I told Rio Ferdinand to tell Sir Alex Ferguson to f*** off – Man Utd legend’s reaction was priceless

FORMER Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has revealed he once told Rio Ferdinand to send an expletive-filled message to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Clattenburg refereed in the Prem between 2004 and 2017 before stints in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

He oversaw cup finals and crunch matches but was also famous for his occasional clashes with players.

The ex-ref was ever-present when Ferguson was at his pomp in the noughties, whose Manchester United team forged a reputation for putting pressure on refs.

On one occasion Clattenburg decided to try and get back at Fergie after realising his stars were trying to influence his decisions one-by-one.

Clattenburg said in an appearance on The Overlap: “I remember Manchester United and how they used to do it.

“Fergie I'm convinced used to send one player at a time because he knew if he kept sending the same player, eventually he is going to get cautioned.

“I remember saying to Rio [Ferdinand] once, ‘go and tell your f***ing manager to f*** off'”

“And you know what he turned around and said, he said ‘I'm not telling him'.

“Because you knew what they were doing. It was one after another. It wasn't the decision, they couldn't change that decision. It was the next one. They wanted that next decision.”

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Clattenburg also had a memorable with altercation with Adam Lallana after telling the midfielder he had changed since playing for England.

He shared the story, saying: “I remember I had a fight with Adam Lallana. I was going back to Everton after so many years, and Adam gave us dog's abuse.

“I think he was frustrated at the end of the game. I used to take into account a bit if they got beat, a bit of frustration, it was Christmas so he probably had too much turkey and stuff like that. He was a bit upset.

“There were some choice words said and I said to him, ‘Look, you've changed since you've played for England‘. I wanted to defuse the situation. ‘You've f***ing changed since you've played for England'.

“And he looked at us, and walked off. And that was that, nothing was said anymore and I thought, well I diffused that quite well, I'm happy with myself.

“Next day I read the newspaper and the headline was ‘Mark Clattenburg says this to Adam Lallana'. So I get a call from Mike Riley, my boss (former head of PGMOL), and he said, ‘Did you say that?' and I said, ‘I did, but tell him next time I'll f***ing send him off'.

“Now you see, you can't have it both ways. If he's giving us dog's abuse and I'm not sending him off, why was it in the media the next day? And it could only have come from Adam Lallana, even though he's used his club to make a complaint.”