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 Fulham
Vs NUFC Referee Watch: Alan Wiley
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 Friday
13 January 2006
By Paul
Mosley
Paul Mosley a Toon supporter and one of Newcastle-Online.com's
resident qualified referees, takes a look at Alan Wiley, the man who
will be officiating the Fulham Vs Newcastle United match at St. James'
Park. Here Paul will go through Alan's history of refereeing Toon
matches and providing a statistical breakdown of the ref's handling
of United over the years.
Alan
Wiley is from Burntwood in Staffordshire, and is 45 years old. He
is taking charge of Newcastle for the 3rd time this season as we travel
to Craven Cottage for the Barclays Premiership match on January 14.
He has already refereed our home games with Fulham and Aston Villa
this season. He also recently featured on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday’s
Christmas quiz, Universally Challenged, and was an integral part of
the winning referees team.
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Alan Wiley Background |
Alan began refereeing in 1981 in the West Midlands Regional League,
and 10 years later had progressed to the Football League List of Linesmen,
moving up to the same position at Premier League level in 1994. A
year later he was promoted to the Football League referees list, refereeing
the 1998 FA Women’s Cup Final, and by 1999 he was on the Premier League
referees list.
After playing 4th official to Graham Poll in the last ever FA Cup
Final at Wembley in 2000, he was appointed by The FA to referee the
2002 FA Community Shield between Arsenal and Liverpool. He is being
strongly tipped to referee this season’s Carling Cup Final, which
would be just reward for an excellent season to date. He can also
count himself extremely unlucky that he never made the FIFA International
list.
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Alan Wiley Recent Form |
Alan has been in superb form this season, and this has been reflected
in regular Premier League appointments. This will be his 19th top
flight game this season, and in the previous 18 he has shown 3 red
cards. The 1st was on the opening day, to Paul Dickov of Blackburn
against West Ham for Serious Foul Play. He followed that up with a
dismissal of our own Scott Parker, and the 3rd was to our former French
star Laurent Robert for Portsmouth, against West Ham again, so 2 of
those 3 reds were to the home side.
He has awarded 5 penalties this season, 3 to the home team. His 1st
was to Middlesbrough against Manchester United, which he followed
up with one each for Newcastle and Villa at St James, one for Manchester
United against Wigan, and one for Bolton at Everton. Those 18 games
have resulted in 10 home wins, 4 away wins and 4 draws, with 28 home
goals and 17 away goals. The highest scoring game he has done was
Middlesbrough’s 4-1 home win over Manchester United, with the biggest
margin of victory being Manchester United’s 4-0 home win over Wigan,
matched by Bolton’s victory at Everton. He has yet to feature in a
goalless game this season.
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Alan Wiley & Newcastle |
Alan has refereed 21 Newcastle games, of which we have won 10, drawn
8 and lost only 3 (48% win rate), scoring 31 goals and conceding 19.
Of those 21, 9 have been away from St James Park, with us winning
4, drawing 3 and losing 2 (44% win rate), scoring 14 and conceding
12, and all 9 of those were in the Premiership. Our overall Premiership
record with Alan is 19 games, 8 wins, 8 draws and 3 defeats (42% win
rate), scoring 26 and conceding 18.
He has shown 5 red cards in Newcastle games, with 3 of those to us.
2 of ours came away from home, with all the rest at Gallowgate. He
has awarded NINE penalties in Newcastle games, a phenomenal seven
of those to us, with 4 of ours and one of the opposition’s away from
home, and the rest on Tyneside. He averages 1.3 yellow cards per game
to our players, and 1.2 per game to our opponents.
Our best win with Alan in charge was a 4-0 victory over Tottenham
at St James on December 13 2003, best remembered for 2 amazing goals
from Laurent Robert, while our worst defeat was his very 1st game
in charge of us, a 4-1 defeat at Coventry on October 16 1999, and
also a 5-2 defeat at Blackburn on October 19 2002. That 5-2 loss was
also the highest scoring game of ours he has been involved in, while
he has presided over four 0-0 draws. His 2 games with us this season
have both resulted in 1-1 draws, against Fulham and Aston Villa on
Tyneside.
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Alan Wiley & Controversy |
The controversy began in Alan’s 1st Newcastle game back in 1999, 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.
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.
In February 2002 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.
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 2002, Wiley came north with this weekend’s opponents
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 2003/04 we visited Elland Road to take on Leeds on the opening
weekend of the 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.
