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 Thursday
24th November 2005By Paul Mosley
Alan Wiley, 45 years old, from Burntwood in Staffordshire, and on the Premier League referees roster since 1999, takes charge of his 2nd Newcastle game of the season as Aston Villa visit St James’ Park on Saturday. This will be the 21st time he has refereed a Newcastle game! His top appointment to date was the FA Community Shield between Arsenal and Liverpool in August 2002. He has already shown two red cards this season, one on the opening day of the season to Paul Dickov as Blackburn went down 3-1 at West Ham, and the other in his previous Newcastle game of the season against Fulham. His 1st Newcastle game came 3 months into his 1st season on the list, with our away trip to Coventry City, and the only competitive appearance for the infamous all-white away kit. Sadly it was a disastrous day for United, as they went down 4-1 at Highfield Road. The task was made almost impossible when, at 2-0 down, Warren Barton clashed with Youssef Chippo and was dismissed for Violent Conduct. He did take charge of 2 more games that season, a 1-0 home win over Watford, and a 0-0 away draw at Derby County, but both games were so awfully uneventful that he may aswell have not bothered turning up. 2000/01 and déja vu, as he again took charge of our visit to Highfield Road to play Coventry. This time, however, it all went right for United, who won 2-0 to go top of the Premiership. Wiley awarded us a slightly dubious penalty in the 1st half when Laurent Charvet got into the Coventry area and was sandwiched by 2 defenders, to the indignation of Paul Williams who stood over Charvet implying he had dived. Nevertheless, Shearer converted for his 200th League goal, and Kevin Gallacher added a 2nd in the 2nd half. Next up for Wiley was Ipswich’s visit to St James’, where the visitors took an early lead only for Shearer to equalise. Wiley then awarded us a 2nd consecutive penalty when Venus clearly fouled Shearer in the area, with Big Al converting to win us the match 2-1. Next up was our trip to Leeds in January 2001, when despite us going behind in the 2nd minute we roared to a 3-1 win. For the 3rd game on the trot Wiley gave us a penalty when the evil Danny Mills handled. Again it was converted, this time by Solano, with Acuña and Ameobi adding the other goals. His final United game of the season was a quiet 0-0 home draw with Arsenal. The following season he made the trip to St James’ for the visit of Tottenham, but could do nothing to stop United slipping to a 2-0 defeat after a dire performance. He then replaced David Elleray for our Worthington Cup 4th Round game against Ipswich on Tyneside. United dominated and Wiley had nothing to do in our 4-1 win. The following January we visited Filbert Street for the final time, but once again the match was awful and Wiley had an uneventful game. The following month he was in charge as Kevin Keegan returned to St James for the FA Cup 5th Round tie against Manchester City. Richard Dunne hauled back Bellamy just outside the area in the 1st half, and as he Denied an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity he was dismissed, and United went on to beat the Division 1 side 1-0 with a goal from Nobby Solano. His 5th and final United game of the season was our 1-1 home draw with Fulham in April, where Wiley had a trademark easy game. In 2002/03 his 1st of 3 Newcastle games was our trip to Ewood Park to face Blackburn. When Nikos Dabizas handled on the line in only the 4th minute, Wiley had no option but to send him back to the changing room and award a penalty, which David Dunn dispatched, and Dunn made it 2-0 soon after. We were back in it when Wiley awarded us a penalty of our own, a good spot when Shearer was shoved by Neill. Shearer converted for his 300th career goal, and pulled us level in the 2nd half, only for the 10 men to capitulate and lose 5-2. Just before Christmas, Wiley came north with Fulham. United took an early lead when Solano lobbed Van der Sar, then early in the 2nd half Dyer was pulled back by Davis, or so said the assistant referee, and Wiley awarded the penalty. Unfortunately Shearer blazed it into the upper tier of the Gallowgate, but Bellamy sealed a 2-0 win late on after Pierre Wome had been sent off for a crude challenge on Griffin. In February, Wiley watched in awe as we went to Elland Road and thrashed Leeds, with once again nothing to do. His next United game, funnily enough, was also at Elland Road against Leeds, on the opening weekend of the 03/04 season. He awarded us a penalty on 20 minutes when Radebe clipped Dyer, and Shearer slotted home. We went 2-1 down but Shearer equalised in the 88th minute in what was a superb match which was very well refereed. He