Mike Jones will take charge of this weekend’s fixture as Rangers take on Coventry City at Loftus Road.
The 38-year-old is one of the newest additions to the select group of referees with both he and Stuart Attwell appointed to the list in 2008. He is currently in his 16th year as an official with 12 of those spent as a referee having been appointed to the national list in 1997.
His first game was back in August of that year as he gave Iyseden Christie his marching orders for Mansfield Town in a 2-1 win over Mark Hateley’s Hull City.
Recently he was embroiled in controversy as Sunderland defeated Liverpool at the Stadium of Light, with the infamous ‘beach-ball goal’ taking centre stage.
Darren Bent’s effort deflected off a Liverpool beach-ball thrown from the away end bamboozling ‘keeper Jose Reina – and Mr Jones didn’t call for what should have been a drop ball.
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Refereeing Rangers |
In 2001 he took charge of his first QPR game as the R’s lost out to promotion hopefuls Bolton Wanderers by the odd goal in three as Bob Taylor`s brace gave the Trotters the win despite Keith Rowland`s penalty to halve the arrears.
Despite refereeing mainly in divisions one and two Mr Jones was rarely assigned a Rangers fixture and there was a wait until 2003 for his next Rangers game, a disappointing goalless draw at home to Wycombe Wanderers.
After Messrs Prosser and Styles had waded in with their ill-advised cards to spoil several meetings, Mr Jones kept a lid on an ordinarily heated as both sides drew a blank in W12. He also dished out a booking for now QPR youth coach Keith Ryan.
He took charge as QPR faced Southampton under the guidance of Ian Holloway. And QPR beat the Saints by a goal to nil. Richard Langley`s penalty kick enough to separate the sides in W12 as Theo Walcott left the field in a QPR shirt.
John Gregory`s Rangers travelled to Luton Town in an FA Cup replay in 2007 and in light of the R`s cup record a familiar result was on display. Zesh Rehman sliced a harmless ball into the bottom corner to hand the Hatters a win. Stefan Bailey was sent off and inadvertently struck Mr Jones in disbelief before he left the field – no further action was taken.
Later that season Rangers were fighting for their lives as they faced an unwanted trip to high-flying Sunderland. Mr Jones did hand the R`s a penalty as Martin Rowlands levelled things up after Dean Whitehead`s opener. However Grant Leadbitter`s strike from distance secured the points for the eventual champions.
After a year’s break he came back to take charge of Rangers’ game once again against Southampton, this time at St Mary’s.
A drab lifeless affair saw the game end goalless, with debutante Adel Taarabt the only ray of light coming from the bench on an otherwise disappointing day.
Finally earlier this season he took charge of the West London derby between Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea, with the Blues coming out narrowly on top.
Salomon Kalou scored the crucial goal to separate the sides despite a useful showing from Jim Magilton’s QPR.
Thus far this season he has presided over 11 games dishing out 33 yellow cards and one red, giving him an average of 3.09 cards per game.
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Mr Jones & Queens Park Rangers |
Bolton Wanderers 2-1 QPR – 13-03-99
Goals: Bob Taylor 30, 58; Keith Rowland 69pen.
Yellow Cards: Chris Plummer.
QPR 0-0 Wycombe Wanderers – 13-09-03
Goals: NONE
Yellow Cards: Paul Furlong, Gino Padula; Roger Johnson, Keith Ryan.
QPR 1-0 Southampton – 14-01-06
Goals: Richard Langley 21pen.
Yellow Cards: Darren Powell.
Luton Town 1-0 QPR – 23-01-07
Goals: Zesh Rehman 80og.
Yellow Cards: Chris Coyne, Dean Morgan.
Red Cards: Stefan Bailey
Sunderland 2-1 QPR – 14-04-07
Goals: Dean Whitehead 7, Grant Leadbitter 76; Martin Rowlands 23pen.
Yellow Cards: Danny Simpson; Adam Bolder, Danny Cullip, Paul Furlong.
Southampton 0-0 QPR – 14-03-2009
Goals: NONE
Yellow Cards: Lloyd James, David McGoldrick; Kaspars Gorkss, Damion Stewart.
Chelsea 1-0 QPR – 23-09-2009
Goals: Salomon Kalou 52
Yellow Cards: NONE
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