Mike Riley (referee): Difference between revisions

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{{short description|English football referee}}

'''Michael Riley''' is an [[England|English]] [[referee]] from [[West Yorkshire]] who oversees matches in both [[the Football League]] and the [[FA Premier League]]. Riley became a national Football League referee in 1994, having previously served five years on their assistant referees list. He was later granted FIFA international status in 1999[http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html] allowing him to officiate international fixtures.

{{Other people|Mike Riley|Mike Riley (disambiguation){{!}}Mike Riley}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

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{{Infobox football official

| name = Mike Riley

| image = Mike riley.jpg

| fullname = Michael Anthony Riley

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|12|17|df=yes}}

| birth_place = [[Leeds]], England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| otheroccupation = [[Accountant]]

| years1 = 1989–1994

| league1 = [[English Football League|Football League]]

| role1 = [[Assistant referee (association football)|Asst. referee]]

| years2 = 1994–1996

| league2 = Football League

| role2 = [[Referee (association football)|Referee]]

| years3 = 1996–2009

| league3 = [[Premier League]]

| role3 = Referee

| internationalyears1 = 1999–2009

| confederation1 = [[FIFA International Referees List|FIFA listed]]

| internationalrole1 = Referee

}}

'''Michael Anthony Riley''' (born 17 December 1964) is an English former professional [[Association football|football]] [[Referee (association football)|referee]], who has refereed matches in the [[English Football League]], [[Premier League]], and for [[FIFA]]. Riley was the general manager of the [[Professional Game Match Officials Limited]] between 2009 and 2023.

==Career==

In 2002 Riley refereed the English [[FA Cup]] Final between [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] and [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], which he later stated was "the highlight of my career"[http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Refereeing/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2002/09/25106.htm]. He also officiated in the 2004 [[Carling Cup]] Final between [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] and [[Middlesbrough_F.C.|Middlesbrough FC]] and the [[2005]] [[Football League Championship]] playoff final between [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] and [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]]. Riley also headed England's refereeing team alongside assistants Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner at the UEFA [[Euro 2004]] finals[http://www.officialsports.co.uk/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000008;p=0]

Riley was born in [[Leeds]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/apr/17/david-moyes-everton-mike-riley-fa-cup |title=David Moyes questions Mike Riley's allegiance to Manchester United |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 April 2009 |access-date=21 April 2009 | ___location=London}}</ref> in [[West Yorkshire]].

He became a national Football League referee in 1994, having previously served five years on their [[Assistant referee (association football)|assistant referee]]s' list. He was later granted [[FIFA]] status in 1999 allowing him to officiate international fixtures.<ref>[http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115195943/http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0%2C%2C10794~628215%2C00.html |date=15 January 2008 }} at the Football League Official website</ref>

Riley was involved in controversy on [[30 March]] [[2006]] after the dubious sending off a [[PFC Levski Sofia|Levski]] player in a [[UEFA Cup 2005-06]] quarter final tie, Levski vs [[FC Schalke 04|Schalke]]. He showed a second yellow card to [[Cedric Bardon]], although it was disputed whether there was any contact between him and the opposition player. After the game, Levski's president Todor Batkov called Riley a "British homosexual".[http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=61301].

In 2002, Riley refereed the English [[FA Cup]] [[2002 FA Cup Final|Final]] between [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] and [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], which he later stated was "the highlight of my career".<ref>[http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Refereeing/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2002/09/25106.htm "FA Cup Final 2002 – the highlight"] of Mike Riley's career: Interview at TheFA.com</ref>

The [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] manager, [[Sam Allardyce]] also recently criticised him after he officiated between [[Blackburn Rovers F.C.|Blackburn Rovers]] and his side, saying: "The stats just don't stand up when he referees us [Bolton]. In my opinion, it is not good enough - he nearly caused a riot. He's refereed us seven times and we've had five players sent off, four in the first half. Those stats say it all, it's blatant inconsistency - in my opinion simply not good enough." Opposing manager Mark Hughes agreed, saying "Both sides would argue the referee didn't have his best game"

Riley took charge of the [[2004 Football League Cup Final]], between [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton]] and [[Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough]], in a game that saw all three goals scored within the first 25 minutes. He awarded a penalty to [[Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough]] after seven minutes and cautioned five players during the course of the game. Riley failed to spot penalty taker, Zenden, kicking the ball twice.

Allardyce accepted a charge of improper conduct, but insisted that he was being "fined for telling the truth". Riley does have his fans however. He is well liked by both [[Sir Alex Ferguson]], of [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]], as well as [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]]'s [[Jose Mourinho]].

