BLACKBURN referee Eddie Wolstenholme admitted it took him all of two minutes to turn his back on a 20-year engineering career for two years as a top-flight referee.

Wolstenholme has been named in the first group of 24 elite referees chosen by the Professional Game Match Officials Board and jumped at the chance to turn professional at the age of 47.

That means he has just two seasons left before the mandatory retirement age but his desire to referee in the Premiership meant he didn't think twice about taking the plunge.

"I signed within two minutes of seeing it. It may be a gamble but if I didn't take it I would have regretted it for the rest of my life," he said.

"I was surprised because I've only got two years left and I did think it had passed me by.

"It's nice because I didn't think they would take anybody with just two years left and I think it will give hope to a lot of referees who also think they're too old."

Wolstenholme is a fitter with Preston-based engineering firm Axom and, while continuing a couple of days a week in his day job might have been an option, the top-ranking official was ready to throw it all in to fulfill his ambitions of becoming a Premiership referee.

"The money we will get is better than the wages I'm on but I wanted to referee at the top level. That was the issue," he said.

The referees chosen in the Select Group will earn an annual retainer of £33,000 and £900 a game.

Refereeing therefore becomes a career in its own right and Wolstenholme, who will have past and present top-flight referees allocated to him as a mentor and coach, believes that is a positive move.

He said: "I think it has got to be a step forward and I think there'll be an improvement in everything. There's always room for improvement at anything, no matter how good you are.

"It will also be a programme for young referees, because we seem to be a bit behind the rest of FIFA in that.

"On the FIFA list some of the referees from other countries are very young.

"It's got to be an option now and it will be good to encourage young referees to be more dedicated."

However, Wolstenholme has proved that it's not just a young man's game.

Having come through the ranks since starting out in the Preston Sunday Post League in 1978 and hanging up his boots as a player with Bamber Bridge, he has been a Football League referee for nine years.

As one of the top officials in the Nationwide, Wolstenholme has handled five play-off deciders, including last season's Second Division final between Reading and Walsall at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium.

That might have been the pinnacle of his career but now he will be handed the top games in Division One, the biggest cup-ties and his first taste of the Premiership.

"I think you're guaranteed 10 Premiership games but you've got to want to do well and if you do well you'll get more than 10," he said.

As well as more scope to work on fitness, professional status will also allow Wolstenholme and his new colleagues the extra time to devote to honing skills.

The group will spend four days away from home every fortnight on training courses. And while Wolstenholme is honest enough to admit that mistakes will still occur in games, the referees' new-found status should find favour with managers who have long advocated such a move.

"Hopefully it will make them accept it more," he said.