After 20 years as an English football referee, Anthony Taylor will not be involved at the start of the upcoming season.
The 47-year-old took charge of as many as 668 matches in England, taking charge of every domestic final and as many as 163 internationals.
If he was a player, he would undoubtedly be considered a legend.
Referees rarely receive that sort of praise but there is no doubt that Taylor’s sudden departure from the English game will be felt.
And it was sudden, Taylor was the man in the middle of Spain’s 1-0 win over Portugal in the World Cup round of 16 match.
That was on July 6 but he decided to step away from returning to the English game with pressure, scrutiny and the overwhelming external opinion all becoming too much.
He told BBC Sport “Any referee will be lying to you if they said that pressure or that scrutiny did not bother them, because that’s a natural human reaction.
“One of the challenges that referees face at every level is actually understanding the challenges that we face.
“Fear of making mistakes, external opinion, spectators, managers, parents, media, colleagues.
“All these things feed into creating self-doubt, lacking confidence, and then things can spiral out of control and you lose the ability to actually have any confidence in what you’re doing on the field.”
Taylor made the decision to leave refereeing and take on a completely different role as director of elite refereeing for the Turkish Football Federation.
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A key reason for that was that he felt he was ready, both mentally and physically ready to step away from being in the centre of the field and also to take on a new challenge.
“Everybody will experience times where dealing with that environment for a long period of time, your energy levels would dip,” he added.
“That then starts to impact on motivation and your actual confidence. It goes back to the confidence again of, ‘I’ve got to go again, make sure I don’t make a mistake, still want to get to this tournament or have this match.’ It’s a very real feeling that everybody would go through.
“I was very confident in my own coping mechanisms on how I dealt with that.
“The decision to retire is purely based on my body and my mind coming to its natural course in that current role — and it’s ready to go on a new journey.
“I’m very privileged that people hold my experience and knowledge in such high regard that they think I can make such a positive impact.”
Taylor was famously caught in the middle of furious Roma fans in Budapest Airport with his family after the 2023 Europa League final.
Ever since that moment, they did not go to his matches anymore due to the levels of abuse Taylor received.
And the former referee explained that that did play a part in his decision to call time on his career.
He continued: “Undoubtedly one of the things that you are considering are the serious sacrifices that both your family and your friends have made over the years for you to do what you do.
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“Family life takes a back seat, so, for sure, that was a big part of why I decided to step back.
“It was in combination with the scrutiny and the demands placed on referees at the very top level.
“And that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re struggling to cope with those demands, but it comes to a point where it feels that your body and your mind needs to take a break from those kind of pressures.
“I wanted to decide when I finished on my own terms and I don’t think you can say there’s any better place to finish than at the World Cup.”
