The Allocation of Additional Time in the English Premier League – Fergie Time post Sir Alex

This paper re-examines the impartiality of referee decision making when applying Law 7 of FIFA’s Laws of the Game, with particular focus on a phenomenon known as Fergie Time in the wake of the retirement of Manchester United... [ view full abstract ]

This paper re-examines the impartiality of referee decision making when applying Law 7 of FIFA’s Laws of the Game, with particular focus on a phenomenon known as Fergie Time in the wake of the retirement of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. We investigate decision making relating to the allocation of additional time for 760 English Premier League matches from 2013 to 2015 and find limited evidence of a bias towards ‘big’ clubs, which could be interpreted as Fergie Time. An additional investigation of close matches does not confirm the initial finding findings - the effect of Fergie Time and its ability to influence matches outcomes is not significant.