Barry Knight (born 7 May 1960)
. is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

retired professional football referee, who officiated primarily in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. He retired in 2008 due to injury.Limped off
in first Football League game back in 2008: match report at the ''Telegraph and Argus (Bradford)'' website.

Career

Knight began refereeing in 1978, and in 1991 he became a Southern League referee. He as a twin brother by the name of Ian Knight aka Eye In 1995, he was promoted to the National List of referees for

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. He was promoted to the

's list of referees from 1999, joining its Select Group of Referees on its establishment in 2001. His first appointment in England's top-flight was a game between Wimbledon and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 10 August 1999 at Selhurst Park – a 3–2 away win for Boro. In May 2000, during a Football League First Division play-off semi-final between Bolton Wanderers and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

he issued 12 yellow and two red cards to Bolton players, and none to Ipswich players, whilst awarding three highly controversial penalties in Ipswich's favour. Several Bolton staff, including manager

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

, captain

Guðni Bergsson Guðni Bergsson (born 21 July 1965) is an Icelandic former professional footballer and former president of the Icelandic Football Association from 2017 to 2021. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Tott ...

, and midfielder

Paul Warhurst Paul Warhurst (born 26 September 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender, midfielder or striker. Warhurst notably played in the Premier League for Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers, Crystal Palace and ...

, were fined by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

for comments relating to Knight's officiating of the game. Knight was never appointed to referee a game at Bolton again. It later transpired illegal betting may have been the reason for some of Knight's decisions. In 2001, Knight took charge of the FA Youth Cup final, a 6–3 win for Arsenal against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He was the referee who, in 2005, sent-off Newcastle United teammates

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birming ...

and

Kieron Dyer Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was recently the U23s manager at Ipswich Town. Born in Ipswich, Dyer played youth football for his home club Ipswich Town ...

for fighting during a match against Aston Villa. Eight-man Newcastle ( Steven Taylor was also sent off for handball on the goal-line preventing a goal) eventually lost the match 3–0. His officiating in the Premier League stopped suddenly after Blackburn Rovers' 2–1 home win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

on 22 October 2005 due to a knee ligament injury he had suffered, and which took much time to recover from. Knight returned to action on 17 March 2007 by fulfilling a fourth official posting in a Premier League fixture between

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He fully returned to active top-flight refereeing on 11 August 2007, when he took charge of a 2–1 away win by

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in the Football League One, during which he dismissed the home side's

Alan McCormack Alan McCormack (born 10 January 1984) is an Irish football coach and former professional player who played as a right-back or midfielder. He is an academy coach at club Luton Town. He began his career at Preston North End and later played fo ...

. However, before Knight was able to make a return to the Premier League his injury re-occurred after a game on 28 August 2007. He recovered once again to take charge of only his fourth Football League game of the 2007–08 season in early January 2008, a 1–0 victory by

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

.First Football League game since injury
Accrington Stanley v. Bradford City: soccerbase.com website. However, he sustained another injury and had to withdraw in the first half. He subsequently retired from refereeing.

Statistics

Statistics for all competitions. There are no available records prior to 1997–98.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Barry 1960 births Living people English football referees Premier League referees People from Orpington