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#Post#: 101952--------------------------------------------------
Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: HChip
Date: February 23, 2026, 5:13 pm
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Hello all, I just thought I’d create a thread of any AR Pairings
and trends we see, just to keep people informed and whatnot!
Feel free to add any more underneath and I can add them onto
this message!
SG1 AR Pairings:
A Taylor - G Beswick, A Nunn
M Oliver - S Burt, J Mainwaring
C Kavanagh - D Cook, I Hussin
D England - S Ledger, A Howson
S Hooper - A Holmes, S Long
J Brooks - S Bennett, D Robathan
P Bankes - E Smart, B Antrobus
T Harrington - S Meredith, S Massey-Ellis
C Pawson - L Betts, M Wilkes
A Madley - N Hopton, C Taylor
S Barrott - T Wood, W Smith
P Tierney - M Scholes, R West
R Jones - N Davies (?)
M Salisbury - M Perry
S Attwell - C Hatzidakis
SG2 AR Pairings: (Not as consistent as SG1, however still
usually used)
F Hallam - A Nelson, B S Gill
J Smith - S Lewis
R Ricardo - E Carney
M Donohue - J Graham
L Doughty - R Woodward
A Kitchen - S Hudson
L Smith - A James
S Martin - M Dwyer
O Langford - M Stevens
J Busby - M Russell
B Toner - C Brown
Other Trends:
Tim Wood usually partners Stuart Burt with Oliver if Mainwaring
is unavailable or the match involves a Manchester club.
Paul Howard is usually always partnered by Sian Massey-Ellis on
VAR
John Brooks is usually always partnered by Dan Robathan on VAR
#Post#: 102003--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: TC021002
Date: February 25, 2026, 6:34 pm
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Madley had Hopton as his AR1 before Hopton got injured. Wood is
often with Barrott as his AR1
#Post#: 102014--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: TheThingFromLewes
Date: February 26, 2026, 5:12 am
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Macho man usually has Mark Dwyer as his senior AR.
#Post#: 102034--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: Matt1234
Date: February 26, 2026, 1:31 pm
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S Barrott- T Wood W Smith
P Tierney- M Scholes R West (usually)
Pawson has worked on VAR with Adrian Holmes as AVAR considerably
more than any other AVAR
#Post#: 102037--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: Matt1234
Date: February 26, 2026, 3:11 pm
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Other regular SG2 Partnerships
John Busby- Mark Russell
Ben Toner- Conor Brown
Oli Langford- Mark Stevens
Below is VARs who have worked with a particular AVAR on the most
occassions:
Attwell- Hatzidakis (8 Times)
Brooks- Robathan (5 Times)
England- C Taylor (3 Times)
Gillett- T R0obinson (4 Times)
Madley- Massey-Ellis (3 Times)
Pawson- Holmes (5 Times)
Wood- Smith (6 Times)
Howard- Massey-Ellis (11 Times)
Donohue- Wood (3 Times)
Tierney- Perry and Hussin (3 Times)
Hopton- Attwell (3 Times)
I have spreadsheets for each time a referee works with each
assistant, 4th and VAR and each time a VAR works with each AVAR.
Also number of times a referee, VAR and Assistant has done each
team. If anybody would like any information these please ask
and I will share
#Post#: 102039--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: HChip
Date: February 26, 2026, 3:39 pm
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I find it quite coincidental (in a good way) how Hallam and L
Smith (and arguably J Smith) both have big SG1 AR promotion
contenders with them, considering they are big SG1 promotion
contenders themselves. I think if they do get promoted with each
other, that will allow them to have a smooth introduction as
they will already have someone they have closely worked with.
No doubt we will see possible future SG1 AR contenders working
with Kirk and Kitchen soon enough.
#Post#: 102045--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: Matt1234
Date: February 26, 2026, 4:11 pm
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Thomas Kirk usually works with Jonathan Bickerdike. He has
worked with SG1 assistant Mark Scholes on three occasions in the
Championship this season
#Post#: 102047--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: Matt1234
Date: February 26, 2026, 4:40 pm
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Below is the most common referee and VAR for each PL Team and
also the number of different referees and VARS they have had.
23 officials have refereed at least 1 PL game this season and 22
officials have acted as VAR on at least 1 PL Game this season so
the totals are out of 23 and 22 respectively.
