Who All Premier League Referees Really Support Not A Liverpool Fan In Sight

We all know where Mike Dean will be this afternoon – leading the Super White Army in a rousing rendition of “There’s only one James Norwood” at Wembley Stadium.

Dean famously supports Tranmere Rovers and was captured by Sky TV cameras enthusiastically celebrating Rovers’ Play-Off semi-final victory over Forest Green earlier this month.

Mark Clattenburg admitted after he had retired from refereeing that Newcastle United was his favoured team , while former top flight ref Jeff Winter admitted he had been a Middlesbrough fan.

But who do the current batch of Premier League referees support?

We take a look.

Martin Atkinson – from Bradford – supports Leeds United

In 2016 Keith Hackett, the former head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation that makes refereeing appointments for Premier League games, told the BBC: “At the beginning of every season the referees’ background information is audited.

“They complete a form that includes who they support, the history of if they’ve played the game and with the addresses where they are residing.

“That gives you a picture that comes into use when you’re appointing. It’s about ensuring, for example, you wouldn’t appoint a Sheffield-based ref for a Sheffield team.”

As a result Martin Atkinson has never refereed a Bradford match or a Leeds game.

Stuart Attwell – from Nuneaton – supports Luton Town

Stuart Attwell has never taken charge of a Luton Town match, the team he supports, Unfortunately he did once take charge of a Reading v Watford match, when he awarded a goal to Reading after the ball had gone wide. Luton are Watford’s derby rivals, but we’re sure the two facts are unrelated. It was just a rubbish decision.

David Coote – from Nottingham – not known

David is a recent addition to the Premier League list and took charge of 11 top flight games last season, including Everton’s 3-1 win over Brighton in November. His affiliations are unknown.

Mike Dean – from Wirral – supports Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere’s terrace Ultra was removed from refereeing the 2006 FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham – because he lived in Wirral, which is part of Merseyside.

He had to wait two years to fulfill that refereeing ambition.

Arsenal actually fans thought he supported Spurs after a little jig he gave when Louis Saha scored at the Emirates in 2012. But as he showed at Forest Green, he’s just a very demonstrative kind of guy!

Roger East – from Wiltshire – occasionally watches Salisbury FC

No strong affiliations but Roger says he occasionally watches Southern League Premier Division South side Salisbury.

Kevin Friend – from Bristol, but lives in Leicestershire – supports Bristol City and Leicester City

Kevin Friend was infamously removed from Tottenham’s game against Stoke duruing the 2016 title run-in, because of his soft spot for Leicester.

“If you go that way, it becomes a nightmare every week to choose a referee for every single game. A dangerous precedent,” said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

“The solution is you don’t look where they come from, who they support, and you put the best referees into the games.”

The PGMOL disagreed.

Simon Hooper – from Wiltshire – supports Swindon

Well he did once play in Swindon’s Academy.

Chris Kavanagh – from Lancashire – not known

Andy Madley – from West Yorkshire – not known

Andre Marriner – from Birmingham – supports Aston Villa

Marriner has never taken charge of a Villa or a Birmingham match, although he has been in charge of West Brom matches. And he did award the latest ever penalty in the history of the Premier League when he once gave Liverpool spot kicks in the 97th and 102nd minutes at Arsenal.

Lee Mason – from Bolton – supports Bolton

Younger brother Andy actually played for Bolton Wanderers, so Mason has never taken charge of a Bolton match.

Jon Moss – from Sunderland – supports Sunderland

Moss had previously been a PE teacher at Westbrook Lane Primary School in Leeds – and sent off his old pupil James Milner in a match against Crystal Palace last season. Clearly not a man ruled by sentiment, he is an ex-youth player for Sunderland and Millwall – and has never refereed either team.

Michael Oliver – from Ashington – supports Newcastle

Was once on the books as a youth player at Sunderland – and as a result has never refereed Newcastle or Sunderland

Craig Pawson – from South Yorkshire – supports Sheffield United

And as a result has never taken charge of a match involving either Sheffield club, or Yorkshire rivals Rotherham.

Lee Probert – from Wiltshire – not known

Graham Scott – from Oxford – supports Swindon Town

No Swindon games, no Oxford games in his match record.

Anthony Taylor – from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester – supports Altrincham

Altrincham are a leading non-league club in the Manchester area, so as a result Anthony Taylor has been in charge of lots and lots of Manchester City and United matches.

Not everyone agrees with that decision, though.

In 2016 Keith Hackett said: “If you’re an Everton fan coming up to the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United and you look at where Anthony Taylor lives, you suddenly go ‘wow’.”

Paul Tierney – from Wigan – supports Wigan Athletic

A Latic through and through, Tierney has never officiated in a Wigan match.

Retired ref Mark Halsey, a QPR fan, admitted he refereed his own team twice, before rules over announcing your allegiance came in.

“I lived 35 miles away from Loftus Road,” he said.

“I refereed one win and one loss and I thought ‘I can’t do this again’. I never told them initially because it was back in the 1990s and things like that were only just starting to happen.

“I had to declare it because I felt like celebrating when they won. But once you’ve crossed the white line you’re the ref and you always remained professional.”

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