Mr Breakspear was promoted from the Conference list at the end of the 2012/13 season and his first Football League game was York v Northampton on the opening day of the following campaign.

He spent the majority of his first two years on the league list refereeing in the basement divisions, but last term Charles took charge of 11 games in the Championship and Newport v Blackburn in the third round of the FA Cup.

Such a large number of games in the second tier made those in refereeing circles think Charles would join the new Select Group 2 list of referees for this term, but he has instead concentrated on League One and League Two again, possibly for personal and employment-related reasons.

His last match was Bristol Rovers v Fleetwood on Tuesday night and in total this season Mr Breakspear has refereed 14 games, showing 68 yellow cards and four red.

Photo: Action Images

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