Premier League Referee Anthony Taylor on VAR, Pressure & Abuse

Football Daily

BBC

Soccer, Sports, News, Sports News, Sport

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Premier League referee Anthony Taylor joins Dan Roan to give rare insight into life as one of football’s top officials.

He opens up about the pressures of refereeing at the highest level, the impact of social media scrutiny and abuse, and how VAR has changed the game.

Taylor also reflects on handling racist incidents, the fallout from the 2023 Europa League final, and why empathy from players, pundits and fans is vital for the sport’s future.

TIMECODES: 1:49 – Nerves & fear of failure

07:16 – Is scrutiny fair?

11:32 – 2023 Europa League final fallout

15:22 – Adapting to climate at the Club World Cup

19:55 – Does he regret decisions?

24:56 – Captains only approach

27:57 – Do you ever stand by your decision after VAR?

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.2	He scored goals, lifted trophies and broken records along the way.
0:11.4	And now he's got a podcast.
0:13.2	Welcome to the Wayne Rooney show.
0:15.0	Wayne Rooney, Kay Kerrude and me, Kelly Summers, break down the biggest stories in the
0:19.3	Premier League and beyond.
0:20.7	Plus, we'll hear the funniest and most outrageous stories from Wayne's career.
0:24.8	I've never seen the manager go with someone like he did.
0:27.8	There's no way he could have played for Man United ever again.
0:30.2	The Wayne Rooney Show.
0:31.3	It's what everybody's talking about.
0:33.4	Watch your night player.
0:34.5	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:36.9	This is the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds.
0:41.2	Anthony Taylor, great to see you.
0:42.6	Thanks for your time.
0:44.2	You've now taken charge of 400 Premier League matches during your career.
0:49.5	Is it hard to believe sometimes that you're now among the most experienced match officials
0:54.1	there's been in the most experienced match officials there's
0:54.3	been in the English top flight? It's certainly been a long journey. This is my 17th
1:00.9	season referee in Premier League football and the game certainly evolved over that period of time.
1:06.8	Lots of challenges, lots of different challenges as time goes through. And it is sometimes difficult to believe.
	...

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