Meet The Ref - Fleetwood v Latics

The Latics are off up the M6/M55 on Saturday, a trip to the seaside to face relegation threatened Fleetwood Town, the referee for the game is scheduled to be Carnforth official, Jeremy Simpson.

The 48 year old is a former Premier League and FIFA International assistant referee, switching to blowing the whistle rather than running the line, Simpson was at National League level in 2012 and by the 2015/16 season in the Championship and part of the Select Group 2 of professional referees.

Previous Games

Jeremy Simpson’s first Latics game came in the Championship, back in August 2016, a 1:1 draw at the DW Stadium against Birmingham City, Craig Davies scoring a 90^th minute equaliser, subsequently he’s been in charge of 17 Latics games, 9 of those games have been away from the DW Stadium, of which we’ve won one and lost foive. In fact we have only won four games in which Jezza has been in charge, not the best of records.

Simpson last refereed Fleetwood in April 2022, their 1:2 home defeat by Accrington Stanley in a League One fixture, issuing Paddy Lane with a yellow and sending off Fleetwood keeper Cairns late in the game.

Jeremy Simpson’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
13 Feb 2024	League One	Oxford United 4:2 Latics	4Y
14 Jan 2023	Championship	Cardiff 1:1 Latics	2Y
13 Sep 2023	Championship	Huddersfield 1:2 Latics	2Y
18 Feb 2022	League One	Rotherham 1:1 Latics	4Y
30 Jun 2020	Championship	Latics 3:0 Stoke	1Y
22 Feb 2020	Championship	Latics 1:0 Millwall	1Y

Jeremy Simpson Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 16

Yellows – 68

Reds – 4

Penalty Awards – 2

Fleetwood Town v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Jeremy Simpson
Assistants – Greg Read and Carl Fitch-Jackson
Fourth Official – Scott Simpson

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Fleetwood game.

Meet The Ref - Latics v Bolton

Derby day at the DW Stadium on Tuesday when Bolton Wanderers are the visitors. The referee for the game will be Select Group 2 official, John Busby.

The Oxfordshire based whistle blower became a National List ref in 2016 after serving as an EFL Assistant Referee for eight seasons, he was promoted to the Select Group 2 refereeing list for season 2021/22 and now spends most of his time taking charge of Championship games.

In his EFL career John Busby has taken charge of 319 games, issued 956 yellow and 40 red cards, pointing to the penalty spot on 70 occasions. 

Previous Games

Busby has taken charge of three Latics games previously, his first coming in our League One title winning campaign in the 2017/18 season, a home meeting with Southend United, we won that game 3:0, Busby issuing just one card, a straight red to Southend’s Jermaine McGlashan for a two footed lunge on Callum Elder.

He ref’d us twice last season, once at the DW Stadium when we entertained Bristol City, that game ending 1:1, Busby booking Joe Bennett who was lucky not to get a red card and our 3:0 away defeat to Burnley, sending off Omar Rekik and issuing five yellows in that game.

John Busby’s most recent Bolton game came back in November 2020, a 3:0 home win over Southend. 

Of John Busby's 24 games so far this season, 17 have come in the Championship.

 John Busby Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
11 Mar 2023	Championship	Burnley 3:0 Latics	5Y & 1R
13 Aug 2022	Championship	Latics 1:1 Bristol City	1Y
14 Oct 2017	League One	Latics 3:0 Southend	0

John Busby Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 24

Yellows – 95

Reds – 1

Penalty Awards – 6

Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers
Referee – John Busby
Assistants – Nigel Lugg and Mark Pottage
Fourth Official – Adam Herczeg

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Bolton game.

Meet The Ref - Latics v Cheltenham Town

Back at home on Friday for the first of two home games in four days when Cheltenham Town are the visitors to the DW Stadium. The referee for the game will be Hertfordshire official, David Rock.

