From The Guardian:
'The former Premier League referee Jeff Winter has been sacked as a match assessor, a role he took on after retiring last summer, because of a row over his parallel emergence as a media pundit.
He accepted a continuing involvement in the game when he became an assessor after standing down at 48. However, Winter clashed with Professional Game Match Officials Ltd - the referee's umbrella organisation - by simultaneously embarking on a media career.
Senior sources intimated last night that Winter, who appears regularly on Sky TV and in a national newspaper, had not been dismissed purely for commenting but for repeatedly failing to seek permission to speak out.'