PGMOL Watch

Anthony Taylor: My family don't come to matches because of abuse In an interview with the BBC, referee Anthony Taylor criticises the

I appreciated the interview, and I believe referees should go public more often while they are still officiating.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

[6/6] So far, the data mentioned above that I'm collecting is not enough to read something into it. Brighton would seem to confirm a link between discipline breaks and poor performances, but Brentford or Spurs have a similar discipline record and yet perform much better.

We'll see at the end :)

[5/6] Well, 4 of the 'Big6' are below average amount of fouls (76.9), with only Arsenal (79) and Tottenham (88) being above.
Arsenal and both Manchester clubs have also received less than the average amount of yellows, while Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea are on 15 (and Chelsea got 2 reds too).

[4/6] Brighton have received the most amount of yellows (22, 4.18 fouls per yellow), but it's Fulham who play the dirtiest with 98 fouls committed (and 16 yellows for those).
City are angels in comparison with only 57 fouls, just about 8 per game... Or are referees more permissive with big clubs?

[3/6] Newcastle have received the least amount of yellows (8), being the most forgiven team (10.88 fouls per yellow, average is 6.09) as they were last season.
They also have the most clean sheets (5) but the worst attack with only 5 non-pen goals (33 touches in the box to get 1, the worst stat)

[2/6] The club with the most touches in the opponent's box so far is Arsenal (236, Liverpool second with 190), but they don't capitalise much: they scored 12 non-penalty goals while Brentford have almost half the touches (121) and still managed 10 non-pen goals (with City close second).

Not entirely PGMOL-related, but while building a discipline spreadsheet, I decided to track some more stats about clubs.
I.e, I started tracking touches in the box, to see if breaking a game often for fouls or giving more yellows would impact attacking/defending prowess.

So, about clubs... [1/6]

Using this break to further improve and enhance my spreadsheets...
I have discovered another odd stat regarding VAR: only a handful of clubs have had the same referee on VAR twice, but Liverpool and Forest have had the same three times (Brooks and Madley, respectively), which is more than expected

Referees in English football All of the information and contacts for new and existing football match officials. Find FA refereeing courses, support and resources

By the way, if you're looking to become a referee, this seems a good start: www.englandfootball.com/participate/...

Soccer Laws Dojo | IFAB Laws of the Game Study & Referee Exam Prep (2025/26) A free mock test site for the Laws of the Game, designed for referee certification exams. Strengthen your knowledge for matches and promotions.

This is a small online quiz game created by a football referee from Japan (Class 2, certified by the Japan Football Association) to help those studying to become referees and make the process a bit more engaging.
I made a mistake on my very first question 😅
www.soccer-laws-dojo.com/en/

You may find this interesting.
Since he was the VAR who made that call, I would have loved to ask him about Salah's handball in #CRYLIV that has since disappeared from the BBC match report and Webb's mic'd up, but I suppose we will never know...
www.efl.com/news/2025/oc...

After 7 weeks, no referee has been on-field all weeks: Bankes, Hooper, Kavanagh, Oliver and Taylor are all on 6 apps, with Attwell, England and Gillett on 5 (many more appointments in other roles, as Gillett is at 23, for example).

Among them, the only result missing is an away win for Kavanagh

Peculiar data that I had not seen before in a single weekend:

- 4 home teams have not received a single yellow card (ARS, BOU, CHE, NEW)
- 4 managers have been carded: Pereira (red), Maresca (double yellow), Moyes and Slot (yellow)

By the book, but from a sporting PoV, Maresca's second was harsh

Should Arsenal's penalty have been overturned? Plus, Man United's spot-kick escape Should Arsenal's penalty against West Ham have been cancelled? What happened with Sunderland's overturned spot kick at Manchester United?

The VAR review by ESPN UK for the past weekend is now available: www.espn.co.uk/football/sto...
Simply from the rulebook perspective and about VAR intervention, I tend to be in line with the reviews. I disagree with a couple of on-field decisions (in #MANSUN and #AVLBUR), but accept the VAR action

And this is why I have a hard time believing in conspiracies... If you're really into it, you could still claim that PGMOL tried it and it was Taylor who delivered a different performance (despite a couple of errors), but the pattern is broken again and Chelsea deservedly won. #CHELIV

Bramall is another one with potential ties with Sheffield.
Unfortunately, most allegiances remain unknown, and with 5 new refs this season (yet to officiate) there is not enough data for them.
Webb said he'd make them public last season, but then made a U-turn.

