Meet The Ref - Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic

Jeremy Simpson (Carnforth)

We’re off down the M6 on Saturday to Villa Park, the Latics will be looking to build on their great opening day win over Sheffield Wednesday, ensuring that both teams stick to the rules will be Carnforth official Jeremy Simpson.




Simpson has a bit of history with our opponents Aston Villa, he felt the wrath of Villa boss Steve Bruce on two occasions, both at Villa Park, a red card against Bolton last September and some ‘dodgy’ decisions in a fiery game against Cardiff in April when he booked 9 players in total, 5 of which were Villa players.
 



A former Premier League and FIFA International assistant referee, Simpson is part of the ‘Select Group 2’ of professional ref’s after rising rapidly through the refereeing ranks, he was at Conference level in 2012 and only found his feet in the Championship in the 2015/16 campaign when of the 35 games he took charge of over the season just 15 were at 2^nd tier level.

Last weekend he was in charge of the Sheffield United v Swansea game which finished in a 1-2 away win for the Swans, in the match Simpson awarded just 12 free kicks, allowing the game to flow, he didn’t  hand out a single card, a bit of a rarity these days.

Simpson took charge of two Latics’ games last campaign, both in the Football League Trophy, 1-1 draw away at Blackpool, which we won on pens and our 0-4 home defeat to Accrington when we fielded the under15s!   


Jeremy Simpson Card Watch 2017/18

Games – 42
Yellows – 167
Reds – 10

Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic
Referee - JEREMY SIMPSON
Assistants - Shaun Hudson and Nick Hopton
Fourth Official - Mark Heywood

 Jeremy Simpson 

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Opening Day Optimism

The big kick off has arrived at last, the squad’s been tweaked – slightly – the friendlies played and optimism abounds, well in this part of Wigan at least, and why not.
Entering the new campaign on the back of a Championship winning season, with a settled squad, the big players still in place and most importantly the manager still at the helm.

We showed last season that we can compete in the big games, the FA Cup run gives me the hope, nay the belief that we will be a much stronger outfit than the last time we were in the Championship, the spirit in the squad is fantastic and Paul Cook, whilst not suffering fools, has created an atmosphere around the training ground that players love being involved in.

So I am going into the season with optimism, not false hope that we are going to smash it, but optimism that we will be at least competitive, I am looking forward to season without trauma or drama or any final day disappointments, I feel we have the ability to finish mid-table, keeping our heads well above the choppy waters of a relegation battle, we’ll leave that to the University of Bolton and QPR.

I am looking forward to Will Grigg having a good season, hopefully he’ll steer clear of injury and get his form up and running early. Dan Burn will also be a big player for us and I can envisage Jamie Walker breaking into the starting XI, he does look a real talent.

I’m excited about the season ahead, can’t wait for the takeover to be finalised, let’s get this party started.

Prediction 14^th

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Welcome Back To The Championship Podcast

Preseason over and we're ready for the opening day game against Sheffield Wednesday, feels like it's been a long, long summer. We kick off the season opener with discussion about the preseason, proposed takeover, ins & outs and our hopes for the new campaign. We have a preview of the Sheff Weds game, including 'Ref Watch' and an interview with Wednesday fan, Kev Carpenter. There are listener questions for the panel to discuss and tics predicts makes its return Great to be back!