This is something I'm working on, but really: can anyone explain it? I'm not a mathematician: maybe I'm missing something obvious.
Average points by ref in Premier League NUFC matches:
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3978/points.gif
When Steve Dunn was in charge we averaged 2.13 points per game. On the other side of the coin, we escaped with only 0.94 points on average when (the frankly detested) Uriah Rennie was in the middle.
Putting aside all claims of bias: how can this be explained? Of Dunn's 23 games, 10 (43%) saw us face 'top-class' opposition: that is, teams in the all-time Premier League Top 10 (Man Utd, Chelsea, etc.) Six of those were away matches. Rennie officiated 9 games involving top class sides (52% of his total NUFC games), five of which were away matches. None of these differences would seem to be significant enough to explain the enormously different outcomes when these two refs presided over our matches.