Jeff Winter - Exclusive Interview with OLBG

Jeff Winter, Former Refereee

Jeff Winter is a name that resonates with football fans and players for his notable contributions to the sport as a Premier League referee. Born in the heart of English football culture, Middlesbrough, his career on the pitch has been marked by significant matches, most notably the 2004 FA Cup final. Following his retirement from professional refereeing, Winter transitioned seamlessly into the media sector and maintains strong ties to the game through his support for Middlesbrough F.C. and authorship of an autobiography that offers an insider's view of football officiating.

🏟️⚽Career Information

Jeff Winter began his career in football not as a player, but as an official, rising through the ranks to become one of the football community's most respected referees. His career culminated in officiating one of the most prestigious matches in English football, the 2004 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Millwall, which served as his swan song from professional refereeing.

After stepping away from the professional level, Winter continued to stay connected to the game through Masters Football, an annual event that extends competitive spirit to the legends of the sport, past their prime playing years but still relishing the game they love.

🎙️📰 Media Work

Jeff Winter's expertise and engaging persona were not limited to the field. After hanging up his whistle, he embarked on a successful stint in radio with TFM Radio on Teesside, sharing his insights and opinions until June 2008. His reach extended beyond radio, as Winter became a prolific writer, contributing columns to both local and national media. His work and thoughts on football and refereeing are conveniently consolidated on his official website.

✒️📚🏠 Personal Life and Writing

True to his roots, Jeff Winter is an ardent supporter of his hometown club, Middlesbrough F.C., and also carries a torch for Rangers. His autobiography, "Who's The B*****d in the Black?" published in 2006, offers readers a candid glimpse behind the scenes of football refereeing, narrating his experiences and the multifaceted challenges faced by officials at the highest levels of the game.

New Jeff Winter Interview April 2024

Bukayo Saka IS a cheat and Cristiano Ronaldo to blame for perfecting the art, Prem refs to blame for skyrocketing player injuries and Roy Keane would struggle as a player now”

Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter has questioned Bukayo Saka’s cheating and admitted that Cristiano Ronaldo perfected the art in an exclusive interview with OLBG.

Winter has explained why Premier League referees are fearing for their jobs over the influence of VAR and called for officials to be handed back control.

The former FA Cup final ref has also admitted that he’d have lost his job in minutes if he had been given a microphone during fixtures and said he’d have no issues working in Saudi.

Winter has also slammed current officials as to blame for skyrocketing player injuries and suggested Roy Keane would find the modern game difficult.

Q: Arsenal didn’t get a corner late on against Bayern despite a shot having two deflections, will a ref look back and regret it?

JW: “Complaints about individual moments like this sum up the world we live in. Technology can be a wonderful thing but we are constantly re-referring games.

“You could see 100 instances in the game last night where players made mistakes and wasted chances to score but fans will only care about the referee’s decision and it’s destroying the game. It’s turning into a science.

“It fills air time for pundits on TV and gives people something to talk about. But it's not the game of football that I believe most people love.”

Q: What do you make of Bukayo Saka’s ‘penalty winning’ technique, is it diving?

JW: “Bukayo Saka’s technique to try and win penalties has been going on forever. It’s more prevalent now because we get to watch it over and over again.

“One of the first players perfecting the art was Cristiano Ronaldo. He started taking it to the level we see today where the attacker leaves a leg in and it’s so hard to tell if he is creating contact with the defender or the other way around?

“It's where subjectivity, which is a word I didn't even know what that meant until a couple of years ago, comes into it. 

“If you get 100 referees in the room and they're all neutral you're not gonna get unanimous. So you know why take it away from the referee.

“If it's not a clear and obvious error, someone, somewhere has got to make the decision quickly for the benefit of the game.

“It's being made virtually impossible now because of the speed of the game. Sometimes it's a toss of a coin. The referee can't win.”

Q: Is what Saka doing, diving? Is that what Ronaldo made popular in the game?

