It's the big derby this weekend, when Dale travel the eight miles or so down the road to Gigg Lane. We kick off our coverage by our traditional Refwatch with Mike Jones from Chester.

Even though he only looks to be about 15, Mike Jones is actually in his 11th season as a Football League referee. He never really stands out whenever he takes charge of one of our games, yet he’s officiated at many high profile league matches down the years without making the next step up.

Indeed, he was in the middle for the big East Anglian derby between Ipswich and Norwich earlier this month.

He became a Football League referee in 1997 and his first Dale game was for a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff. Mark Carter gave us the lead from the penalty spot, but Cardiff battled back to win before a crowd of 4,306. The other 20,000 were saving up for a cup final 11 years later!

Earlier this season Mr Jones refereed our home game against Stockport, which was his 13th match involving Dale since he joined the league list. His full Dale record is:

• 8/3/99 Rochdale v Wigan Ath (AWS) lost 0-2
• 27/7/99 Rochdale v Burnley (Friendly) lost 0-1
• 3/1/00 Hartlepool U v Rochdale lost 2-3
• 7/3/00 Carlisle U v Rochdale (AWS) won 1-0
• 10/4/01 Rochdale v Carlisle U won 6-0
• 23/10/01 Rochdale v Cheltenham T drew 2-2
• 4/8/03 Rochdale v Manchester C (F) lost 0-4
• 26/12/04 Darlington v Rochdale won 3-0
• 17/9/05 Rochdale v Mansfield T won 2-0
• 5/5/06 Rochdale v Carlisle U lost 0-2
• 20/11/06 Hartlepool U v Rochdale (FAC) drew 0-0 (lost 2-4 on pens)
• 20/2/07 Rochdale v Torquay U won 2-0
• 5/11/07 Rochdale v Stockport Co lost 1-2

5 famous Mikes

• Mike Baldwin
• Mike Smash
• Mike Schweinberger
• Mike Reid
• Mike Atherton

• Aled Jones
• Jones the Steam
• Smith & Jones
• Christopher Jones
• Gary Jones

Photo: Action Images

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