Rock is now in his fifth season in the EFL, he has clocked up 153 games, issued 530 yellow cards, 24 reds and awarded 26 spot kicks.

 Previous Games

David Rock has refereed the Latics four times previously, two away days and twice at the DW Stadium, three of those games came in 2021, but spread across two separate seasons, the fourth was our 2:0 home win over Oxford in October, booking Baba Adeeko, Liam Shaw and Callum Lang.

Rock was last in charge of a Cheltenham game earlier this season, their 0:3 League One home defeat at the hands of Bolton on the 12^th August.

Away from football, Rock works as a PE Training and Development officer for a sports education company.

David Rock Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
24 Oct 2023	League One	Latics 2:0 Oxford	3Y
08 Dec 2021	League One	Latics 2:1 Shrewsbury	1 Y
20 Apr 2021	League One	Shrewsbury 1:2 Latics	2 Y
02 Feb 2021	League One	Swindon 1:0 Latics	2 Y

David Rock Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 28

Yellows – 106

Reds – 7

Penalty Awards – 5

Wigan Athletic v Cheltenham Town
Referee – David Rock
Assistants – Emily Carney and Darren Williams
Fourth Official – Matt Sowerby

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Cheltenham game.

Meet The Ref - Shrewsbury Town v Latics

Latics are off down the A49 on Saturday, a trip to Salop to face Shrewsbury Town, the referee for the game will be Devon official, Lee Swabey.

 

Plymouth lad, Swabey will be taking charge of his first Latics game on Saturday, though he is an experienced ref and been around in the EFL since the 2015/16 season, clocking up almost 230 games, this will be the only time our paths have crossed.

Previous Games

As previously mentioned, Swabey doesn’t have any Latics games to reflect upon, but he has been in charge of Shrewsbury a few times down the years, nine times to be precise, of which the Shrews have won 5, drawn 2 and suffered just 2 defeats and he's awarded them 2 penalties.

Lee Swabey Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 18

Yellows –77

Reds – 4

Penalty Awards – 4

Shrewsbury Town v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Lee Swabey
Assistants – Simon Shaw and Steven Plane
Fourth Official – Ravel Cheosiaua

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Shrewsbury game.

 

Meet The Ref - Oxford United v Latics

The Latics are back at it on Tuesday, a trip down the M40 to face Oxford United, the referee for the game will be Carnforth official, Jeremy Simpson.

 

The 48 year old is a former Premier League and FIFA International assistant referee, switching to blowing the whistle rather than running the line, Simpson was at National League level in 2012 and by the 2015/16 season in the Championship and part of the Select Group 2 of professional referees.

Previous Games

Jeremy Simpson’s first Latics game came in the Championship, back in August 2016, a 1:1 draw at the DW Stadium against Birmingham City, Craig Davies scoring a 90^th minute equaliser, subsequently he’s been in charge of 16 Latics games, 8 of those games have been away from the DW Stadium, of which we’ve won one and lost four. In fact we have only won four games in which Jezza has been in charge, not the best of records.

Simpson last refereed Oxford earlier this season, 12^th August, their 1:0 home win over Carlisle United in a League One fixture, the four yellow cards in the game were all handed out to Carlisle players.

Jeremy Simpson’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
14 Jan 2023	Championship	Cardiff 1:1 Latics	2Y
13 Sep 2023	Championship	Huddersfield 1:2 Latics	2Y
18 Feb 2022	League One	Rotherham 1:1 Latics	4Y
30 Jun 2020	Championship	Latics 3:0 Stoke	1Y
22 Feb 2020	Championship	Latics 1:0 Millwall	1Y
20 Nov 2019	Championship	Latics 1:3 Reading	2Y

Jeremy Simpson Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 13

Yellows – 53

Reds – 3

Penalty Awards – 1

Oxford United v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Jeremy Simpson
Assistants – Blake Antrobus and Alex James
Fourth Official – Ryan Atkin

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Oxford game.