But he is a rookie in the Prem Tom, and you and I both know they wouldn't put him in charge of Liverpool v Man Utd on Sunday.
A rookie in the Prem, yes. That's fair. But he will have been refereeing in the Championship for a few seasons at least so he's not a rookie referee in general. I'm probably being a bit pedantic here but oh well.
To be fair he should be happy with his first game. It's not a Burnley v Norwich borefest of a game. It should be a good game of football that he should enjoy refereeing.
I totally agree they have to start somewhere but don't you get the sense of being tried out in one of the "smaller" games? I think I would change "tough" for high profile because they just wouldn't put a new ref in charge of a game that involved a top 6 team. Actually, I take all that back. I've just remembered Mike Dean's performance for the Spurs game. A rookie would have been better.
They should be given a midtable clash for their first game. They need to get used to the speed of the PL and of course VAR before they get the bigger games. I do think they should get a big game sooner if they impress though.
Is it me or does there seem to be a lot of new refs in the Premiership this year? Not saying it is good or bad - we had a fairly new one a few weeks ago and seemed to do OK. It does seem that Mr England does like a yellow card (the last senior game he did not issue one in was Jan 2, 2017!)
Luckily, our knowledgeable and helpful fans will give him plenty of advice, if it turns out he is not as experienced as you expect
I'm fine with (and agree with) a new PL ref being put in charge of two smaller teams, when both those sides are in mid-table. What annoys me is when they do it when one or both teams are right in the relegation battle. Their matches are just as important as a top four clash.
The side is clearly full of confidence, and it's very much rubbing off on me. I wouldn't usually be predicting a 2-0 Saints win, but given where we are right now, I have to. Plus it's my birthday on Saturday. I can't predict anything but a Saints win on my birthday!
Lucky you. No more birthdays for me as I am to be culled. I knew this would happen once we had a bunch of fascists running the country.