'I've learnt laws us footballers don't know exist!': Ex-Portsmouth and Coventry player on trailblazing bid to become a referee

A late challenge on Leyton Orient’s Romain Vincelot during the second half of the Capital One Cup fixture in August 2013 was deemed by referee Dean Whitehouse to be worthy of a red card.

The outcome was chastening, however, with the Sky Blues midfielder subsequently instructed to still serve the mandatory three-match ban for the offence. More than a decade later, he finally understood why his appeal failed.

Since the end of last year, Baker has been enrolled on a groundbreaking programme designed to convert former footballers into referees.

A joint-project between Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), an initial 10 ex-players have signed up for the intriguing scheme, also consisting of Chris Birchall, Iyseden Christie, Liam Trotter, Martyn Andrews and Peter Vincenti.

Certainly for Baker, who has amassed in excess of 400 appearances for Football League clubs, including winning the League Two title with Pompey, it has been an eye-opener.

Particularly when revisiting sins of the past in a career which saw him handed his marching orders on three separate occasions.

‘I tended to be quite nice to referees. At a lot of clubs I played for, I was the captain, so you had that extra responsibility, you’re a role model for the team and have to set an example,’ Baker told The News.

‘I’d like to think that if you spoke to any referees, they would always say they enjoyed refereeing me because I just wanted to play football. Although admittedly there were winger’s tackles, a genuine attempt to play the ball, but mistimed.

‘I was a passionate player who always gave his all and was sent off three times. One of those was for Coventry against Leyton Orient in the Capital One Cup. I appealed at the time but, looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking.

‘Now knowing the rules, it was definitely a red card! As a player, I didn’t know some of these rules. At some point, I’m sure I have been arguing over decisions because I didn’t know what they actually meant!

‘It would be good for all players to attend a basic referee course to understand and learn the rules. A lot of them are different in terms of what we’ve known as players.

‘As a referee, there have been one or two games that I’ve done and picked up things as I’ve gone along. There are actually 17 individual laws in football, which is something I didn’t know before. You try to learn them and nail those down.

‘We get sent weekly clips from matches which help education-wise. Not so long ago, there was one involving Doncaster having a penalty and the guy fully stopped before taking it. So the referee disallowed the penalty and gave an indirect free-kick, booking the player who didn’t get to take the penalty.

‘Obviously when we see incidents like that, we wouldn't necessarily know the right outcome. Yet the more games we’re doing, the more experience we get, then the better we will become.

‘As a former player, these are rules you wouldn’t know, so it’s really interesting. This is why I am enjoying the course so much, they’re giving us so much information, but it's also top-quality information.

‘We have ex-Premier League referees, plus current Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two referees. They’re passing all their knowledge and the situations they’ve been in over to us. It has been fantastic to learn from the top guys.’

It was Loughborough-based non-leaguers Quorn where Baker hung up his boots in the summer of 2023 at the age of 40.

A goalscoring winger renowned for his work-rate and fitness levels, the Scouser had previously seen service with Southport, Morecambe, Stockport, Coventry (twice), MK Dons, Nuneaton Borough (twice), Brackley Town and AFC Telford.

There was also a spell at Fratton Park, where he totalled nine goals in 50 appearances and also memorably won the League Two title in 2016-17 under Paul Cook.

Yet following the end of his playing days, Baker was searching for a fresh challenge - and decided to become a referee.

He added: ‘Originally it was never my intention to go into refereeing, but when the opportunity came along I looked into it in detail and it’s something I fancied giving a go.

‘I wanted to see how I got on with it and, after initially enjoying it, as the course has gone on I’ve got more and more interested and excited.

‘You look at the distances and speeds referees are covering now. Obviously you need to know the laws and the rules, but you’ve also got to be able to cover the ground. Training-wise, it’s not a massive difference to being a professional player.

‘We have a couple of strength and conditioning sessions per week where we go into performance centres and have top-quality sports scientists who help. When not in, we have individual programmes to follow on apps.

‘Training is full-time. At the minute I’m probably in the gym 4-5 times a week doing my strength and conditioning sessions, rehab and prehab. Alongside games, there are also pitch-based running sessions, wearing GPS and heart-rate monitors. Everything gets tracked.

‘It’s a different type of running, but, in terms of fitness, my stats don’t differ hugely from playing and the matches I’ve been refereeing. You have to be on top of your fitness to be able to keep up with play, football is so fast now.

‘Best of all, getting my kit ready before the game gives me that buzz again. Since I’ve stopped playing, you go out of a routine, you've got no purpose, so I’m really enjoying it at the minute.

