Big 6 Match Referees- Cutting Through the Moss

Big 6 Match Referees- Cutting Through the Moss

By Jerry

Did you get a sense of déjà vu when seeing Martin Atkinson appointed as referee for Week 2’s Chelsea – Arsenal match? My reaction was “again?” or “what the heck?” if you change heck with a much stronger word. Walter pointed out in the comments section that this was Atkinson 5^th appointment in Arsenal’s matches against Chelsea over the last 10 seasons.

After reading Walter’s comment, I was curious to see which referees have Arsenal had in Big 6 matches over the last 10 seasons. The Big 6 teams selected for this article are Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham.

I collected referee data from WorldFootball.net based on Arsenal’s league matches against the other Big 6 teams starting from the 2008/09 season until the second week of this season. In this time period, there were 20 league matches apiece against Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham while there were 21 league matches against Chelsea and Manchester City (including this season opening matches). So without any further delay, in the 102 matches versus other Big 6 teams, we get:

Arsenal vs Big 6 Match Referees

Name	First ARS PL Match	Last ARS vs Big 6 PL Match	Chelsea	Liverpool	Man City	Man Utd	Spurs	Total
Mike Dean	2000	2017	29%	0%	24%	30%	25%	22%
Martin Atkinson	2006	2018	24%	20%	14%	0%	20%	16%
Michael Oliver	2010	2018	14%	20%	10%	5%	20%	14%
Andre Marriner	2008	2018	14%	5%	19%	15%	0%	11%
Mark Clattenburg	2005	2016	10%	0%	14%	5%	20%	10%
Howard Webb	2004	2012	0%	25%	0%	15%	5%	9%
Anthony Taylor	2011	2018	5%	5%	5%	5%	5%	5%
Phil Dowd	2003	2013	5%	0%	5%	5%	5%	4%
Craig Pawson	2014	2017	0%	5%	0%	5%	0%	2%
Kevin Friend	2011	2018	0%	5%	0%	5%	0%	2%
Mike Jones	2009	2016	0%	5%	5%	0%	0%	2%
Chris Foy	2005	2011	0%	0%	0%	10%	0%	2%
Bobby Madley	2015	2017	0%	5%	0%	0%	0%	1%
Mark Halsey	2001	2012	0%	5%	0%	0%	0%	1%
Alan Wiley	1999	2008	0%	0%	5%	0%	0%	1%

Quick Observations

1. PGMO Top 4 – Dean, Atkinson, Oliver, and Marriner

This will not be a surprise to anyone. The Top 4 officials appointed by Mike Riley in these fixtures have refereed over 60% of Arsenal’s matches (63 matches) against Big 6 teams over the last 10 seasons. Just imagine how crazy the numbers could have been if Mike Dean was not from Wirral.

I am unsure as to the reason why Atkinson was not selected for any Arsenal matches vs. Manchester United, but I am not complaining since United have a 59% winning record in his league matches (in comparison Arsenal have a 47% winning record in his league matches if you were wondering). In fact, six officials were assigned to over 80% of the matches if you include Clattenburg and Webb.

2. Moving On

In the table above, you will notice that there are sevenofficials marked in bold and italicized (depending on formatting). These seven officials are no longer officiating Premier League matches and have moved on to the media, retirement, other leagues, and whatnot. The moved on list includes Clattenburg, Webb, Dowd, Foy, Madley, Halsey, and Wiley. They accounted for 28% of the matches versus other Big 6 teams.

3. Cutting through the Moss

If you are familiar with the list of PGMO referees, you will notice a few names missing but especially Jonathan Moss and Lee Mason. Lee Mason and Jonathan Moss, officials with over 400 Premier League matches combined in the last decade, were never appointed to an Arsenal league match against another Big 6 team. It makes you feel slightly bad for Mason and Moss. Andre Marriner sends the wrong Arsenal player off and was still selected over both of them for six Arsenal matches against Manchester City (3) and Manchester United (3) in the last three years.

In fact, nine officials from last year’s list have never been assigned to an Arsenal match against other Top 6 teams. The list includes both experienced and relatively newer officials. *Neil Swarbrick has retired at the end of last season and Roger East has been deemed unfit for purpose according to PGMO standards. The full list:

The Unselected
Name	First ARSENAL PL Match	Last ARSENAL vs Big 6 PL Match	# of PL Matches
Lee Mason	2006	Never	242
Jonathan Moss	2011	Never	174
Lee Probert	2009	Never	165
*Neil Swarbrick	2012	Never	130
*Roger East	2014	Never	80
Stuart Attwell	2010	Never	74
Graham Scott	2017	Never	34
Paul Tierney	Never	Never	32
Chris Kavanagh	2018	Never	17

 

All of “The Unselected” refs have been assigned to Arsenal matches except for Paul Tierney. Interestingly, almost 20% of Paul Tierney’s Premier League assignments have involved Big 6 clubs from the North (Manchester City – 4, Manchester United – 1, Liverpool – 1) and 0 league matches involving the London based teams (Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham). Is this a way to ensure incorporation of the northern “rough them up” officiating style before sending him south?

Top 4 Refs in Big 6 Matches

A quick summary of the top 4 refs selected over the last decade against each of the Big 6 teams and who will likely get selected again:

1. Chelsea – Mike Dean (29%), Martin Atkinson (24%), Michael Oliver (14%), and Andre Marriner (14%)

All officials still active and likely to be seen again

2. Liverpool – Howard Webb (25%), Martin Atkinson (20%), Michael Oliver (20%)

Howard Webb has retired so expecting Atkinson and Oliver to pick up some of the load against Liverpool. There is a 5 way tie for fourth place (with 5% each) between Andre Marriner, Anthony Taylor, Craig Pawson, Kevin Friend, and Mike Jones. It will be interesting to see which official emerges out of this group. I am expecting Anthony Taylor to take over since he has been given more preference in the Top 6 matches.

3. Manchester City – Dean (24%), Andre Marriner (19%), Atkinson/Clattenburg (14%), Oliver (10%)

Clattenburg is no longer officiating Premier League matches so expecting Michael Oliver to pick up the slack. Anthony Taylor and Mike Jones have also officiated one of the City matches. Taylor with his Manchester ties I think would be a favorite as home location is not usually considered by PGMO during assignment.

4. Manchester United – Mike Dean (30%), Andre Marriner (15%), ??

Who will emerge to complete the Top 4 list of officials likely to be assigned to Arsenal matches against Manchester United?

Howard Webb (15%), Chris Foy (10%), and Mark Clattenburg (5%) are no longer running the middle of the pitch in the Premier League. Early favorites are Michael Oliver (5%) and Anthony Taylor (5%) to take over the two remaining top 4 spots with potential for Craig Pawson (5%) or Kevin Friend (5%) to emerge whenever Mike Dean retires.

5. Tottenham – Dean (25%), Clattenburg (20%), Oliver (20%), Atkinson (20%)

Mark Clattenburg’s 20% is up for grabs in the North London Derby. Early favorite is Anthony Taylor (5%) but Andre Marriner is also a possibility even though he has not done any NLD matches.

This derby is very hard to figure out since 85% of the matches were refereed by 4 officials over the last decade and retired officials (Webb and Dowd) account for the other 10%.

Now all Premier League fans can unfortunately make an educated guess as to who will be the official in all of Arsenal’s Big 6 matches! It will be interesting to see if the pattern continues this season.