RateTheRef

Saturday 5th September 2026

Burnley FC (First Team) v Bristol City (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Ward, Gavin
Assistant Referee: James, Alex
Assistant Referee: Leach, Daniel
Fourth Official: Eley, Richard

Lincoln City FC (First Team) v Southampton FC (First Team)  Live on Sky Sports+
Football League Championship    
Referee: Kitchen, Andrew
Assistant Referee: Williams, Darren
Assistant Referee: Gough, Callum
Fourth Official: Toner, Ben

Millwall FC (First Team) v Bolton Wanderers FC (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Finnie, Will
Assistant Referee: Cresswell, Alan
Assistant Referee: Webb, Michael
Fourth Official: Farmer, Aaron

Portsmouth FC (First Team) v Cardiff City FC (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Speedie, Benjamin
Assistant Referee: Hodskinson, Paul
Assistant Referee: Cooke, Thomas
Fourth Official: Massey-Ellis, Robert

Preston North End FC (First Team) v Blackburn Rovers FC (First Team)  Live on Sky Sports Main Event
Football League Championship    
Referee: Backhouse, Anthony
Assistant Referee: Lewis, Sam
Assistant Referee: Gilroy, Hugh
Fourth Official: Oldham, Scott

Queens Park Rangers FC (First Team) v MIDDLESBROUGH (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Madley, Andrew
Assistant Referee: Hudson, Shaun
Assistant Referee: Fitch-Jackson, Carl
Fourth Official: Durkin, James

Sheffield United FC (First Team) v Norwich City FC (First Team)
Football League Championship   
Referee: Smith, Josh
Assistant Referee: Fox, Andrew
Assistant Referee: Bickerdike, Johnathon
Fourth Official: Coy, Martin

Stoke City FC (First Team) v Charlton Athletic FC (First Team)  Live on Sky Sports+
Football League Championship    
Referee: Madley, Robert
Assistant Referee: Lehane, Jacob
Assistant Referee: Harrison, David
Fourth Official: Brook, Carl

Swansea City FC (First Team) v Wrexham FC (First Team)  Live on Sky Sports Main Event
Football League Championship    
Referee: Bell, Elliot
Assistant Referee: Byrne, George
Assistant Referee: Brown, Conor
Fourth Official: Allison, Samuel

West Bromwich Albion (First Team) v Watford FC (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Salisbury, Michael
Assistant Referee: Graham, Jacob
Assistant Referee: Murphy, Ross
Fourth Official: Dale, Alan

West Ham United (First Team) v Derby County FC (First Team)
Football League Championship    
Referee: Langford, Oliver
Assistant Referee: Stevens, Mark
Assistant Referee: Lugg, Nigel
Fourth Official: Sandoe, Lewis

Sunday 6th September 2026

Birmingham City (First Team) v Wolverhampton Wanderers (First Team)  Live on Sky Sports Football
Football League Championship    
Referee: Herczeg, Adam
Assistant Referee: Singh Gill, Bhupinder
Assistant Referee: Woodward, Richard
Fourth Official: Robinson, Tim

Tim Robinson’s poor start to the season continues with another 4O in the championship and a midweek game.

On the positives, good to see Tom Kirk back even if only holding the boards.

Adam Herczeg with a decent midlands derby on Sunday too.

Does anyone know Kevin Friend’s role now that both groups have been combined, and he was the SG2 Director?

Sheffield United FC (First Team) v Norwich City FC (First Team)
Football League Championship   
What's appointment for this match?

Updated.

Quote from: ??? on Tue 01 Sep 2026 16:38

Sheffield United FC (First Team) v Norwich City FC (First Team)
Football League Championship   
What's appointment for this match?

Updated.

What appointment for Carabao Cup in next week?

AR Richard Woodward on his 3rd Wolves game of the season already in these appointments. I personally have no issues but that's probably avoidable!

AR Richard Woodward on his 3rd Wolves game of the season already in these appointments. I personally have no issues but that's probably avoidable!

He did the Wolves v Stoke game.  Now Birmingham v Wolves.  That's only two?
He's also done two Blackburn games too so far.
Both his games this week are televised.  He's on the TV almost as much as he is in the day job!

I did notice, before you pointed it out, that several officials are totting up multiple appearances already this early into the season.  This is common with ARs who tend to cover their local region plus a few miles, but some referees - who normally get sent everywhere - are already on their second appointments at some teams, for some their third if you count appointments as 4th Official too.

He also did the Wolves v Port Vale game in the EFL Cup First round. I know that's a separate competition with different appointers but 6/7 competitive games into the season feels like quite an early time to be doing the same team 3 times (although I do now know that it is more common for AR's - thank you for that info!)

Richard is based in Cheshire so is ideally positioned for a lot of stadia in the central/northern block.  Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, Shropshire, even Wrexham are all within an hour or 90 mins.  The ARs do sometimes get allocated further away - especially if they're more experienced - (I think the last game I saw Richard in person at was up in Middlesbrough) but there are enough to go around to mostly keep them regional.  Unless they're appointed to such key games elsewhere deliberately for their experience/merit. 

Wolves, Birmingham, Stoke, Port Vale, home or away would be common places where you might expect him to appear.  Coincidental that they've all been 'local' teams so far!