James Linington
Over the last 10 Championship games James Linington has officiated, the average is 3.90 cards a match — in line with the league average of 4.01. That splits 3.7 yellow and 0.2 red a game — a red in 2 of the 10. The away side sees more cards — 2.8 to 1.1 a game, a sharper split than the league's 0.4 gap. 5+ cards landed in 30% of those games (3 of 10), from a 18.1% foul-to-booking rate. Penalties come at about the league's rate: 18 awarded in 82 matches, 0.22 a game against a league average of 0.17. These are raw match figures from those games, not odds.
Match cards last 10 games
Career profile
The two numbers that matter are vs league — the multiplier the model applies to a player's booking chance — and conversion, the share of fouls James Linington turns into bookings. Conversion, not the raw foul count, is where a referee's real card tendency lives. Career figures across every Championship season on record.
| Measure | Linington | League avg |
|---|---|---|
| Cards / match | 4.09 | 4.01 |
| vs league | 1.02× | 1.00× |
| Foul-to-card conversion | 18.9% | 18.4% |
| Fouls / match | 21.6 | 21.9 |
| Penalties awarded / match | 0.22 | 0.17 |
| Penalties awarded (total) | 18 in 82 | — |
| Red cards shown | 8 | — |
| Matches on record | 82 (18 in 25/26) | — |
Recent matches
The last 8 Championship games James Linington took charge of — the actual card and foul counts a match-cards line settles on.
| Match | Score | Cards | Y | R | Pen | Fouls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton Athletic v Birmingham City7 Mar | 1–0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Stoke City v Oxford United25 Feb | 2–1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| West Brom v Coventry City21 Feb | 0–2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Portsmouth v Sheffield United14 Feb | 0–1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Norwich v Blackburn Rovers7 Feb | 2–0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Leicester v Oxford United24 Jan | 1–2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Charlton Athletic v Derby County20 Jan | 1–2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 26 |
| Birmingham City v Coventry City4 Jan | 3–2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
Frequently asked
How many cards does James Linington give per game?
James Linington averages 4.09 cards a game across 82 Championship matches — roughly above the league average of 4.01. On a James Linington appointment, the model multiplies every player's booking chance by 1.02.
Is James Linington a strict referee?
Slightly, yes. The honest measure is foul-to-card conversion — the share of fouls that become bookings — and James Linington runs at 18.9% against a league average of 18.4%. Foul counts barely vary between officials; the rate at which a foul becomes a booking is where referees genuinely differ.
Does James Linington's record change bet builder card prices?
It should. The referee is the single biggest factor in the to-be-carded market, and the appointment is public before kick-off — so a strict official on a combative player is the archetypal card edge. The player cards guide walks through exactly how the model turns a tendency like this into a price.
How reliable is James Linington's card rate?
It rests on 82 career matches, a solid record. The model shrinks a referee's tendency toward the league average when the sample is thin and discounts its own confidence for officials with young records, so a number like this never gets trusted beyond what the evidence earns.
Rates shown are figures from public match data for context; the model adds shrinkage, an opponent factor and de-vigging, and discounts its confidence for thin referee records, before flagging any card as value. 18+ — please gamble responsibly.