Manchester United fans unhappy with appointment of Newcastle United fan

The two clubs are competing for Champions League places in the final two months of the campaign, and the appointment of Oliver as match official for tomorrow’s Premier League fixture against Everton has sparked a backlash on social media.

Newcastle are third in the Premier League, and above Erik ten Hag’s fourth-placed side on goal difference, ahead of tomorrow’s fixture away to Brentford.

One Red Devil supporter posted a photograph of Ashington-born Oliver, 38, in a Newcastle shirt on Twitter – and asked the Football Association and Premier League how it was allowed given his support for their rivals.

Oliver, like every Premier League referee, is not allowed to officiate games involving the club he supports.

“I never referee Newcastle games,” Oliver told the Daily Mail in 2021 when Newcastle were in a relegation battle. “We have to declare if we have an allegiance to any club – or if a family member works at a club.

“You can’t do any match involving that team, and I can’t do Sunderland, either, for obvious reasons.

“Because Newcastle are invariably involved in a relegation battle, when you get to March or April, it means I can’t referee anyone around them towards the bottom three.

"If Newcastle needed a point to survive, and the team they were fighting to get above was, say, Villa, I couldn’t referee Villa’s game either. I wouldn’t want to. It’s not worth the hassle.”