Not only are Dale meeting a new team on Saturday in Sutton United, they will also welcome a new referee when Paul Howard takes charge at the Crown Oil Arena.
Continuing a rather strange geographical theme, Paul is the third ‘southern’ referee in four home games for Dale, as he will make the long trip up from London for our maiden fixture against The U’s.
Howard is in his second season on the National List and his first appointment at this level was Gillingham v Crawley in the EFL Trophy in September 2020.
He refereed his first league game four days later — Cambridge v Carlisle — and all told last season, officiated at 29 matches in League One, League Two and the cup competitions.
There were a few northern trips among those games, with Morecambe v Tranmere at the end of January being the best one for the expenses!
Before Tuesday night, when he was due at Lincoln v AFC Wimbledon, Paul had refereed ten matches this season, showing 30 yellow cards and two reds.
The two reds were both to Mansfield players in their home clash with Harrogate last month when The Stags players lost their heads in the 3-1 defeat.
More recently, Mr Howard was on Sky TV a fortnight ago refereeing Forest Green v Swindon.