Premier League referees require thick skin, as they are never going to please everybody all of the time, and an ability to appear almost robotic needs to be picked up en route to the top – especially in an era when VAR has added to the melting pot of questionable decisions and fan frustration.
Many officials, though, are boyhood football supporters that have reached the highest level down a different path to the established playing track, with plenty having a specific team that they consider to be a favourite.
Who are these sides and which of the men in the middle are known to have allegiances to specific clubs in English football – with accusations of favouritism and bias never far away from those taking on one of the toughest jobs in the game? GOAL takes a look...
Which football teams do Premier League referees support?
There are a number of Premier League officials that have never revealed their ties to any one club in public, which could be considered a safe choice given the pressure they operate under.
Plenty of others have, however, been happy to openly nail their colours to a particular mast.
Within Premier League circles, leading referees follow sides from across the Premier League, Football League and beyond – with some avid supporters that look to get to as many games as possible when they are not working themselves.
Here is the list of Premier League officials for 2021-22 and the clubs they support:
Referee | Club supported |
|---|---|
Martin Atkinson | Leeds United |
Stuart Attwell | Luton Town |
Peter Bankes | Unknown |
John Brookes | Unknown |
David Coote | Unknown |
Mike Dean | Tranmere Rovers |
Darren England | Barnsley |
Kevin Friend | Bristol City and Leicester City |
Jarred Gillett | Unknown |
Tony Harrington | Hartlepool |
Simon Hooper | Swindon Town |
Rob Jones | Unknown |
Andy Madley | Huddersfield Town |
Andre Marriner | Aston Villa |
Jon Moss | Sunderland |
Michael Oliver | Newcastle United |
Craig Pawson | Sheffield United |
Michael Salisbury | Unknown |
Graham Scot | Swindon Town |
Anthony Taylor | Altrincham |
Paul Tierney | Wigan Athletic |
Are Premier League referees allowed to take charge of the teams they support?
Unsurprisingly, given what is at stake in each passing fixture – particularly at Premier League level – rules are in place that prevent officials from taking charge of games involving certain clubs.
Keith Hackett - the former head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation that makes refereeing appointments for Premier League games – has said: "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."
Northumberland native Michael Oliver is one official that has never hidden his affection for a club he grew up supporting, with there obvious restrictions on his match allocations as a result.
He told the Daily Mail: “I never referee Newcastle games. We have to declare if we have an allegiance to any club or if a family member works at a club.
“You can’t do any match involving that team and I can’t do Sunderland, either, for obvious reasons.
“Because Newcastle are invariably involved in a relegation battle, when you get to March or April, it means I can’t referee anyone around them towards the bottom three.
“If Newcastle needed a point to survive and the team they were fighting to get above was say Villa, I couldn’t referee Villa’s game either. I wouldn’t want to. It’s not worth the hassle.”
Andre Marriner hails from Birmingham and has said of his ties to Aston Villa: “I go as much as I can and my two kids are season ticket holders.”
He is not allowed to take charge of games involving Villa or Birmingham, although he has officiated two West Brom fixtures in the past.
Jon Moss has never refereed home-town club Sunderland, but was in charge of two Newcastle matches during their Championship title-winning campaign in 2009-10.
Craig Pawson, who can get emotionally invested in games that do not feature his team of choice, is not allowed to referee fixtures involving Sheffield rivals United and Wednesday, or Doncaster and Rotherham.
Fellow South Yorkshire official Darren England – who once worked for Barnsley – has been prevented from overseeing events in games involving the Tykes and Doncaster.