The ex-players trying to be referees: ‘I’ve got no problem with getting a bit of grief’

Carl Baker has unwittingly become a creature of habit at home. “My missus laughs at me because I’ve got my pen and pad and a cup of tea studying games,” he says. “I’m a little bit obsessed, to be honest.”

Baker no longer watches football like he used to. His 20 years as a player with Coventry City, MK Dons and Portsmouth taught him to instinctively track movement and seek space, but now his eyes follow the 23rd figure on the pitch.

“I feel like I’m back at school, watching referees and the positions they get in,” he says. “I’m pausing and rewinding, taking notes. As many details as possible, so when I’m doing games I’m copying what they’re doing.”

Baker, 42, is an aspiring match official. One of 10 ex-footballers selected from 120 applicants last summer, the former winger is on a three-year scholarship programme overseen by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL, which oversees referees in English professional football) and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) designed to create a pathway for retired players.

There is no expectation that the course will unearth the next Anthony Taylor or Michael Oliver, but there is hope these “trailblazers” can strengthen the pool of English referees by offering their own vast experiences as players.

Baker brings his fair share. He made more than 600 appearances, including more than 100 in the English Championship, before retiring in 2023 but sees refereeing as a new mountain to climb.

“I didn’t know I wanted to be a ref or if I’d enjoy it or if I’d be any good, but I wanted to give it a go to see how it panned out,” he says. “As it’s gone further along, I’ve enjoyed it even more, to the point where I did a game on Saturday and the sun was out, I was in the middle of the pitch and I was thinking, ‘This is brilliant’.”

A long journey has begun. “I’d love to get as high as possible,” he says. “The same as I was as a player. I’ve not set a target of where I want to be but I’d love to referee a professional game. That would be amazing, but I understand it’s a difficult and long process. We’ve got a lot of work to do before that.”

A three-day camp at Warwick University last week brought a gentle introduction to the scrutiny that awaits in the professional game. A friendly fixture was arranged between two Pro Direct academies for Friday morning, with the referees-in-training given 15 minutes in the middle and additional time running the line as assistants.

Former Premier League referees Lee Mason and Phil Dowd were invited along to monitor performances and lead feedback sessions afterwards. Group appraisals focused on communication, positional work, control of the game and decision-making.

Analysts are even on hand to show replays from the match on a projector screen, with Peter Vincenti, the former Rochdale winger, content to have his two big decisions — one penalty waved away and an offside call — vindicated to the room.

The penalty call, though, highlights one area for improvement, with Vincenti told his signalling could have been more obvious to players and, just as importantly, those watching on.

Vincenti and his classmates during the analysis (Barrington Coombs/PGMOL/PFA)

Anthony Griffith, a former defensive midfielder best known for his time at Port Vale, is also lightly pulled up for telling a disgruntled player “to sort his feet out” mid-match.

Griffith smiles about the incident later. “You’re going to have to learn as you go but the feedback we got is that they don’t want to turn us into robots or lose your personality,” he says. “They just want to shape it a little bit rather than chopping the legs off it. That’s my personality, I like a laugh but when it’s serious time I can differentiate.”

The moment inadvertently captured the challenge faced by the former players, a roster that includes former Millwall and Bolton Wanderers midfielder Liam Trotter and Chris Birchall, once David Beckham’s team-mate at LA Galaxy. Behaviours shaped during playing careers are being remoulded, conditioned minds altered.

“The first couple of games I found difficult in terms of getting into pockets you’d generally go to as a player,” explains Baker. “We’ve got to do the exact opposite and leave those spaces for players. That took a bit of getting used to but the more games I’ve done, I’ve got better.”

These refereeing careers are very much in their embryonic stages. Each official is given a range of games through midweek days and over weekends, taking charge of anything from academy games to local open-age amateur fixtures.

There is a reluctance to place any timescales on long-term development but, by the end of the three-year programme, which provides each official with a fixed salary, it is hoped the group will have progressed to the base of the English football pyramid.

“To migrate from being a player to a referee is not easy,” says Dan Meeson, development director at PGMOL. “There are some transferable skills but there are lots of differences as well. It’s a lot to take on board.

“This is about giving opportunities, exploring if the concept works. If we get some of these guys operating in League One or League Two, that’ll be a significant step.”

