Meet The Ref - Latics v West Ham - Jon Moss

The Latics v West Ham game at the DW Stadium on Saturday will be refereed by the Sunderland born, West Yorkshire based official, Jon Moss, who is somewhat card happy

Relatively new to the top division, Moss was in charge of the QPR v Everton game last weekend and he controversially sent off Everton wide player Steven Pienaar, he also turned down to stonewall penalties, one for each side, which had both managers complaining about his performance, David Moyes actually described Moss as 'rubbish' and said the sending off of Pienaar was a 'ludicrous decision'!

Great stuff, just what we need, another referee for Martinez to get a fine over

Most of Jon Moss' 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.

42 year old 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 2012/13

Games - 7
Yellows - 21
Reds - 1

Wigan Athletic v West Ham United
Referee: J Moss
Assistants: R Ganfield, G Beswick
Fourth Official: G Eltringham


The latest PWU podcast is now available for download

Paul Kendrick of the Wigan Evening Post drops in for a chat and he is quizzed on his role as a Latics reporter. In the studio we have the regulars Barry, Paul, Greg, Rob, Dan, and Gareth quizzing Paul and commenting on the trouble at the recent Serbia v England U21 international.

The podcast is available for download from iTunes, our hosting site www.buzzsprout.com or you can click play on the player below to listen from here

As always feedback is welcome, plus if you want to get involved in the podcast please contact us here at Vital Latics wigan@vitalfootball.co.uk , mark your email Podcast




















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