JW: “The basic word to describe what players like Bukayo Saka have been doing is cheating, but it's now part of the game and has been part of the game for 50 odd years. 

“It's now just been taken to a higher level because the game is so much faster. I don’t know how you stop it. 

“But then you know the way the world's going now. We could end up in a court of law because if somebody loses a major game or gets relegated or loses the Championship, then people are gonna be taking legal action.

“I don't know how you prove categorically it was a dive. Now we have VAR to check but it’s run by humans and they’re still getting it wrong.”

Q: Are referees getting more abuse than in your day because of VAR?

JW: “Referees are getting more abuse because of VAR. I wrote in my autobiography 20 years ago that you could see the problems that would possibly happen with technology and it's been proved to be correct.

“I don't know honestly what the answer is, but what I do know is sitting in a football stadium as a fan that my enjoyment of the game at the highest level has been eroded because everybody is highlighting every single referee decision.

“It's life in general, you know, social media and everything has made everybody an expert on everything you know, Covid being a perfect example.

“Where the man in the street who knew more about medicine than anyone else we've now got everyone having an opinion on football and within seconds if you're at a game of football now and you see something, people turn to me and ask was this a handball, was that a handball?

“I won't use the language here that I normally reply to them. But how do I know from 60 yards away?

“Two seconds later, phones are going bleep, bleep because people are watching it at home or watching it on dodgy sticks or watching it in real time, seeing all the replays and everybody's got an opinion.”

Q: Are we having a crisis with no one wanting to learn to be a referee?

JW: “We are having a referring crisis. There's been a shortage for many a long year, and now what happens?

“There has always been dissent, but, you know, there could be clampdowns and referees at the highest level owe it to themselves and every other referee in the country to apply the laws. Unfortunately, the clubs run the game.

“The clubs don't want what they call needless yellow cards so dissent continues. VAR was supposed to cure everything but it has made things much worse.

“Imagine you're out there refereeing, you've made a decision, and then you're being called across to the camera and someone watching loads of replays makes you change the decision.

“Can you imagine the dialogue and the respect on the field because the next time the ref makes a decision the players ask if you’re sure because you got the last one wrong.

“VAR was always about avoiding the famous Thierry Henry handball which was blind side of the match officials. Definite cheating mistake not seen by the officials.

“Now all we hear is the authorities saying we don't want to re-referee the game. That is exactly what is happening.

“If you've got to wait that long to make a decision and it wasn't an obvious error, it's one of those where you and I have got different opinions on something.

“Tell you what, why don't we flip a coin? And that's what we're virtually doing now. 

It's just not the game that I love.”

Q: How has Howard Webb done with VAR and the current game?

JW: “Howard Webb is doing the best job he can. The problems started before Howard Webb because there was no future planning. We were keeping referees on the list because of their experience so younger referees couldn’t get the experience at the highest level.

“I know Howard personally, he's a top guy, was a brilliant referee. You can only do what you can do with the tools you've got in front of you and it's not gonna be an overnight fix.

“It's going to take time. He has to support VAR because his bosses have gone down that route. They’ve spent millions trying to cure all the evils.

“If you look at games in Europe, how many times do we have major talking points? It's not perfect, but it seems as if it works at the European Championships and World Cups and in European competition.

“It’s just domestically that we seem to have got it wrong, chopping and changing interpretations.

“If you ask me now what a handball is I'd cut this conversation. I haven't got a clue what a handball is and I think neither do players, managers and more importantly, the referees.

“All their experience goes out the window when new interpretations are brought in because people are desperate for perfection. You're never, ever gonna get perfection.”

Q: Should Gabriel have given away a penalty for his handball vs Bayern?

JW: “Gabriel should’ve conceded a penalty for his handball. It was an accident but it should've been a penalty. I mean, it was a handball. The ball was in play.

