Mark Clattenburg may be going to Saudi Arabia, but he still has his eyes on you, Pepe. Photo via Youtube
Well this is a weird one. Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who is basically the best soccer referee in the world and has officiated every big game he is possibly eligible to officiate, has suddenly quit in the middle of the season so he can take an unspecified job with Saudi Arabia's football association.Our best guess for now is that Clattenburg will be taking over as Saudi Arabia's head of refereeing for Howard Webb, another former Premier League official who left that job 11 days ago to be the new head of video assistant refereeing for PRO, the American referee organization that mainly officiates MLS matches. Either way, Clattenburg is almost certainly due for a nice a pay raise. The only curious elements of Clattenburg's exit are the timing and the destination, but the latter—a job vacancy in a soccer backwater with enough gobs of money to make it worth anyone's while—answers the former.Clattenburg is only 41 years, but he's been refereeing for a long time. He started in the Northern League when he was just 17 and has been a Premier League referee since 2004. He's put in a full, rewarding, esteemed career. I'm not surprised Clattenburg wants to get off the field. When I spent a weekend with MLS referees last year, I saw just how difficult and thankless the job really is. And that's in MLS, which, with all due respect, is not the Premier League, or the Champions League, or the World Cup. The fitness demands on top-level referees are quite high—many of them cover as much ground as the players—and while Clattenburg's fitness has never been in question, it's easy to imagine that he'd fancy a transition to an administrative role.So, onward and upward, Clattenburg. We'll miss you. And we'll be watching.
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Enjoy yourself out there.Mark Clattenburg
Greatest Moments, Pt. 2 A.k.a: Clatts vs. Pepe, Pt. 2 pic.twitter.com/5pSZQVOupT
— FourFourTwo (@FourFourTwo) February 16, 2017
Oh, ok. ONE more… Ladies and gentleman, Mark Clattenburg pic.twitter.com/uGqUQhoE6H
— FourFourTwo (@FourFourTwo) February 16, 2017