Morecambe are the visitors to Sunny Spotland this weekend, so we kick off our build up to the game by looking at the man in black. Or green as its more likely to be.

Leeds referee Jon Moss is the man in the middle for Morecambe’s first visit to Spotland on Saturday. 

Mr Moss, a primary school headteacher in Halifax, is in his third season as a league referee and is officiating at Spotland for the third time in that capacity. 

We last saw him on Boxing Day 2006 for Keith Hill’s first home game as Dale manager, a 2-2 draw with Wrexham. 

He also took charge of our FA Cup defeat to Brentford in November 2005. 

Mr Moss’s first league match was Shrewsbury v Dale on the opening day of the 2005/06 campaign. 

Morecambe have already seen Jon this season, as he refereed their 2-1 win at Macclesfield in January. 

Despite this being only his third season refereeing at this level, Mr Moss has quickly progressed to be one of the Football League’s top officials. 

He has refereed several games in the Championship, the most recent being Blackpool v WBA last Tuesday, and is often named as an outside bet for promotion to the Select Group of referees. 

That match at Blackpool was his 35th of the season. He has shown 101 yellow cards and six red in those games. 

 5 famous Jons/Jonathans 

• Jon Parkin
• Jonathan Hill
• Jonathan Creek
• Jonathan Edwards
• Jonathan Ross

5 famous Moss’s

• David Moss
• Stirling Moss
• Andy Moss
• A rolling stone gathers no moss
• Kate Moss

Another famous Jon Moss

• That bloke out of Culture Club

Photo: Action Images

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