York City will make their first visit to Spotland in over nine years on Saturday for a match that will be refereed by DAVID McNAMARA.

The Preston-based official is in his first season refereeing in the National League and Saturday will be his tenth appointment of the campaign.

One of the previous nine was York’s 2-0 defeat at Oldham in mid-September.

Mr McNamara has been refereeing for 17 years, during which time he has also had employment in quite a senior, high-pressured career.

David is a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy and is currently a Submarine Warfare Training Instructor, having previously been a Warfare Specialist on HMS Vanguard, an Electronic Warfare Analyst for the RAF and an Operations Manager on an active nuclear submarine!

Although Saturday will be the first time Dale have met Mr McNamara since our relegation to the National League, we have seen him in the past in charge of pre-season friendlies at Chester and AFC Fylde.

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