Premier League Referees: 2022/23 Officials, Salaries, and Selection.

The 2022/23 Premier League season has brought about some major changes in the refereeing group overseeing officials. The group has come under intense scrutiny as a result of questionable calls and decisions made by some of the referees in the previous season.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), formed in 2001, is the organization leading a team of 79 Select Group referees who are full-time professional match officials. PGMOL manages the officiating for the Premier League, English Football League, and Football Association competitions, and is funded by all three organizations.

PGMOL has been under the leadership of Alan Wiley since 2011, but it was recently announced that he will step down from his position. His successor has yet to be named. The change in leadership has raised questions about the direction that PGMOL will take in the future and the impact it will have on the refereeing standards in the Premier League.

The Premier League referees themselves are a group of highly-trained professionals who undergo rigorous training and assessment throughout the season. The referees are appointed by PGMOL, which considers a range of factors when making their selections, including their performance in previous matches, fitness levels, and their ability to communicate effectively with players.

The salaries and pay of the referees are not publicly disclosed, but it is known that they receive a fee for each match they officiate, as well as additional bonuses for their performance. The bonuses are based on a range of factors, including the accuracy of their decisions and their ability to maintain control over the game.

In conclusion, the 2022/23 Premier League season has brought about significant changes in the refereeing group, with a change in leadership at PGMOL and increased scrutiny of the performance of referees. Despite this, the referees themselves are highly trained professionals who undergo rigorous assessment and are appointed based on a range of factors. The salaries and pay of the referees are not publicly disclosed, but they receive a fee for each match they officiate, as well as bonuses for their performance.

Who is the head of referees in England?

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), responsible for managing the officiating across the English Football League, Football Association competitions, and the Premier League, made some significant changes to its leadership team in the 2022/23 season. The former Premier League referee Howard Webb was appointed as the new Chief Refereeing Officer, replacing Mike Riley, who had held the position for a long time. Webb is widely recognized for being the first referee in charge of a World Cup and Champions League final in the same year in 2010. He was previously a police officer before embarking on his refereeing career.

Additionally, PGMOL made three new senior appointments in December 2022. Danielle Every became Chief Operating Officer after working in similar roles at British Cycling and Pentathlon GB. Dr Steve McNally took over as Performance Support Director, having previously served as Manchester United’s Club Doctor for 16 years. New Coaching Director Dr Wayne Allison, who had a playing career of over 20 years and scored nearly 200 goals, had previously worked for the FA and League Managers Association.

Other prominent figures within the organization include Adam Gale-Watts, responsible for the Select Group 1 (Premier League) and Select Group 2 (Championship) referee groups, Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, the Women’s Select Group Director, and Rebecca Smith, who works as a referee coach. Alan Wiley, Jon Moss, Martin Atkinson, and Kevin Friend are also high-profile former referees who work with the groups in various coaching and management roles. Mike Mullarkey, a former World Cup assistant, heads the assistant referees, and Steve Child coaches that group. Finally, Paul Russell is the PGMOL’s head of psychology, and Simon Breivik is the head of fitness and medicine.

Premier League referees 2022/23

The PGMOL has 21 referees listed for 2022/23. Twenty-two were used in 2021/22.

Paul Tierney

The first Select Group 1 member to reach 20 matches in the 2022/23 season, Tierney hit the headlines when a ranting Jurgen Klopp confronted him on the pitch after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham in December 2021.

Tierney supports Wigan Athletic and is the stepdad of a former professional rugby player in ex-Wigan Warriors and Leigh Centurions winger Lewis Tierney.

Anthony Taylor

Former non-league and EFL referee Taylor was appointed to the Select Group for the 2010/11 season.

Once a prison officer, Taylor won acclaim for his handling of Christian Eriksen’s collapse during a Denmark match at UEFA Euro 2020, later speaking about the incident at his local football club and the team he is said to support — non-league Altrincham.

Stuart Attwell

Attwell was briefly the youngest referee in Premier League history, taking charge of a game as a 25-year-old when he oversaw Blackburn Rovers’ draw with Hull City in August 2008.

