As Wrexham prepare for life in the Championship, they’ll be praying that the referee for Saturday’s game versus Southampton doesn’t overshadow their big day.
It’s been 43 years since Wrexham were last in the second tier, and all eyes will be on the Red Dragons on Saturday lunchtime as they take on recently relegated Southampton.
Phil Parkinson will have quite the task on his hands given the quality of the Saints, but he’s been assembling a strong Wrexham squad over the summer.
Hopefully, it’s the players who dictate the outcome of this opening fixture. But, let’s look at who the referee will be and find out why he got on the wrong side of Frank Lampard last season.
Who is the referee for Southampton vs Wrexham?
James Bell will be the referee for the game against Southampton this weekend.
He will have Matthew Smith and Alex James as his assistants. Tom Nield will be the fourth official.
James Bell’s referee record explained
Throughout his refereeing career, James Bell has overseen 132 games, comprised of 51 in the Championship, 37 in League One, and 35 in League Two, as well as seven Carabao Cup games and two in the Women’s Super League.
Across those games, he’s handed out 459 yellow cards (a rate of 3.48 per game) and 25 red cards (a rate of 0.19 per game).
| Tournament | Games | Fouls pg | Fouls/Tackles | Pen pg | Yel pg | Yel | Red pg | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | 51 | 20.53 | 0.63 | 0.14 | 3.84 | 196 | 0.16 | 8 |
| League One | 37 | 23.27 | 0.79 | 0.19 | 3.51 | 130 | 0.24 | 9 |
| League Two | 35 | 23.51 | 0.77 | 0.23 | 3.00 | 105 | 0.20 | 7 |
| League Cup | 7 | 20.57 | 0.68 | 0.29 | 3.43 | 24 | 0.14 | 1 |
| Women’s Super League | 2 | 17.50 | 0.46 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 4 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Total | 132 | 22.05 | 0.71 | 0.18 | 3.48 | 459 | 0.19 | 25 |
Bell is not keen to give out penalties, though. He’s averaging 0.18 per match, which is fairly low for a referee at this level.
To get more granular, Bell has an average of 22.05 fouls per game, and a rate of 0.71 fouls per tackle.
James Bell angered Coventry City fans amid Frank Lampard issue
On the surface, Bell’s referee career seems pretty ordinary. But, he made headlines back in April when he showed a red card to Coventry City manager Frank Lampard during a game against Burnley.
The Clarets won the game 2-1, before Frank Lampard and Sky Blues performance analyst Connor Lawley were sent off at the full-time whistle.
Both were charged by the FA, with the claim made that the pair “allegedly acted in an improper manner and/or used insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour towards a match official around the field of play after the final whistle which led to his dismissal”.
Lampard confronted Bell on the pitch after the game to take issue with the way he handled the match. Coventry fans were also unhappy, largely because they believed Burnley were causing stoppages in the game and displaying an excessive amount of gamesmanship.
At the time, as per the Coventry Telegraph, fans described Bell as putting in the “worst referee performance” they’d ever seen and accused him of making “absurd decisions.”
Let’s hope Parkinson and the gang don’t have to deal with any of that on Saturday. The clash against Southampton will be tough enough as it is without referees causing more chaos.