Welcome to Paul Taylor, our guest at the Sussex Senior Referees IST evening 29th October.
Paul first began refereeing in 1977 and progressed via the Hertfordshire County League, the Isthmian League and the Panel League Competitions.
He was appointed as a Football League assistant referee in 1986 and promoted to referee in 1990. At this point he was aged only thirty and the youngest member on the List. As a newly qualified referee the majority of his appointments over the next three seasons were usually in the lower divisions.
In 1993 he lost his place; under previous circumstances that would have been the end of his Football League career. Until 1993, demoted referees were not given another chance to get back onto the List. A change of policy, however, allowed him to revert to assistant status while refereeing in the Football Conference. In 1995 he successfully regained his refereeing place. This feat has since been matched by Brian Coddington, Fred Graham and Gary Lewis.
Paul has had far greater success in his second spell on the List. Indeed he gained further promotion to the FA Premier League for the season 2000-01. Since that time he has reverted to the Football League where he continues to be one of its leading officials.
Paul has refereed the Hertfordshire Senior County Cup Final, the FA Sunday Cup Final and several International matches at both Youth and semi-professional level. Paul has also officiated in the Football League Play-Offs on six occasions including the League Two Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in 2006.
Other notable appointments include refereeing Cheltenham Town’s first game in the Football League and Southampton's last match at The Dell versus Arsenal.
His overseas appointments include the 2000-01 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round fixture between Dynamo Kiev and Red Star Belgrade. Paul refereed his first senior FIFA International between Nigeria and Venezuela in August 2003. In 2004 he was fourth official at the FA Trophy Final. In 2005 Paul became a County Accredited Referees Instructor and in 2006 qualified as a National Licensed Instructor.
The 2007-08 season is due to be his final one as a League referee before retirement.
Referee Paul Taylor, who was at the centre of two high-profile controversies during his career
First he was involved in a tunnel argument with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger following a fixture at Sunderland.
Wenger was reported by Taylor, who was the fourth official at the match, for physical intimidation and threatening behaviour.
Wenger was later fined by the FA, after being found guilty of confronting Taylor.
In an unrelated incident Paul later appeared before an FA disciplinary committee to answer charges regarding alleged remarks made to Notts County player, Sean Farrell.
Farrell accused Taylor of using insulting "language" during the match, but the case against him was dismissed when it went to an FA hearing.
Paul remains very popular amongst other referees and I believe it will be extremely interesting to hear what he has to say. Let us welcome him to Sussex and hope he enjoys his visit.
