New referee Simon Hooper takes charge of QPR for the first time on Tuesday night at Swansea City – a ground he has already refereed on twice before.
Referee >>> Simon Hooper (Wiltshire) third season as a Football League referee, ninth Championship fixture, first QPR appointment.
Assistants >>> Andy Hendley (West Midlands) and Andy Newell (Lancashire)
Fourth Official >>> Simon Knapp (Bristol)
While Hooper has only refereed eight Championship fixtures in his two full seasons on the league list so far two of them have been at Swansea City. They haven’t gone particularly well for the Swans in those games – they didn’t score in either (understandable with Paulo Sousa in charge) and a hefty 12 yellow cards were shown across the two fixtures. Against Reading at the Liberty Stadium last August the game finished 0-0 and Swansea picked up three of the seven bookings handed out. Hooper did award them a penalty, but Mark Gower missed the spot kick. Then in December Nottingham Forest won 1-0 here, but picked up four bookings to Swansea’s one in the process.
So far this season Hooper has refereed five matches, showing 11 yellow cards and a red in the process. Three of these games have been in League One with a further two fixtures shared between League Two and the Football League Trophy. Last season he showed 99 yellow cards and eight reds across 32 games – 3.09 bookings a match. His biggest haul in a single match was seven yellows and a red in a League One game between Exeter and Millwall.
Championship >>> Premiership referee Kevin Friend drops down to take charge of Doncaster v Derby
Friday >>> We have a top flight official in charge of our trip to Bristol City live on Sky this Friday night. Lee Mason is the man in the middle, more on him on Thursday.