1. Mike Dean
Dean has drawn the ire of many for his antics as a referee, such as making elaborate call signals, but he is the best referee in the BPL in our opinion. He always has good control on his matches as well as consistency in his decisions, and as a result he is often appointed for big matches. -- Bob Smith
Week 1 Prediction: Manchester United vs. Tottenham
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| Mike Dean, our top Premier League referee |
Clattenburg can't seem to stop making headlines off the field, most recently getting suspended for going to an Ed Sheeran concert instead of traveling with his team last October, but on the field he is one of the best. Clattenburg uses his personality as an advantage in keeping games under control, and he could have been our top referee if it wasn't for a couple big mistakes last year. -- Harrison Johnson
Week 1 Prediction: Stoke vs. Liverpool
3. Martin Atkinson
Atkinson had a fantastic European season least year, refereeing the Europa League final, but two nightmares in the league put a damper on his season. The Burnley-Chelsea and Liverpool-Manchester United were considered two of the worst refereeing performances of the season by many and as a result Atkinson is behind Dean and Clattenburg. -- Neil Tyler
Week 1 Prediction: Bournemouth vs. Aston Villa
4. Anthony Taylor
Taylor struggled in the earlier stages of last season, with two big mistakes being a strange dive call against Cesc Fabregas as well as not awarding a penalty on a clear handball by Gary Cahill. However, since then Taylor has a been fantastic, refereeing the League Cup Final as well as being appointed to the 2015 Community Shield this weekend. Couple that with strong league performances in the second half of the year, and Taylor is definitely on the rise. -- Will Cole
Week 1 Prediction: Chelsea vs. Swansea
5. Michael Oliver
Oliver is an enigma for us. At times he seems to show that he is a top referee, but he often seems to be unable to really perform in big matches, specifically when he missed two stamps by Diego Costa in Chelsea-Liverpool and when he failed to award three penalties in Arsenal-Chelsea. For now, Oliver is barley in the top five. -- Bob Smith
Week 1 Prediction: Arsenal vs. West Ham
6. Lee Probert
Probert is really underrated as a referee in my opinion. He never really gets big matches, though he did referee Hull-Man United on the last day of the season, but he does seem to generally avoid controversy. If he got more big assignments, there is a good chance he could could move up our list. --Harrison Johnson
Week 1 Prediction: Norwich City vs. Crystal Palace
7. Phil Dowd
Dowd is not the most popular BPL referee (google Jose Mourinho Phil Dowd comments) but he is actually a very strong referee. Before his injury last season, Dowd was often assigned to important matches and did well, but since he is 52, fitness is the big question. -- Neil Tyler
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
8. Craig Pawson
Pawson quietly had a strong 2014-15 season, earning himself a FIFA badge, though few people noticed him, as he didn't get that many big appointments and stayed away from controversy. Last year was impressive from Pawson, and he can build off that this year. -- Will Cole
Week 1 Prediction: Leicester vs. Sunderland
9. Andre Marriner
Marriner has a very lenient style of refereeing, which can sometimes hurt him. He's a pretty decent referee but the lack of calling penalties has annoyed people. Looking at his performances from last season, he seems to be an average referee, which is where he is in our ranking. -- Bob Smith
Week 1 Prediction: Everton vs. Watford
10. Jonathan Moss
Moss has had a stellar BPL career, but last year was the first time he got appointed to a big match when he was the man in the middle for the FA Cup Final. Overall, Moss is a pretty good referee, but he struggles with consistency, which is a key area for improvement. -- Harrison Johnson
Week 1 Prediction: West Brom vs. Manchester City
11. Lee Mason
Mason was up and down last year performance-wise, but he made too many mistakes to be at the top of the list. His biggest area of improvement should be finding a consistent refereeing style so players have a better idea of how to play the game. Being inconsistent just draws frustration. -- Neil Tyler
Week 1 Prediction: Newcastle vs. Southampton
12. Neil Swarbrick
Swarbrick didn't see much action last year, and his season was defined by a mistaken identity case in Manchester City-West Bromwich Albion. So why is he still ahead of 5 referees? Because his season was otherwise pretty strong. Overall, Swarbrick had a good season with a couple things to work on. -- Will Cole
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
13. Roger East
East showed improvements last season, but he still made a lot of mistakes throughout the year, the most egregious being the red card shown to Wes Brown on a foul by John O'Shea that everyone assumed was mistaken identity, even though it turned out that it wasn't mistaken identity because East saw a ghost foul by Brown or something like that. That one still confuses me. -- Bob Smith
Week 1 Prediction: Football League Championship
14. Kevin Friend
If you like to see penalties get called, Kevin Friend won't be your friend. His style of being incredibly lenient in the area ended up coming back to bite him in the Liverpool-Southampton match, where he didn't call 3 potential penalties and a handball outside the box by Simon Mignolet, causing "Kevin Friend" to trend on twitter. I think many of those people who tweeted about Friend would agree with me when I say that he needs to be harsher next year if he wants to improve his standing. -- Harrison Johnson
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
15. Mike Jones
Unlike the man in front of him, Mike Jones is a very harsh referee. He got in trouble throughout the year for very tight penalty and red card decisions and could help himself this season by being a little more lenient in his decision making process. -- Neil Tyler
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
16. Robert Madley
We simply haven't seen enough from Madley to put him higher on the list, as he seems to get fewer games than any other select group referee. He's showed promise, but until we see more of him, we can't really see how strong a referee he is. -- Will Cole
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
17. Graham Scott
Scott is the newest Select Group referee so he has to start at the bottom until we see him in more games. He refereed one early Premier League game last season and had a good performance as well as making a strong second half cameo for Phil Dowd after an injury. I think he will be good, but for now, we just don't know yet. -- Bob Smith
Week 1 Prediction: 4th Official
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Nice article Sir :-) rarely seen article about the referee...nice...
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