The Board of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd has appointed Mike Riley as General Manager Designate.
This appointment will take effect from 1st September 2009 with departing General Manager Keith Hackett completing a handover period by January 2010.
The appointment signals the end of an illustrious refereeing career for Riley who has refereed in the Premier League for the past 13 seasons, officiated in both an FA Cup Final and Carling Cup Final and served as an international referee for 11 years, seven of those in the Elite Group of Uefa referees.
The role includes the training and development of all match officials from the Select Group and National Group.
raised standards
Peter Heard, Chairman of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) said: "Mike brings a wealth of top class refereeing experience to the role in addition to his business experience, in both the public and private sectors, which will stand him in good stead. We are very confident that he will continue to move the PGMOL forward and successfully manage and develop professional match officials at this level."
"I would like to pay tribute to the progress the PGMOL has made under the leadership of Keith Hackett, who has overseen the professionalisation of top flight referees in this country and raised the standards of all aspects of officiating - from training and development to match performance.
"I am sure I speak for the game as a whole when I say I hope that Keith will remain available to PGMOL in order to take advantage of his knowledge, experience and unbridled enthusiasm for refereeing."
