Graham Poll considered retiring as a referee following his World Cup blunder.

England's most high-profile match official is no longer required at the tournament after booking Croatia's Josip Simunic three times, only sending him off on the third occasion, in a match against Australia.

Poll was among 14 referees not retained by governing body Fifa for the latter stages of the competition and will leave Germany tomorrow.

Poll will quit refereeing at international tournaments but is adamant his career will continue in the Premiership.

"For the first two or three days I did think about retirement," he told Sky Sports.

The 42-year-old regrets his error-strewn performance last Thursday in Stuttgart, but said: "I will be refereeing in the Premier League next season from August 19th.

"Five weeks of rest now will be good and I will be fit for the start of the season. But it is time for me to let go of (other international tournaments). Nobody got hurt and nobody died and it's a game even though it is very important."

He continued: "What I did was a public mistake but it didn't effect qualification or the outcome of the match.

"It meant a player who shouldn't have been on the field stayed on the field for two or three minutes longer than he should have done.

"I'm not trying to minimise that error but because of that it makes it easier to say it's time to move on and let go. I will certainly not retire. I will come back stronger for next season."  PA