Shortly after his top-flight debut, Attwell was at the centre of one of the most ridiculous moments in English refereeing history when he awarded Reading a goal — dubbed a ‘ghost goal’ by many — against Watford on the advice of an assistant referee despite the ball going wide. The farce was compounded by Attwell’s status as a supporter of Watford’s rivals, Luton Town.

Simon Hooper

Hooper, who has not been alone in becoming the focus of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s ire during a game this season, was promoted to Select Group 1 as a 36-year-old before the 2018/19 campaign.

The former IT service manager was released by Swindon Town as a 16-year-old center-forward and is believed to support the Robins.

Andy Madley

Having been at Huddersfield Town’s centre of excellence, Madley took a refereeing course alongside his brother, Bobby — a Barnsley prospect and a Premier League official between 2013 and 2018 — after suffering an injury.

“Make no mistake, refereeing in the Premier League is no more challenging than refereeing in the Wakefield Premier Division,” Madley once told a local football association in a nod to his roots in West Yorkshire. “If anything, it’s easier.”

Michael Oliver

The son of a former EFL official, Oliver became the youngest referee in Premier League history when he took charge of a game between Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers as a 25-year-old in August 2010.

Northumberland-born Oliver’s allegiance to Newcastle United was underlined when he was pictured wearing a Magpies shirt in a pub before a game in December 2021.

Robert Jones

Jones made his Premier League debut during the 2019/20 season before being promoted to Select Group 1 in time for the start of the following campaign.

The Merseyside-born former EFL referee showed his mettle in surprisingly physical fashion during Chelsea’s trip to Newcastle in November 2022, appearing to push Blues attacker Christian Pulisic away during a tempestuous end to the match.

Darren Bond

Said to come from a footballing family, Bond began in the Wigan Youth League at the age of 15.

The former Premier League assistant referee has received a mixed response from fans when he has worn an Alice band to hold back his hair during games.

Craig Pawson

Experienced Pawson became a Premier League referee in 2013 and is a Sheffield United fan.

Yorkshire-based Pawson has never refereed a game involving the Blades, city rivals Sheffield Wednesday or nearby Rotherham United.

Peter Bankes

Merseyside-based Bankes was the referee for a game that caused an outcry in February 2023 when a goal for Brentford against Arsenal was not ruled out despite clearly being offside, leading to the video assistant referee on the day, Lee Mason, leaving PGMOL.

Bankes is chairman of the referees’ association in the town of Bootle, near Liverpool.

Jarred Gillett

Australian Gillett had refereed in his homeland and the top divisions in Japan, India, China and Saudi Arabia before becoming the first overseas referee in charge of a Premier League match in September 2021.

Gillett and VAR Madley incurred the public wrath of West Ham United boss David Moyes and captain Declan Rice for their decision to disallow a goal for the Hammers against Chelsea at the start of the 2022/23 season, with the England midfielder describing the call as a “shambles”.

Darren England

As a coach at Barnsley before becoming a referee, England worked with Manchester City and England defender John Stones and spent time refereeing in the Barnsley Sunday League.

England was an assistant referee in the 2015 FA Cup final as a 29-year-old and felt the wrath of fiery Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi after the Seagulls’ home game against Fulham in February 2023, sending the Italian off for his post-match remarks about the officiating.

John Brooks

An assistant referee for the 2016 FA Cup final between Crystal Palace and Manchester United, Brooks oversaw his first Premier League match in December 2021 and was involved in another contentious incident on the same Saturday when the mistake was made during that game between Arsenal and Brentford.

Working as VAR to assistant Oliver, Brooks drew the line from an incorrect player to assess offside when Brighton visited Palace, causing the Seagulls’ goal to be wrongly ruled out. Webb subsequently contacted Albion to apologise, with Brooks relieved of his duties for the next two games in which he had been due to take part.

Michael Salisbury

Salisbury is the second referee from Preston to work in the top division, following in the footsteps of family friend Neil Swarbrick, whose subsequent job as the Premier League’s VAR boss will end with his retirement from the role at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Salisbury has never refereed a Preston North End match and made the VAR call to disallow Arsenal attacker Leandro Trossard’s goal at Leicester City in February 2023.