Griffith taking his turn in charge (Barrington Coombs/PGMOL/PFA)

Meeson says opportunities like this have not been seen in English football since the 1990s. Steve Baines, once of Huddersfield Town, Bradford City and Chesterfield through the 1970s and ’80s, was the last established referee to call upon significant experiences as a player.

When the PFA teamed up with PGMOL last summer, interest was registered from more than 100 players, past and present, before interviews whittled down the number to 10. Millwall players Murray Wallace and Wes Harding, as well as Stevenage’s Jamie Reid, were among those to attend a taster day, though Meeson says their interest has been “paused” until playing careers are complete.

“I’m seeing interest registered all the time and these are current players, which is great,” says Ritchie Humphreys, player services executive at the PFA. “They’re seeing it as a potential pathway. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be successful, but they’re going to get their opportunity.”

Participants will train with the PGMOL’s elite referees and assistants and attend camps through the season. Assessments are continuous and aligned with the PGMOL’s ‘elite referee development plan’, and training for the most promising officials can be accelerated.

“We’re not going to put someone in an environment and a level where we don’t think they are,” says Meeson. “That would be unfair on them, us and the game. We’d be setting ourselves up to fail if we did that.

“I’ve said from the beginning that if you make a mistake on the field, people won’t say, ‘Ah, well, he used to play the game so it’s OK’. They’ll see you as a referee. Don’t think your time as a player will make you immune from criticism because it won’t.

“There’s lots of stuff that is transferable from their time as players. You need strong interpersonal skills about you, you’ve got to be able to communicate, often you’ve got to show leadership. The biggest thing they’ve got that as an asset is performing under pressure.”

Chris Birchall is one of the ex-players learning to referee (Barrington Coombs/PGMOL/PFA)

Baker was spared his 15 minutes in front of Mason and Dowd due to a minor injury he suffered refereeing three days earlier. “I stupidly did a game on Tuesday night,” he says ruefully.

But the enthusiasm is clear. Baker describes his months that immediately followed retirement as “really difficult”. Only when the chance arose to caddy for Robert Rock, a professional golfer and close friend, did he begin to stop “feeling sorry” for himself.

“That was a nice getaway from football but (Rock) is semi-retired himself now, playing three or four tournaments a year. It was a great experience. I got to see (Rory) McIlroy, (Bryson) DeChambeau. It was surreal to me. I was in the gym at the U.S. Open doing tricep pulls and Scottie Scheffler is there.”

Baker recalls an email from the PFA planting the first seed last summer. The pursuit of becoming a match official is not something he had previously entertained, but there is something to chase once more. “It’s given me a new lease of life,” he adds.

Griffith, who is also working as a driving instructor during the scholarship programme, can at least call on past experiences as a referee. He was convinced to take on the whistle in 2014, overseeing academy games at Stoke City. “It’s been something I’ve wanted to explore and now there’s a pathway in place it’s enticed me in to go for it,” he explains.

It is natural to wonder what the referees who once kept Griffith in check will be thinking. “I was sound with referees,” he says. “It was everyone else I tried to kick.”

Baker, meanwhile, says retrospective apologies have been given in the last six months. “Knowing the rules now, it was probably me in the wrong most of the time when I was questioning decisions,” he laughs.

And that is the pressure — a very different kind — that lies in store for Baker, Griffith and the other eight in training. Referees have become a lightning rod for criticism in the modern game, with the advent of the video assistant referee system and respect campaigns offering little respite. Every official, on average, will need to make 300 decisions a game and be expected to get the vast majority correct.

Baker calls it a “thankless job”, but any trepidation has been parked.

“I’ve got no problems with getting a bit of grief so long as I know my intentions are right and I’m trying my best,” he says. “If I get it wrong, I’ll apologise and hopefully, they’ll accept it. I’m comfortable with that.

“There was a game a few weeks ago where it was 2-2 and there was a penalty in the last minute. I’m like, ‘S**t, what do I do here?’, because it’s a big moment in the game. But it was a stonewall penalty and I gave it. As long as I know I’m trying my best and trying to give whatever I see, generally I can handle the negativity that might come off the back of it.”

(Top photo: The trainees and their instructors; by Barrington Coombs/PGMOL/PFA)