Michael J. Jones (born 18 April 1968) is an English retired professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

based in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He is a member of the

Cheshire County Football Association The Cheshire Football Association, also simply known as Cheshire FA, is the governing body of football in the county of Cheshire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of football at all levels in the county. About Th ...

. He began refereeing in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in 1997 and was promoted in 2008 to the list of

Select Group Referees The Select Group is a panel of English professional football referees and assistant referees, appointed by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Select Group 1 In August 2022, the PGMOL announced the referees and assistant referee ...

who officiate all

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 Foo ...

fixtures. In 2009, he refereed the FA Trophy final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Jones is now the Head of Refereeing at the EFL (English Football Leagues).

Career

Jones was promoted to

's list of referees in 1997, his first match in charge being

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in August of that year. His first game at

was also in 2007: the

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

play-off final which saw

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

defeat

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

3–1. Jones dismissed Shrewsbury's

Marc Tierney Marc Peter Tierney (born 23 August 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back most recently for Football League Championship club Bolton Wanderers. Predominantly a left back, Tierney could play in other positio ...

in the last minute for a second bookable offence: Tierney became the second man to be sent off at the new Wembley. In 2008 Jones became a Select Group referee, allowing him to regularly officiate games in the

. His first match in England's top flight was Hull City versus

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. In October 2009 Jones allowed a bizarre goal scored by

Darren Bent Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Championship for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team. ...

for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, when his shot took a deflection off a

beach ball ''Beach Ball'' is a 1965 American beach party movie starring Edd Byrnes and partly financed by Roger Corman.Ed. J. Philip di Franco, ''The Movie World of Roger Corman'', Chelsea House Publishers, 1979, p. 145 It features appearances by The Supre ...

which had been thrown onto the pitch by a fan in the Liverpool supporters' section. He was subsequently demoted for one week to officiate a match in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

. The beach ball from the incident was sent for display at England's

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

in Manchester. Jones was the fourth official for the

2012 FA Cup Final The 2012 FA Cup Final was a football match between Chelsea and Liverpool on 5 May 2012. It was the final match of the 2011–12 FA Cup, the 131st season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the FA Cup. Chelsea were participating ...

, with

Phil Dowd Philip Dowd (born 26 January 1963)
: The Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and Cardiff City, Cardiff's goalkeeper David Marshall put the ball out of play to allow Norwich's

Alexander Tettey Alexander Banor Tettey (born 4 April 1986) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Having established himself at Rosenborg, he played for French club Rennes and English side Norwich City. Born in Ghan ...

to receive treatment from a physio.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel Ricky van Wolfswinkel (; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club FC Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and ...

took the subsequent throw for Norwich and his teammate

Leroy Fer Leroy Johan Fer (born 5 January 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Turkish Süper Lig club Alanyaspor. He also represented the Netherlands, making 11 appearances between 2010 and 2014. Fer has various ...

tapped the ball into the net as Marshall looked on. The goal was disallowed by Jones who stated he had not blown his whistle to restart play. Cardiff's manager

Malky Mackay Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Ross County. Mackay, who played as a defender, began his playing career in Scottish football with Quee ...

praised the official's decision. Former

referee

Dermot Gallagher Dermot Gallagher (born 20 May 1957 in Ringsend, Dublin, Ireland) is a retired Irish association football referee, who lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He refereed in the Premier League of English football until May 2007. Career Gallagher first ...

told

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Jones refereed his final game on Saturday 5 May 2018 due to retirement. The match at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F ...

saw

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

beat

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

1–0.

Statistics

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

References

External links

Mike Jones Referee Statistics
at

soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60 ...

.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Mike 1968 births English football referees Living people Sportspeople from Chester English Football League referees Premier League referees