Meet The Ref - Latics v Spurs - Jon Moss

Wigan Athletic face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday at the DW Stadium and the referee will be Jonathan Moss, who I hear you say, well if you cast your mind back to last season he appeared twice at the DW Stadium, in September when we beat Preston in the Carling Cup, remember? Yeah, well he was the guy in charge that night and he also did the 1-2 home defeat by Aston Villa in January.

This will be Jon Moss' first Premier League fixture of the new season, in fact most of his 22 years of whistle blowing experience have come in the local leagues in and around West Yorkshire and his home town of Leeds. He was still refereeing in the West Yorkshire and Leeds combination Sunday League up until 2002.

Moss is a head teacher at a West Yorkshire primary school, so he will be used to dealing with little brats and that should stand him in good stead for the Premier League.

In a recent interview with refworld.com Jon Moss said that the highlights of his career so far were 'the conference play-off final between Carlisle and Stevenage in 2005 and being an official in the FA trophy final in 2007 at Wembley.' Let's hope we can add to those highlights on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds Moss was asked 'to describe your worst experience as a referee', to which he replied:

'As referees we are quite self-critical and analyse each and every game decision. There is nothing worse than giving an incorrect decision whether it is getting a throw in wrong or a big decision such as a penalty or sending off.'

'When I was refereeing in the Conference, I once awarded a correct penalty to Leigh RMI against Scarborough.

'As I blew my whistle to award the penalty kick the ball fell to another forward who scored. Had I delayed my whistle for a second I could have played the advantage leading to a goal?

'The Leigh striker took the penalty, which the goalkeeper saved. He jumped up and kicked the ball straight down the pitch to the Scarborough forward who ran through and scored.'

Whoops, let's hope we have none of that on Saturday!!!

Jon Moss Card Watch 2010/11

Games - 5, yellows - 16, reds - 1

















Latics and Proud



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