Adam Lallana was branded 'little scruff' by Prem ref after being accused of leaking chat

Adam Lallana has announced his retirement from football, years on from his bust-up with Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg. The former Liverpool midfielder has called time on his playing career, having made an emotional return to his boyhood club Southampton in last year's summer transfer window.

Lallana, who also earned 34 caps for England, won the Premier League and Champions League with the Reds during a six-year spell at Anfield. He transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2020, before returning back to where it all started in 2024 with the Saints.

In an emotional statement, the 37-year-old said: "As I call time on my playing career, I do so with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and pride. Southampton… the place where it all started, and fittingly where it ends. It's the club I ultimately owe everything to."

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Lallana was a force to be reckoned with in Southampton'smidfield in the early 2010s, and it was around that time he had a run-in with ex-Premier League referee Clattenburg in a match between the Saints and Everton.

During an appearance on , the retired ref reflected on a clash with Lallana in 2014 that led to Southampton filing a complaint against the match official, which was ultimately dismissed.

Clattenburg claimed: "I remember I had a fight with Adam Lallana. I was going back to Everton after so many years, and Adam gave us dog's abuse. I think he was frustrated at the end of the game.

"I used to take into account a bit if they got beat, a bit of frustration, it was Christmas so he probably had too much turkey and stuff like that. He was a bit upset."

The former ref added: "There were some choice words said and I said to him, 'Look, you've changed since you've played for England'. I wanted to defuse the situation. 'You've f***ing changed since you've played for England'. And he looked at us, and walked off.

"And that was that, nothing was said anymore and I thought, well I diffused that quite well, I'm happy with myself. Next day I read the Sun, or whatever that newspaper is, and headline was, 'Mark Clattenburg says this to Adam Lallana.'"

He continued: "So I get a call from Mike Riley, my boss (former head of PGMOL), and he said, 'Did you say that?' and I said, 'I did, but tell him next time I'll f***ing send him off'. Now you see, you can't have it both ways.

"If he's giving us dog's abuse and I'm not sending him off, why was it in the media the next day? And it could only have come from Adam Lallana, even though he's used his club to make a complaint."

That same year, Lallana joined Liverpool in a £26.4million move from the Saints, and Clattenburg reunited on the field with the midfielder in the first game of the 2015/16 season.

According to Clattenburg, Lallana attempted to smooth things over with him and claimed the leak didn't come from him. However, Clattenburg wasn't having it.

The 50-year-old added: "He signs for Liverpool and I'm refereeing Liverpool (on the) opening day of the season. And he comes up to us in the tunnel and says: 'Mark, I wasn't behind it'. And I went, 'You f***ing were you little scruff'.

"But he was behind it! I'm only being honest with him. Don't f***ing come just because I'm going to referee and you're thinking I'm going to f***ing send you off again, you know what I mean?

"Why did he make that statement when it should stay on the field? Fair enough, I've heard referees and they swear. If we sent off a player every time they swore at us, come on."

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