“I can see it from the referee's point of view but he won't win any fans in the authorities because he's gone against the laws of the game. It was farcical.

“But I do have sympathy for the ref on that occasion, you do get situations where you can say I wasn't ready, but on that occasion it was mind boggling, the play had restarted.

“He handled the ball and it should have been a penalty but you only learn from your mistake and I think both the player and referee will learn from it. Gabriel won’t be doing that again.”

Q: Has that referring blunder vs Spurs cost Liverpool the title?

JW: “The incorrect decision not to give Liverpool a goal against Tottengham won't end up costing Liverpool the title. We play 38 games a season. Liverpool will have missed penalties. Liverpool will have missed open goals.

“Liverpool will have had ridiculous restarts in their own six yard box where they give the ball away, that was one decision in one game.

“Had the goal stood then who's to say that Spurs wouldn't have run up the field and scored two goals? So let me get that off my chest cos it's always a bug bear with me.

“No one decision in a game of football costs a team over a season, or definitely categorically is the difference on the result. We go back to the old thing with VAR

“We're getting good goals chalked out or previously, good goals chalked out for millimetres, someone's ear is offside and the goal is ruled out. It's absolutely gone farcical.”

Q: Will assistant referees be phased out of the game?

JW: “Assistant referees will be phased out of the game if it continues as it is. We had a situation up in Scotland a couple of weeks ago where the VAR lines weren’t working so they just used the best camera angle they had. What is the role of the assistant referee? Is there any point of him being out there?

“Before long, what will the point of the referee be? Will we need one of them out there? With the new technology?

“Life does move on but running the line at any level is an art, it’s very difficult. At the very highest level a lot of experience, a lot of quality is needed.

“I mean this farcical situation we have now where everyone in the ground can tell someone's five yards offside and we don't flag, we wait.

“Eventually we will have a player go through and a goalkeeper comes out and there's a very serious injury, possibly even a career threatening injury. All because the lawmakers have said don't raise your flag.”

Q: Would you be in favour of cameras going on referees?

JW: “If I had worn a microphone then my career would have been over in five minutes. We were in a day when men could talk to men and indeed, women could talk to women.

“Players would hand it out and the referee could deal with it by man management. My career would have lasted five minutes.

“I think it's been successful in trials in local football but is it going to act as a deterrent for swearing or dissent at the top level?

“In the heat of the battle, I think a player's going to say exactly what he thinks and you've got to clamp out the language being used by the likes of Wayne Rooney years ago.

“It's setting a bad example if the kids are watching it and then they copy it when they're playing football themselves.

“Would I like to have a camera on me if it assisted the game? I think football is a unique. Would it help? I don't know. We’ve had enough gimmicks in the last few years. I just wish we really could go back to football where we the referee was the only man in charge 

“Did he get everything right? No, but the vast majority of the time, he got it right. A few years ago, there was something like 98% of refereeing decisions were correct. We don't live in a perfect world but that is almost there.

“I think it would help at grassroots level because of the assaults on officials. Then they would have evidence that could end up in the courts. We don't have that problem at the highest level.”

Q: Which players could’ve been punished back in the day if cameras were around?

JW: “It's about personalities and on a football pitch. There would be some players getting in trouble. I sent Danny Mills off playing for Leeds about 30 years ago and I still don't think he's got it out of his system.

“I've seen him, I've spoke to him. We've had banter about it, but I don't think he'll ever forgive and forget that one.

“So there's always gonna be situations where a player does feel aggrieved and they’d show that with language, I and a few others would give as good as they got, but there was respect.”

Q: Are officials using VAR over fear for their jobs?

JW: “Officials fear for their jobs because of VAR. In my youth there was one camera and that was the only angle you got. Now you’re seeing things from every angle and one is bound to look like the referee got it wrong.

“Right now, every big decision we see in any game is being dissected. I feel for the bloke in the VAR room because then the pressure is all on him.