Something recently surfaced from the data is that Michael Salisbury is not officiating Brentford games.
His allegiance is not known, but considering that he does officiate Fulham, I'd say he's therefore almost certainly a supporter of the other Brentford rivals, Queens Park Rangers.

Anthony Taylor - Record by club (Detailed view)

Brooks is one who does not join you on the pitch, only assists from the VAR room.

Not much else, at least not that I could see, given the limited data from just last season and the first weeks of this one.
Maybe looking at each referee on Transfermarkt... www.transfermarkt.com/anthony-tayl...

Hey Pete!
Attwell does not officiate Forest games, likely for his allegiance to Luton Town, although Pawson does (and frequently) despite being a Sheffield United fan. Not sure how fierce these rivalries are.
Bankes is your most common appointed ref with 11 games since the beginning of last season.

Also, Attwell doesn't get appointed to Nottingham Forest games, as he's professed his allegiance to Luton Town.
Though Pawson, who's a Sheffield United fan, gets regularly assigned to Forest games, so I'm not sure how rivalries are taken into account.

- Chris Kavanagh, 62 appointments
- Craig Pawson, 61
- Stuart Attwell, 61
- Jarred Gillett, 60
- John Brooks, 59
- Darren England, 59
- Simon Hooper, 56
- Peter Bankes, 56
- Anthony Taylor, 54
- Samuel Barrott, 54

Taylor (37), Oliver (32) and Kavanagh (31) are the top three as on-field officials.

You may think that Oliver and Taylor are the most employed Select Group 1 referees, since you see them on the pitch every week.
But in reality, Oliver doesn't even make it to the top10!
In all roles (Ref, 4th and VAR), it's Kavanagh who has the most apps since I started recording in 2024.
[1/2]

[10/10]
There's a lot of other interesting info that can be gleaned from this data, and I am collecting the same this season to confirm these findings and spot new patterns.
It takes a while but I'm getting pretty good at automating everything in Google Sheets... too much time, I guess 😅

[9/10]
You may also want to check this previous post about their possible 'influence' on other games (and why 'conflict of interest' should be expanded in PGMOL's policy):
bsky.app/profile/pgmo...

[8/10]
Looking at the title race, let's see how many times the refs with potential ties to LIV (see 2 and 3 in this thread) were ref or VAR in the games with the other top 4:
- Gillett: 7 ARS, 4 MCI, 6 CHE
- Jones: 1 ARS, 1 MCI, 2 CHE
- Bankes: 5 ARS, 7 MCI, 3 CHE

So: ARS 13x, MCI 12x, CHE 11x

[7/10]
- Kavanagh and Jones, both 10x with TOT
- Pawson, 10x with MUN
- Bond, 10x with LEI
- Robinson, 9x with CRY
- Attwell, 9x with CHE
- 16 refs were paired 8x apps with clubs

Brentford and Southampton were the only clubs with an 'equal' distribution of referees (max 6x).

[6/10]
I said before that, if the distribution was perfectly equal, each ref should be paired with each club a maximum of 3x as ref and 3x as VAR (so 6x max, even considering the allegiances).
There are plenty of examples where this is not the case.

These are the most striking ones:

[5/10]
And there are some refs who never set foot on the pitch with some clubs last season (as ref or 4th), but only stayed away at VAR.
- Atwell at ARS, MCI or TOT
- Brooks at AVL, BRI or NFO
- Salisbury at AVL, BRI, CHE
- Gillett at BRI
- Madley at BOU

[4/10]
In terms of duties, Tierney was full-time on VAR due to his injury. But Barrott, Bond, Bramall and Taylor never set foot in the VAR Room.
Jones, Harrington and Robinson only 1-2 times, while all others at least a dozen.
Top were England (25) Salisbury (27) Attwell, Brooks and Gillett (29)

[3/10] Bankes, Jones and Josh Smith are kept away from both Merseyside clubs, too (Bankes is said to be on the blue side, but not 100% confirmed).
Smith was on fewer than 20 apps, so it might have been a chance.

And Salisbury never crossed paths with Brentford (this season either, so far).