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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 title ...

based in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. He is a member of the Cheshire County Football Association. 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

in 1997 and was promoted in 2008 to the list of Select Group Referees who officiate all

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

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

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Jones is now the Head of Refereeing at the

English 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

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 association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

against Hull City in August of that year. His first game at

was also in 2007: the Football League Two play-off final which saw Bristol Rovers defeat Shrewsbury Town 3–1. Jones dismissed Shrewsbury's

Marc Tierney Marc Peter Tierney (born 23 August 1985) is an English former professional footballer. Predominantly a left-back, Tierney could play in other positions, such as centre-back. His brother Paul is also a retired professional footballer. A gradua ...

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 a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. In October 2009 Jones allowed a bizarre goal scored by Darren Bent for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, when his shot took a deflection off a beach ball 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, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

. The beach ball from the incident was sent for display at England's National Football Museum in Manchester. Jones was the fourth official for the 2012 FA Cup final, with Phil Dowd taking charge. In the final moments of a 2013 Premier League game between Norwich City 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 former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Born in Ghana, he played for the Norway national team from 2007 to 2016, earning 34 caps. Having established himself at Rosen ...

to receive treatment from a physio. Ricky van Wolfswinkel took the subsequent throw for Norwich and his teammate Leroy Fer 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 praised the official's decision. Former

referee Dermot Gallagher told

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

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

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

saw West Bromwich Albion beat Tottenham Hotspur 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 published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 cop ...

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