Robert Madley, fast tracked onto the Premier League list after just four seasons on the list, takes charge of QPR for the first time at Brighton on Tuesday night.
Referee >>> Robert Madley (West Yorkshire) fourth season on the Football League list — brother Andrew is also a referee in the Championship.
Assistants >>> Steve Child (Kent) and John Flynn (Wiltshire)
Fourth Official >>> Keith Hill (Hertfordshire)
This is Madley’s first ever QPR appointment.
This may be Madley’s first QPR appointment but it’s his third date with Brighton already this season having previously overseen their 1-1 home draw against Millwall and a 3-1 success against league leaders Leicester. He booked four and sent off the visitors’ Alan Dunne in the first game, and showed six yellows in the second as well as awarding Brighton a penalty in the second half. That’s in keeping with a prolific season card wise that has seen him dole out 73 yellows (3.65 a game) and seven reds in just 20 appointments so far. His biggest haul in a single match was eight yellows in Swansea’s 3-3 draw with Stoke, where he also awarded the visitors a nonsense last minute penalty, but he booked seven at West Brom v Arsenal and has shown six yellows and a red in a single match on two other occasions.
He’ll perhaps always be remembered for his Premier League debut at Southampton v West Brom last season where he sent off three players — Gaston Ramirez and Daniel Fox from the hosts, and Mar Antoine Fortune from the visitors — in 12 second half minutes. All the cards were fully justified though and he’s been placed in charge of five top flight games since.
Those cards at St Mary’s went towards last season’s total of eight reds and 105 yellows in 38 games — 2.76 bookings a game on average.
Championship >>> Robert’s brother Andrew Madley has Blackpool v Millwall on Tuesday night.
League One >>> Trevor Kettle has Brentford v Tranmere.
League Two Stuart Attwell takes Bristol Rovers v Dagenham.
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Pictures — Action Images