Most Common Referee (23 in total)
Arsenal- Chris Kavanagh (4 Times) - 15 different referees
Aston Villa- Attwell, Hooper, Madley and Oliver (3 Times)- 16
different referees
Bournemouth- Barrott, Hooper, Oliver, Taylor (3 Times)- 16
different referees
Brentford- Bankes, Barrott, Brooks, Madley (3 Times)- 16
different referees
Brighton- Chris Kavanagh (4 Times)- 16 different referees
Burnley- Barrott, Oliver, Robinson (3 Times)- 18 different
referees
Chelsea- Darren England (4 Times)- 15 different referees
C Palace- Thomas Brammall (4 Times)- 16 different referees
Everton- Attwell, Harrington, Kavanagh, Pawson (3 Times)- 14
different referees
Fulham- Craig Pawson (4 Times)- 16 different referees
Leeds- Peter Bankes (4 Times)- 15 different referees
Liverpool- Chris Kavanagh and Anthony Taylor (5 Times)- 12
different referees
Man City- Darren England (4 Times)- 15 different referees
Man United- Anthony Taylor (4 Times)- 16 different referees
Newcastle- Peter Bankes (5 Times)- 13 different referees
Forest- Bankes, Barrott, England, Harrington, Oliver, Taylor (3
Times)- 14 different referees
Sunderland- Stuart Attwell (4 Times)- 16 different referees
Tottenham- Jarred Gillett (4 Times)- 15 different referees
West Ham- No referee has officiated West Ham on more than 2
occasions - 20 different referees
Wolves- Brammall and Gillett (3 Times)- 19 different referees
- Interesting points that West Ham have been refereed by
everybody other than Hallam, Kirk and L Smith
- Liverpool have the smallest variety of referees with only 12
out of 23 having taken charge of their games
- Chris Kavanagh is the only referee to have taken charge of all
20 PL teams. Taylor has done 19 (yet to do Burnley)
Most Common VAR (22 in total)
Arsenal- John Brooks (5 Times)- 12 different VARS
Villa- Bankes, Howard, Tierney (4 Times)- 14 different VARS
Bournemouth- John Brooks (5 Times)- 15 different VARS
Brentford- Paul Tierney (4 Times)- 15 different VARS
Brighton- Tony Harrington (4 Times)- 15 different VARS
Burnley- Neil Davies (4 Times)- 16 diferent VARS
Chelsea- Craig Pawson (6 Times)- 11 different VARS
C Palace- Matt Donohue (5 Times)- 17 different VARS
Everton- Attwell and Bell (4 Times)- 14 different VARS
Fulham- Brooks and Harrington (4 Times)- 15 different VARS
Leeds- 7 VARS have acted as VAR on Leeds games 3 Times- 14
different VARS
Liverpool- John Brooks (7 Times)- 12 different VARS
Man City- Paul Howard (4 Times)- 17 different VARS
Man United- Craig Pawson (4 Times)- 15 different VARS
Newcastle- Paul Tierney (5 Times)- 13 different VARS
Forest- Andy Madley (5 Times)- 14 different VARS
Sunderland- Michael Salisbury (4 Times)- 14 different VARS
Tottenham- Stuart Attwell (4 Times)- 13 different VARS
West Ham- Brooks and Oliver (3 Times)- 17 different VARS
Wolves- Stuart Attwell (4 Times)- 17 different VARS
-Wolves, West Ham, Palace and Burnley seem to be the teams that
everybody is trusted with for VAR
- Liverpool and Chelsea have by far the least variety when it
comes to different VARS
- Andy Madley has only been VAR 10 times and half of his
appointments have been on Forest games
- Nobody has VAR'd for all 20 teams. Paul Tierney (Chelsea) and
James Bell (Burnley) have done 19 teams
#Post#: 102048--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: HChip
Date: February 26, 2026, 4:43 pm
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Wow! This is brilliant! A very interesting batch of statistics!
I’m sure there will be one for Kitchen & Burnley come the end of
the season! 😉
#Post#: 102050--------------------------------------------------
Re: Pairings/Trends 25/26
DIR By: Matt1234
Date: February 26, 2026, 4:55 pm
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I have the same thing for SG2 referees and each team aswell. If
I get time tomorrow I will post similar stats and will aslo do
SG1 Assistant stats aswell. If people want it haha don't want to
bombard people with information if they don't want it
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