Mark Clattenburg’s departure from the Premier League for Saudi Arabia will affect aspiring referees, says Mark Halsey
Former official says he was not surprised by Clattenburg's decision to quit England's top flight
MARK HALSEY shows great support for Mark Clattenburg following his mega-money move to Saudi Arabia.
Clattenburg, 41, has quit the Premier League following a lack of support from the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited).
Speaking to , Halsey believes his departure will be a big loss for aspiring referees up and down the country.
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The 55-year-old said: "I guess it is a shock to everyone in football, but not to me.
"Listen, we have done many games together, he has been my fourth official, I have been his fourth official.
"We are good friends off the pitch and I think he has just become disillusioned with what is going on at the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) and the management or lack of.
"I think it is a great great loss to the referee fraternity. I mean if you look at grass roots level, young referees starting out today, you at Mark Clattenburg, you look his decision making, you look at the way he deals with players, manages players and he is going to be a great loss.
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"And I know players around the Premier League love mark and they love the way he always gives players a chance.
"We trained together, we put the world to rights when we were at St George's [Park] in our rooms, talking about refereeing players and how do we get the best out of players.
"And we sort of emulated ourselves as referees and how we went out and refereed games - and I think he is going to be an enormous loss to the Premier League."
