Keith Hackett column: Four new referees will be promoted to the Premier League and I’m particularly impressed by Jarred Gillett

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Throughout last season I expressed concerns about the falling standards in the quality of officiating in the English Premier League.

To some extent this was shrouded in the mist of how VAR was being poorly operated.

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With five referees aged 50 and above, and the increased workload on some of our top referees, it was in my view that fatigue was evident which in turn was leading to errors.

The PGMOL have today announced the promotion of four new referees onto the elite list:
Jarred Gillett, Tony Harrington, Michael Salisbury and John Brooks.

Former Premier League and FIFA referee Keith Hackett is a columnist for CaughtOffside.com

I hope in the weeks ahead before the new season commences that they are appointed to several friendly games in order to hit the ground running.

I am particularly impressed with Australian, Jarred Gillett, who, several years ago, spent a week with the PGMOL to get an understanding of the life of a professional referee, as well as the training schedules and regimes in place at that time.

Little did anyone believe that he would return to England and become a member of SG1 (Select Group).

This was an arrangement that I started with Brisbane Based Referee Coach, Ted Kearney, and Chairman of Referees, Rod Pelosi, and it’s great to see it bearing fruit at last.

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