Mark Clattenburg accused former Chelsea star John Obi Mikel of trying to hit him in the midst of his row with the club in 2012.
The former Prime Minister League referee, 50, says that Mikel was bursting in his dressing room in Stamford Bridge after a heated match between Chelsea and Manchester United in October 2012, in which he was accused of a racial slur.
Chelsea claimed that Clattenburg Mikel had called a 'monkey' during the competition, but he was then cleared by the FA, while the midfielder was later banned and fined £ 60,000 for threatening the civil servant.
Now Clattenburg has speculated that Chelsea was just trying to 'earn back' after their captain John Terry was forbidden for an incident in which QPR star Anton Ferdinand was involved the year before.
Terry was banned, fined £ 220,000 and stripped of the captain of England when the FA discovered that he had racially abused Ferdinand – but he was separately cleared by Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Clattenburg said to the Cosh: 'There was a little commotion outside the door of the dressing room [after the Chelsea vs Man United game]. I opened the door and thought: “What is the F ****** H *** going on here?”
'While I opened the door, John Obi Mikel came to burst and started to bumps. I popped up. He tried to pin me against the wall and went: “F ****** H ***!”
'I didn't know what was going on, I thought someone might have accused me at the time!
“Everyone just turned white, such as:” F ****** H ***, what happened there? “
'The funny was, about 30 seconds later there was a knock on my door. I thought, “Not again, Obi Mikel is coming through the door.”
“I opened it and it was one of the security boys and he went:” Obi Mikel left his flip-flop in the dressing room, can he have it back? '
'I went:' Do you take the F ****** p ***? '
Clattenburg has described the mental torment and paranoia of accused of the blemish for which he was cleaned up.
“That John Obi Mikel situation, I didn't want to come back. I then wanted to make the referee. It was an absolute shame what happened, “he said.
“I had a family, a child, a mortgage. If I had left, what could I do? I had no way anywhere.
“I was accused of being a racist. I must have called him a monkey after the Chelsea vs Man United Match.
'It took about a month of research by the FA. The first few days I couldn't eat or drink. Are you going to question yourself – did I do it?
“How could I have a referee? I was in pieces. I was mentally gone. We threatened to strike because we found that the behavior of the football club was wrong.
'To let us high and dry and with the media outside my house every day of the week, something that I hadn't done was difficult.
“That moment of attempt at attack – he never laid me a hand, but waved me up a few times – I don't know if they think:” F ***, we're in trouble here, he tries to report. '
'The only thing that the Match Observer was about was what I was going to report. Nothing about racism, it was just what I was going to report. What happened in the dressing room with Obi Mikel. And an hour later I was accused of being a racist.
'I know the game was fleeting and there was a lot going on. I don't know if he was just angry with the result and lost it. Was he tested a drug? Players did not like drugs to be tested. So maybe he couldn't go to the toilet. All these little things struck people up. I thought he was just upset and I had received an attack.
“He shouldn't have even come close to the dressing room with security. Where did security go?
'He was banned from three games much later after my research continued.
“I think it was a payback time for John Terry and Anton Ferdinand at QPR vs Chelsea., Where Terry was accused of saying a few words to Anton.”