An excellent suggestion DublinRef. Like you I suspect there may be employment issues here, and I recall, when the PL and 'professional' refs first came into being in the 1990s, there were howls of protest from the likes of Ellerary that they weren't getting enough PL games, which quickly led to PL refs being allocated to Championship and L1/2 games as well. I wonder whether the present set up is already part way down the road you suggest. We have Gillett (VAR) and Salisbury Jr (4O) on duty for the Palace game on Friday night and there are other examples of promising refs being on PL duty as part of their development. And if the likes of Oliver show signs of fatigue in this busy season, then surely there are medics, physios and psychologists who will pick this up and deal with it. It is not an ideal situation, but what is ideal at the present in football? And (tongue in cheek) where would our busy refs go for a holiday in the sun at the moment? Thanks for the post DublinRef