Men in The Middle: Premier League Referee Performances 2024/25

Men in The Middle: Premier League Referee Performances

They used to say that the sign of a good referee, was one that went unnoticed during the game. However, even if a referee does have a good game within the confines of the Premier League, they are now under more scrutiny than ever before.

Whether decisions are correct or incorrect, there are mountains of column inches, hours of discussion and days of audio debate all regarding the man in the middle. While just to add more fuel to the fire, here is some input of our own.

Not to necessarily say whether referees are good or bad, as ultimately such an opinion is subjective. Although we all have our opinions on those who blow the whistle at full time, it is always better to deal with facts.

Facts that come in the behaviour of referees during this 2024/25 Premier League season and with all the data complete for the season as a whole, we are now going to take a deeper dive into those who punish dives in the first place.

PLAY TO THE WHISTLE

When it comes to referee data, it does not offer as much depth as those who ply their trade in the Premier League. However, there are still enough points of analysis to understand how and why referees behave as they do.

While although the main facets of referee data will be fouls and cards, we can also get an idea of how lenient the men in the middle may or may not be and whether they have anything in the way of home bias.

The best place to start is by looking at the number of fouls per referee, and with the number of matches overseen being different, we will also present the data table on an average fouls per game basis.

Although referees such as Sam Allison, Andrew Kitchen and Lewis Smith have a high number of average fouls per game, they only refereed ten games between them during the 2023/24 campaign and therefore, their averages do not quite tell the complete story.

However, it must be noted that Allison's sole game in charge saw a whopping 32 fouls awarded in the space of 90 minutes - nearly a stoppage every 180 seconds.

Which means to make things as fair as possible, we should look at referees who have been in charge for at least 10 matches across the 2024/25 Premier League season and when applying this rule it is Robert Jones who tops the average list.

22 games in charge, 546 total fouls. This equates to an average of 24.82 per game and with Andy Madeley overseeing two less matches with 20, his total of 464 fouls equates to 23.20 per game – second in the list when filtering out those with less experience.

While when we consider all the referees that have walked out to the Premier League anthem at least once last season, there was an average of 22.76 fouls per game. A figure that is rather interesting when you consider those who are below average.

The likes of Anthony Taylor and Craig Pawson find themselves in the below average portion of the list and perhaps they are not as strict as first thought or with experience comes the ability to let the game flow.

FOULS OR CAUTIONS

Referee John Brooks // PA Images

Although the number of fouls per referee will offer some form of insight, it does not tell anywhere near the full story and to expand on our newly found knowledge, we are going to now look at this from a cautionary angle.

Because the interest really comes around when yellow cards are added into the mix and when we look at the same names of elite officials, this is how they look from a total yellows and average yellows per game point of view.

Now if we once again ignore those outliers, we would ignore a rather fascinating piece of insight involving Sam Allison. Not only did he award 32 fouls in the space of just 90 minutes, he also handed out no less than eight yellow cards.

Referee Samuel Barrott // PA Images

Of the referees that met the 10-game criteria, it is John Brooks that has dished out the highest number of yellow cards. 17 games as the man in the middle, a total of 86 yellows being awarded - an average of 5.06 per game and 0.36 higher than Simon Hooper who serves as the next eligible candidate. 

As always, there are those referees that can be considered lenient by comparison and at the lower end of the scale, Michael Salisbury has to be commended for keeping his cards in his pocket. Once removing those referees that did not meet the threshold, the 40-year-old sat bottom of the table.

He does so because of awarding just 43 yellow cards across 15 matches and this equates to an average of 2.87. A figure that was 0.06 less than referee Anthony Taylor who should also get some commendation for awarding just 2.93 cautions on average.

THE YELLOW RATIO

Now that we know who likes to kill the game with constant interruptions and who is partial to waving their yellow card more often, it is now time to see if there is a correlation between the two statistical tables.

How do we measure this? We can take a fouls-to-yellow ratio and in doing so, we can see just how lenient the latest crop of Premier League referees really are. 

Referee Samuel Allison // MI News & Sport

Once again we will apply the previous caveats, but before we do we must once again place the spotlight on Samuel Allison. Those 32 fouls in a single game led to eight yellows and this meant for every four fouls a booking was awarded.

Moving into the eligibility criteria and it is Simon Hooper who has the lowest fouls to yellow ratio and this means if the game is stopped, a caution is likely to follow. 

Hooper blew the whistle on 452 seperate occasions and this led to a total of 108 fouls, an average fouls to yellow ratio of 4.19.

Next in line is Samuel Barrott and after overseeing 23 Premier League matches, 486 fouls would lead to 106 yellows. A caution every 4.58 fouls and just above the average of 5.17 that was found across the division.

At the other end of the scale, it is Michael Salibsury who again avoids the spotlight. Only 15 matches in charge last season and a total of 328 fouls were awarded. However, this meant an average of 7.63 fouls before you would finally get on his wrong side. 

IS THERE ANY BIAS

Josh Brookes - Photo Credit: The EFL

With this data now painting a clearer picture of current Premier League referee behaviour, it is time to provide the biggest brushstroke of all and this comes courtesy of measuring home versus away bias.

It is often accused that referees have bias against teams playing away from home and with the data table below, we are going to now reveal which referees are guilty of at least some form of unconscious bias.

To do this, we must measure the number of total fouls our referees have given against the away teams and divide that by the number of total fouls our referees have given against the home teams. In doing so, we will generate an away bias ratio and if the ratio is more than 1.00, there is away bias.

Of the 24 referees in the data sample, 14 had away bias last season and one broke even  Although it is not by a huge amount per referee, it is interesting to see all the same and if any teams are on their travels while Jared Gillett is in charge, you could be in trouble.

He officiated 16 games last season and managed an average away foul bias ratio of 1.22. Not great for the visitors but one wonders if there were more games overseen by the Australian, would the average value soon decrease?

Do away teams have to scrap harder for the points that they are trying to earn and in turn have to be more combative on the field of play. In fairness, that is a more logical conclusion than a referee preferring one club over the other.

When trying to find the most neutral referee of all, that accolade is currently bestowed Sam Allison. Not only did he award 32 fouls in a one game but he split them right down the middle. 16 fouls for the hosts, 16 for the visitors and if you are looking for an official to annoy both sides he is the one. 

While the official who has swung the other way and favoured the away teams, is none other than Stuart Attwell with an away foul ratio being as low as 0.85. Although if we were to not add in any of the previous caveats, it is David Webb who favours the home teams the most.

CONCLUSION

In terms of the data above, it certainly shines a new light on referees and although we will never truly know if referees are as strict or as lenient as we conceive them to be, we can at least get a better idea of how they want the game to unfold in front of them.

By the same token, we can never say with any real conviction that a referee is biased, especially as impartiality is very much the name of the game. Which means although we may have an idea which is either backed or not backed up by data, it will ultimately stay as a hot topic for debate.