Tomorrow’s game against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane should have been refereed by Anthony Taylor, one of the Premier League’s most experienced match officials, but he’s been switched to Sunday’s Everton v Nottingham Forest game to replace Chris Kavanagh, leaving Andy Madley to step up from his previously scheduled VAR role for our game to take the whistle.
It?s some time since Madley refereed a Burnley game. We have to go back three seasons when he took charge of three Burnley games behind closed doors, the League Cup home defeat against Manchester City, the FA Cup win at Fulham and the home Premier League draw against Leicester.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat game against Leicester is just one of two Premier League games he?s refereed involving Burnley; the other was the 0-0 draw at Newcastle, our final away game before the pandemic brought the 2019/20 season to a halt. His first Burnley game was the League Cup tie against Plymouth in 2012 and his next four, prior to that game at Newcastle, were all in the Championship, the win at Derby in 2013/14 when he awarded Derby a ridiculous penalty, which they thankfully failed to score from, and then three in the next promotion season in 2015/16. Of the nine Burnley games he?s refereed, the Manchester City game is the only defeat.
He might not have refereed us in over four years but tomorrow will be his fourth Sheffield United game this season. He refereed their 2-2 home draw against Everton and then their...