Premiership referees

Premiership referees stats – userful for betting (part 3)

HALF-WAY THERE.

As we come to the half-way stage of the season a look at the refereeing stats won’t go amiss.

The select Group of Premiership referees has it’s usual new faces.
Steve Bennett and Alan Wiley Have both retired to become Referee Coaches. They have been replaced by Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor. Oliver became the youngest ever to referee a Premiership game when he took charge of the Birmingham – Blackburn match in August 2010. He beat the record set two years earlier by Stuart Attwell.

Seven members of this years Select group, namely M. Atkinson, S. Attwell, M. Clattenburg, M. Dean, A. Marriner, L. Probert and H. Webb, are "F.I.F.A. listed" and therefore  eligible for appointment to U.E.F.A. and F.I.F.A. International Games.
Up to the present time only four of them have had other than domestic appointments.
It would appear that they have come down fairly hard on the teams they’ve been controlling.

M.Atkinson     3 games 14 yellows  0 reds.  Average  4.66 cards per game.
M.Clattenberg  4   "   15   "      0   " .     "     3.75   "    "    " .
M.Dean         3   "   17   "      2   " .     "     6.33   "    "    " .
H.Webb         4   "   19   "      0   " .     "     4.75   "    "    " .

Of these four only three had non-domestic appointments the last season.

M.Atkinson     8 Games 38 yellows  0 reds.  Average  4.75 cards per game.
M.Dean         4   "    2    "     0   " .     "     0.50   "    "    " .
H.Webb        10   "   53    "     1   " .     "     5 40   "    "    " .

H.Webbs figures include his stint at the World Cup Finals.

    Domestic Stats for this season’s half-way mark. 2009/2010 Full Season Totals.

            Matches. Total. Yellows. Reds. Average. Matches. Total. Yellows. Reds. Average.
L.Mason        15      74      69      5     4.50.     35     113      106     7    3.22.
M.Atkinson     16      72      64      8     3.90.     40     155      149     6    3.87.
M.Jones        19      71      69      2     3.73.     33     115      110     5    3.48.
P.Dowd         18      70      64      6     3.88.     39     140      135     5    3.58.
A.Taylor       17      70      62      8     4.11.      2       5        5     0    2.50.
M.Dean         18      66      63      3     3.66.     41     153      146     7    3.73.
A.Marriner     17      62      60      2     3.64.     37     125      115    10    3.37.
K.Friend       16      58      55      3     3.62.     13      46       42     4    3.53
L.Probert      17      54      49      5     3.17.     33     126      119     7    3.81.
M.Oliver       16      54      48      6     3.37.  Newcomer.
H.Webb         18      52      51      1     2.88.     35      68       64     4    1.79.
M.Clattenberg  17      52      49      3     3.05.     42     110      105     5    2.61.
P.Walton       14      50      45      5     3.57.     36      97       91     6    2.69.
C.Foy          18      43      43      0     2.38.     36     112      107     5    3.11
S.Attwell      11      43      42      1     3.90.     26      99       95     4    3.80
M.Halsey       15      39      38      1     2.60.  Sick Leave

As you will realise stats are nothing on their own.
Obviously some referees are stricter than others. The figures show that some are much quicker to reach for the "RED" than others.
For instance, this season, A.Taylor is flashing the red card every other game. Whilst C.Foy has still to issue his first.
Last season’s top red carder was A. Marriner averaging a red about each fourth game.
For me the guys to watch are those with the low average per game. They are to ones you want in charge of games when you are betting on cards.
They always seem more reliable that the "flashers". Who are often inconsistent in the way they run their games.
One thing we can be sure of, is that we probably have the best panel of Top Class Referees in the world.
Don’t forget, Bet Sensibly.

Referees waving those Red and Yellow cards are now as much part of the game as the ball.
How these cards are distributed can make interesting reading.
Since the turn of the century there has been an average of …………………

           Yellows  1150     Reds  62  each season,
           (making an average of 1213 cards, altogether.)
Seasonal figures
    00/01           1216           59
    01/02           1158           64
    02/03           1128           74
    03/04           1088           58
    04/05           1011           58
    05/06           1160           74
    06/07           1215           52
    07/08           1202           61
    08/09           1181           63

As can be seen, there was a steady decrease in Yellows, each season until 05/06. After that there isn’t a set pattern.
The Red cards are even more difficult to "even out". There were four seasons under 60 cards and 5 over.
Total card average, (1213), was higher in six seasons.
Breaking these figures down into "match sizes" may be of some help.
Yellows average out at 3.02 per game and Reds at 0.16 per game. Quite a surprising figure.
Red cards aren’t give as often as might be thought. Straight Reds are quite scarce too.

It’s not easy trying to find out why cards are so up and down. possibly because referees are obeying certain directives on a seasonal basis. Although some refs do seem to hold a specific standard of assessment, where fouls are concerned.
Another possiblity is the constant change of, playing or otherwise, at the clubs. Also, I’m sure, the level of success, or otherwise, that each club is enjoying at the time,  has a  bearing on their on-field behaviour.presents".

