Mick
Life President
Firstly, festive greetings to all, even referees.
League matches at Colchester this century have been alternating wins ..... and it's our turn !
The man in charge will be Phil Gibbs from Birmingham. He is employed as Deputy Headteacher at Kings Heath Boys School, a secondary school in the Birmingham area which counts ex-Blue Theo Robinson amongst its alumni.
In his eighth season as a League referee, he has refereed Southend five times before. The last match was the 1-1 draw at home to Exeter last season, yellow to Binnom-Williams and one of theirs. Then the 1-0 defeat at Gillingham three seasons ago; a red for them and a couple of yellows for us (Timlin and Martin).
Prior to that it was the 1-1 draw at Port Vale towards the back end of the season 2010/11. One caution apiece (ours was Comminges). Then the 2-1 home defeat to Cheltenham earlier in the same season and the other was the home game in 2009/10 when we beat Hartlepool 3-2 (from 2-0 down at half time) and one of theirs was sent off. He did pretty well in that game. Just one yellow for us in each of those two games, Barker and Grant respectively.
Each of his last three seasons has been severely disrupted by injury. Last season he started late and finished early, this season he again started late in November. In his very late 40s, this might well be his last season.
His card count is usually a little below average and this season he has 17 yellows and one red from just 6 matches to his credit. Not the quickest around the pitch.
Assisting him will be fast rising, black official Akil Howson from Leicester and the youngest official in the entire Football League list, Josh Smith, the 22-year-old from Bourne in Lincolnshire. Truly dreadful non-league referee Michael George (I think I’ve got that the right way round) from North Walsham in Norfolk will be standing by on 4th official duties.
League matches at Colchester this century have been alternating wins ..... and it's our turn !
The man in charge will be Phil Gibbs from Birmingham. He is employed as Deputy Headteacher at Kings Heath Boys School, a secondary school in the Birmingham area which counts ex-Blue Theo Robinson amongst its alumni.
In his eighth season as a League referee, he has refereed Southend five times before. The last match was the 1-1 draw at home to Exeter last season, yellow to Binnom-Williams and one of theirs. Then the 1-0 defeat at Gillingham three seasons ago; a red for them and a couple of yellows for us (Timlin and Martin).
Prior to that it was the 1-1 draw at Port Vale towards the back end of the season 2010/11. One caution apiece (ours was Comminges). Then the 2-1 home defeat to Cheltenham earlier in the same season and the other was the home game in 2009/10 when we beat Hartlepool 3-2 (from 2-0 down at half time) and one of theirs was sent off. He did pretty well in that game. Just one yellow for us in each of those two games, Barker and Grant respectively.
Each of his last three seasons has been severely disrupted by injury. Last season he started late and finished early, this season he again started late in November. In his very late 40s, this might well be his last season.
His card count is usually a little below average and this season he has 17 yellows and one red from just 6 matches to his credit. Not the quickest around the pitch.
Assisting him will be fast rising, black official Akil Howson from Leicester and the youngest official in the entire Football League list, Josh Smith, the 22-year-old from Bourne in Lincolnshire. Truly dreadful non-league referee Michael George (I think I’ve got that the right way round) from North Walsham in Norfolk will be standing by on 4th official duties.
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