If you follow me on Facebook (and if you don’t, you should!), you’ll notice I post a lot of one-off stories about referees that may not warrant their own post. There’ve been quite a few interesting stories this week, so I thought I’d gather them all together into a Sunday Roundup. Craig Bellamy: I do feel for referees Bellamy famously
Read more
I’m a big supporter of the referees and of Michael Oliver in particular. You guys know that. I’m also a supporter of Tottenham, so I was over the moon when Nacer Chadli managed to score against Arsenal at the Emirates today. (Though, Tottenham being Tottenham, that joy was short-lived.) But I have to say I was absolutely stunned at the
Read more
Let’s talk about something besides Mark Clattenburg and Manchester United, shall we? There are two big derbies this week: Liverpool v. Everton and Arsenal v. Spurs. (Though, let’s face it, the way my poor Spurs are playing right now, the North London derby may not be much of a contest…) Two of England’s top three FIFA-rated referees will be in action
Read more
The big match this week is undoubtedly on Monday, between last year’s first and third place teams, Manchester City and Liverpool. Michael Oliver gets the nod in that match. Oliver (above) is clearly working his way up the ranks. Mark Clattenburg is still England’s undisputed number one, and he’s at Crystal Palace v. West Ham. Martin Atkinson, another top ref, will take Sunderland v. Manchester
Read more
Andre Marriner and Michael Oliver will be officiating the two FA cup semi finals on April 12 and 13. If you’re the betting type, you can feel pretty comfortable putting your money on Mark Clattenburg for the FA Final on May 17. Not only is he one of the few “big guys” in English refereeing not to have officiated a
Read more
Tottenham have been successful in their appeal of Younes Kaboul’s three-game suspension following his red card in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Chelsea. Referee Michael Oliver had adjudged Kaboul to have tripped Samuel Eto’o in the box, denying him a goalscoring opportunity. However, replays showed that not only was there very little contact, but Eto’o was not in control of the
Read more
Dear me, Michael Oliver. Dear me. Now, let me say that I watched this game at a local pub with friends. (Why, yes, we were drinking at 9:30am California time. And?) And Tottenham were absolutely wretched in the second half, even before the red card. Jan Vertonghen’s slipping on the pitch then recovering by basically passing the ball to Chelsea’s
Read more
Here are the referees for the upcoming Premier League matches on March 8. Note: These are not FA Cup matches, but are regular fixtures. FA Cup will be March 8 and 9. Obviously the biggest match is Chelsea v. Spurs, since Chelsea are sitting in first place and Spurs are scrabbling for Champions League football next year. Mr. Wunderkind, Michael
Read more
Here are the referees for the Europa League Round of 32 matches to be played February 27. I think the biggest surprise for me is Bjorn Kuipers. The highly-rated Dutchman has been flying high in international competition of late. (Dutchman…flying… See what I did there?) He made the list of World Cup referees and refereed the final of this competition
Read more
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 