Stuart Attwell referees Dale for the second time in two months when we welcome high-flying Burton to Spotland on Saturday.
The Warwickshire whistler was the man in the middle for our 2-0 defeat at Gillingham in November, but you have to go back three years for his last Spotland appearance, which was for the 2-1 loss to Rotherham on New Year’s Day 2013.
Prior that, Stuart was the fourth official at Dale’s famous play-off semi-final second leg at home to Darlington in May 2008, before taking charge of the final against Stockport at Wembley later that month.
We also saw him for Dale’s 2-0 win at Brentford in March 2008, while in May 2012 he refereed our final fixture of the last spell in League One, which ended in a 2-1 defeat at Leyton Orient.
Mr Attwell’s early career in the Football League saw him receive a number of excellent appointments and he was soon promoted to the Select Group and FIFA lists of officials.
However, it was felt, by those in the know, that he was pushed too soon rather than serving his apprenticeship and after a couple of seasons in the top flight, Stuart opted to return to refereeing in the Football League to gain more experience.
This has clearly worked as he was handed another Premier League appointment last season, as well as many important Football League games.
Moving into this term, Stuart has taken charge of three more Premier League fixtures and next Tuesday he will again referee in the top flight at Sunderland v Manchester City.
He has also appeared in two televised cup ties since the turn of the year — Exeter v Liverpool in the FA Cup and Millwall v Oxford in the JPT southern area final
All told this season Stuart has refereed 27 games, showing 73 yellow cards and three red.