Linnington The Ref

Last updated : 08 January 2014 By Covsupport News Service

The currently appointed referee for Coventry City's League One game against Crawley Town is James Linnington from Newport on the Isle of Wight.

Mr Linnington took up refereeing to stay involved in football with the intention to return to playing when he  became stronger after he was released by a club at the age of fifteen.  He set himself a target of becoming a career referee and in 2008 was appointed to the National List.

This will be his fifth City match. Previous games include the 1-0 defeat to Millwall on April 17th 2012, the 0-0 draw with Reading in April 2011 and the 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City in october 2010 plus the 3-2 home win against Peterborough on December 12th 2009. He was due to have been the referee for City's 1-1 draw with Birmingham City in March 2012 but was forced to withdraw due to picking up an injury.

This season, according to Soccerbase, he has had 20 matches and shown 67 yellow cards and fivee red  His last game was Dagenham & Redbridge's 1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon.   

His Assistants are: John Busby and Gavin Muge. The Fourth Official is Steven Plane