Looking at the top half of the "Bad-Boys" tables for the past two seasons and the present one, two teams are "ever-presents". Four other sides appear twice in the three seasons.
West Ham (surprisingly, at least to me), is one ever present along with Sunderland.
Two out of three’ers are, Bolton W. Blackburn R. Birmingham C. ( although they can be regarded as ever presents as they only appear in the first and third seasons in the Prem ). The remaining "two’re" is Wigan A.
It may well prove profitable to keep a close eye on these sides when any two of them meet.

Individual players to watch for this season are  Lorik Cana (Sunderland) ( 9 yellows and 1 red).Kevin Davies (Bolton 8y). S. Parker (W.H.U. 8 y 1 r ). J. Mascherano (Liverpool 8y 2 r. ) F.Muamba (Bolton 8 y.). W.Palacios (Spurs  8 y )  and Hendry Thomas (Wigan 8 y and 1 r).

I recently ended an article urging players not to mess with Mike Dean. Obviously players from PSV and Hamburg aren’t members of this site.
Last week’s Euro game between these two clubs amassed a total of 13 (unlucky for some!) cards. There were 11 yellow and 2 red cards in their game.
Still on the theme of strict refs, An old enemy of the players, Mike Riley having retired from the field is now top dog of the Referees Association.
Former chief Keith Hackett’s P.A. was given the equivalent of a yellow card, as Mr. Riley was of the opinion that she had too much power. And reduced her role. Her appeal to Premier League officials failed and she consequently parted company with Mssrs Riley and the others. Could we call this yet another Red Card from the refs?

Quite recently the Football league saw it’s first Female Referee take charge of a match. Amy Fearns was running the line in the Coventry versus Notts Forest game when referee Tony Bates went off injured. So another milestone has been reached. How long before we see a FEMALE reffing a Premiership match? So on the subject of referees let’s have a look at how they are doing compared to the last couple of seasons. From last season’s list we "lost" Mike Riley, Rob Styles, Steve Tanner and Keith Stroud. Only three replacements were named. Gavin Ward, Kevin Friend and Anthony Taylor.

2007/08. Yellow cards are worth 10pts. Red cards are worth 25pts.

Top of the pile is Mike Dean,        107 yellows and  9 reds.
                   Mike Riley,       105         and  2.
                   Howard Webb       101         and  1.
                   Steve Bennett      99         and  5.
                   Alan Wiley         98         and  1.

Seasons Total Cards                 1216 yellows and 61 reds.

That looks pretty formidable in itself. However when we look at AVERAGES, based on cards per game and their points value per card a very different picture emerges.

                    Matches.   Average Cards.   Average points per game.
Mike Dean             28            4.14                46.3
Mark Clattenburg      26            3.96                44.2
Lee Mason              8            4.12                43.1
Phil Dowd             22            3.41                38.9
Rob Styles            25            3.40                38.8

Collective Averages  380            3.36                36.0

—
Moving on to the next season, 2008/09, the top card waver is once again Mike Dean. He’s consistant, at least.

Mike Dean             122 yellows and  8 reds.
Howard Webb           114         and  6.
Phil Dowd              92         and  6.
Mike Riley             90         and  4.
M. Atkinson            86         and  6.

Seasons Total Cards  1198 yellows and 63 reds.

Messrs Dean, Webb and Riley once again take three of the top five places.
The AVERAGES however once again show a slighty different outcome.

                    Matches.   Average Cards.   Average points per game.
Steve Tanner          11            4.18                45.9
Mike Dean             31            4.19                45.8
Lee Mason             16            3.94                44.1
Mike Riley            23            4.08                43.5
Stuart Attwell         5            3.60                42.0

Collective Averages  380            3.31                35.7

Mike Dean loses his top place by 100th of a point.
This was Mike Riley’s last season. He’s sure to be missed. By someone, I’m sure.
Stuart Attwell may well have had more games but for his disasterous start. He can only get better. Can’t he?

—
We now arrive at the current season. A few old names missing and a few added. However, no doubt there will still be cases of managers calling the refs a few names.
Breakdown is as follows.

M.Atkinson                86 yellows and  7 reds.
Mike Dean                 80         and  3.
Howard Webb               75         and  3.
A. Marriner               70         and  7.
Steve Bennett             73         and  3.
Phil Dowd                 69         and  4.
Alan Wiley                66         and  4.

Up-to-date Total cards.  887 yellows and 49 reds.

Now the AVERAGES. A slightly different angle.

                    Matches.   Average Cards.   Average points per game.
A.Marriner            18            4.27                48.6
Mike Dean             19            4.36                46.1
M.Atkinson            21            4.23                44.5
Howard Webb           19            4.10                43.4
Steve Bennett         19            4.00                42.4
Stuart Attwell        12            4.08                42.1
Kevin Friend          10            3.30                39.0
Lee Probert           15            3.60                39.0

Collective averages  264            3.54                38.2

I’ve extended this list a little  to encompass two "new boys". Stuart Attwell now in his second season in the "big time" and a real newbie, Kevin Friend. The former seems to be avoiding any flak this season but K.F. has been given a hard ride by some managers. having noticed how the newbies seem to "cop for it" in their first season, I’m beginning to wonder if certain managers try to use this as a tactic to condition the guys for the future.
The one thing that stands out from these figures is very plain to see. Dont mess with MIKE DEAN.