The referee blamed for England's exit from Euro 2004 has gone into hiding after receiving death threats from angry fans.
Swiss ref Urs Meier, who controversially disallowed Sol Campbell's winning goal at the end of the England-Portugal quarter-final, has been given police protection and gone into hiding in his homeland.
But a defiant Mr Meier, speaking on the phone from a secret location, claimed the "whole world" knew his decision was "100 per cent correct".
Swiss police are now guarding the 45-year-old ref, who claims to have received more than 16,000 emails from England fans after newspapers published his email address.
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Speaking to Swiss online service Swissinfo, Mr Meier said he was "shocked" at the reaction of the English.
"I had a wonderful tournament with three fantastic games and I'm feeling good about that," he added.
"But the English newspapers, especially The Sun, have caused a big problem. It is really a big shock for me here in Switzerland.
"The police are here with me now as we speak and I'm taking these threats very seriously. I'm not going to leave Switzerland but am somewhere where nobody knows me."
But Mr Meier said he stood by his decision to disallow Campbell's goal, adding: "The decision was 100 per cent correct and the whole world could see that."
Meanwhile, MPs have tabled a motion in the House of Commons criticising the quality of refereeing in Euro 2004.
It does not specifically mention Mr Meier, but few will be in any doubt that the MPs had him in mind when they demanded the football authorities take action to stop referees ruining more games.
The motion was tabled by Scottish Labour MP Bill Tynan (Hamilton South) and has been supported by five other backbenchers.
They congratulated England on their "fine performance'' in the championships and praised the Portuguese hosts.
But they noted: "Concerns have been raised about the quality of refereeing decisions during a number of matches,'' and called on UEFA and FIFA to "address these concerns so that no further matches are ruined for fans by dubious decisions''.
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