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Peter Walton is one of the most experienced referees in Premier League history
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Since hanging up his whistle, Walton has been a regular on BT Sport’s football coverage
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Read below for more on Walton’s career to date
It’s a decade since Peter Walton’s refereeing tendencies were relevant when weighing up football bets.
Walton, however, has perhaps become more well-known since calling it a day as an official, migrating from the field to the studio with BT Sport.
The Long Buckby native has been the face of a new brand of football punditry as a refereeing expert. It’s guaranteed more time in the spotlight for a man who spent almost two decades in one of the more stressful jobs in sport.
While he was long thought of as one of the best Premier League referees, like any official, he had moments of controversy throughout his career.
Born in 1959, Walton has seen the sport evolve from the riches of the Premier League founding to goal line technology and VAR. He’s overseen some big matches either for their impact on the league table or with silverware on the line.
Twitter Memes
Peter Walton hasn’t been a popular man on Twitter since taking on a job with BT. An inclination to agree with refereeing decisions generally hasn’t gone down well, and some fans have found his comments either vague or tedious in their predictability.
With the cruel nature of social media, any incorrect call from Walton is met with hundreds of critical posts, many questioning how he earns his salary at BT. He’s become the face for fans to direct their refereeing anger at.
Of course, anyone in the public eye gets the meme treatment at some point.
Walton has gone viral on a few occasions, but the most notable of which was when BT accidentally cut to a grinning Walton when Lucas Moura scored a late winner for Tottenham in the Champions League semi-final against Ajax.
It was only a brief snapshot of an overjoyed Walton while Spurs celebrated, but it was long enough for screenshots to appear on social media.
The image of Walton looking down at a monitor has since been utilised by football fans worldwide – there’s no limit to the captions that fit with that photo.
Handball
Amid Walton’s controversial refereeing analysis, handball decisions have often been at the forefront. After all, the handball law has been tweaked in recent years, and the interpretation seems to change on an almost weekly basis.
One of the most significant instances of a dodgy handball call came against Moussa Sissoko when Tottenham faced Liverpool in the Champions League final. Walton – for a change – came down on the side of the referee.
He explained, “Sissoko’s arm is so pronounced it’s unbelievable and when you see the ball coming across like that… yes, it may hit his chest but his arm actually comes down towards the ball as well.
"That gives the referee Skomina no option whatsoever but to award a penalty kick.
“We talk about the law being changed for next year, at the moment it hasn’t been changed, but even under the current law a handling offence there, as we’ve seen consistently in the Champions League this season has been awarded for that type of offence.”
More recently, Walton questioned a decision to rule out a Kai Havertz goal against Everton in March 2021.
It was a rare instance of disagreeing with the officials, but even some Chelsea players weren’t on Walton’s side, with Mason Mount not seeming completely convinced.
Handball calls are going to remain controversial, and Walton will be at the centre of debate on such decisions as long as he’s on TV.
Net Worth
Peter Walton’s BT salary has been a hot topic. Many across the football Twitter sphere have been critical of Walton’s interjections on BT.
It’s not publicly known exactly how much he earns from the punditry gig, but there are various Peter Walton net worth estimations that come in around £1 million.
While a referee can have a big impact on a football prediction, their salaries are minute compared to the players they are overseeing.
A Premier League referee’s salary is somewhere between £70,000 and £200,000. This is way above the national average salary, but those getting Premier League referee appointments are receiving less per year than some players get each week.
Career
Initially refereeing in local leagues in the mid-1980s, Walton ascended to the assistant referees’ list for the Football League in 1993, and joined the same group for the Premier League a year later.
An early high point of his career was being an assistant of the 1996 FA Cup Final. His progress continued after that honour, though, and he was an assistant at Euro ’96 just a few months later.
By 1998, Walton was a referee in the Football League, and he relinquished his assistant duties.
The end of the 2002-03 season saw a few highlights for Walton. He was in charge of the Football League Trophy and refereed a couple of legs of the Football League Playoffs.
Later that year, he was given his first appearance in Premier League predictions, overseeing a seven-goal thriller between Wolves and Leicester.
Walton was a regular in the Premier League throughout the 2000s, including taking on the 2008 Community Shield. He remained a fixture in the top flight until his final match in 2012.
Soon after, he was appointed as general manager of the Professional Referee Organization in the United States and Canada.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 22nd March 2022
