JEFF WINTER “THE NEWCASTLE FANS WERE ANGRY AND BANGING ON THE CAR – I TOLD THE DRIVER, ‘PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN’”
It’s 16 years since you retired as a Premier League referee – have you still been going to football matches?
Since my refereeing career finished in 2004, I’ve followed hometown club Middlesbrough home and away, and also Rangers home and away. I watch Hartlepool and Darlington, too, and further down the pyramid I’ll turn up at Stockton Town and Redcar Athletic. During a normal season, I’ll go to about 150 games.
So you’re something of a football fanatic?
The first time I ever went to Ayresome Park, Boro’s old home, I got hooked. From the age of about eight, I’ve been football daft. I only became a referee by accident – and it really was an accident. I used to work in a
