The men with the whistle: Who are the Premier League referees now, who has left?
Premier League
By
Robert Abong'o
| Aug 21, 2026
For years, Premier League refereeing had its own cast of familiar faces. Mike Dean, Martin Atkinson, Jonathan Moss, Kevin Friend, Andre Marriner, Lee Mason and most recently, Anthony Taylor.
They were not footballers, but supporters knew their names, faces and mannerisms almost as well as those of the players they were assigned to control. While some became household names, others became the centre of furious post-match debates. Some became admired, others distrusted, and others simply became part of the soundtrack of English football week in, week out.
But one by one, they disappeared from the touchline. Retirement took some; VAR changed the careers of others. Some saw their departures result from disciplinary action, while behind them, a younger generation steadily climbed the ladder.
Now, as the 2026/27 Premier League season begins, English refereeing is entering another huge chapter. This time, the change is not simply about who carries the whistle in the middle of the pitch, but the entire structure itself.
The organisation formerly known as Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) was renamed Professional Game Referees (Pro Ref) in June, while the previous Select Group 1, Select Group 2 and Supplementary List merged into a single Professional Referee Group.
The new structure is designed to create greater flexibility, allowing officials to operate across the Premier League and Championship while creating a more dynamic pathway for referees progressing towards the top of the levels of the game.
To understand how the Premier League got here, it is worth looking at the men who have gone.
The old heads
Perhaps the most significant departure is also the most recent. Anthony Taylor.
After more than two decades at the highest level, the 47-year-old announced his retirement from elite refereeing in July, bringing an end to a career spanning 831 matches. His final assignment came at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when he refereed the last-16 meeting between Portugal and Spain.
Taylor spent 16 seasons in the Premier League and took charge of 432 matches. He also refereed every major domestic cup final in England and spent 14 years on the FIFA International List. His departure is significant not simply because of the number of matches he refereed, but because of the familiarity that came with his longevity.
The official has not, however, disappeared from football. Just weeks after retiring, he was appointed Director of Elite Refereeing by the Turkish Football Federation, where he will work on the technical and strategic development of refereeing in Türkiye
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Mike Dean, Martin Atkinson and Jonathan Moss all brought their on-field refereeing careers to an end. Dean's was particularly remarkable. He officially became a Premier League referee in 2000 and went on to officiate more than 550 top-flight matches, establishing himself as one of the most recognisable officials of the modern era.
But Dean did not immediately leave the refereeing world. Instead, he moved behind the screens. He became a dedicated VAR for the 2022/23 season before eventually leaving PGMOL in 2023. That career path was symbolic of a wider change in the profession. The modern referee no longer necessarily finishes his career when he stops running around the pitch. VAR created another route.
After 15 years as a Premier League referee, Lee Mason retired from on-field officiating in 2021 and became the league's first dedicated VAR. The development of VAR has therefore not simply changed how matches are refereed. It has changed what a refereeing career can look like.
In May 2023, Andre Marriner retired after 23 years as a match official in the upper levels of English football. His final Premier League assignment was Arsenal's 5-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Emirates Stadium on 28 May 2023. It was his 391st Premier League match. Marriner had first refereed in the top flight in November 2004 and spent nine years on the FIFA list, officiating World Cup and European Championship qualifiers as well as international club competitions.
For a generation of Premier League viewers, his retirement represented another piece of the old refereeing landscape disappearing. The same story has repeated itself several times.
David Coote’s exit was a bit different. was suspended in November 2024 after a video circulated online containing inappropriate and derogatory comments about former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. The FA subsequently charged him under Rule E3. The referee admitted the charge, and an independent Regulatory Commission later imposed an eight-week suspension and mandatory education programme. His departure became one of the most prominent examples of how a referee's career can be affected by conduct away from the pitch.
New generation
While the older names were leaving, a new group was already being prepared. Tom Bramall, John Brooks, Michael Salisbury, Tony Harrington and Jarred Gillett were among the officials who emerged through the Premier League's changing development structure.
Not all of them will necessarily referee Premier League matches immediately. The significance of the list is that it represents the professional pool from which appointments can be made under the new structure.
Gillett's rise was particularly notable. The Australian became the Premier League's first foreign referee after moving from the A-League, opening another chapter in a competition that had traditionally relied almost entirely on English officials. He is now part of the established professional pool and has already taken on major VAR responsibilities.
Bramall has been appointed referee for the opening matchweek fixture between Arsenal and Coventry at the Emirates on Friday, with Adam Herczeg as fourth official and Jarred Gillett operating as VAR.
Around him is a growing group of officials such as Bramall, Brooks, Salisbury, Barrott, Harrington, Josh Smith, Lewis Smith, Hallam and others who represent the next phase of English refereeing. Some are already familiar, while others are still waiting for their names to become recognisable to supporters.
UTILITIES: The professional referee pool for 2026/27
- Sam Allison
- Stuart Attwell
- Anthony Backhouse
- Peter Bankes
- Sam Barrott
- Elliot Bell
- James Bell
- Tom Bramall
- John Brooks
- John Busby
- Matt Corlett
- Matt Donohue
- Darren England
- Will Finnie
- Jarred Gillett
- Farai Hallam
- Tony Harrington
- Adam Herczeg
- Simon Hooper
- Rob Jones
- Chris Kavanagh
- Tom Kirk
- Andrew Kitchen
- Oli Langford
- Andy Madley
- Bobby Madley
- Steve Martin
- Tom Nield
- Michael Oliver
- Craig Pawson
- Tom Reeves
- Ruebyn Ricardo
- Tim Robinson
- Michael Salisbury
- Josh Smith
- Lewis Smith
- Paul Tierney
- Gavin Ward
- David Webb
[Source: FA]