Scott Oldham is the man in the middle for Dale’s League Two fixture at home to Stevenage on Tuesday.
This appointment comes almost three months to the day since we last saw him, which was at our 2-0 Carabao Cup win at Shrewsbury in August.
The self-employed joiner from Poulton-le-Fylde, who is in his fifth campaign on the National List, has been a regular fixture at our games since 2017 and last season refereed Dale three times.
In October, he was in charge of Dale’s 2-1 defeat at Accrington, while a month later, Scott refereed the depressing 2-1 home loss to Stockport in the FA Cup.
Mr Oldham was then back at Spotland in April for the return fixture against Accrington, which Dale won 3-1.
Scott’s first-ever Dale appointment came in October 2017 when he oversaw a 1-0 home win over Bristol Rovers, although on that occasion he was a late replacement for Tom Nield.
He returned to Spotland in March 2018 for the 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon and then three weeks later, he was an 11th hour replacement for Andy Haines in Dale’s thrilling, but ultimately frustrating 3-3 draw with Portsmouth.
Mr Oldham appeared at Spotland again in October 2018 for the 3-2 home loss to Doncaster, before taking charge at Walsall four months later where both Ethans — Ebanks-Landell and Hamilton — were on target in Dale’s 2-1 defeat of The Saddlers.
Finally, in November 2019, Scott was in the middle when Ipswich won 1-0 at Spotland on their first-ever visit to this part of Lancashire.
On Saturday, Scott was due to referee his 18th match of the season at Leyton Orient v Sutton, continuing a fair few hikes from the Fylde coast to places like Forest Green, Exeter, MK Dons, Cambridge, Bristol Rovers, Charlton and Ipswich in recent months!