Howard Melton Webb, MBE, first took up refereeing in local Rotherham leagues in 1989. In 1993, he progressed to the Northern Counties East League as an assistant referee, becoming a referee for the same league in 1995.
In 1996, he was appointed as a Football League assistant referee, and, in 1998, fulfilled the same function in the Premier League, as well as being promoted to the Conference as a referee.
In 2000, he was included on the National List of Football League referees; the first match was a 2-0 win for Southend over Brighton on 12 August 2000. He stepped up to the Select Group for the Premier League three years later. His first game in the top tier of English football was on 18 October 2003, when he took charge of the 0–0 draw between Fulham and Wolves.
He was appointed as a FIFA official in 2005; his first International match was a 1-1 draw between N.Ireland and Portugal on 15 November 2005. The following year saw him take charge of his first Champions League match as Lyon won 3-0 at Steaua Bucharest on 26 September 2006.
Domestically saw his referee the FA Community Shield on 7 August 2005 and the League Cup Final on 25 February 2007. Both matches saw a 2-1 win for Chelsea over Arsenal, although the League Cup Final saw three red cards. There was another 2-1 win for Chelsea in the FA Cup Final on 30 May 2009, this time the opposition was Everton.
In 2010 saw him become the first referee to take charge of the Champions League Final with Inter Milan beating Bayern Munich 2-0 on 22 May and the World Cup Final in the same season.
He was the first English referee to take charge of a World Cup Final since Jack Taylor in 1974.In the game on 11 July he issued 14 yellow cards, including two to the Netherlands' John Heitinga who was subsequently sent off, more than doubling the former record of six for World Cup finals, set in the 1986 Final. Spain won the match 1-0.
His last Burnley match was a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland on 14 April 2010; his last match was a 3-0 win for Stoke over Brighton in the FA Cup on 19 February.
Season’s record:
|
Season: |
Matches: |
Yellow Cards: |
Red Cards: |
|
2010/11 |
30 |
91 |
3 |
|
2009/10 |
45 |
177 |
5 |
|
2008/09 |
48 |
158 |
6 |
|
2007/08 |
46 |
166 |
4 |
|
2006/07 |
45 |
156 |
9 |
|
2005/06 |
47 |
117 |
7 |
|
2004/05 |
34 |
100 |
2 |
|
2003/04 |
34 |
92 |
9 |
|
2002/03 |
39 |
145 |
4 |
|
2001/02 |
32 |
69 |
5 |
|
2000/01 |
26 |
58 |
1 |
Howard Webb & PNE:
|
Date: |
Match: |
PNE Goalscorers: |
Cards: |
PNE Cards |
|
18/10/2005 |
Cardiff 2 PNE 2 |
Mears; Sedgwick |
3Y |
Davis; Mears |
|
30/04/2005 |
PNE 1 Wigan 1 |
O’Neil |
2Y |
Sedgwick |
|
21/03/2003 |
Crewe 2 PNE 1 |
Etuhu |
3Y 1R |
Jackson; Alexander; Cresswell (Red- Fuller) |
|
23/11/2002 |
PNE 2 Brighton 2 |
Lucketti; Cresswell |
8Y |
Edwards; McKenna; Etuhu; Lewis; Cresswell |
|
03/11/2001 |
PNE 6 Stockport 0 |
Healy 3; Lucketti; Cresswell; McKenna |
2Y 1R |
None |
The assistants are Dave Bryan from Lincolnshire and Ceri Richards from Carmarthenshire. The fourth official is Phil Gibbs from West Midlands and was the referee in the Lilywhites 2-0 defeat at Swansea on 6 February 2010.