Old interview exposes Man United Everton referee as Newcastle fan

An interview from 2021 has shed light on referee Michael Oliver’s loyalties ahead of Manchester United vs Everton.

Michael Oliver has been appointed as the referee for Manchester United‘s Premier League fixture against Everton on Saturday afternoon.

Manchester United are currently in a top-four battle with Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur as Erik ten Hag looks to secure Champions League football during his first season as manager of the club.

Read More: Garnacho, Shaw, and Eriksen – Latest Manchester United team news vs Everton

It has come to light, however, that Oliver is in fact a fan of Newcastle United, Manchester United’s main rival for the third position in the league.

Oliver confirmed in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2021 that he is not allowed to officiate any Newcastle games.

However, the more interesting part of the interview is he revealed he is also not allowed to officiate fixtures that involve teams surrounding Newcastle in the table during the final months of the season.

“I never referee Newcastle games,” he said in the interview. “We have to declare if we have an allegiance to any club or if a family member works at a club. You can’t do any match involving that team and I can’t do Sunderland, either, for obvious reasons.

“Because Newcastle are invariably involved in a relegation battle, when you get to March or April, it means I can’t referee anyone around them towards the bottom three.”

If these rules still apply to referees, Oliver should not be allowed to officiate the Manchester United fixture as they are dead level on points with his favoured Newcastle United.

He even admitted that this sort of situation would be “not worth the hassle” when he related it to Newcastle’s at the time relegation battle at the time.

“If Newcastle needed a point to survive and the team they were fighting to get above was say Villa, I couldn’t referee Villa’s game either. I wouldn’t want to. It’s not worth the hassle.”

With this season being Newcastle’s first season in over two decades in which they are pressing for European football, it is arguably one of the most important times in the club’s recent history.

Extending the above logic, if a Newcastle fan is allowed direct influence on their main rival’s results, this could lead to Manchester United being given unfavourable decisions against them in order to influence the result.

While this point does not aim to question the professionalism and integrity of Michael Oliver as a fully qualified Premier League official, it does raise the point of selection decisions currently being made by PGMOL, who assign the officials for Premier League fixtures.