Meet The Ref - Latics v Man Utd - Andre Marriner

Wigan Athletic v Manchester United will be refereed by Andre Marriner, who will be taking charge of his first Latics game this season

The West Midlands based official had three of our games last season, Blackburn at home when he allowed the phantom corner goal. Morten Gamst Pedersen had played a corner to himself if you recall, he then played NINE minutes stoppage time and only blew for full time once the Latics had restarted the game following the Blackburn penalty that gave them a share of the spoils, Swansea at home, cant blame him for that, we were absolutely dire and got turned over 0-2, his last Latics game was our great victory against Arsenal at the Emirates back in April

Marriner celebrates his 42nd birthday on New Year's Day, let's hope he isn't in too high spirits and protects our silky players against those thuggish United boys, he has been a top flight referee since 2005 when he took charge of the Latics v Fulham game, which we won, courtesy of a last minute Pascal Chimbonda goal

Marriner first got into refereeing because he liked the money, his words not mine, he reveals this information in a recent interview he gave:

How did you get introduced into refereeing?

I went along to watch a local football team that had asked me to play for them. The referee had not turned up and so as I was a neutral at the game, they asked me to referee it. It was an end to end game and I really enjoyed the experience. At the end of the game, they even handed over £10.00 for my services!!!

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlight for me personally is the day that I received my letter inviting me to referee on the Southern Football League following a successful interview. This made me realise that I was going to referee semi professional football

What is the best game you have officiated and why?

Without a doubt, it will always be the 2003 Inaugural Conference Play Off Final between Doncaster Rovers and Dagenham & Redbridge. It was a massive game at that stage of my career as it led me to be promoted onto The National List as a referee.

Who has been the biggest influence in your career and why?

There is no single person that I can name as everybody I have worked with and met to do with refereeing have had some kind of influence on me.

Well there you have it, a money grabber who listens to no one.

Andre Marriner Card Watch 2012/13

Games - 15
Yellows - 51
Reds - 0

Wigan Athletic v Manchester United
Referee - A Marriner
Assisstants - M McDonough, R West
4th Official - N Swarbrick

The latest edition of the PWU Wigan Athletic podcast is now available for download. In this the last recording of the year the panel is decimated by man flu, luckily Barry, Dan and Paul are on hand to carry the flag.

The podcast is longer than usual but with a lot of content to get through that isn't surprising. We look ahead to the local derby on New Year's Day against Manchester United (33:22), we all know this game is their cup final. A nostalgic look back at 2012 (40:48) brings this week's podcast to a conclusion

If you would like to get involved in the podcast or have any topics that you'd like to be discussed please get in touch at wigan@vitalfootball.co.uk marking your email PWU Podcast

The podcast can be downloaded from itunes or via our hosting site www.buzzsprout.com or by simply hitting the play button on the embedded player below

All the PWU Podcast team would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you so very much for your support on this project






















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