It’s a case of déjà -vu this Saturday when referee Jeremy Simpson takes charge of Dale’s home game against Exeter City.
The Carnforth-based PE teacher, who is in his second season on the league list, refereed the same fixture last December on what was another sorry winter 2012 afternoon for Dale.
Having lost 3-2 at home to York a week earlier, Dale again found themselves 3-0 down at the interval, before pulling the score back with two late goals.
Sadly, the scorer of those goals, Terry Gornell, then got himself sent-off as Dale’s season continued to plumb the depths!
Mr Simpson finished his non-league career by refereeing the 2011/12 Blue Square Premier League play-off final between York and Luton at Wembley.
Prior to his promotion, Jeremy had been an assistant referee on the Premier League and also a FIFA official, which meant he travelled overseas to ‘line’ at European and international matches.
He had previously visited Spotland on linesman duties, most notably in 2010/11 when he was on the line for the FA Cup tie against FC United and our first game in League One at home to Hartlepool.
So far this term, he has refereed 13 games, showing 32 yellow cards and five red.
One of his outings was at Exeter’s Capital One Cup tie at home to QPR in August, while his most recent game was Oxford v Gateshead in the FA Cup a week last Saturday.