Mark Clattenburg got it wrong again in 2012, this time officiating a game between Manchester United's "noisy neighbours" Manchester City and Stoke City at the Britannia. Not many people gave the Potters a chance against their much more illustrious opposition, but the underdogs were able to eke out a point thanks to some contentious officiating. Peter Crouch opened the scoring for his side here to give Stoke a shock lead, but it should never have been allowed to stand, with the gangly goal-scorer's strike being better known as the "Peter Crouch Slam Dunk". Indeed, replays show Crouch handling the ball not once, not twice but thrice in the build-up to the dubious goal, though Clattenburg and his officials failed to spot anything illegal despite furious protests from the City defenders. City were at least able to rectify Clattenburg's clanger somewhat by levelling the score which made this incident a little less controversial, but Citizens manager Roberto Mancini was still furious, with the Italian sarcastically complaining in his post-match interview that his team was meant to play Premier League football and not in the NBA, and he was right, this one did have the feel of a basketball game to it.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
