Mark Clattenburg 'refused to send Leicester player off' during title-winning season | OneFootball

Former Leicester defender, Danny Simpson, has claimed ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg refused to send one of their players off during their title-winning season.

Leicester shocked the world when the 5000/1 shots won the 2015/16 Premier League title.

Claudio Ranieri's side, consisting of the likes of Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante and Jamie Vardy finished 10 points clear of Arsenal and 11 ahead of Tottenham.

It has gone down as one of the most incredible things to have happened in the history of the sport.

But did Leicester get a bit of a helping hand on their way to the title?

Simpson: Clattenburg refused to send off Leicester player

Maybe - if Simpson's story is to be believed.

Simpson played 30 of Leicester's 38 Premier League games during their victorious campaign.

He recently appeared on the UndrTheCosh podcast in which he was taking about the incredible season.

And he claims that Clattenburg once refused to send a Leicester player off during the match.

"I remember Clattenburg mate. Wow," Simpson began.

"I think he should've sent someone off.

"He said something like, 'I should've sent you off there but I want youse to win it.'

"Mate that was mad. That was mad you know, I swear to God.

"Good job there's no VAR but yeah.

"I had to pretend I didn't hear it. I was laughing my bollocks off inside and I thought, 'Yeah, we're doing this.'

"I think it was Drinky [Danny Drinkwater] actually.

"It was his second yellow or something and he could've easily sent him off but he didn't."

VIDEO: Simpson tells incredible Clattenburg story on podcast

If the story is true... then wow.

Did Clattenburg refuse to send off Drinkwater?

We've done a little bit of digging to try and found out the truth.

Clattenburg refereed Leicester on four occasions that campaign.

The first came away to Norwich in October - surely too early for the referee to predict an unlikely title win. Leicester did win 2-1.

The next came in December, during a 2-1 victory over Chelsea.

The third match Clattenburg reffed of Leicester's was in March as they edged towards their incredible feat. They draw 2-2 with West Brom in that one.

The final match Clattenburg was involved in with the eventual champions was against Swansea in which they won 4-0.

It's worth noting that Drinkwater wasn't booked in any of those matches.

Possibly.