Riley also headed England's refereeing team alongside assistants Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner at the [[UEFA]] [[UEFA Euro 2004|Euro 2004]] finals.<ref>[http://www.officialsports.co.uk/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000008;p=0 Confirmation] of appointments for [[UEFA Euro 2004|Euro 2004]]: ''OfficialSports.co.uk''</ref>

Riley refereed the controversial 2004 match between Manchester United and Arsenal, also known as the [[Battle of the Buffet]], with the result ending Arsenal's record-breaking 49 match unbeaten run.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/3727552.stm Match report from the BBC website</ref>

Riley officiated the [[EFL Championship|Football League Championship]] playoff final between [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] and [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]] in [[2005 Football League Championship play-off Final|2005]]. [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham]] ran out 1–0 victors, seeing them promoted to the [[Premier League|FA Premier League]].

Riley was invited to go to [[Hong Kong]] to take charge of the [[2006–07 Hong Kong FA Cup]] final between [[South China AA|South China]] and [[Happy Valley AA|Happy Valley]] in 2007. [[South China AA|South China]] won by 3–1, allowing them to achieve a treble in local competitions ([[Hong Kong First Division League|First Division League]], [[Hong Kong Senior Shield|Senior Shield]] and [[Hong Kong FA Cup|FA Cup]]). Riley gave three penalty kicks in the match, two for [[South China AA|South China]] and one for [[Happy Valley AA|Happy Valley]].<ref>[http://english.sina.com/sports/1/2007/0518/112512.html Hong Kong FA Cup Final], match report: ''EnglishSINA.com''</ref>

Mike Riley was appointed manager of the [[Professional Game Match Officials Board|Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB)]] in June 2009, replacing [[Keith Hackett]]. This effectively ended his career in refereeing matches.

In June 2022 it was announced that he would be stepping down as the English refereeing chief effective from the end of the 2022/23 season.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/25/new-referees-chief-sought-with-mike-riley-to-step-down-next-summer New referees’ chief sought with Mike Riley to step down next summer]. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved on 6 September 2022.</ref>

In July 2023, it was reported that the [[Irish Football Association]] are close to appointing Riley as their new head of refereeing.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mike Riley: Irish FA set to appoint former Premier League official as new head of refereeing |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66213469 |date=15 July 2023|publisher= BBC Sport|access-date=31 August 2024}}</ref>

==Career statistics==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

!Season!!Games!!Total {{yel}}!!{{yel}} per game!!Total {{sent off}}!!{{sent off}} per game

|-

|'''1997–98'''||28||87||''3.11''||3||''0.11''

|-

|'''1998–99'''||23||81||''3.52''||7||''0.30''

|-

|'''1999–2000'''||28||93||''3.32''||9||''0.32''

|-

|'''2000–01'''||36||141||''3.92''||9||''0.25''

|-

|'''2001–02'''||31||117||''3.77''||19||''0.61''

|-

|'''2002–03'''||33||105||''3.18''||7||''0.21''

|-

|'''2003–04'''||38||130||''3.42''||6||''0.16''

|-

|'''2004–05'''||39||117||''3.00''||11||''0.28''

|-

|'''2005–06'''||42||147||''3.50''||16||''0.31''

|-

|'''2006–07'''||43||145||''3.37''||13||''0.30''

|-

|'''2007–08'''||37||124||''3.35''||6||''0.16''

|-

|'''2008–09'''||35||145||''4.14''||6||''0.17''

|-

|'''Overall'''||'''444'''||'''1432'''||'''''3.23'''''||'''109'''||'''''0.25'''''

|-

|colspan="6" align="left"| <small>There are no available records prior to 1997/1998.</small>

|}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[httphttps://www.soccerbase.com/refs2referees/referee.sd?refidreferee_id=173 Mike Riley refereeingReferee statisticsStatistics] at [[soccerbase]].com

{{s-start}}

{{succession box|title=[[FA Community Shield|FA Charity Shield]] referee|before=[[Graham Barber]] |after=[[Andy D'Urso]] |years=[[2000 FA Charity Shield|2000]]}}

{{succession box|title=[[FA Cup Final|FA&nbsp;Cup&nbsp;Final]]&nbsp;referee|before=[[Steve Dunn (referee)|Steve Dunn]] |after=[[Graham Barber]] ||years=[[2002 FA Cup Final|2002]]}}

{{succession box|title=[[EFL Cup|League Cup]] Final referee|before=[[Paul Durkin]] |after=[[Steve Bennett (referee)|Steve Bennett]] |years=[[2004 Football League Cup Final|2004]]}}

{{s-end}}

{{UEFA Euro 2004 referees}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:Football (soccer) referees|Riley, Mike]]}}

[[Category:English football referees]]

[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:1964 births]]

[[Category:Sportspeople from Leeds]]

[[Category:Premier League referees]]

[[Category:FA Cup final referees]]

[[Category:UEFA Euro 2004 referees]]