Atkinson, Martin

He began his judicial career at an early age, from 16 years old. By 1998, he was included in the list of assistant referees in the Football League .

By December 2002, Atkinson worked as the chief referee at the matches of the Football Conference , ^[1] and was also the chief referee of the 2003 FA Youth Cup final.

By the start of the 2003/04 season, Atkinson was on England's national referee list. From August 2004 to October 2005 he did not remove a single player from the field.

Just two years after his debut at the Conference, Atkinson was nominated for the Premier League match between Manchester City and Birmingham City . In this match, which took place on April 20, 2005, he showed only one yellow card and awarded one penalty to the guests. ^{[2] [3]}

On August 13, 2006, Atkinson was the main referee of the match at the English Super Cup , in which Liverpool and Chelsea met. ^[4] Also in 2006, he was included on the FIFA arbitrators list. ^[5]

International matches

Atkinson won the qualifying match of the World Cup between the national teams of Germany and Finland in October 2009, which ended with a score of 1: 1. ^[6]

Criticism

In April 2010, in the Birmingham derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City , Atkinson awarded a penalty at the end of the meeting for a foul by Roger Johnson in Gabriel Agbonlahor . Television repetitions indicate that Johnson played the ball and there was no foul. Birmingham's head coach criticized Atkinson for this decision, which guaranteed Aston Villa a 1-0 victory ^{[7] [8]} .

Atkinson was criticized for refereeing in the match between Chelsea and Manchester United , which took place on March 1, 2011 at Stamford Bridge . United head coach Alex Ferguson , as well as former referee Graham Poll , who is considered one of the best English referees in history ^[9] , noted Atkinson’s numerous refereeing errors in the match. So, Atkinson did not award a penalty for John Terry's hand in the first half, did not show David Louis a second yellow card for a clear foul against Wayne Rooney, but awarded a controversial penalty kick to Manchester United at the end of the meeting and removed the captain of United Nemanja Vidic. These decisions, according to Ferguson and Graham Poll, influenced the outcome of the game in which Chelsea defeated Manchester United with a score of 2: 1 ^{[10] [11] [12]} . It is noteworthy that in the previous meeting of the two teams at Stamford Bridge, which Atkinson also judged, Chelsea also won thanks to a goal in the last minutes, scored after a controversial free kick at the United gates. After that match, Ferguson also criticized refereeing Atkinson. ^[13]

Premier League Red Cards by Season

2005/06

• Wigan Athletic - West Bromwich Albion , Darren Moore , second yellow card (43 minutes)

2006/07

• Aston Villa - Tottenham Hotspur , Calum Davenport , foul (73 minutes)
• Watford - Sheffield United , Chris Powell, second yellow card (90 minutes)
• Liverpool v Manchester United , Paul Scholes , foul (86 minutes)

2007/08

• Chelsea - Fulham , Didier Drogba , second yellow card (74 minutes)
• Chelsea - Liverpool , Peter Crouch , foul (60 min)
• Everton - Arsenal , Mikel Arteta , foul (84 minutes) and Niklas Bendtner , second yellow card (74 minutes)
• Manchester United - Portsmouth , Tomasz Kuszczak , foul of last hope (76 minutes)

2008/09

• “ Stoke City ” - “ Manchester City ”, Rory Delap , a rough foul (38 minute)
• Hull City - Blackburn Rovers , Dean Marney , foul (64 minutes) and Morten Gamst Pedersen , second yellow card (70 minutes)
• Middlesbrough - Portsmouth , Matthew Bates, second yellow card (77 minutes)
• Liverpool - Aston Villa , Brad Friedel , Foul of Last Hope (64 minutes)
• Hull City - Liverpool , Caleb Folan , foul (59 minute)

2009/10

• Liverpool - Everton , Sotirios Kyriakos , foul (34 minutes)
• Liverpool - Everton , Stephen Pinaar , second yellow card (90 minutes)

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