Michael Oliver hails from Northumberland and, now aged 40, has set many records as the youngest referee to officiate at Wembley or in the Premier League, and he has been in charge of major international matches since 2012.
As Michael left the field, he saw Buffon standing in his socks, shorts and shirt in the players tunnel shouting: “Bastardo, bastardo.”
Back home, Michael’s wife Lucy received threatening text messages, and voices shouted abuse through their letterbox. Michael said: “Buffon was such an iconic figure and loved so much that the press, even in this country, were more on his side than mine.”
More recently, in February, Michael red-carded Liverpool manager Arne Slot after he went over the top with his complaints about a James Tarkowski equaliser for Everton in the last minute of the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. Slot was reported as saying to Michael: “If we lose the league, I will blame you”, and he might have employed some stronger language as well.
Slot was given a two match ban and fined £70,000.
Michael said: “I got on board the refereeing game and never got off. As a youngster I had been on Newcastle United‘s books and on Sunderland’s but I had my doubts about making the big time as a player.”
“Things change as you go up the football ladder,” he said. “There are more people so there is more scrutiny. The players are different. A good professional will not want to be red-carded and banned as there will be no income for him so they usually have their say about a decision and then move on, but other players will go on and on about the same decision.
“The European game is also different, especially where physical contact is concerned, and if Newcastle go into Europe next year they will have to adjust to the different levels of physical contact.”
The Oliver family enjoyed a unique refereeing double when father Clive took charge of the 2009 League Two play-off final and the following day Michael refereed the League One play-off final.
Michael was promoted to the Select Group of Referees in August 2010, enabling him to referee Premier League matches. His first appointment was Birmingham City versus Blackburn Rovers. He was 25 years and 182 days old, the youngest ever Premier League referee.
He was appointed the 4th official for the 2013 League Cup final at Wembley and refereed the FA Cup semi-final between Wigan Athletic and Millwall in April 2013, and in doing so became the youngest referee to take charge of an FA Cup semi-final. He was the referee for the 2014 Community Shield final between Arsenal and Man City and in 2016 refereed three group stage matches in the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League which came before the infamous Champions League quarter-final tie between Juventus and Real Madrid.
In March 2019, Michael was appointed the referee in the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland. He also officiated the 2021 FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leicester City.
In 2022, he was one of six English officials to oversee matches at the November and December World Cup in Qatar, and that year, he refereed the UEFA Super Cup between Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid.
When he has had a bad day at the office Michael likes to surround himself with his family or with his golfing pals. He said: “It is important to get away from the game sometimes.”
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Michael is a supporter of VAR and when asked about the shirt pulling and tugging that goes on in the penalty area at set plays and corner kicks, he said: “An impact has to take place for a pull or tug on the shirt to be an offence, and really the only person who knows that is the player who is having his shirt pulled or tugged. Once you start giving free kicks or penalties for shirt pulls and tugs you would have to penalise every single one which is not feasible.”
Regarding the way offside decisions are not called until after play has stopped, he said, “People do not like what the system shows now without having an alternative suggestion that could work.”
We thank Michael for his time and the prompt way in which he has answered our queries.
