|
But he won't be in his white coat tomorrow, the 48-year-old Kent based referee will have his whistle in hand and will be leading the two teams out at the Windy City as we step into our first game in the top flight in over 33 years.
Bennett has been refereeing at the top level since 1999 and has more than once courted controversy, none more so than when he upset Carlos Queiros after Manchester United were beaten by Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.
He's not refereed Burnley that often, and when he took charge of our game against Doncaster last season it was only his second Burnley game in over a decade. He sent off Steven Thompson in that game, Thommo becoming the first player Bennett had sent off since the infamous dismissal of Liverpool's Javier Mascherano at Old Trafford.
It was his only red card of last season whilst in 31 games he handed out 119 yellow cards. For much of the season there were as many cards for home players as away players but a rush of away cards towards the end of the season gave the final total of 53 home players and 66 away players carded.
He's upset a few Premier League managers, he's certainly upset Sky man Andy Gray and had he picked up on the antics of Matt Mills last season then Thompson might well not have been sent off. But we know Bennett will court controversy, hopefully tomorrow though he won't give any of our players out lbw.
He will be assisted by Andy Halliday (North Yorkshire) and Martin Yerby (Kent) whilst the fourth official will be Football League referee Andy Penn (West Midlands).
Previous Burnley games:
Season | Opps | V | Res | Y | R | Burnley players carded |
a | ||||||
1997/98 | Gillingham | a | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | Cooke |
2003/04 | Walsall | a | 1-0 | 2 | 0 | Grant Roche |
2008/09 | Doncaster | h | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | Akinbiyi Eagles Gudjonsson Thompson(Y/R) |