Howard is the current Chief Refereeing Officer for the PGMOL. Webb refereed 296 Premier League games from 2003 to 2014 and the World Cup and Champions League finals in 2010. The Yorkshireman began his career in 1989, progressing through the Northern Counties and Football League to become a Select Group referee in 2003. Howard retired in 2014.
Formed in 2001 to improve refereeing standards, the PGMOL group officiate across all the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Football Association (FA) Competitions. All three organisations fund it.
The training, development and mentoring of 162 referees and 350 assistant referees, headed up by Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb (a former PGMOL referee) and a team of managers and coaches.
The most high-profile officials, the 20 full-time professional Select Group One referees.
Currently, PGMOL have 84 in the Select Group who are contracted match officials. These are broken down between Select Group 1 Referees, Select Group 1 Assistant Referees, Select Group 2 Referees and women’s Select Group officials.
Through the Elite Referee Development Plan, there is an enhanced support team which mirrors that of a football club: sports scientists, sports psychologists, performance analysts, operational assistants, physiotherapists, sprint coaches, podiatrists and vision scientists are all employed to improve referee performance.
Technology is used as an aid too: detailed performance analysis is supported by Opta, which provides statistical data on each match.
Own or work here?