Referee John Brooks will make his Crown Oil Arena debut on Saturday when he refereed Dale’s home game against Bury.
The Leicestershire official is in his second season on the referees’ list and while we saw him last September at Millwall, Saturday will be his first appearance in our neck of the woods.
Fans will recall Dale won 3-2 in that game at The Den thanks to a last-minute Ian Henderson penalty shortly after Millwall had been reduced to ten men!
Mr Brooks also refereed Bury in London last term, but their fans would probably rather forget that particular appointment.
The Shakers travelled to AFC Wimbledon for an FA Cup first round replay where they were thrashed 5-0, a defeat that led to the sacking of manager David Flitcroft.
Four days later Bury returned to AFC Wimbledon and that time fared a little better, only losing 5-1!
John had a busy first season in the EFL, taking charge of 36 matches up and down the country.
His Leicestershire base means his appointments are likely to be spread far and wide, as evidenced by his three games to date this term at Colchester, Plymouth and Fleetwood.
Mr Brooks moved up from refereeing in the National League in summer 2016, where he ended the campaign taking charge of Grimsby v Braintree in the play-offs.
A few weeks later he was a linesman at the FA Cup Final between Crystal Palace and Manchester United, which was the culmination of several high profile appointments on the line.
Not only did John ‘line’ in the Premier League most weekends, he was also a FIFA assistant, meaning he was involved in many games around Europe.
Lining duties took him to Poland (Legia Warsaw v Midtjylland), Greece (PAOK v Borussia Dortmund) and Cyprus (Cyprus v Bosnia), among several other appointments.
Mr Brooks also made the headlines a few years ago at a Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester City.
City’s fans had paid in the region of £60 for a match ticket and at the end of the match, John was picked up on a microphone telling a City player to go and thank their fans, with words to the effect of, "they’ve paid sixty quid to watch this game.”
He was ridiculously stood down for the next match, but this alleged misdemeanour hasn’t got in the way of his progress since.