“With that evidence in front of him, if he still gets it wrong, he's gonna be hammered, as is happening week in, week out.

“If I ask you to do something now and your job's on the line, you're gonna take much more time. You're gonna check. You're gonna double check. You're gonna triple check because you don't wanna look foolish and you don't wanna lose your job.

“That’s where we’re at with referring and VAR.”

Q: What do you make of Premier League referees working in Saudi Arabia?

JW: “I don’t understand what was behind Premier League refs starting to work in the Saudi Pro League. They have a contract with their employer and would need permission from the employer to go and do it, so it's obviously been sanctioned.

“But let’s look at anybody out there. If you were given the opportunity to earn money for you and your family and you know the sort of money that's been thrown around for players in Saudi, you would presume that the referees are not going across there for 50 quid?

“So you would have to say, why not let them get on with it? It’s something that never happened in my day. There might be a yacht berthed on the River Tees if I'd had the opportunity to go out to Saudi.”

Q: How would you compare interactions with Sir Alex Ferguson to the likes of Jurgen Klopp in the modern game?

JW: “Current Premier League bosses are worse to officials then they used to be, that’s for sure. But with all the cameras and rules managers do seem as if they're under so much more pressure.

“The worst job in football, probably worse than being a referee or being a VAR, is being the fourth official because you are the brunt of all their frustrations.

“The managers at big clubs can be worse because they are used to winning. They don't take kindly to decisions going against them.

“But when you get abuse of referees on a Sunday morning that probably stems from what those wannabe managers, wannabe coaches and wannabe players that have seen that behaviour on the television.

“The game at the highest level has a responsibility to every other game of football played in the country.”

Q: Are English referees among the best or worst in Europe?

JW: “English referees are among the best in Europe because the proof is in the pudding.

“Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver, who are our two highest ranked referees on the European and world stage seem to feature quite prominently in the major competitions.

“Even looking back to the 1960s, English referees were always held in great regard. But in this country, the scrutiny is immense. The Premier League goes around the world so reputations can be made or lost on one decision in one game.

“Being a referee is like being a player and getting your chance in the Premier League, it takes time to acclimatise and the management of officials has cost them.

“Referees being left on past retirement age and younger officials weren’t getting the opportunity so it took time to adjust. It’s much more difficult for them now.”

Q: What was Roy Keane like during matches and your interactions?

JW: “You couldn't interact with Roy Keane and that isn't meant as a criticism.

“It's made as a compliment because he was so intense and so focused on the game and his team, he didn't have time to bother with referees.

“For someone like Roy Keane, his punditry, he sometimes comes across as very harsh and very hard hitting and I think he'd find it difficult as a player now or even as a manager again.

“They are different animals to his day, they would get stuck in and take tackles as well as handing them out now, I mean, some of the rolling round and trying to get players sent off.

“Now it's about taking every advantage, you know, to win a penalty, to get an opponent sent off. But then they create holy hell when it goes against them. You can't have it both ways.

Q: What is the worst thing about modern refereeing?

JW: “Games now last 100 odd minutes and that is the fault of referees.

“If referees clamp down on time wasting and taking throw-ins from the right place and got the little things sorted out which they've got the powers to do, we wouldn't need to be playing 10 minutes of additional time.

“We might have had a player cautioned. A few players cautioned. We might even have had a player sent off, but then you would hope that the penny drops.

“We're seeing more players getting injured now. Stress injuries, injuries being caused by tiredness because players are trained to play a 90 minute game, not to be playing two 55 minute halves.

“That's one thing I do firmly lay the blame for at the feet of the referees and the authorities.”

Interview December 2023 - I don’t know what went through Simon Hooper’s mind not allowing an advantage to Man City against Tottenham, you can’t defend the indefensible

Speaking to OLBG, retired Premier League referee Jeff Winter said he was left baffled by Simon Hooper’s decision to not allow Manchester City an advantage in the thriller with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday

What did you think about Simon Hooper’s decision to not allow Manchester City the advantage in the closing stages of the Tottenham Hotspur game? 

