody really commented but [they] said I shouldn’t have handled the player in that way. I’m like, ‘F***ing hell, I’ve stopped a mass brawl here.'”<\/p>\n That 2008 clash concluded with a comprehensive 5-1 win for Villa, with Young and John Carew both bagging braces whilst Gabby Agbonlahor netted the final goal, reports Birmingham Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n The County Durham-born Clattenburg has also shared his verdict on this season’s Premier League title race, backing Arsenal<\/a> to pip Liverpool<\/a> to the crown \u2013 but with one crucial caveat.<\/p>\n “Gyokeres signing for Arsenal is genius,” Clattenburg told the Whistleblowers podcast. “Arsenal have been missing goals, they needed that leader upfront. If Liverpool don’t get Isak \u2013 I could see the league being really competitive this year.<\/p>\n “Luis Diaz has left, the new signings they’ve made will have to hit the ground running and Salah is not getting any younger. He’s losing his pace. It all depends on Isak \u2013 if he goes, there’s only one winner. But I really fancy Arsenal for the title.”<\/p>\n He argued that Liverpool benefited from weaker opposition during their title push last season, but tipped the Gunners to mount a far more formidable challenge this campaign.<\/p>\n “I enjoyed watching Liverpool last season, but nearer the end, they were caught short a little bit. A lot of the teams around them suffered \u2013 and I felt Liverpool were just slightly better than they were.<\/p>\n “City were poor, Chelsea<\/a> were indifferent, United and Tottenham<\/a> weren’t as strong. They weren’t all beating each other, which normally happens. They maintained some form while the rest dipped \u2013 but Arsenal look so much stronger this year, and I think they’ll challenge a lot more.”<\/p>\n Join our new WhatsApp community <\/a>and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former referee Mark Clattenburg has lifted the lid on a wild encounter involving Ashley Young in a Second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[6167,100959,422,855,1205,748,50902,393,4884,113801,763,44091,101,113802,18996,16,15,165],"class_list":{"0":"post-311696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-arsenal-fc","9":"tag-ashley-young","10":"tag-aston-villa-fc","11":"tag-birmingham","12":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-derby-county-fc","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-john-carew","18":"tag-liverpool-fc","19":"tag-mark-clattenburg","20":"tag-premier-league","21":"tag-second-city","22":"tag-the-fa","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-viktor-gyokeres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114958739233212312","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_GettyImages-2188250460.jpg\")
Ashley Young was central to an incident with Mark Clattenburg(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_GettyImages-479744309.jpg\")
Mark Clattenburg was involved in some of the Premier League’s biggest clashes over the years(Image: 2014 Mark Leech Sports Photography)<\/p>\n