Clubs Supported By Premier League Referees
The recent controversial video of Premier League David Coote talking about Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp has opened up a can of worms when it comes to which club’s top-flight referees have allegiances with.
The 42-year-old has now been suspended from refereeing, with a full investigation underway over the almost surreal video.
Who do Premier League referees support?
David Coote’s allegiance to a football club is unknown. However, who do the other season 2024/25 Premier League referees support?
Here is the known information about the clubs that referees support, the place they are from and the biggest city nearby.
| Referee | Club they Support | From | Nearest City |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stuart Atwell | Luton Town | Nuneaton, Warwickshire | Leicester |
| Anthony Taylor | Altrincham | Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester | Manchester |
| Michael Oliver | Newcastle United | Ashington, Northumberland | Newcastle |
| Craig Pawson | Sheffield United | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | Sheffield |
| Paul Tierney | Wigan Athletic | Wigan, Lancashire | Manchester |
| Graham Scott | Swindon Town | Oxford, Oxfordshire | Oxford |
| Simon Hooper | Swindon Town | Swindon, Wiltshire | Bath |
| Chris Kavanagh | Droylsden | Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester | Manchester |
| Andrew Madley | Huddersfield Town | Huddersfield, Yorkshire | Leeds |
| David Coote | Notts County | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire | Nottingham |
| Peter Bankes | Unknown | Liverpool, Merseyside | Liverpool |
| Tim Robinson | Unknown | Middleton-on-Sea, West Sussex | Portsmouth |
| Robert Jones | Unknown | Wirral, Merseyside | Liverpool |
| Jarred Gillett | Liverpool | Queensland, Australia | Brisbane |
| Michael Salisbury | Unknown | Higher Penwortham, Lancashire | Preston |
| John Brooks | Leicester City | Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire | Leicester |
| Thomas Bramall | Unknown | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | Sheffield |
| Samuel Barrott | Unknown | West Riding, Yorkshire | Leeds |
Referees are supposed to be unbiased
Premier League referees are supposed to be neutral and unbiased when it comes to games. However, they are only human, and most are obviously big football fans in the first place, or they wouldn’t do the job in the first place.
Many referees have well-known allegiances, such as one of the country’s supposedly top referees, Michael Oliver, who supports Newcastle United.
Michael Oliver in The Clock tonight for a few pre match pints before he cheers on the Mighty Mags ! .. It’s only right the best ref in the world is part of the worlds best fan base ! #nufc pic.twitter.com/EQIr0iOQRT
— LeeW1892 (@fans_toon) December 27, 2021
If a referee is from a certain area, they are not permitted to referee a team from that area. Therefore, Oliver couldn’t handle a Newcastle match or a Sunderland match.
However, they also cannot officiate in a game involving the team they support. Who referees support wasn’t always a thing of public knowledge, and for some referees, it is still a mystery who they follow.
An incident involving Nottingham Forest and Luton Town supporting Stuart Atwell last season led to openness about the referee’s affiliations.
Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
Forest felt they had been hard done by in a 2-0 defeat against Everton towards the end of last season. They had several penalty claims turned down during the encounter at Goodison Park.
However, the Tricky Trees were quick to point out that VAR Atwell was a Luton fan, and the Hatters were one of Forest’s main relegation rivals. The club had informed the PGMOL, the referee’s governing body, before the game of the fact.
In truth, though, Everton were also Forest’s rivals at that point of the season, as they were yet to move away from the danger zone. The decisions benefitted the Toffees more than Luton when it came to survival.
It meant little at the end of the season, as Forest and Everton survived, while Luton made a quick return to the Championship after just one season in the Premier League.
Are referees biased when it comes to certain teams?
While it would be great to believe that referees are machines who have no bias, they are only human beings. They will like certain clubs and dislike certain clubs for some reason or another. However, they may not believe that their bias affects how they do their job.
As much as people hate to admit it, we all have unconscious biases, too. Those are biases which you don’t even realise you have towards a team or a person.
This will affect your behaviour. Maybe that team caused you psychological damage by recording a victory over your beloved club in a big game years ago.
Then there is that strange phenomenon where people dislike a certain person, place or, in this case, a football club for absolutely no reason. There may well be a reason, but it’s deep down in your psyche.
Most referees will go out and attempt to do their job to the best of their ability. The simple truth is that we need referees; otherwise, we wouldn’t have football.
They may well make mistakes, even after seven looks at a video of an incident, but we need them until technology comes along and makes them obsolete.
The David Coote situation is a strange one. For a Premier League referee to come out and criticise such a prominent football figure is incredible. To do it on video was even stranger.
Does he not like his job? Did he really think that the video wouldn’t get out into the public eye? It was naïve at best and, at worst, career suicide.
It just shows that referees can still dislike teams and certain personnel at clubs without having a known previous connection. Sometimes, it’s just a personality clash.
Even then, there is a certain expectation that the referee does his job without being biased.
The Coote debacle has illustrated that it’s not always possible, which will lead to further questions over other Premier League officials, especially when they make big mistakes that can cost teams over a season.