James Adcock, into his third season on the Football League refereeing list, takes charge of QPR for the first time this weekend as the R’s head to Bolton.
Referee >>> James Adcock (Nottinghamshire), first ever QPR appointment, refereed Bolton in defeat at Watford last season.
Assistants >>> Robert Merchant (Staffordshire) and Steven Meredith (Nottinghamshire)
Fourth Official >>>> Paul Tierney (Lancashire)
Two appointments so far this season for James Adcock, both in the Championship and both finishing as home wins — QPR will be hoping that doesn’t continue this weekend. He showed four yellows in Leeds’ 2-1 opening day win against Brighton and three as Watford pummelled Bournemouth 6-1 last weekend.
Last season his appointments were split reasonably equally throughout the three Football League divisions and the cup competitions with eight Championship fixtures. Overall he showed 94 yellows and five reds in 33 matches which is 2.84 bookings a game on average — on the low side. In his Championship fixtures he showed 31 yellows and one red which is an average of 3.87 yellows a game. His biggest haul in a single match was five yellows and a red at Hartlepool v Carlisle but he also booked six players in a game on three other occasions, including Bolton’s 2-1 defeat at Watford where he did award the Trotters a second half penalty.
In 2011/12 — his first full season on the list — he showed 87 yellows (2.63) and three reds in 33 games split mostly between the bottom two divisions. He was only given one Championship appointment that season — Barnsley v Millwall — but did referee a League Two play off semi final between Cheltenham and Torquay at the end of the campaign.
Premier League >>> Howard Webb has the Saturday lunchtime game between Fulham and Arsenal while Martin Atkinson is clearly still well in favour with the powers that be as he has the Monday night clash between Man Utd and Chelsea.
Championship >>> Interesting to see Premier League referee Mike Dean dropping down a division this weekend to take charge of Ipswich v Leeds at Portman Road. Our old chum Stuart Attwell has Sheff Wed v Millwall.
League One >>> Gavin Ward has the Friday night clash between Colchester and Carlisle, Premier League referee Chris Foy is charged with keeping a hold of a Yorkshire derby between Bradford and Sheffield United, Trevor Kettle is ruining Notts County v Stevenage.
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Pictures — Action Images