Michael Riley is an English referee from West Yorkshire who oversees matches in both the Football League and the FA Premier League. Riley became national Football League referee in 1994, having previously serving five years on their assistant referees list. He was later granted FIFA international status in 1999[1] allowing him to officiate international fixtures.
In 2002 Riley refereed the English FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea, which he later stated was "the highlight of my career"[2]. Two years later he officiated in the 2004 Carling Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough FC. Riley also headed England's refereeing team alongside assistants Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner at the UEFA Euro 2004 finals[3]
Riley was involved in controversy on 30 March 2006 after the dubious sending off a Levski player in a UEFA Cup 2005-06 quarter final tie, Levski vs 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".[4].
The Bolton Wanderers manager, Sam Allardyce also recently criticised him after he officiated between 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"
Allardyce accepted a charge of improper conduct, but insisted that he was being "fined for telling the truth". Riley does has his fans however. He is well liked by both Sir Alex Ferguson, of Manchester United, as well as Chelsea's Jose Mourinho.