Former Premier League referee Steve Tanner is the man in charge at St James Park on Saturday.
Mr Tanner started last season on the Select Group list and a FIFA referee, yet had hardly been awarded any Premier League fixtures over the previous year.
It was later announced that Mr Tanner, along with Keith Stroud, had been removed from the Select Group and took their places on the National List instead, that being a group of referees who officiate in the Football League only.
This follows on from a similar situation at the end of 2008/09 when Steve was originally demoted from the Select Group, only to be reinstated over some legal loophole.
Full details of the case can be found here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1196820/Embarrassment-outgoing class="storytext">This will be only the third time Mr Tanner has refereed a Dale game, but to date the omens are good.
In December 2004, he was in the middle for our 2-0 win at Shrewsbury, while in March, Steve was the referee for the excellent 4-0 home defeat of Rotherham, on a night when the Millers became “another team footballed to death.”
REFWORLD PROFILE: http://www.refworld.com/referee/22/1