A seemingly unintended by-product of supporting a top-flight football team is to have a tendency to blame Premier League referees when things go wrong.
Men in the Middle: 5 Most Controversial Premier League Referees
The men in the middle get the blame for lots of things, with every major decision quibbled by fans. The arrival of VAR was supposed to take much of the controversy out of the beautiful game but it remains so open to subjectivity that it has probably served to make things worse.
From Sunday League to the Premier League, there is nothing more likely to raise the ire of football fans than a referee that wants too much of the action! Here we look back on some of the most controversial Premier League referees we have seen and some famous decisions.
Premier League Referees: Paul Alcock
Paul Alcock came up through the ranks of the Football League and took charge of his first Premier League game in August 1995. He would referee 94 Premier League matches between 1995 and 2000 and was involved in perhaps the most notorious of referee-related incidents in 1998. Alcock was famously pushed over by then Sheffield Wednesday striker Paolo Di Canio after he had sent the Italian off, with the erratic frontman given an 11-match ban.
Premier League Referees: Gerald Ashby
A Premier League referee from 1992 until 1998, accountant Gerald Ashby had his most controversial moment at Highbury in a 1997 showdown between Arsenal and Liverpool. Reds forward Robbie Fowler was seemingly bundled to the ground by David Seaman and, to the surprise of nobody, Ashby pointed to the penalty spot.
What did come as a shock was Fowler shaking hands and head suggesting: “No, ref” as he let it be known he felt there was no contact. Fowler would gain an award from UEFA for his sportsmanship and, while Seaman saved his penalty, Jason McAteer netted from the rebound and Liverpool won 2-1.
Premier League Referees: Graham Poll
All referees are controversial at times, given the often subjective nature of the job they are tasked with. So those that are around for a long time will inevitably court some controversy along the way. Graham Poll was a Premier League referee for 15 years and more often than not a very good one, but he still found some time for controversy.
In the dying seconds of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool in April 2000, Reds goalkeeper Sander Westerveld booted a free-kick into Don Hutchison’s back and the ball trickled into the net for an apparent Toffees winner. However, Poll was of the opinion that he’d already blown the full-time whistle and ruled the goal out. He also famously showed three yellow cards to Croatia defender Josip Simunic during a 2006 World Cup clash with Australia.
Premier League Referees: Mike Dean
Mike Dean was a Premier League official for more than two decades, but his trademark schoolmaster-like approach wasn’t to everyone’s liking. Famously, the official was caught in the headlines for appearing to celebrate Mousa Dembele’s opener for Tottenham against Aston Villa in 2015.
The referee appeared to wave a finger to the sky and later confessed he had made ‘an idiot’ of himself. “I was celebrating my wonderful decision of (playing an) advantage; I got sucked in,” he said. “I just love football. It got taken out of context.”
Premier League Referees: Stuart Attwell
When he made his Premier League debut in 2008, Stuart Attwell had the distinction of being the youngest referee ever to take charge in the league at 25. He remains in the mix now and has become a respected figure, but has had his share of memorable moments too.
In a Championship match between Watford and Reading at Vicarage Road in September 2008, Attwell and his fellow officials awarded a goal to the visiting side after a goalmouth scramble in which the ball never went into the net. The baby-faced official was left red-faced. In April 2024, Nottingham Forest got in hot water after a social media post in which they claimed Attwell was a Luton Town fan and had denied them three clear penalties when officiating as VAR in their game against Everton.
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