The following season saw him step up to the ultimate domestic honour of the 1981 FA Cup Final at Wembley, finishing 1–1 between Spurs and Manchester City.
He refereed the 1990–91 league encounter between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford, a match notorious for the 21-man brawl breaking out just after the hour mark.
The melee resulted in Arsenal being docked two points and Manchester United one by The Football Association, upon a three-hour consultation with Hackett and his match officials.
Although he reached the English retirement age at the end of the 1991–92 season, he was granted an extension and was one of the first set of Premier League referees for its inaugural 1992–93 campaign.
He later worked as a referees' assessor before, on 1 March 2004, he was appointed general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, replacing Philip Don.
[7] And he continued to provide the answers for cult classic cartoon quiz You Are The Ref, drawn by sports artist Paul Trevillion, which he has done since the 1970s - originally for Shoot magazine, and then for The Observer newspaper.