Former Premier League referee reveals role in deliberate booking scam

A former referee in English football's elite Premier League has admitted to going along with a request to deliberately book a player back in 2011.

Mark Halsey, who retired at the end of the 2012/13 season, told CNN Sport on Thursday: “(The player) just said ‘listen, look, we've got a game Tuesday. If I don't get cautioned now and get one Tuesday, I'll miss the big derby on Saturday.’ So, he just asked me if I could show a yellow. And, I did actually.”

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“I said to him, ‘Alright, we've got 10 minutes to go when I give a free-kick against you’ — and I knew I would because he's that sort of player — ‘just leather the ball 50 yards away and I can caution you for dissent’.”

“If you've got big games coming up and you're on four yellow cards, one more means you get suspended. I just said to him, ‘Don't do anything stupid.’ He came up to me at the end of the game and said, ‘Thanks for that Mark.’”