Mick
Life President
The man in charge of tomorrow's must win fixture is Graham Salisbury from Preston. One of the oldest and most experienced officials, he is in his fifties and in his 12th season on the list. Not quite as old as Nigel Miller.
He has enjoyed a reputation as a steady journeyman official who was never going to make it to the top, but a safe pair of hands at Football League level. He has refereed Southend just four times before. That important end of season game at Grimsby (1-1) in 2004/5 and the match at Luton (lost 1-0) in 2007/8 when one of Luton's players cautioned was Anthony Grant. More recently he paid his first visit to Roots Hall the season before last for the home defeat by Shrewsbury, marked by an unusually high level of tolerance. He did eventually caution Mohsni and Matt Harrold and another of theirs.
His fourth and most recent match went rather well on all counts. It was last season's away win at Rotherham when even Gilbert scored in a 4-0 victory. No cards were shown at all.
It was widely thought that both the last couple of seasons would be his last, but he is still going strong with 39 matches so far this season. Card count of 122 yellows and 5 red just about average.
Assisting will be Billy Khatib from Sunderland (just as he was in that game at Rotherham) and Ben Toner from Blackburn. Steven Meredith from Mansfield is 4th official.
He has enjoyed a reputation as a steady journeyman official who was never going to make it to the top, but a safe pair of hands at Football League level. He has refereed Southend just four times before. That important end of season game at Grimsby (1-1) in 2004/5 and the match at Luton (lost 1-0) in 2007/8 when one of Luton's players cautioned was Anthony Grant. More recently he paid his first visit to Roots Hall the season before last for the home defeat by Shrewsbury, marked by an unusually high level of tolerance. He did eventually caution Mohsni and Matt Harrold and another of theirs.
His fourth and most recent match went rather well on all counts. It was last season's away win at Rotherham when even Gilbert scored in a 4-0 victory. No cards were shown at all.
It was widely thought that both the last couple of seasons would be his last, but he is still going strong with 39 matches so far this season. Card count of 122 yellows and 5 red just about average.
Assisting will be Billy Khatib from Sunderland (just as he was in that game at Rotherham) and Ben Toner from Blackburn. Steven Meredith from Mansfield is 4th official.
