Refwatch Preview: Exeter (h)
First-year referee Jeremy Simpson is the man in the middle for Dale’s home game against Exeter City on Saturday.
The Carnforth-based PE teacher was promoted to the league in time for this season having progressed through the ranks in recent years.
This culminated in him refereeing last season’s Blue Square Premier League play-off final between York and Luton at Wembley.
Prior to his promotion, Jeremy had been an assistant referee on the Premier League and also a FIFA official, which meant he travelled overseas to ‘line’ at European and international matches.
Jeremy’s last visit to Spotland was as a linesman for our 1-0 win over Scunthorpe last season, while in 2010/11 he was on the line for the FA Cup tie against FC United and our first game in League One at home to Hartlepool.
Mr Simpson has had a busy start to his Football League career and Saturday will be his 14th match of the season.
He started with Cheltenham’s 2-0 home defeat of Dagenham on the opening day and was most recently at Tranmere v Walsall a couple of weeks ago. He has also already seen Exeter this term, refereeing their 4-2 win at Oxford in September.
In total, Jeremy’s 13 games have yielded 42 yellow cards and two red.
What to read next:
Honours even in hard-fought draw at Elland RoadIt looked like a good opportunity to achieve a famous victory over Manchester United, but in the end we didn’t show quite enough quality at either end of the pitch to force a win over our deadliest rivals.
Disciplined Leeds earn away point at AnfieldIt was a frustrating night for Liverpool, as for once Leeds produced a defensive masterclass, to stretch our unbeaten run to seven games, in a period of the season when we are playing some of the biggest names in the Premier League.
Liverpool AwaydazeOur visit to Liverpool will kick off at 5.30 on New Year’s day, thanks to live coverage by our friends at Sky TV.
Farke accepts Leeds have more to do after draw at SunderlandLeeds can be delighted with the second half performance at Sunderland, which should really have earned us all three points, but Daniel Farke knows we will have to keep this run going before we can start to think about being safe from relegation.
Sunderland AwaydazeOur game at Sunderland kicks off on Sunday at 2pm, thanks to yet another Sky Sports selection. You'll find the Stadium of Light on the site of the former Monkwearmouth Colliery on the north bank of the River Wear, the opposite side from the city centre.
Brentford AwaydazeOur visit to Brentford will kick off at 4.30PM on Sunday, thanks to our very good friends at Sky Sports.
Disappointingly brief FA Cup Draw sends Leeds to DerbyLeeds are going to Derby County in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, after TNT sport and the FA were shown to be lagging way behind FIFA when it comes to staging a pompus, shamlessly self-promoting and needlessly drawn out draw for a major competition.