For the second time in as many games QPR have a referee in his fourth season on the list, who has never officiated one of their games before.
Referee >>> Mark Brown (East Yorkshire), fourth season on the Football League list.
Assistants >>> Carl Fitch (Suffolk) and Mark Pottage (Dorset)
Fourth Official >>> Andrew Laver (Hampshire)
This is Mark Brown’s first ever QPR appointment.
Although this is Mark Brown’s first QPR appointment of his career so far, he has bee in charge of Yeovil previously. Last season, in a League One promotion campaign, he had them for a 3-1 home defeat by Stevenage (two booked) and a 3-2 loss up at Preston when four yellow cards were handed out and the Glovers’ Ed Upson was sent off for two bookings.
Overall last season he showed 61 yellows and six reds in 24 appointments and he’s already surpassed two of those three numbers this season with a couple of months of football left to play. So far he’s taken charge of 25 games, showing 54 yellows and seven reds. That’s a low average of 2.16 yellow cards a game and his biggest haul in a single match is just four yellows and a red at Crawley’s 1-0 win against Notts County in the division below. This is only his sixth Championship appointment of the season.
In 2011/12 he refereed Yeovil’s 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, and was posting low averages again until a mad spell of 30 yellows and four reds in six appointments near the end of the season boosted him to 99 bookings and six reds in 34 games for the season.
Yeovil have won with him before though — 1-0 away wins at Rushden and Tranmere in 2010/11.
Premier League >>> A big vote of confidence in controversial referee Mark Clattenburg as he gets Man Utd v Liverpool. Mike Dean has the North London derby between Spurs and Arsenal.
Championship >>> Two Premier League officials drop down to the second tier for big games this weekend — Big Fat Phil Dowd is in charge of the London derby between Charlton and Millwall, while Mike Jones has the play-off chasing clash between Reading and Derby.
League One >>> Incoming Trevor Kettle at Bristol City v Swindon, and with no love lost between those two sides I’d be lumping on five cards or more in that one.
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