Former Premier League referee, Mark Clattenburg, has said that Stoke City and Republic of Ireland’s James McClean is the worst diver he has ever encountered.
Clattenburg officiated in England for 17 years before moving to Saudi Arabia.
The 45-year-old often relied on instinct and eagle-eyed vision to make decisions, way before the introduction of VAR.
“I had a big problem and it wound me up once, with James McClean,” Clattenburg told Paddy Power.
“He was playing for Wigan against QPR in a play-off. Obviously, a play-off is a huge game and they were winning 1-0.
“He went to go around Rob Green and I had a great position and I’ve seen him dive.
“As he went over, he’s looking for the penalty appeal for the penalty and I gave him the yellow card for diving.
“He just turned around to us and he said, ‘So what? I’m a winger. It’s only a yellow card. But he said, ‘If you give me a second yellow, you would have been killed’.
“He was right. If I’d given the penalty, I would have been crucified and he only got a yellow card and that used to wind me up as a ref because you think, hold on, there should be more punishment for diving because it’s the worst thing in football.
“You know what, because he was winger, he was laughing. Because he was a winger, he was thinking I’m never going to get another f**king second yellow card, because he’s stuck out on the wing.”