Referee Mike Riley- Leeds, West Yorkshire
37-year-old Mike Riley was the Premiership's youngest referee in 1999/2000. Riley, who is a finance director by profession, began refereeing in 1980 and joined the Football League roster in 1994.

The Premiership beckoned in 1996 and by 1999 he was on the official FIFA list. The 1996 Youth Cup was his first taste of officiating a high profile final. He took charge of the 2001 Charity Shield and 2002 Cup Final.

During last season Mr Riley gave 8 penalties, 7 of them were in favour of Man Utd. He had officiated at 5 Man U games giving penalties in all of them including two games where he gave two penalties to the Mancunians. How unfortunate!

This season Riley is being more careful with his penalties but is still not well regarded by fans particularly those up at Leicester. Hopefully he will have an excellent performance for Fulham against Birmingham on the weekend.

Referee Stats - 2003/2004
Ref Riley's figures so far this season are above the Premiership average in all aspects other than penalties. Presumably he learnt his lesson last season with Man Utd. In fact only Rennie whistles more than Riley but in his favour, on average, Riley issues less cards and therefore his average number of fouls per yellow is the second highest in the Premiership.	Mr. Riley's Av Premiership Ref Total Match Avg Total Match Avg Games 16 14 Fouls 452 28.25 358 26.00 Yellows 58 3.63 41 3.01 Reds 4 0.25 2 0.15 Penalties 2 0.13 2 0.14 Fouls per Yellow - 7.79   8.64
Homer? (2003-2004) Total Home Away Total Games Fouls Yellow Red Fouls Yellow Red Fouls Yellow Red 16 212 31 4 240 27 0 452 58 4   47% 53% 100% 53% 47% 0% - - - Premiership Average 14 48% 44% 37% 52% 56% 63% 358 41 2	Analysis of Ref Riley's figures show him to have a distinct bias against home teams, just one of a handful of Ref's with a similar affliction. His 53% of yellows against home teams compares with the divisional average of 44%.He has issued 4 red cards this season so far all of them against home teams.

Mr Riley has reffed 5 Fulham games in the last 4 years and in those 5 games he has sent off two Fulham players. His big moment was refing this season's clash between Man U and Fulham and restraining himself from giving Man U any penalties.2003/04
24-02-2004 FA Cup West Ham 0-3 Fulham 1 0 r
Bookings: Horlock (West Ham)

20-12-2003 Premier Fulham 0-1 Chelsea 5y 0r
Bookings: Clark, Saha (Fulham) Gronkjaer, Joe Cole, Johnson (Chelsea)

25-10-2003 Premier Man Utd 1-3 Fulham 5y 0r
Bookings: Djemba-Djemba, Forlan, Fortune, Giggs (Man Utd) Knight (Fulham) 2001/02
21-10-2001 Premier Fulham 1-1 Ipswich 5y 1r
Bookings: Boa Morte, Boa Morte (sent off 45), Legwinski (Fulham) Armstrong, Peralta, Wilnis (Ipswich)
Ref Riley wrongly sent Boa Morte off for diving dispite there being a clear block by Hreidarsson and helped The Cottagers to lose 2 points.2000/01
10-03-2001 Division 1 Fulham 2-0 QPR 2y 0r
Bookings: Baraclough, Crouch (QPR) 1999/00
20-11-1999 Division 1 Blackburn 2-0 Fulham 7y 1r
Bookings: Grayson, Ward (Blackburn) Clark, Coleman, Hayward, Horsfield, Symons, Cadamarteri (sent off 84)(Fulham)

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