JW: “In the eyes of the pundits and Man City fans, it was a match-defining incident. It was an error of judgment by the referee, you can’t defend the indefensible. However, it’s not just football, which gets the blame for everything, all the ills of the world are put in the hands of football. 

“Before we get to that incident where people are saying it’s a match-determining incident, I saw Erling Haaland miss an open goal from 10 yards earlier in the game.

“I would suggest that if he put that ball into the net, you would think on the quarter-million pound a week salary he’s earning, he should have done and the game would have been beyond Tottenham. I’ll fight until my dying day that one incident in 90 minutes determines the result of a game. 

“The referee has made an error. I don’t know if they looked at the possibility of Grealish being offside, it looked like a tight one but as good a player as Grealish is, can we hand on heart say that Grealish would have scored? Let’s get that into context.

“There’s a tackle on Haaland that nine times out of 10, he’s going to be on the ground in absolute agony, screaming for a yellow card with his teammates. The referee has a decision to make. Is it a foul? Can he play on? Advantage is not possession, in that split second, many referees, myself included, have seen the foul. They don’t want an escalation of reaction to the foul, they hit the whistle but the play goes on and you see the ref holding their hands up, saying they’re sorry, I got that one wrong. The best referee in the world isn’t going to get that one right every time. 

“This one is slightly different, Hooper recognises the foul and decides to play advantage a couple of seconds later. I don’t know what went through his mind. I don’t know why he blew the whistle. You can’t defend it, he’s made a mistake, just like Haaland did when he missed an open goal. It’s human error, it’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s not referees being useless. Hooper had a very good game, he let the game flow, he hadn’t overreacted but then in the 94th minute of the game, he got something wrong. Unfortunately, he made a genuine mistake and he will be hurting more than anyone this morning. 

“As a referee, people think that referee’s don’t care. You’ve got pride in your own performance and he will realise why the hell did I blow my whistle, why didn’t I give it a couple more seconds. We’ve gone into mass hysteria mode and it’s the only thing to talk about this weekend. All you can ever do as a player or referee, is to hopefully learn from it. It’s not a case like we used to argue about 10 years ago about the ball being over the line or not where it’s factually proven. It’s a ‘might have’ incident where Man City may have scored and won the game but we won’t know that. He was denied the opportunity through a split-second, error of judgment by the referee.”

Q. Might have been a different reaction if Haaland had scored and City were 4-3 up before the incident? 

JW: “Once you’ve got these knee-jerk comments coming in, it’s not helping the game from professional level through to the grassroots. The trouble with these referees is that they ‘don’t know the game’. If that’s the case, what I would propose is that all referees take a weekend off and let’s see how many former players are queuing up wanting to do the job and learn overnight how to be in the right position and get the best angles on incidents?

“We see it in the media every weekend, the level of theatre where it’s two guys, one says it’s a penalty and one says it’s not a penalty, it increases the debate and keeps the program going. It’s part and parcel of the game but let’s see how many will give up their jobs in the studio on a Saturday and always be right. Let’s see if it improves and you know what’s a dive and what’s a foul, especially ones that they have connections with and used to play for. It would be good for charity to see Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville refereeing Man City vs Liverpool. They’ve got more knowledge about football than the vast majority of people.

“Someone has got to make the decision. 20 years ago, those of us who were in the game, all the pundits were saying we’ve got to have the technology, we’ve got to have VAR. The referees are making mistakes, they’re costing managers jobs, I’m sure they are over a course of a season, it’s solely down to referees. People said they wanted this [the technology] and those of us who have spent a lifetime on the pitch have said it’s not like tennis or golf, it’s not stop-start. You can have an appeal for a penalty at one end which isn’t given and 10 seconds later, an appeal for a penalty which is given. 