‘You’re given a fixture and the night before get all your kit ready. I pack my bag, start thinking about the game I’m going to referee, then drive there the next morning, preparing in my mind the different scenarios which you might come up against.

‘There’s that match-day feeling, putting your music on before the game and feeling that purpose and excitement of a match. Every game I've refereed, I’ve said to myself: “This is brilliant, I can’t believe how much I'm enjoying this”.

‘I did an Academy game involving West Brom and Spurs the other week. The sun was out, I’m in the middle of the pitch and thought to myself how good this was and how nice it was to be back involved.

‘Obviously I’m in a different role, but still back involved, still having a front row seat of the players and the game, playing your part in hopefully making it a successful match.

‘I’m also really enjoying the fitness side of it. It has been ticking a lot of boxes for me and, at the minute, I am loving it.’

To date, Baker has refereed 15 matches, ranging from Premier League and Football League Academy fixtures to women’s games.

Certainly the project has been well received publicly, with supporters and footballers keen for referees to have a perceived better understanding of handling matches, in terms of knowledge and dealing with players.

It’s a key attribute Baker is convinced he and his fellow former footballers can offer as they bid to carve out a niche for themselves in a new career.

He added: ‘Most of us have been involved in professional football for more than 20 years, but refereeing is still the same game, played on the same size pitch, with the same rules and laws. We have an advantage in that sense, it’s not all brand new to us.

SIGN UP: Never miss a goal when you sign up for The News’ free Pompey email

‘It’s a fantastic idea involving former players. The group of lads on the course all have the experience of being in football at a decent level for a long time, it will be interesting to see how we all get on.

‘Fans have called for it, pundits have called for it, and if we can use our knowledge from being on the other side that will give us a big advantage.

‘Obviously we understand the game, we are knowledgeable about the game. We understand players, so creating relationships with players will be good because we’ve been on the other side of it, which is important.

‘You can see how a game’s going and what the players are thinking on the ball, which gives us that bit of an advantage. We can anticipate what’s going to happen before it does, which helps us get into good positions and, in turn, make good decisions.

‘There’s loads of things I have learnt. The main thing for me is probably about positioning, because it’s the opposite of what I did as a player for my whole career.

‘For instance, You can see pockets that players want to go into, so, as a referee, you don’t go into them and make sure you’re not in the way. Let the players get into those spaces.

‘For the first couple of games it was difficult because you tend to want to be in those positions, but, as ex-players, you pick up stuff really quickly. You might make a mistake once but then you are never going to do it again.

‘With the games I have done so far, I’ve had a fantastic relationship with the players, which is important.

‘Show them a bit of respect, listen to what they are trying to say, it goes a long way. Certainly with the games I’ve taken charge of, the first thing I’ve done is try to speak to the players in the right way. Listen to them, have a good conversation with them, get them onside.

Listen: Latest episode of Pompey Talk

‘A lot of them know we’ve been in their shoes. Sometimes you get frustrated and tensions can boil over, but because we’ve been in that situation ourselves, we can understand it a bit more and sympathise.

‘Obviously as we go higher in our progression it will be interesting to see how that player/referee relationship develops and whether they will naturally show us respect having played the games ourselves.

‘But I think it will work. So far I’ve got great feedback. Hopefully that continues and, with a lot of hard work and education, maybe a lot of us can do really well.’

For a player who rose from Sunday League football to Championship level after a heartbreaking release from Liverpool’s Academy, Baker’s drive can never be questioned.

Similarly, at the age of 42, he remains ambitious, setting the target of a Football League return, albeit this time equipped with a whistle.

Baker said: ‘PGMOL and the PFA have given us all the tools we need, so it’s down to us now to take everything on board and referee the games to as high a level as possible. Hopefully catching the eye and progressing as high as we can go.

‘It has all changed now, it’s no longer necessarily about refereeing levels for a certain amount of years. It’s more you are getting judged and assessed on your performance. It’s similar to being a player, if you’re doing really well, you will progress to whatever league you deserve to be in.

‘So, if we are performing really well and ticking all the boxes over a period of time, they will help progress us to whatever level they feel we are ready for.

‘It’s not a matter of having to do a level for a certain amount of years or passing this test or that test, it’s genuinely based on how you perform.

‘I would love to referee in the Football League. There are some talented guys doing it at the moment and I’m paying close attention to how they are doing. Once I get more experienced, hopefully I can get up to those levels.

‘A former professional player refereeing in the Football League would be an unbelievable achievement. Just to return to these stadiums and get the match-day feelings back into the body again would be amazing.

‘But I’ve got to keep working as hard as I can every single day - and see where it takes me.’

Your Next Pompey Read: 'Any other club would have sacked me': Pompey boss on football's impatience - and his gratitude to Michael Eisner