Although Tuesday’s JPT tie against Bury is a tense local derby, it’s unlikely it will be as hard to handle as the derby match referee Bobby Madley oversaw last Sunday.
The West Yorkshire official was in the middle for the Championship encounter between Nottingham Forest and Derby, which ended with the customary red card shown, along with several other yellows!
This was a high profile game for a 26-year-old referee to handle, especially one in only his third season at league level, but his ratings must have been sufficiently good to merit the appointment.
Indeed, it was already Mr Madley’s third Championship game this term, while he also refereed Crawley v Swansea in the third round of the Capital One Cup.
We last saw Bobby at Scunthorpe in February, where Dale were beaten 1-0 after United’s Gary Thompson scored a screaming goal from around 25-yards out.
His only game as a referee at Spotland was in February 2011 when Dale defeated Bristol Rovers 3-1.
In total this season Bobby has refereed eight games, showing 22 yellow cards and one red.
His brother, Andy Madley, is also a Football League referee, who took charge of Dale’s 0-0 draw at Walsall last December and our 3-2 home win over Exeter in April.