“VAR comes in and says don’t send that player off that you’ve sent off. We said it would be farcical but that’s what we’ve got now. We’ve got the experts, the people from the FA and those in charge of the referees saying we don’t want the game re-refereed, but that’s what’s happening with every incident. VAR was supposed to be about getting the Thierry Henry handball incident right, on the blindside of the officials, they couldn’t give the referees the blame because they couldn’t see it but now we’ve got VAR dissecting every challenge in the penalty area. 

“It’s one thing for a referee making a decision and being judged to have got it wrong, it’s another thing for VAR with all the technology getting it wrong so they take longer. If you’ve been in a ground and you’re watching a game of football, and if you see the ball is in the net, the first thing as a referee is to glance at the linesman to see if they’ve got their flag up. Now, there’s a pregnant pause where we’re all standing round waiting for the decision to be made so those that were shouting for technology 20 years ago, I hope they’re eating their words because it’s just complicating the game.” 

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Q. Your initial thoughts on VAR? Have they changed since it was introduced?

JW: “Initially, I was skeptical about the idea of VAR. Pundits were being ultra critical of match officials during my time as a referee. We used to have the comments about goal-line technology where everyone could see in the ground that it was a goal, but when you’re on a football pitch you can’t see where the goal lines are until you’re within 10-15 yards of them. 

“As we’ve seen with technology, when the ball hits the underside of the crossbar and comes down, we’re talking millimeters. It was impossible for an assistant referee to see 40 yards away when the ball was driven in at 50mph. That showed how virtually impossible it was to correct. It’s now brilliant - there’s no argument for goal line technology now. 

“Pundits keep coming up with new statements and ways of describing a simple game. Everything else is someone’s opinion. The pundits from either side are bound to have a different opinion. The fans are bound to have a different opinion. We have a referee, that’s paid to make a decision. The laws of the game state that the referee’s decision is final but they don’t now because the referee’s decision isn’t final. 

“I hate the term about referees ‘bottling out’ of a decision, it’s a terrible terminology but referee’s are bottling out of decisions now because they’ve got this all powerful VAR. You can see that a lot of the frustrations that’s going into football which does go through to the grassroots level is being brought about by confusion. People are now asking ‘What is a handball?’ don’t ask me just because I’m a referee, I’m no more knowledgeable than you are because they keep changing the laws. They’ve made what is basically a simple game into something that none of us understand. The players and managers are rightfully frustrated. Their facial expressions say it all. Giving a decision in football is a natural reaction. 

“Someone did a survey and a high-90 per cent said that the referees are giving a correct decision which is a high level of excellence. Now the referees are being put under more pressure to make a decision. If you go to work on a Monday and your boss tells you to do something, what are you going to do? Do you do it or do you stand up to them? 

“Suppose you’ve got someone as a senior referee, like Anthony Taylor, and he’s the VAR man. If he tells a junior referee in his second season as a Premier League referee to have a look at the monitor, he’s not going to go against him, because he’s your boss in that situation as a younger, more inexperienced referee. It’s the same situation. It’s not being refereed by the on-field referee. 

“It’s not that they’re changing their decision because it’s a clear and obvious error. There’s just someone else that’s now refereeing the game which leads to a mistrust and a lack of confidence from the players to the match officials and that’s why the players are always in the referee’s ear, especially if they’ve made a previous mistake. Before, that never happened. You’ve given your decision, end of story. We can talk about it post-match but the decision is made and accepted and we move on. Match of the Day and Sky can stay on all night because we’re constantly talking about VAR. 

“Showing something in slow motion is always going to make an incident look worse than in real time. Somebody has got to make the final decision and why can’t it be the match official that has 10 to 15 years experience? Simon Hooper might play a perfect advantage next week and no one will say a word about it. Despite the fact he had a good game on Sunday, people will want him in the Championship. VAR officials need to look in the mirror and have to take responsibility for some of the mayhem we’re seeing in the game week after week.” 

