The familiar figure of Andy Haines will referee Dale’s return fixture at Crewe on Saturday, three months after he oversaw Alex’s visit to Spotland.
On that afternoon Dale came back from 3-0 down at half-time to draw 3-3, although our precarious position in the League One relegation zone means we would prefer less excitement and a better result this time around.
Mr Haines will take charge of his 34th Dale match on Saturday, with 31 of them being at Spotland!
The last time we saw him on the road was at Shrewsbury in August 2017 where Dale lost 3-2 despite Steven Davies scoring two penalties.
Andy’s most memorable Dale appointment was our promotion-clinching 1-0 win over Northampton in April 2010, while he has refereed us four times against Chesterfield, one of them being the 4-3 win at Saltergate 13 years ago when David Perkins scored a fine hat-trick.
The full list of Andy’s Dale matches is:
Sep 07 Rochdale v Macclesfield D 1-1
Jan 08 Chesterfield v Rochdale W 4-3
Apr 08 Rochdale v Bradford W 2-1
Sep 08 Rochdale v Chesterfield W 2-1
Apr 09 Rochdale v Port Vale W 1-0
Jul 09 Rochdale v Everton (friendly) L 1-4
Aug 09 Rochdale v Cheltenham L 0-1
Apr 10 Rochdale v Northampton W 1-0
Jul 10 Rochdale v Bolton (friendly) D 1-1
Oct 10 Rochdale v Yeovil L 0-1
Jan 11 Rochdale v Leyton Orient D 1-1
Jul 11 Rochdale v Leeds (friendly) L 0-1
Aug 11 Rochdale v Huddersfield D 2-2
Nov 11 Rochdale v Preston (JPT) D 1-1 (lost on pens)
Jul 12 Rochdale v Hull (friendly) L 0-1
Sep 12 Rochdale v Burton L 0-1
Feb 13 Rochdale v Chesterfield D 1-1
Jul 13 Rochdale v Blackburn (friendly) D 2-2
Aug 13 Rochdale v Chesterfield D 2-2
Jul 14 Rochdale v Wigan (friendly) W 2-1
Apr 15 Rochdale v Port Vale W 1-0
Jul 15 Rochdale Blackburn (h, friendly), W 2-1
Aug 15 Rochdale v Peterborough W 2-0
Nov 16 Rochdale v Walsall W 4-0
Mar 17 Rochdale v Gillingham W 4-1
Aug 17 Shrewsbury v Rochdale L 2-3
Dec 17 Rochdale v Walsall D 1-1
Oct 18 Rochdale v Charlton W 1-0
Apr 19 Rochdale v Wycombe W 1-0
Aug 19 Rochdale v Bolton (CC) W 5-2
Dec 19 Rochdale v Fleetwood L 2-3
Nov 20 Rochdale v Northampton D 1-1
Jan 21 Rochdale v Crewe D 3-3
So far this season, Mr Haines has refereed 28 games, showing 68 yellow cards and four red. His most recent match was Barrow v Port Vale on Tuesday night.