Referee Stephen Tanner - Somerset (21/10/70)
Mr Tanner started refereeing in 1987 and progressed through the Southern leagues before being promoted to The Football League as an assistant referee in 1998.

He became a national list referee in 2003 and was an assistant referee at the 2003 FA Trophy final.

Ref Tanner's Premiership career is at an early stage, 2 games last season and 5 so far this season, so his track record is still in the melting pot. He was reffing in the Conference as recently as 2002/2003 so Ref Tanner is still a newbie in league football in general.

Fulham have had the pleasure of Mr Tanner's company just once before when he appeared in the Wigan game in March 07. The game was notable for serious boredom which Ref Tanner did not disturb.

Referee Stats - 2006/2007 Premiumship

Ref Tanner is blowing his whistle well above  average so far this season and is the 5th 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 dead on 3 yellows a game, slightly below the Premiership referee average. In terms of red cards he has yet to pull his little red card out during a Premiership games this season. Ref Tanner has awarded 2 pens so far this season twice the Premiership average.   Mr. Atkinson's Av Premiership Ref Total Match Avg Ref Pos Total Match Avg Games 5 7 Fouls 136 27.2 5th 163 25.1 Yellows 15 3.0 13th 22 3.4 Reds 0 0.0 10th 1 0.2 Penalties 2 0.4 3rd 1 0.2 Fouls per Yellow - 9.1 3rd - 7.4

Homer? (2006-2007) Total Home Away Total Games Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen Fouls Yellow Red Pen 5 63 5 0 2 73 10 0 0 136 15 0 2   46% 33% 0% 100% 54% 67% 0% 0% - - - - Premiership Average 7 50% 45% 65% 75% 50% 55% 35% 25% 163 22 1 1 Ref Tanner only bossed two Premiership games last season so it was difficult to get an idea of his approach but after 5 games this season it is clear that he is an above average Homer. Hopefully he forgets his homer instincts on Saturday.