Mick
Life President
They have stuck with their policy of giving the first legs to experienced Football League referees and the crucial second legs to the SG referees.
For our home game, we have a return visit from Paul Taylor. Possibly his last ever match at this level (unless he gets an extra year after normal retirement or he gets one of the Finals). He was the official in charge for the Barnsley Cup game at the start of the year. At the time, I wrote:
The man in the middle is the very experienced, and therefore soon to retire, Paul Taylor from Cheshunt. Fifteen years a League referee (would have been more but he got kicked off for a couple of years) with one season when he did quite a few Premiership matches. Refereed Southend countless times, most recently Foran's (only) moment of glory against Burnley. Previous season the disappointing away defeat at Brentford and the somewhat better away win at Gillingham. Scorewise the most notable was the 4-4 draw at home to York, with Mark Tinkler getting their late equaliser.
Normally a "safe pair of hands" in the middle and not prone to extreme actions. Was a FIFA referee. Refereed Southampton's last match at the Dell and Cheltenham's first game in the League.
He will be assisted Messrs Bull and Bushell.
Whats he been up to since then? A bit of a red card spree with 6 dismissals but in fairness he has been given a lot of key fixtures and his last match was the Championship title decider at QPR last Sunday.
Co-incidentally Mr Bushell, from London, will again be one of the assistants, this time with Roger Vaughan travelling all the way from Somerset to wield the other flag.
Mark Halsey will do the return leg. More about him next week. In fact the complete list of playoff semi-final officials is:
M J JONES
K A FRIEND
H M WEBB
M CLATTENBURG
P TAYLOR
A BATES
A G WILEY
M R HALSEY
P ARMSTRONG
D DEADMAN
R J BEEBY
A P D'URSO
I mention this because the appointments for the Finals invariably come from those who've done a semi-final.
For our home game, we have a return visit from Paul Taylor. Possibly his last ever match at this level (unless he gets an extra year after normal retirement or he gets one of the Finals). He was the official in charge for the Barnsley Cup game at the start of the year. At the time, I wrote:
The man in the middle is the very experienced, and therefore soon to retire, Paul Taylor from Cheshunt. Fifteen years a League referee (would have been more but he got kicked off for a couple of years) with one season when he did quite a few Premiership matches. Refereed Southend countless times, most recently Foran's (only) moment of glory against Burnley. Previous season the disappointing away defeat at Brentford and the somewhat better away win at Gillingham. Scorewise the most notable was the 4-4 draw at home to York, with Mark Tinkler getting their late equaliser.
Normally a "safe pair of hands" in the middle and not prone to extreme actions. Was a FIFA referee. Refereed Southampton's last match at the Dell and Cheltenham's first game in the League.
He will be assisted Messrs Bull and Bushell.
Whats he been up to since then? A bit of a red card spree with 6 dismissals but in fairness he has been given a lot of key fixtures and his last match was the Championship title decider at QPR last Sunday.
Co-incidentally Mr Bushell, from London, will again be one of the assistants, this time with Roger Vaughan travelling all the way from Somerset to wield the other flag.
Mark Halsey will do the return leg. More about him next week. In fact the complete list of playoff semi-final officials is:
M J JONES
K A FRIEND
H M WEBB
M CLATTENBURG
P TAYLOR
A BATES
A G WILEY
M R HALSEY
P ARMSTRONG
D DEADMAN
R J BEEBY
A P D'URSO
I mention this because the appointments for the Finals invariably come from those who've done a semi-final.
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