Former Wolves star denies verbally abusing young referee as under-12s game abandoned

However, the Wednesfield-born 41-year-old took to social media to deny he had verbally abused a 15-year-old referee during the game in the Midland Junior Premier League clash on Saturday morning, saying: "Those lying about what happened will be made to feel pretty stupid in due course."

Henry, who made more than 250 appearances for Wolves between 2006 and 2013, claimed he was trying to protect his own players who had been the subject of 'dangerous and reckless challenges' by 'frustrated opponents' while winning 2-0.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Henry said: "People much prefer hearsay... For the record, we were 2-0 up and dominating the game. Our frustrated opponents made a number of dangerous and reckless challenges.

"Naturally, we wanted the ref to protect our players. We had three 11-year-olds on the floor in tears off the back of really bad tackles that continued to go unpunished.

"He instead abandoned the game. Did I abuse the referee? Absolutely not! Do these idiots want to let facts get in the way of a good story? Absolutely not! Those lying about what happened will be made to feel pretty stupid in due course. Of that, I have no doubt!"

Henry's comments come just two weeks after his club apologised for comments he made criticising the standard of grassroots referees and volunteer linesmen, which he branded 'disgusting'.

Henry's X post read: "I’ve been coaching grassroots football in Birmingham for the past three years. Let me tell you, the level of officiating is disgusting. In my experience, 80 per cent of grassroots refs are power hungry do-gooders who are either intent on showing everybody who the boss is for 90 mins or are completely incompetent and unfit for the job."

In a separate post, Henry gave his solutions, including: "Remove unofficial linesmen from grassroots football and let referees make the call to the best of their ability.

"This will stop arguments and fighting between teams as 99.9 per cent of parent/coach linesmen in grassroots football are cheating scoundrels. Everybody knows it and everybody does it."

His club later released a statement distancing themselves from the comments. It read: "Boldmere St Michaels Football Club are aware of the debate caused by the comments made by Karl Henry regarding junior referees.

"We would like to take this opportunity to reassure anyone with concerns that these are Karl's own comments/views and are not those of Boldmere St Michaels Football Club."

Boldmere St Michaels and The Midland Junior Premier League have been contacted for comment.