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Q. The IFAB have suggested including sin bins for players that show dissent, what are your thoughts on this? Would it kill the game?

JW: “I don’t think it would kill the game, I’ve been an advocate for it because we’ve got a disciplinary system now where a totting up after five cautions, a player then gets suspended for the forthcoming game. If he’s a top player, it’s the opposition for that game that gets the benefit. 

“There would be negatives to it that teams would be more defensive for those 10 minutes but surely you would think the penny would drop if your numbers are being reduced, perhaps you won’t scream and shout at the referee or kick the ball away. You’d like to think that would lead to better player behaviour and better management of the game. 

“I listen to the comments that experts make. We’re seeing a lot more injuries and games are going on not for 90 minutes but well over 100 minutes. I blame the referees and authorities for that because one of the reasons for that is time wasting. 

“Throw-ins are a great example where back in my day, players would try to pinch two yards for throw-ins, now it’s more like 15 yards. Everyone now tries to clamp down on abusive language but then when the referees do start to do that, the worm turns because the player that gets a yellow card after 10 minutes and then a second yellow after 60 minutes, people say that the referees want to be the centre of attention. All of a sudden the referee, who has been encouraged to take further action, is now the villain of the piece.

“Injuries can occur by players standing around. A manager made an excellent point that if a player was in a sin bin for 10 minutes on a freezing cold night, then had to go out and in the first sprint, pulls a hamstring. These knee-jerk reactions are why we’re in a mess now. With handballs, we played football for years where it had to be a deliberate act but they keep tweaking the rules to make the game better but they don’t, it makes the game worse.

“Will sin bins work? I’d like to think so, but can they be managed? I used to hate being a fourth official because you’re not making the decisions but you’re an easy target for the benches to be screaming at. Will the fourth officials have to now keep an eye on sin-binned players that have had nine minutes fifty-eight seconds because then the benches are screaming that they want the player back on but your mind can be taken somewhere else as part of their role. Are we going to have to get more officials? I don’t know where we’re going to get all these officials from. We can’t afford to have games not being played because there’s a shortage of referees and that’s through to the grassroots level.

“With all this angst across football, there’s more and more youngsters fancying refereeing but packing it in after a few games. Instant punishment that might encourage players not to react and do something of the things they do, like dissent, I used to be in favour of it but in the presence of current lawmakers, let’s look at all the implications of this. 

“In broad terms yes, but I’m not totally convinced. Independent timekeeping is something that can be looked into. Managers get irate about how long we’re playing for. There’s more goals scored after 90 minutes than there ever has been because we’re playing seven minutes of added time nowadays. If you’ve got a stadium clock and there’s a match assessor in the game or it’s a job for someone else, I’ll stand there in the stands and press start and stop on a watch which gets shown in a stadium because then we’re not arguing about it. This could have been brought in many a year ago. 

“Speaking as a football fan, my level of enjoyment for the game has gone downhill. I listen to every comment that every fan says because I’m largely in agreement with them. There’s much more dissent and arguments than ever.”

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Q. The Daily Mail launched a campaign recently to stop referee abuse. During your time as a Premier League referee, what was the worst experience you’ve had in terms of abuse? 

JW: “I can’t answer that because I can’t think of one. Yes, there was dissent. In my day, we used to manage players, if a player came up to me, he’d get a mouthful back. Nowadays, the game has changed and the players have changed. Players would say to me fair point Jeff and get on with it but now, players will say referees can’t talk to them like that. Now with referees mic’d up, people can hear what they’re saying. 

“A referee that swore at a player, you wouldn’t see them again. In my day, we’re not talking about nasty abusive language, we’re talking about industrial language, the things that the players will do on the training field all day long. 

“An expletive is a request for a throw-in, a request that you give a penalty is accompanied by an expletive. There are worse words on a football pitch that you hear on a drama after 9pm on the TV. I’m not condoning it but it’s a fact of life.”