Paul Taylor (referee)

infobox football official
name = Paul Taylor


fullname = Paul Taylor
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1959|06|20
cityofbirth = Enfield, Middlesex
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
otheroccupation =
years = ? - ?
? - ?
? -1990
1986-1990
1990-1993

---

1995-2000
2000-2001
2001-
league = Herts. County League
Isthmian League
Panel League Comps.
Football League
Football League

---

Football League
Premier League
Football League
role = Referee
Referee
Referee
Asst. referee
Referee

---

Referee
Referee
Referee
internationalyears = 2000-2004
2003-2004
confederation = UEFA listed
FIFA listed
internationalrole = Referee
Referee

Paul Taylor (born Enfield, Middlesex, June 20 1959) is an English football referee, who previously took charge of Premier League matches for just one season, and now officiates in the Football League. He has also officiated for UEFA and FIFA in the past. He subsequently re-located to Hertfordshire.

Career

He first began refereeing in 1977 and progressed via the Hertfordshire County League, the Isthmian League and the Panel League Competitions.

He was appointed as a Football League assistant referee in 1986 and promoted to referee in 1990. At this point he was aged only thirty and the youngest member on the List. As a newly rqualified referee the majority of his appointments over the next three seasons were usually in the lower divisions.

In 1993 he lost his place; under previous circumstances that would have been the end of his Football League career. Until 1993, demoted referees were not given another chance to get back onto the List. A change of policy, however, allowed him to revert to assistant status while refereeing in the Football Conference. In 1995 he successfully regained his refereeing place. This feat has since been matched by Brian Coddington, Fred Graham and Gary Lewis.fact|date=August 2007

Taylor has had far greater success in his second spell on the List. Indeed he gained further promotion to the FA Premier League for the season 2000-01. Since that time he has reverted to the Football League where he continues to be one of its leading officials.

Taylor has refereed the Hertfordshire Senior County Cup Final, the FA Sunday Cup Final and several International matches at both Youth and semi-professional level. He has also officiated in the Football League Play-Offs on six occasions including the League Two Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in 2006. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=485948 League Two] Play-off Final, 2006: soccerbase.com website.]

Other notable appointments include refereeing Cheltenham Town’s first game in the Football League [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=264494 Cheltenham's] first ever League match: soccerbase.com website.] and Southampton's last match at The Dell versus Arsenal. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1338713.stm Last ever match] played at The Dell, Southampton v. Arsenal: report from BBC.co.uk website.]

His overseas appointments include the 2000-01 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round fixture between Dynamo Kiev and Red Star Belgrade. Taylor refereed his first senior FIFA International between Nigeria and Venezuela in August 2003. In 2004 he was fourth official at the FA Trophy Final. [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html Profile] : the Football League Official website.] In the same year, he retired from international refereeing due to age restrictions. In 2005 he became a County Accredited Referees Instructor and in 2006 qualified as a National Licensed Instructor.

The 2007-08 season was due to be his final one as a League referee before retirement, however after appealing the decision to remove him from the National List of referees because of age, he has been included for the 2008-2009 season. [ http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/31/3/0,,12306~131889,00.pdf National List of Referees 2008-2009] ] He refereed the Ipswich v Preston match on the opening day of the 2008-2009 Championship season. [ [http://www.soccerbase.com/refs2.sd?refid=178&seasonid=138 soccerbase.com website] ]

Controversy

Taylor was involved in two unusual controversial incidents during the 2000-01 season.

On August 19 2000 he was the fourth official for the Sunderland v Arsenal game. He alleged that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had pushed him in the tunnel after the match. Wenger was found guilty and initially given a 12 match touchline ban. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20001011/ai_n14350945] . This was later reduced on appeal in February 2001.] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2001/feb/03/newsstory.sport4]

On October 14 2000 it was alleged that he made insulting and personal remarks to Notts County player Sean Farrell during the game against Wigan Athletic. The case against Taylor was dismissed at a disciplinary hearing in February 2001. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/sport.html?in_article_id=54437&in_page_id=1771] Referee pays for tiff with Wenger.]

References

Print

*Football League Handbooks, 1986-89
*Rothmans / Sky Sports Football Yearbooks, 1990-2006

Internet

External links

* [http://www.soccerbase.com/refs2.sd?refid=178 Paul Taylor Referee Statistics] at soccerbase.com