The astonishing betrayal of fans by prima donna players was
exposed by top Premier League ref Steve Bennett. Last night the
league’s bosses launched a probe and said: “We will be asking
Bennett for an explanation.”
A top international Premier League star asked to be booked so he
could get suspended and go on holiday with his family. ANOTHER
tried the same trick because he wanted time off over Christmas. And
a THIRD wangled a booking so he would miss a match at a far-flung
ground where he didn’t fancy playing.
The astonishing allegations were made to undercover News of the
World reporters by top referee Steve Bennett. The ref, who took
charge of the 2007 FA Cup Final, glanced from side to side, lowered
his voice and whispered to one of our men: “Never repeat this.”
He said of the players: “As a fan, they f*****g rip you off. You
don’t know half the things that go on . . . if they knew that,
you’d be absolutely gutted, trust me.”
Last night, after we put our findings to the Premier League, a
spokesman said: “Those comments do not reflect the opinion of the
PGMO (Premier Game Match Officials) and as such we will be asking
Steve Bennett for an explanation.”
Bennett’s sensational revelations, involving current and former
stars, were made at a conference of UEFA referees in Spain this
week. The ref also INSISTED the practice was well used by foreign
players who get suspended over Christmas because they are used to a
winter break.
He also BLASTED one current ace, calling him a “cheating
bastard”. His astonishing claims came at the five-star Hotel
Torrequebrada in Benalmadena, venue for the six-day convention to
improve ref standards.
Bennett, a Crystal Palace fan from Farnborough, Kent, flew in
from Gatwick to Malaga on Sunday at around 8pm before being
chauffeured to the hotel 15 miles away. Premiership colleagues Mike
Dean, Andre Marriner, Stuart Attwell, Howard Dean and Mike Riley
were also there. At midnight the English refs, plus former official
David Elleray, enjoyed a nightcap in the hotel bar.
It was then that Bennett, who refereed the match between
Blackburn and Aston Villa yesterday, made his mind-blowing
allegations. We have decided not to divulge the identities of the
players involved for legal reasons. But the News of the World has
taped records of Bennett making his astonishing revelations and
video footage.
Still in his UEFA training kit, Bennett recalled one occasion
when a player on four yellow cards told him he wanted to be booked
to miss a far-flung game. Players who collect five yellow cards
automatically get a one-match ban. A straight red card can earn a
player up to three matches off.
Bennett, 48, said: “XXXXXX certainly said it to me. ‘I ain’t, I
don’t want to play against f*****g XXXXXX’.”
The player, who has pocketed millions in transfer fees, then
launched himself into a crude tackle, forcing Bennett to give him a
yellow card. The player missed the match he told Bennett he didn’t
want to play in.
Bennett then told our men about another player, who wanted
Christmas off. Glancing from side to side, Bennett whispered: “He’s
come in the dresser beforehand . . . he came into the dressing room
on my mother’s life and said I need one more yellow card. So I gave
him a yellow card and, ‘No, no, no, no,’ he says, ‘On the pitch’.
It’s up to you.”
Here is a transcript of our conversation with Bennett. It is
sure to disgust fans, struggling with the credit crunch, who pay
the wages of players earning up to £150,000 a week.
REPORTER: And players do that?
BENNETT: And they go straight through a bloke,
to get a yellow card so that they don’t have to play over
Christmas.
REPORTER: But as a fan . . .
BENNETT: I know and if they knew that, you’d be
absolutely gutted, trust me. XXXXXX certainly said it to me, ‘I
ain’t, I don’t want to play against f****** XXXXXX’. And what about
XXXXXX’s tackle at XXXXXX?
REPORTER: Did he want Christmas off?
BENNETT: When you watch that. He comes in and
you think what the f*****g hell are you making a tackle like that
for?
REPORTER: But, as a fan.
BENNETT: He did. It’s Christmas, that’s three
games. Absolutely. You don’t realise that. When you think about it
now. You watch. Every year.
REPORTER: Cos they want Christmas off with
their families.
BENNETT: They want a rest. What p***** off
XXXXXX, I know for a fact, so does everybody else, he had a family
holiday booked to go to XXXXXX for Christmas, right?
REPORTER: And he didn’t get booked?
BENNETT: Yep, he got sent off against XXXXXX.
That’s why he made that tackle right? Right? But the manager says,
‘You ain’t going f*****g walkies. You are staying with the team and
you will turn it in, f*****g good job. I was at XXXXXX on XXXXXX
and XXXXXX sat in the box. He did not look happy. Between you me
and the gatepost.
REPORTER: Mate, I can’t, like, look, as a fan,
right, if if anyone . . .
BENNETT: As a fan, they f*****g rip you off.
You don’t know half the things that go on. You don’t know half the
things that go on.
Just metres away, colleagues Howard Webb and Mike Dean were
singing Liverpool anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone, unaware Bennett
was letting slip the shameful secrets that will rock football.
Bennett went on to claim a number of foreign stars, used to a
winter break in their own countries, stick two fingers up at their
fans by getting Christmas off.
BENNETT: All I’m saying is the foreigner
players probably do it more because they are never used to playing
games over the Christmas period, because all over Europe there is a
three- week, four-week gap.
On the tape, which you can hear above, he also calls a top
foreign star a “cheating bastard” for diving to win a penalty.
BENNETT: He (unclear) the ball, takes one step,
two steps, turns his body and just f*****g launches himself. I mean
two XXXXXX players go like that. But they are nowhere near him. If
are in the wrong position, you’ve a penalty. So I got into a
position and thought, ‘You cheating bastard’. That’s what you say
to yourself.”