Jeff Winter
Jeff Winter (born 18 April 1955)[1] is a former Premier League referee.
Refereeing career
Winter took charge of the 2004 FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Millwall, his final game as a professional referee before retirement. Winter also appeared as an official on the BBC TV programme Superstars.
Since 2006, he has officiated in the annual series of national six-a-side tournaments called Masters Football, referees for which are FA endorsed. This competition features ex-professional footballers chosen by the PFA, and is televised on Sky Sports.[2]
Media work
He worked for TFM Radio on Teesside until June 2008[3] and currently writes many columns for local and national media, all of which can be found on his official site.[4]
Possibly as a result of Winter's apparent sense of self-importance, Sky TV's Soccer AM regularly lampoon him by having a member of the TV production team dressed in a referee uniform commenting on referee decisions.
Jeff regularly appears on the Talksport show, Andy Goldstein's Sports Bar as part of "The Referee's a Winter" item. During this segment of the show, Jeff is asked to make refereeing decisions on a wide range of unlikely situations that may occur on the football pitch which have been sent in by listeners.
Personal life
He supports Middlesbrough FC and Rangers. It is rumoured he was due to officiate in the 2004 Carling Cup final only to be ruled out due to Middlesbrough appearing in the final against Bolton Wanderers so was instead there as a fan.
Writing
Winter brought out his autobiography in 2006, entitled Who's The B*****d In The Black?.
In 2012 he caused controversy with an anti-Catholic rant on his Twitter website.[5]
References
- ^ Birthdate confirmation: zerozero.pt website
- ^ Masters Football Profile
- ^ Jeff Winter Leaves TFM Vital Hartlepool
- ^ Jeff Winter's Official Site
- ^ "Jeff Winter blog carries verbal attack on Catholic Church" Daily Mail
- Winter, Jeff (2006). Who's The B*****d In The Black? Confessions of a Premiership Referee. Ebury Press. ISBN 0091909178.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: checksum (help)