Referee Martin Atkinson - Leeds, Yorkshire
Ref Atkinson started his refereeing career when he was 16 in the local leagues and progressed to The Football League assistant referees list in 1998 before being promoted to the select group of assistant referees in 2000. He refereed the FA County Youth Cup Final in 2003 and was promoted to the national list of referees at the start of the 2003/04 season. Ref Atkinson must have friends in high places as he went from the Conference to the Premiership in two seasons. Last season he officiated at four Premiership games and so far this season he has looked after 14 games in the top flight. He had a reputation of being a lenient referee in The Championship and managed to avoid sending anyone off between August 2004 and October 2005. Yorkshire-based Atkinson has reffed four Fulham games which have resulted in 3 home wins and an away defeat with 2 Fulham players being booked out of a total of 8 players. So far the Yorkshire man has been good for Fulham.Stoke have had the pleasure of Mr Atkinson's company on six occasions in the last few years and The Potters lost 5 and won 1!!

Referee Stats - 2006/2007 Premiumship

Ref Atkinson is blowing his whistle well above his personal average so far this season and is the 6th busiest whistler in the Premiership but when he does use it he is less likely to issue a yellow than his mates. So far he is averaging just under 3 yellows a game, slightlybelow the Premiership referee average. In terms of red cards he has only pulled his little red card out twice during his 14 Premiership games this season. He gave a straight red to Calum Davenport of Spurs for a professional foul in the area and a red for a second yellow against Chris Powell of Watford. Ref Atkinson has awarded 2 pens so far this season right on the Premiership average.   Mr. Atkinson's Av Premiership Ref Total Match Avg Ref Pos Total Match Avg Games 14 13 Fouls 382 27.3 6th 320 25.4 Yellows 40 2.9 10th 41 3.3 Reds 2 0.1 10h 2 0.2 Penalties 3 0.2 12th 3 0.3 Fouls per Yellow - 9.6 13th - 7.8

Homer? (2006-2007) Total Home Away Total Games Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen 14 189 18 1 2 193 22 1 1 382 40 2 3   49% 45% 50% 67% 51% 55% 50% 33% - - - - Premiership Average 13 50% 42% 33% 62% 50% 58% 68% 38% 337 43 2 4 Ref Atkinson was the biggest homer in the Premiership at one point last season but this season he has started to go the other way.Hopefully he remembers his homer instincts on Saturday.

Previous Fulham games what was refed by Martin Atkinson

2006/2007

04-11-2006 Premiership Fulham 1-0 Everton 1y 0r Bookings: Neville (Everton)

2005/2006

15-04-2006 Premiership Fulham 2-1 Charlton 0y 0r Bookings: None Quiet game for Ref Atkinson but good fun for Fulham fans Boa Morte got two excellent goals and the result put The Cottagers one short of the magical 40 with 4 games to go. We went on to get a further 9 points so nearly a quarter of our seasonal total from 10% of the games.

04-02-2006 Premiership Man Utd 4-2 Fulham 6y 0r Bookings: Brown, Evra, Neville, Smith (Man Utd) Boa Morte, Rosenior (Fulham) The one where Ref Atkinson and his lino could not see Van Nistelrooy a yard off-side and interfering with play for United's crucial third goal. And Coleman offered the assistant responsible a forthright opinion, which Ref Atkinson deemed worthy of a quick walk to the stands.

22-10-2005 Premiership Fulham 2-0 Liverpool 2y 0r Bookings: Josemi, Sissoko (Liverpool) Referee Atkinson correctly held out against heavy pressure from Liverpool players about a number of decisions

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