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Howard Webb: Premier League Referees Boss Wants Players To Become Referees

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The new Premier League referees manager, Howard Webb, is encouraging former professional football players to consider refereeing.

After spending five years in the United States, Howard Webb has returned to English football after being appointed as the Premier League chief refereeing officer.

As the head of refereeing in England, Webb will oversee all officials in the Premier League and English Football League.

The 51-year-old, who officiated the 2010 World Cup final, has vowed to increase the diversity of referees, working to recruit more women and people from other backgrounds.

He thinks there is untapped talent in the professional ranks, though, and some footballers might find officiating appealing as a different career route.

“We need to look at how we can entice people in. We’ve always struggled to get ex-players involved,” said Webb.

“But I am sure somebody out there will want to be a trailblazer.

“Somebody who’s played in the Football League – I don’t expect players who have played at the very highest level who have got other opportunities to come into [refereeing] – but somebody that has played a decent career, that’s got a good knowledge of the game, the maybe late 20s, suffering with an injury or whatever it might be that means they can’t play as regularly.

“I think there’s an opportunity for someone to blaze a trail and we would welcome them wholeheartedly with the skills they have got from that playing career provided they have got the other skills they need to be successful.”

Howard Webb: Premier League Referees Boss Wants Players To Become Referees

File photo of Howard Webb, the head of refereeing in the Premier League.

Webb’s admission that it took him 13 and a half years to make it to the Premier League is probably going to turn away future hopefuls from the professional game.

He has, however, claimed that the procedure has now been streamlined to shorten the amount of time required to get the necessary experience.

He added: “You still need to do some of those difficult yards to get the experience you need to survive at the high levels and flourish there, but you can credit what experience you’ve already got in the game through playing or whatever it is and then build on that as quickly as you can and get them up there as quickly as possible, and that will entice people in.”