A PREMIER LEAGUE referee who recently felt the wrath of Erik ten Hag once had a very different job.
Andre Marriner, 52, is one of the most-experienced ref’s in the top-flight.
He has taken charge of 386 Premier League fixtures, dishing out 1,197 yellow cards and 67 reds during that period.
And he is well on the way to becoming only the third official after Martin Atkinson and Mike Dean to reach the 400-game mark.
The Birmingham-born whistler was also on the Fifa referee list from 2009 to 2017.
But away from the bright lights of sharing the pitch with world football’s biggest superstars, Marriner’s working career started very differently.
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After being raised in a council house in Birmingham, he actually only started refereeing as a youngster for a bit of pocket money.
And before becoming a full-time official, he used to work as a postman.
That ended when Marriner was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees who officiate primarily in the Premier League back in 2005.
Eight years later he was picked to take charge of the FA Cup Final and his last outing in the middle was for Chelsea’s 3-1 win at Leicester City on March 11.
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He handed out three yellow cards during that match as well as sending off Foxes defender Wout Faes for two bookable offences.
And just last month he was slammed by Manchester United boss Ten Hag for sending-off Casemiro against Crystal Palace.
Marriner has previously stated that he and the rest of the Premier League’s referees are put under the same sort of scrutiny as “surgeons”.
He said: “I can’t think of any other job where there’s this much scrutiny over decision-making. Maybe a surgeon?”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
