Phil Dowd, of Staffordshire has been put in charge of Ranger`s Carling Cup 4th round tie against Champions Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. He will be assisted by Mr T Massey and Mr AM Newbold. The Fourth Official is Mr CH Webster.
Mr Dowd began his refereeing career in 1984. He began in local leagues in Staffordshire before progressing to the Staffordshire Senior League and Midland Football Alliance. He made the Football League assistant referees list in 1992 and the full referees list in 1997, at 34 years old. In 2001 he was appointed to the Premier League referees list.
In 2002, Dowd was the 4th official at the Division One Play-Off Final, between Birmingham City and Norwich City, which Birmingham won 4-3 on penalties. He was also the 4th official in the 2004 Community Shield match which featured Arsenal and Manchester United. And in 2006, he was again the 4th official, this time for the FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham United.
Although a member of the “Select Group of referees”, Dowd has failed to be nominated for the FIFA list of international referees. This could be because he only joined the referees list at the relatively late age of 34.
Dowd has officiated his fair share of matches at lower league level, including the Coca Cola Championship and Leagues One and Two, as well as in the Football Conference North (at Burscough versus Gainsborough in September this year). Last Saturday, 8th November, Dowd refereed Nottingham Forest`s 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City. During the game, Dowd issued 5 yellow cards.
The first game where the Rs were involved with Phil Dowd as referee was on 13th February 1999, when we travelled to Tranmere Rovers. We lost the game 3-2 and had four players booked in the process. On 31st January 2001, Dowd took charge of Rangers game at home to Fulham, which we lost 0-2.
On 3rd January 2005, Phil Dowd was the referee in charge of QPR`s away fixture at Leicester City, which we lost 1-0 thanks to an early penalty scored by David Connolly. Later that season, on 2nd April 2005, Dowd was the man-in-charge when the Rs took on Sunderland at Loftus Road. That was another game we lost with Dowd in charge: 1-3, having led 1-0 at the break thanks to a Danny Shittu goal.
Since April 2005, Phil Dowd has not been in charge of a QPR match. This will also be his first match in charge of a Manchester United fixture this season. In the 14 games he has refereed so far this season, Mr Dowd has issued 45 yellow cards and 3 reds. That means that he issues an average of 3.21 yellow cards per game (which is an increase on last year, when his average was 2.75, but not as high as in 2005/06, when his average was 3.98). Mr Dowd clearly seems fond of the yellow card!
Mr Dowd & Queens Park Rangers
Tranmere Rovers 3-2 QPR – 13/02/1999
Goals: Danny Maddix (18), Dave Challinor (28), Martin Rowlands (47), Lee Jones (67), Graham Allen (70)
Booked: George Santos (Tranmere), Ian Dowie, Danny Maddix, Steve Morrow, Gavin Peacock (QPR)
QPR 0-2 Fulham – 31/01/2001
Goals: Peter Moller (45), Karlheinz Riedle (77)
Booked: Sean Davis (Fulham)
Leicester City 1-0 QPR – 03/01/2005
Goals: David Connolly (6, pen)
Booked: David Connolly, Danny Tiatto (Leicester), Martin Rowlands (QPR)
QPR 1-3 Sunderland – 02/04/2005
Goals: Danny Shittu (22), Andy Welsh (46), Chris Brown (63), Julio Arca(75)
Booked: Lee Cook, Paul Furlong (QPR), Chris Brown, Dean Whitehead
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