His 1st Newcastle game this season had plenty of 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.
He was back on Tyneside in early December for the visit of Aston Villa,
with Graeme Souness under massive pressure. He was kind enough to
award us our first Premiership penalty for 11 months after half an
hour when Liam Ridgewell handled, and Alan Shearer converted, only
for ex-Mackem Gavin McCann to equalise in the 2nd half. With the game
petering our into a drab draw, Titus Bramble steamed into a ridiculous
challenge on Milan Baros and on the advice of assistant Peter Kirkup,
Wiley pointed to the spot. Fortunately for us, Gareth Barry blazed
the kick into the Leazes End and we held on for a point.
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Alan Wiley & Fulham |
I’ve found 18 Fulham games Alan has refereed, resulting in 6 wins,
5 draws and 7 defeats (33% win rate). 15 of those have been in the
Premiership, giving them 4 wins, 4 draws and 7 defeats (27% win rate),
and 6 of those at home, either at Craven Cottage or Loftus Road, resulting
in 3 wins, a draw and 2 defeats (50% win rate). He has shown 1 red
card to Fulham and 2 to their opponents, and awarded 2 penalties each
to them and their opponents. He has averaged 1.7 yellow cards to Fulham
players, and 1.6 per game to their opponents. His Fulham games this
season resulted in a 1-1 draw with us, and a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.
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Alan Wiley & Fulham Vs Newcastle Fixtures |
Alan has refereed 3 Newcastle vs Fulham fixtures in the past, all
of them at St James Park. In Fulham’s 1st season back in the Premiership
he took charge of an uneventful Monday night 1-1 draw, but the following
season he was back for the 2-0 win, as described previously. And of
course, as mentioned earlier, he was on Tyneside in September for
our 1-1 draw earlier this season. We have won 1 and drawn 2 of our
3 games he has refereed against Fulham.
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Alan Wiley Conclusions |
Alan Wiley is a superb referee having a great season, and has never
received the recognition he has deserved, although hopefully he will
with the Carling Cup Final in February. He likes to keep a low profile,
so don’t expect to see cards flying around, but he does have a habit
of awarding penalties, so look out for one on Saturday.
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Fulham Vs Newcastle United History |
04/05 – An under-strength United side pulled off
a superb 3-1 win thanks to goals from Darren Ambrose, Patrick Kluivert
and Shola Ameobi, with Tomas Radzinski gaining a late consolation
for the Cottagers.
Fulham 1-3 Newcastle. Ref: Graham Poll (Hertfordshire). Yellow
Cards: FFC 1 NUFC 1. Red Cards: None. Penalties: None.
03/04 – The game was delayed due to a bomb scare
outside Loftus Road, and Fulham were much quicker off the blocks with
goals from Lee Clark and Louis Saha putting them 2-0 up within 8 minutes.
Laurent Robert quickly pulled one back, and after the break a Shearer
double, the 1st a penalty, gave us a 3-2 win.
Fulham 2-3 Newcastle. Ref: Barry Knight (Kent). Yellow Cards:
FFC 2 NUFC 2. Red Cards: None. Penalties: FFC 0 NUFC 1.
02/03 – Alan Shearer helped himself to a trademark
goal 10 minutes before the interval with a super header from Hugo
Viana’s corner. After the break Andy Griffin was sent off for a stupid
challenge on Luis Boa Morte, and soon after Sylvain Legwinsky’s 30-yard
piledriver levelled the scores. Lee Clark won it for Fulham 4 minutes
from time.
Fulham 2-1 Newcastle. Ref: Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire). Yellow
Cards: FFC 1 NUFC 1. Red Cards: FFC 0 NUFC 1. Penalties: None.
01/02 – Louis Saha gave Fulham an early lead, with
Sylvain Legwinsky adding a second. Gary Speed got one back just after
the hour to give us hope, but Barry Hayles restored Fulham’s 2 goal
advantage within 5 minutes. We even had a chance to reduce the arrears
with a penalty, but Shearer missed, and was arguably fouled again
in the aftermath, but there was to be no second chance .
Fulham 3-1 Newcastle. Ref: Eddie Wolstenholme (Lancashire). Yellow
Cards: FFC 0 NUFC 6. Red Cards: None. Penalties: FFC 0 NUFC 1.
© Paul Mosley
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