Kirk to officiate West Ham cup tie - Referee
Tuesday, 6th Jan 2026 21:34 by Clive Whittingham

Manchester-based official Thomas Kirk takes the third QPR game of his career on Sunday as Rangers head to West Ham in the FA Cup.

Referee >>> Thomas Kirk (Wilmslow)

Assistants >>> Johnathon Bickerdike (West Riding) and Matthew Smith (Leicestershire)

Fourth Official >>> Dean Whitestone (Northants), refereed QPR’s home loss to Norwich last week.

History

QPR 1 Sheff Utd 2, Saturday March 1, 2025, Championship

The R’s might have fared better had they been given the half hour against ten men they could easily have had with a different referee. Given what was riding on it for the visitors, I thought this looked a pretty punchy appointment for a League One/Two referee who’d only done four Championship games this season and nine before in his life.

So it proved for young Thomas Kirk, who barely clung on to this match by his finger nails. Not exactly helped by the linesman on the Ellerslie Road side of the ground, who seemed determined to be as contrary as he possibly could even with some of the most basic and rudimentary offsides you could hope to adjudicate on, but also barely in control of a game in which he allowed himself to be frequently brow-beaten and played by two groups of far more experienced players.

When you’re waving a QPR advantage while simultaneously awarding a Sheffield United throw you’ve fucked up. Chris Wilder said the officiating had both sets of coaching staff scratching their heads, and he was right.

Kirk couldn’t have done a lot worse than just give the whistle to Hamza Choudhury and be done with it. The loaned Leicester midfielder was pressed into service at right back by injuries to Alfie Gilchrist and Harry Clarke and after an aggy first ten minutes was soon yellow carded for a deliberate shirt pull. It was incredibly frustrating from a QPR point of view that we didn’t repeatedly run and target the out of position player after that, though once United had taken the lead he spent his time deliberately taking his time over every throw in, walking to the wrong place to take it, laughing at the referee, walking back, laughing at the referee again and so on. Anel Ahmedhodzic did see yellow for time wasting in the second half, Choudhury did not and you can draw your own conclusion as to why. When Koki Saito was introduced down that wing in the second half Choudhury had a big problem and, sure enough, was soon lunging into a foul when well beaten by the Japanese winger. An obvious yellow card foul, Kirk didn’t even speak to the player, and Wilder was allowed to swiftly substitute him. Saito then did exactly the same thing to Brereton-Diaz, who also fouled him, and was booked.

What was a yellow card and wasn’t seemed to vary wildly depending on whether you’d already had one or not. There’s incompetence in refereeing, and there’s outright cowardice. Kirk didn’t have the stones for this match. He was scared to send somebody off, Choudhury knew it, and played the game to perfection. I was astonished when referee and linesman awarded the QPR penalty between them, and it needed a handball that obvious to get it.

QPR: Nardi 5; Dunne 6, Cook 5 (Fox 81, -), Edwards 6, Paal 6 (Smyth 67, 6); Varane 6; Mink-Hyeok 5 (Lloyd 67, 4), Morgan 5 (Saito 57, 7), Colback 6 (Dembele 81, -), Chair 6; Frey 5

Subs not used: Ashby, Morrison, Andersen, Walsh

Goals: Frey 72 (penalty, handball)

Yellow Cards: Dunne 49 (foul), Colback 78 (foul), Lloyd 86 (foul)

Sheff Utd: Cooper 7; Choudhury 5 (Seriki 64, 6), Ahmedhodzic 7, Robinson 6, Burrows 5; Peck 6, Souza 7; Brereton 6 (Holding 85, -), O’Hare 6 (McCallum 74, 5), Hamer 6 (Brewster 64, 5); Campbell 7 (Cannon 73, 5)

Subs not used: Brooks, Davies, Moore, Rak-Sakyi

Goals: Brereton 10 (assisted Souza), Campbell 54 (assisted Brereton)

Yellow Cards: Choudhury 14 (foul), Ahmedhodzoc 62 (time wasting), Brereton 75 (foul)

Referee – Thomas Kirk (Wilmslow) 4 Got absolutely played.

QPR 1 Hull City 3, Tuesday October 1, 2024, Championship

There was more to come too. Lewie Coyle’s handled clearance in his own box was seen by newbie referee Thomas Kirk and Madsen delivered a penalty taking masterclass with a finish right up into the top corner, kissing the bar as it went – a conversion so brilliant even Pandur had no hope of getting near it.

QPR: Nardi 6; Santos 3, Cook 5, Dunne 5, Paal 4; Field 5, Madsen 5 (Lloyd 83, -); Dembele 5 (Chair 74, 5), Andersen 4 (Smyth 65, 5), Saito 6 (Dixon-Bonner 83, -); Frey 5 (Celar 46, 5)

Subs not used: Ashby, Fox, Bennie, Walsh

Goals: Madsen 44 (penalty, unassisted)

Hull: Pandur 8; Coyle 6, Jones 6, McLoughlin 6, Drameh 7; Salter 6 (Zambrano 58, 6), Simons 6, Palmer 7 (Mehlem 58, 6); Belloumi 7 (Omnur 93, -), Bedia 6 (Burstow 86, -), Millar 8 (Giles 95, -)

Subs not used: Alzate, Burns, Kamara, Rushworth

Goals: Drameh 25 (unassisted), Bedia 36 (assisted Coyle), Millar 71 (unassisted)

Yellow Cards: Simons 17 (foul), Jones 63 (time wasting), McLoughlin 64 (foul)

Referee – Thomas Kirk (Wilmslow) 7 Very good. Big decisions correct. On top of everything. Love a card for time wasting when it’s early enough to effect player behaviour rather than a performative action in stoppage time.

Stats

Estate Agent Thomas Kirk joined the EFL list in 2022/23, refereeing 32 games across the bottom two divisions and cup competitions. He showed 113 yellows (3.51) and just two reds in those games, topped out by a trio of seven card hauls. Last season he showed 134 yellows (4.06) and four reds in 33 appointments, led by ten yellows in Newport’s early 4-0 home win against Doncaster in League Two. He made his Championship debut on December 23 last year, with Norwich’s 2-0 home win against Huddersfield.

He was mostly League One, Two and Cup for Kirk last season – a chunky 170 yellows (5.00) and four reds in 34 matches. A total substantially boosted by ten yellows at Burton 1-1 Tamworth in the FA Cup, another eight at Bolton 1-2 Barnsley in League One, eight at Bolton 3-1 Birmingham and eight and a red at Swindon 5-4 Bradford. He did just six Championship games last season, three of them involving Hull and two of them QPR, meaning only two of his appointments at that level last season didn’t involve one of those teams.

So far this season Kirk has had 18 appointments. The vast majority of these have been in the Championship, though he did make a dramatic return to League Two with 11 yellows in Fleetwood 1-4 Crewe. He’s had some big appointments in the second tier – Ipswich 3-1 Norwich, Coventry 3-0 Birmingham, Leicester 3-1 Ipswich – and has been rewarded with his first career Premier League game. He made his debut in the top flight at Burnley 0-1 Palace at the start of December. So far he’s continued his high card average with 74 yellows and one red in 18 games.

He has refereed West Ham’s U21 side in the farce that is the EFL Trophy, they won 2-1 at Cheltenham, but this is his first West Ham game proper. QPR have lost both games with him so far.

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Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

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