David Coote

Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Newcastle in the 2022/23 Carabao Cup final was presided over by Coote, a Premier League debutant in 2018 who was promoted to Select Group 1 for the 2020/21 season.

Speaking before the final, Coote explained how recognising the body language of his assistant referees, with whom he had worked on several previous games during the season, was “really vital” to making the right decisions at Wembley Stadium.

Andre Marriner

Veteran Marriner made his Premier League debut in November 2004 and was the referee for Wigan Athletic’s FA Cup final win against Manchester City in 2013.

Marriner told former Aston Villa and England striker Peter Crouch that he was a Villa fan, adding: “I go as much as I can. My two kids are season-ticket holders — and whenever I get the opportunity to go down, I will.”

Tony Harrington

A referee on Teesside by the age of 14, Harrington officiated his first Premier League game in December 2021.

Harrington is the grandson of Hartlepool United legend Tommy McGuigan and a supporter of the Monkey Hangers.

Tom Bramall

Rotherham PE teacher Bramall was 32 when he was promoted to the Premier League, having recovered from a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury three years earlier.

“He is a young ref — I don’t know how many games he’s refereed in the Premier League,” impressed Brentford head coach Thomas Frank said after Bramall opted not to award Bournemouth a penalty against the Bees when he consulted the pitchside monitor over an incident in October 2022. “He showed character and a calm head in a very, very stressful moment.”

Chris Kavanagh

Experienced Championship referee Kavanagh first appeared in the middle as a 13-year-old in 1998.

Kavanagh was born in Manchester but has taken charge of numerous Manchester United and Manchester City games, indicating that he does not support either club.

Graham Scott

Oxford United fan Scott was a goalkeeper for nearby non-league side Abingdon Town before retiring from playing at the age of 27.

Former referee Keith Hackett warned PGMOL to “apologise and move on” after making the “mistake” in 2015 of promoting Scott, who had made his Premier League bow the previous year, but The Times hailed Scott a hero who was “intent on single-handedly eradicating diving” after his part in a game between Chelsea and Norwich City in 2018 that left then-Blues boss Antonio Conte fuming.

How are referees appointed each week?

Each week, former referees evaluate the decisions made by current officials, while ex-players and head coaches also analyze their performances during games. The assessments from both groups are then used to identify the best referees, who are selected for games each week. Referees are typically not demoted for prolonged periods due to errors.

Fifteen referees currently hold a position on FIFA’s International Referees List, and an additional 11 serve as VAR officials. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, only two English referees, Taylor and Oliver, were selected to officiate.

How much do Premier League referees get paid?

Premier League referees were paid £1,150 ($1,392) per match in the 2020/21 season, according to Goal.

Championship referees receive £600 ($726) per game, the outlet said, with the reported figures comparing UK referee remuneration unfavourably to Spain (£5,200 / $6,294 match fee), Germany (£3,150 / $3,813), Italy (£3,000 / $3,631) and France (£2,400 / $2,905), and slightly above Portugal (£1,000 / $1,210).

Champions League referees are said to be divided into tiers based on their experience, with those deemed ‘Elite’ earning £5,500 ($6,656) per game.

Premier League referees’ salary

Officials reportedly receive an annual retainer of between £38,500 ($46,600) and £42,000 ($50,820), based on experience, which can make their total income as high as £70,000 ($84,700).

Championship referees receive the same salary to accompany the lower match fee in the second tier.

When do Premier League referees train?

All of the officials in the Select Group meet once a fortnight at England’s training complex of St George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent.

They take part in physical and technical training sessions and analyse match videos during the sessions.

Detailed performance analysis is supported by Opta, which provides statistical data on each match.

PGMOL says that the support team for the Select Group mirrors that of a football club, comprising sports scientists, sports psychologists, performance analysts, operational assistants, physiotherapists, sprint coaches, podiatrists and vision scientists.