Meet the officials | Birmingham City

James Linington will be the man in charge when Swansea City host Birmingham City at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday (August 5).

The Isle of Wight official took charge of his first EFL match in 2008 – a League One encounter between Yeovil Town and Crewe Alexandra – and has since been promoted to Select Group 2, working mostly in the Championship.

Linington has also been fourth official for a number of Premier League encounters.

He first oversaw a Swansea match in 2009 – a second-round League Cup defeat to Scunthorpe United in which he sent off Garry Monk, Gorka Pintado and Angel Rangel – and has blown the whistle on a further 13 matches involving the Swans. He was most recently in charge for a 2-1 defeat to Reading in December 2022.

On that occasion, he handed out five yellow cards in total with Harry Darling, Ben Cabango and Ollie Cooper booked for the Swans.

Last season, he took charge of 32 matches – mostly in the Championship – handing out 115 yellow cards and four reds.

On Saturday, Linington will be assisted by Andrew Fox and Greg Read. James Bell will be the fourth official.