Referee Mike Riley- Leeds, West Yorkshire
Mike Riley, who is a finance director by profession, began refereeing in 1980 and joined the Football League roster in 1994. Riley was the Premiership's youngest referee in 1999/2000.
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 the 2002/2003 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 Manchurians. How unfortunate!
In the 2003/2004 season Ref Wiley only gave two penalties, neither to Man Utd, and officiated at the 3-1 thrashing of Man U by Fulham without giving a penalty to either squad, so he has gone some way to redeem himself.
Unfortunately for Ref Riley early in the 2004/2005 season somebody thought it would be a good idea if he looked after another Man U game, this time against Arsenal, and we know what happened that day.
Mr Riley has reffed 12 Fulham games in the Premiership in those 12 games he has sent off two Fulham players, Luis Boa Morte and Ian Pearce and The Cottagers have won just 2 of the 12. It could have been 3 out of 11 if he had not needed to call off the first attempt to play the Sunderland game however as one of the wins was the 3-1 thrashing of Man U at Man U Mr Riley can't be all bad. Can he?
Referee Stats - 2006/2007
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Ref Riley had a word with his whistle after last season's above average effort and whistled less than at any time in his Premiership career during 2006/2007. However he is still a busy decision maker with a top spot for red cards and top ten positions for fouls, yellows and pens.
His red card decisions mean that he is issuing one every 3.5 games on average.
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Mr. Riley's |
Av Premiership Ref |
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Total |
Match Avg |
Pos. |
Total |
Match Avg |
| Games |
22 |
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19 |
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| Fouls |
605 |
27.5 |
5th |
476 |
25.0 |
| Yellows |
78 |
3.5 |
6th |
61 |
3.2 |
| Reds |
6 |
0.3 |
1st |
3 |
0.1 |
| Penalties |
6 |
0.3 |
7th |
5 |
0.3 |
| Fouls per Yellow |
- |
7.8 |
8th |
- |
7.8 |
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| Homer? (2006-2007) |
| Total |
Home |
Away |
Total |
| Games |
Fouls |
Yellow |
Red |
Pen |
Fouls |
Yellow |
Red |
Pen |
Fouls |
Yellow |
Red |
Pen |
| 22 |
304 |
37 |
3 |
4 |
301 |
41 |
3 |
2 |
605 |
78 |
6 |
6 |
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50% |
47% |
50% |
67% |
50% |
53% |
50% |
33% |
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| Premiership Average |
| 19 |
49% |
43% |
32% |
59% |
51% |
57% |
68% |
41% |
476 |
61 |
3 |
5 |
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Ref Riley is suprisingly even-handed unlike many of his colleagues. His most obvious homer bias seems to surface with penalty decisions with 4 out of 6 going to home sides.
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Previous Fulham games what was refed by Mike Riley
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13-05-2007 Premier Middlesbro 3-1 Fulham 1y 0r
Bookings: Pogatetz (Middlesbro)
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31-03-2007 Premier Fulham 1-1 Portsmouth 1y 0r
Bookings: Brown (Fulham)
Fulham had 14 fouls which Mr Riley thought deserved 1 yellow and Pompey had 24 fouls which deserved no yellows. Sounds fair!
Who would have thought that Pearcey would have got a crucial goal with a last shot in the dying moments of the game. |
02-10-2006 Premier Watford 3-3 Fulham 4y 0r
Bookings: Mahon (Watford) Helguson, Pearce, Radzinski (Fulham) |
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04-05-2005 Premiership Sunderland 2-1 Fulham 8y 0r
Bookings: Brown, Caldwell, McCartney, Whitehead (Sunderland) Bridge, Christanval, Elliott, Pearce (Fulham)
The replay of the one, where we were 1-0 up and Riley abandoned the game because of rain. Fortunately for Chris Coleman's old friend Mr Ball, caretaker manager of Sunderland at the time, Sunderland were able to claim their only Premiership home win in the season when the game was replayed. Coincidentally we had gained our solitary away win of the season at Man City in the previous game. Who says football is a hard game.At halftime in the replay home supporters booed Ref Riley off after he had booked both Steve Caldwell and George McCartney for fouls but turned a deaf ear to their appeals for a series of fouls perpetrated by The Cottagers. Surprise surprise within 12 minutes of the restart Simon Elliott, Philippe Christanval and Ian Pearce had all been yellow-carded.
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31-12-2005 Premiership Portsmouth 1-0 Fulham 3y 0r
Bookings: Karadas (Portsmouth) Bocanegra, Rosenior (Fulham)
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17-10-2005 Premiership Charlton 1-1 Fulham 4y 0r
Bookings: Kishishev (Charlton) Christanval, Malbranque, Volz (Fulham)
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27-08-2005 Premiership Fulham 1-0 Everton 3y 1r
Bookings: Malbranque (Fulham) Neville (sent off 90 snd yel), Weir (Everton)
Everton seemed to have a strong claim for a pen five minutes into the second half when Cahill appeared to be shoulder-charged in the chest by that top defensive tackler Luis Boa Morte. Fortunately on this occasion Ref Riley was not interested. |
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04-10-2004 Premiership C Palace 2-0 Fulham 2y 1r
Bookings: Johnson (C Palace) Bocanegra, Pearce (sent off 6) (Fulham)
The one when Ian Pearce was sent off just five minutes into the match for pulling back Johnson, when the Palace striker was clean through on goal, and the red card saw Coleman's side under the cosh for the rest of the match.
10-11-2004 League Cup Nottm Forest 2-4 Fulham 6y 0r
Bookings: Dawson, Evans, Perch, Thompson (Nottm Forest) Cole, Volz (Fulham)
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03-04-2004 Premiership Fulham 0-0 Birmingham 6y 0r
Bookings: Boa Morte, Davis, Djetou, Malbranque (Fulham) Savage ,Upson (Birmingham)24-02-2004 FA Cup West Ham 0-3 Fulham 1y 0 r
Bookings: Horlock (West Ham)20-12-2003 Premiership Fulham 0-1 Chelsea 5y 0r
Bookings: Clark, Saha (Fulham) Gronkjaer, Joe Cole, Johnson (Chelsea)25-10-2003 Premiership Man Utd 1-3 Fulham 5y 0r
Bookings: Djemba-Djemba, Forlan, Fortune, Giggs (Man Utd) Knight (Fulham) |
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21-10-2001 Premiership 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 despite there being a clear block by Hreidarsson and helped The Cottagers to lose 2 points. |
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10-03-2001 Division 1 Fulham 2-0 QPR 2y 0r
Bookings: Baraclough, Crouch (QPR) |
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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) |