then joined us at the Riverside as we took on Middlesbrough in the Tees-Tyne derby local-ish match. Wiley did nothing to annoy us, or prevent us from winning 1-0 with a goal from Shola Ameobi. He had another easy game in December at St James’ Park, the visit of Tottenham, with United running out 4-0 winners, including 2 wonder goals from Laurent Robert. His one Newcastle game last season was our incredibly dull 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace in April. But his one Newcastle game so far this season had fireworks, the 1-1 draw with Fulham. Fulham took an early lead, and it seemed Newcastle would never equalise. In the second half, Wiley lost the plot completely, with fouls given the wrong way and cards shown for nothing. We finally equalised with a brilliant N’Zogbia free-kick, but Scott Parker was then dismissed for a 2nd yellow card when he fouled Claus Jensen. In contrast to the 20 Newcastle games he’s done, he has refereed just 2 Villa games, and the Villans have managed to lose them both, away to Derby and away to Arsenal, the last of those being 4 years ago. Let’s hope we can make it 3 on the bounce. The lack of Villa games may have something to do with the fact that he was a season ticket holder at Birmingham City over 25 years ago. Wiley is a very dependable referee, and our record with him in charge is very good, only 3 defeats in 20 games. He has also awarded us a remarkable 6 penalties in those 20 matches. Wiley can be relied upon to produce the goods on any given day, let’s hope he does on Saturday (and maybe add to that penalty record).
Newcastle vs Aston Villa – A Refereeing History 04/05 – One of the most unbelievable games anyone has surely ever witnessed saw United go 3-0 down to the visitors, with Orpington’s Barry Knight certainly playing his part. Villa took an early lead through Juan Pablo Angel, and held it until half time. After the interval all hell broke loose. Newcastle were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty when Olof Mellberg handled, and possibly another one for another handball. Then Nicky Butt gave the ball to Darius Vassell and rounded Given, only for Taylor to stop the ball on the line with his hand (despite theatrics which attempted to convince Knight otherwise). He was dismissed, and Barry slotted the penalty home for 2-0. The fun wasn’t over, as Stephen Carr then barged Vassell over in the area (well, about an inch outside), and Knight again awarded the penalty, which Barry again dispatched for 3-0. It still wasn’t over, however, as Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer then fought an infamous brawl in front of 52306 people and were both dismissed for Violent Conduct. 03/04 – Dion Dublin gave Aston Villa the lead after just 11 minutes, but Laurent Robert levelled the game in 1st half added time. In the 2nd half Matt Messias dismissed ex-Sunderland player Gavin McCann for 2 yellow cards, and Messias then gave us a penalty late on for a handball by Gareth Barry. However, history sadly repeated itself as Sorensen, as he had done 3 years previously, saved Shearer’s penalty at the Gallowgate End, and Villa hung on for a point. 02/03 – Big Jeff Winter turned up and awarded us a free kick from which Nobby Solano scored the final goal at St James’ Park of his 1st spell on Tyneside to put us 1-0 ahead at the break. However, Dion Dublin equalised in the 2nd half to damage our Champions’ League aspirations, although we did hang on to finish 3rd in the League. 01/02 – A rare Premier League outing for Clive Wilkes as United swept aside Premiership leaders Villa. A ball over the top from Elliott saw Bellamy crash home a volley to put us in front, then a cross-field ball from Lee saw Shearer do the same to double the advantage. Bellamy then nut-megged Schmeichel late on to complete a sweet 3-0 triumph. 00/01 – Newcastle ended a disappointing season on a high note. A Solano cross was slotted home by Stephen Glass for the 1st, and Carl Cort headed home a similar delivery for the 2nd. Kevin Gallacher was then given a standing ovation as he was substituted on his final Newcastle appearance, with his replacement Shola Ameobi forcing Mark Delaney to put the ball in his own net and complete another 3-0 victory. However, that was not all. Gary Speed and Ian Taylor, 2 seasoned professionals, got involved in a some handbags in the closing minutes, but everything quickly calmed down and no further action was necessary. At least that was how it seemed to us. The referee, however, had other ideas, inexplicably showing red cards to both Speed and Taylor for Violent Conduct, with both later being rightly rescinded. The referee in question? Yep, you guessed it, Barry Knight. © Paul Mosley
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