Stuart Attwell referees Dale for the first time in almost three years when we make the long trip to Gillingham on Tuesday.

We last saw the Warwickshire whistler at Spotland on New Year’s Day 2013 for the 2-1 home loss to Rotherham.

Prior that, Stuart was the fourth official at Dale’s famous play-off semi-final second leg at home to Darlington in May 2008, before taking charge of the final against Stockport at Wembley later that month.

We also saw him for Dale’s 2-0 win at Brentford in March 2008, while in May 2012 he refereed our final fixture of the last spell in League One, which ended in a 2-1 defeat at Leyton Orient.

Mr Attwell’s early career in the Football League saw him receive a number of excellent appointments and he was soon promoted to the Select Group and FIFA lists of officials.

However, it was felt, by those in the know, that he was pushed too soon rather than serving his apprenticeship and after a couple of seasons in the top flight, Stuart opted to return to refereeing in the Football League to gain more experience.

This has clearly worked as he was handed another Premier League appointment last season, as well as many important Football League games.

Moving into this term, Stuart has taken charge of two more Premier League fixtures — WBA v Southampton and Swansea v Everton — as well as several Championship games, a fourth round Capital One Cup tie and last Sunday’s televised League Two match between Portsmouth and Wimbledon.

Up to the weekend, when he was fourth official at WBA v Arsenal, Stuart had refereed 17 games this season, showing 53 yellow cards and three red.

Photo: Action Images

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