Sir Alex Ferguson's favourite man in black, Martin Atkinson, will be the man in charge of refereeing this year's FA Cup Final between Stoke City and Manchester City. The 40-year old former Wakefield police officer will be assisted at Wembley by his assistants Adam Watts from Worcestershire and Simon Beck of Bedfordshire after the trio were named by the FA as the refereeing team for this year's Wembley showpiece.
Atkinson was the fourth official at the 2009 FA Cup Final and expressed his delight at receiving the responsibility of officiating the match on May 14th. Those planning on placing an FA Cup bet will hope he has a good game.
"It's such a massive game domestically and I'm very proud and honoured to be appointed," he said.
"I started refereeing when I was 15 and never thought back then that I'd be walking out as the FA Cup final referee at Wembley Stadium one day."
Atkinson shouldn't be overly daunted by the task after officiating a number of high-profile matches already in his career, the 2006 Community Shield, the 2009 FA Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Chelsea, and more recently Schalke's shock Champions League 5-2 hammering of Inter Milan at the San Siro. Those who bet on FA Cup action should remember this.
There has been a fair share of controversy surrounding Atkinson this season following Sir Alex's outburst after Manchester United lost 2-1 to Chelsea, after David Luiz somehow stayed on the pitch and a late penalty was awarded against United. The rant from Fergie resulted in a five-match ban being slapped on the United manager and Atkinson will be hoping he can stay out of the headlines the day after the final.
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