RateTheRef

It’s now been 23 Gameweeks in the PL and we have not seen or heard from/of Darren Bond at all, not on any form of appointments, social media, etc. Has this ever happened for this long before?

It must be quite serious, and I do feel for him, but I am just quite concerned how he is nowhere to be seen, and his name has been mentioned nowhere.

Lewis Smith with back-to-back big local derbies and after a season of not many high profile games he gets two big ones in two weeks. I do wonder if Kitchen might’ve been pencilled in for that one but he’s now 4O after a poor performance at Ipswich on Saturday.

I don’t think Millwall fans will be happy with Gavin Ward after his last trip to the den if my memory serves me well.

Tom Kirk gets a decent game on Monday night and Tom Nield for us for the first time this season

I personally think they would’ve been considering both Kitchen and Lewis Smith equally, and the performance had little if any part to play in the appointment. Lewis Smith has already had a derby this season (M69 Derby) and I think Kitchen would’ve also been deserving of this game, but the reverse of this fixture has already been replayed, so it would’ve been one or the other and I think Kitchen is just as deserving as Lewis Smith.

Just noticed Whitestone is on the boards for Josh Smith at West Brom on Friday Night, then Smith is on the boards for him at Ipswich on Tuesday Night.

No idea if it was intentional or not.

Saturday 17th January 2026

Manchester United v Manchester City (12.30pm) – Kavanagh, Harrington, England
Chelsea v Brentford – Tierney, A.Madley, Brooks
Leeds United v Fulham – Oliver, Whitestone, Howard
Liverpool v Burnley – Hooper, Nield, Donohue
Sunderland v Crystal Palace – Attwell, Webb, Salisbury
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United – Barrott, Jones, Bankes

Sunday 18th January 2026

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Newcastle United (2pm) – Brooks, Kitchen, Jones
Aston Villa v Everton (4.30pm) – Taylor, England, Donohue

Monday 19th January 2026

Brighton & Hove Albion v Bournemouth (8pm) – Bramall, A.Madley, Tierney

Official Line: (Please predict all appointments below for this one fixture)

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal (Saturday 5.30pm)
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistant Referee: Neil Davies
Assistant Referee: Scott Ledger
Fourth Official: Tim Robinson
VAR: James Bell
AVAR: Marc Perry

EFL PAR: (Please predict the referee for the following games - matches 17th January, 3pm K/O unless stated)

Championship:

Coventry City v Leicester City (12.30pm) – Tom Kirk
Wrexham v Norwich City – Will Finnie

League One:

Bradford City v Cardiff City – Elliot Bell
AFC Wimbledon v Doncaster Rovers – Tom Reeves

League Two:

Fleetwood Town v Cambridge United – David Rock
Oldham Athletic v Cheltenham Town – Neil Hair

The Randomiser:

Please predict an official who will be an answer to the following questions

1) Which referee coloured kit will NOT be seen in the Premier League? Purple
 
2) Who will be appointed as a referee in the National League Prem? Kirsty Dowle

3) Who will be referee for a goalless draw? Tom Parsons

Sheffield Utd vs Oxford has also been postponed for the same reason.

PAR Cup Round 3

Please name ten referees who will be named as referee in the third round of the FA Cup.
- Thomas Kirk
- Adam Herczeg
- Thomas Bramall
- Tony Harrington
- David Webb
- Will Finnie
- Jacob Miles
- Josh Smith
- Sam Allison
- Andy Madley


Please name ten assistant referees who will be named as an assistant referee in the third round of the FA Cup.
- Wade Smith
- Steve Meredith
- Alistair Nelson
- Alex James
- Craig Taylor
- Sam Lewis
- Andrew Dallison
- Adrian Holmes
- Blake Antrobus
- Marc Perry

Please name four referees who will be named as fourth official in the third round of the FA Cup.
- Andrew Kitchen
- Ed Duckworth
- Elliot Bell
- Farai Hallam

Please name the referee to take charge of the following fixtures.
Portsmouth v Arsenal  - Will Finnie
Macclesfield v Crystal Palace  - Tom Kirk
Tottenham v Aston Villa - Tony Harrington

How many officials will be appointed, in any role, to more than one match in the FA Cup 3rd Round? 0

How many matches will be refereed by a NL referee (not SG1, SG2 or SG Supplementary list)? 2

Which referee will be appointed to a game with more than 5 goals scored, (excluding goals scored in a penalty shootout) Tony Harrington

How many PL teams will be refereed by a non SG1 referee? (An all PL team tie refereed by an non SG1 referee would be counted twice, once for each PL team involved, so maximum is still 20) 6

Tiebreaker
How many goals will be scored across the 3rd Round FA Cup? (including extra time but excluding penalty shootouts) 45

Reserve Tiebreaker
How many Red Cards will be shown across the 3rd Round FA Cup? 3

Personally, mine would be:

- Taylor
- Oliver
- Kavanagh
- Brooks
- Madley

- Beswick
- Nunn
- Burt
- Mainwaring
- Bennett

- Kirk
- Kitchen
- J Smith
- L Smith
- Webb

(Skipping SG2 AR)

- Finnie
- Duckworth
- Miles
- Reeves
- Speedie (Picked as I am unsure on the overall performances of most NL Referees)

I’m surprised we haven’t been given a trial official at Fulham yet this season… usually we were the go to place for new officials.

Perhaps the Lewis Smith trial last season which doesn’t go very well for him v Villa torpedoed that for a while.

I may be alone in this but I am confused how Josh Smith hasn’t got a game in the PL. He had a few before his injury and seems to have been overtaken by Kirk, Donohue and Kitchen.