PGMO Statement

Professional Game Match Officials General Manager Mike Riley has come out in support of referee Mark Clattenberg.

Mr Riley has released the following statement with regard to an incident involving Wayne Rooney and James McCarthy in Saturday's Barclays Premier League match between Wigan Athletic and Manchester United, a match in which referee Clattenberg officiated.

Peripheral Vision

Mr Riley said: "Mark took the correct course of action with this incident. Match officials are trained to prioritise following the ball, as that's where the greater majority of incidents are going to take place. However, we also do a lot of work around the area of peripheral vision to be aware of anything that might potentially happen off-the-ball.
"In this incident Mark was following play but caught sight of two players coming together and he awarded a free kick because he believed one player had impeded the other. We should be clear that Mark did nothing wrong in officiating this incident as he acted on what he saw on the pitch."