Mark Halsey has said he was approached by a player asking to be booked during an English top-flight game in 2011.
The former Premier League referee, who retired at the end of the 2012-13 season, told CNN Sport about the incident.
“[The player] just said: ‘Listen, we’ve got a game Tuesday. If I don’t get cautioned now and get one Tuesday, I’ll miss the big derby on the Saturday. So he just asked me if I could show a yellow. And I did actually.
“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 nothing stupid.’ He came up to me at the end of the game and said: ‘Thanks for that Mark.”’