Premier League referees are instructed to uphold complete neutrality when overseeing matches in the world's most renowned domestic league. However, this professional obligation doesn't restrict referees from openly supporting their favourite football teams when they're off duty.
In fact, many referees are huge football fans themselves, which prompts an intriguing question: which football teams do Premier League referees support?
It appeared this was about to become common knowledge. Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) — the entity responsible for appointing referees for Premier League games — said in the first week of the 2024/25 season that officials will now see their "allegiances" declared to limit the risk of complaints about a conflict of interest. This all stems from Nottingham Forest criticising the appointment of Stuart Attwell as VAR for last season's match against Luton Town — the team Attwell supports.
"When referees put in allegiance forms they're asked to declare any specific interests in advance of the season, and as the season goes on should any of those things change," Webb said. "That's going to be made public so you can see what that looks like, what those declarations of interests are.
"We review each of those, and then make a judgment if we feel there is a conflict. If you've got any personal connections to people who work for clubs as well, we'll make an evaluation of all of those. If there is a conflict of interest that will be recorded and taken into account on the appointments."
Within an hour, it was reported by Martyn Ziegler of The Times that the PGMOL had backtracked on this and would not, in fact, be making the allegiances list public.
Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times.
NFFC will now consider its options.
While the PGMOL decides on a best course of action, what The Sporting News can offer is insight into the backgrounds of current Premier League referees, shedding light on where they grew up and whether they openly support a certain team.
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Who do Premier League referees support and where are they from?
| Referee | Club they support | From | Closest city | Debut |
| Stuart Attwell | Luton Town | Nuneaton, Warwickshire | Leicester | 2008 |
| Anthony Taylor | Altrincham | Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester | Manchester | 2010 |
| Michael Oliver | Newcastle United | Ashington, Northumberland | Newcastle | 2010 |
| Craig Pawson | Sheffield United | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | Sheffield | 2013 |
| Paul Tierney | Wigan Athletic | Wigan, Lancashire | Manchester | 2014 |
| Graham Scott | Swindon Town | Oxford, Oxfordshire | Oxford | 2014 |
| Simon Hooper | Swindon Town | Swindon, Wiltshire | Bath | 2015 |
| Chris Kavanagh | Unknown | Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester | Manchester | 2017 |
| Andrew Madley | Huddersfield Town | Huddersfield, Yorkshire | Leeds | 2018 |
| David Coote | Unknown | Nottingham, Nottinghamshire | Nottingham | 2018 |
| Peter Bankes | Unknown | Liverpool, Merseyside | Liverpool | 2019 |
| Tim Robinson | Unknown | Middleton-on-Sea, West Sussex | Portsmouth | 2019 |
| Robert Jones | Unknown | Wirral, Merseyside | Liverpool | 2019 |
| Jarred Gillett | Unknown | Queensland, Australia | Gold Coast | 2021 |
| Michael Salisbury | Unknown | Higher Penwortham, Lancashire | Preston | 2021 |
| John Brooks | Unknown | Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire | Leicester | 2021 |
| Thomas Bramall | Unknown | Sheffield, South Yorkshire | Sheffield | 2022 |
| Samuel Barrott | Unknown | West Riding, Yorkshire | Leeds | 2023 |
Michael Oliver in The Clock tonight for a few pre match pints before he cheers on the Mighty Mags ! .. It’s only right the best ref in the world is part of the worlds best fan base ! #nufc pic.twitter.com/EQIr0iOQRT
— LeeW1892 (@fans_toon) December 27, 2021
Who is the Premier League Head of Referees?
Former Premier League referee Howard Webb was appointed as chief of referees August 2022, becoming the PGMOL’s first chief refereeing officer.
Webb had been with the Professional Referee Organisation (PRO) in the United States since 2017, initially serving as the head of VAR operations before taking the role of general manager in 2018.
The 53-year-old then left his position with Major League Soccer at the end of his contract earlier and then started with PGMOL, the body overseeing refereeing in English football.
He is originally from Rotherham and is a fan of Championship side Rotherham United. Webb was previously a policeman before officiating in a Champions League and World Cup final in 2010, becoming the first referee to do so in one campaign.