Refwatch Preview: Dale v Bradford
Friday, 18th Jan 2008 06:04

Saturday's match official is Nigel Miller from County Durham. So we've stuck TVOS on the case to investigate him and look at what we can expect from him on Saturday.

Nigel Miller is one of the most recognisable officials in the Football League, even if he’s only been on the list for five seasons.

He tends to pop up on live Sky games every now and then and last season took charge of the play-off game between Yeovil and Nottingham Forest.

His exalted position among the National List is often a source of bemusement on the ‘Rate The Ref’ website, where his performances are frequently criticised by fans and fellow officials (albeit at a lower level) alike.

However it would appear his Sergeant Major style – and he is in the police after all – goes down well with those who the run the game. On Saturday we will see for ourselves.

Mr Miller has tended to make the headlines in recent years – and it’s not all good news.

When he was a linesman in the Premiership, Nigel was reportedly off work sick, yet popped up running the line at Arsenal v Man United. The tabloid press had a field day over that incident.

Last season he upset Dennis Wise during Leeds’ game at Southend, with Wise eventually being sent to the stands for over-zealous protests.

Wise then put pressure on Mr Miller when he was appointed to Leeds’ home game with Leyton Orient earlier this term by publicly criticising his appointment in the week leading up to the fixture.

Coincidentally (or maybe not), Leeds got a string of 50-50 decisions throughout the match that greatly incensed Orient manager Martin Ling.

In total this season Nigel has refereed 22 games, showing 41 yellow cards and 5 red. One of his matches was, amazingly, a bury win!

Hopefully, Dale will perform like they did when Nigel last came to Spotland. That was in April when Chris Dagnall scored a first half hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Macclesfield.

Other famous Nigels