{{Short description|English football referee}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox football official | name = Mike Jones | fullname = Michael J. Jones | image =Mike-Jones-referee-cropped.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1968|4|18}} | birth_place = [[Chester]], England | death_date = | death_place = | otheroccupation = | years1 = 1997–2018 | league1 = [[The Football League]] | role1 = [[Referee (association football)|Referee]] | years2 = 2008–2018 | league2 = [[Premier League]] | role2 = Referee }} '''Michael J. Jones''' (born 18 April 1968) is an English retired professional [[Association football|football]] [[Referee (association football)|referee]] based in [[Chester]]. He is a member of the [[Cheshire County Football Association]].

He began refereeing in [[the Football League]] in 1997 and was promoted in 2008 to the list of [[Select Group Referees]] who officiate all [[Premier League]] fixtures. In 2009, he refereed the [[2009 FA Trophy Final|FA Trophy final]] at [[Wembley Stadium]]. Jones is now the Head of Refereeing at the [[English Football League]].

==Career== Jones was promoted to [[English Football League|the Football League]]'s list of referees in 1997, his first match in charge being [[Mansfield Town F.C.|Mansfield Town]] against [[Hull City A.F.C.|Hull City]] in August of that year.

His first game at [[Wembley Stadium]] was also in 2007: the [[Football League Two]] [[2007 Football League Two play-off Final|play-off final]] which saw [[Bristol Rovers F.C.|Bristol Rovers]] defeat [[Shrewsbury Town F.C.|Shrewsbury Town]] 3–1. Jones dismissed Shrewsbury's [[Marc Tierney]] in the last minute for a second bookable offence: Tierney became the second man to be sent off at the new Wembley.

In 2008 Jones became a [[Select Group Referees|Select Group referee]], allowing him to regularly officiate games in the [[Premier League]]. His first match in England's top flight was Hull City versus [[Wigan Athletic F.C.|Wigan Athletic]].

In October 2009 Jones [[Sunderland A.F.C. 1–0 Liverpool F.C. (2009)|allowed a goal]] scored by [[Darren Bent]] for [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] against [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]], when his shot took a deflection off a [[beach ball]] which had been thrown onto the pitch by a fan in the Liverpool supporters' section.<ref>{{cite news |title=Benitez shrugs off bizarre goal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8312783.stm |work=BBC Sport |date=17 October 2009 |access-date=2 November 2012 }}</ref> He was subsequently demoted for one week to officiate a match in the [[EFL Championship|Football League Championship]].<ref>{{cite news |title='Beach ball goal' referee demoted to Championship but match will not be replayed |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/754381-beach-ball-goal-referee-demoted-to-championship-but-match-will-not-be-replayed |work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]] |publisher=[[dmg media]] |date=19 October 2009 |access-date=2 November 2012 }}</ref> The beach ball from the incident was sent for display at England's [[National Football Museum]] in Manchester.

Jones was the fourth official for the [[2012 FA Cup final]], with [[Phil Dowd]] taking charge.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/fa-cup/9209025/Phil-Dowd-to-referee-FA-Cup-final.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Phil Dowd to referee FA Cup final | date=17 April 2012 |access-date=17 April 2012 }}</ref>

In the final moments of a 2013 Premier League game between [[Norwich City F.C.|Norwich City]] and [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]], Cardiff's goalkeeper [[David Marshall (Scottish footballer)|David Marshall]] put the ball out of play to allow Norwich's [[Alexander Tettey]] to receive treatment from a physio. [[Ricky van Wolfswinkel]] took the subsequent throw for Norwich and his teammate [[Leroy Fer]] tapped the ball into the net as Marshall looked on. The goal was disallowed by Jones who stated he had not blown his whistle to restart play. Cardiff's manager [[Malky Mackay]] praised the official's decision.<ref>{{cite news |title=Norwich City 0 Cardiff City 0: 'Goal' sparks 18-man brawl |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/sport/football/Premiership/article1332828.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200359/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/sport/football/Premiership/article1332828.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 October 2013 |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=27 October 2013 |access-date=27 October 2013 |last=Aizlewood |first=John }}</ref>

Former [[Premier League]] referee [[Dermot Gallagher]] told [[Sky Sports]] Jones refereed his final game on Saturday 5 May 2018 due to retirement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://s8.zetaboards.com/ratetheref/topic/10025753/1/|title=Retiring officials|website=s8.zetaboards.com|access-date=2018-05-08}}</ref> The match at [[The Hawthorns]] saw [[West Bromwich Albion F.C.|West Bromwich Albion]] beat [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] 1–0.

==Statistics== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- !Season!!Games!!Total {{yel}}!!{{yel}} per game!!Total {{sent off}}!!{{sent off}} per game |- |[[1997–98 in English football|1997/98]]||29||68||''2.34''||2||''0.07'' |- |[[1998–99 in English football|1998/99]]||33||82||''2.48''||4||''0.12'' |- |[[1999–00 in English football|1999/00]]||38||82||''2.16''||5||''0.13'' |- |[[2000–01 in English football|2000/01]]||34||68||''2.00''||10||''0.29'' |- |[[2001–02 in English football|2001/02]]||36||111||''3.08''||9||''0.25'' |- |[[2002–03 in English football|2002/03]]||30||76||''2.53''||3||''0.10'' |- |[[2003–04 in English football|2003/04]]||33||103||''3.12''||8||''0.24'' |- |[[2004–05 in English football|2004/05]]||37||88||''2.38''||7||''0.19'' |- |[[2005–06 in English football|2005/06]]||39||109||''2.79''||5||''0.13'' |- |[[2006–07 in English football|2006/07]]||41||160||''3.90''||12||''0.29'' |- |[[2007–08 in English football|2007/08]]||45||134||''2.98''||7||''0.15'' |- |[[2008–09 in English football|2008/09]]||38||110||''2.89''||6||''0.16'' |- |[[2009–10 in English football|2009/10]]||33||110||''3.33''||5||''0.15'' |- |[[2010–11 in English football|2010/11]]||35||119||''3.40''||6||''0.17'' |- |[[2011–12 in English football|2011/12]]||33||112||''3.39''||9||''0.27'' |- |[[2012–13 in English football|2012/13]]||31||85||''2.74''||3||''0.10'' |} <small>Statistics are for all competitions. There are no available records prior to 1997/98.</small><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soccerbase.com/referees/referee.sd?referee_id=150 |title=Games refereed by M J Jones |work=SoccerBase |access-date=4 November 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{commons category}}

*[https://www.soccerbase.com/referees/referee.sd?referee_id=150 Mike Jones Referee Statistics] at [[soccerbase]].com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Mike}} [[Category:1968 births]] [[Category:English football referees]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Chester]] [[Category:English Football League referees]] [[Category:Premier League referees]] [[Category:People from Chester]]