Scottish official Bobby Madden will make his Spotland refereeing debut on Saturday when Dale host Swindon Town.

The former SPL and FIFA referee was the fourth official at Dale’s home game versus Barrow in October, but this will be his first game at Spotland as the man in the middle.

Now based in Carlisle, Madden joined the Scottish list of referees in 2010/11 and took charge of a 3-3 draw between St Mirren and Inverness as his top-flight debut in the second half of that season.

He soon became a regular on the SPL roster and was also promoted to the FIFA list, with his first international being a World Cup qualifier between Germany and the Faroe Islands.

In March 2017, Bobby refereed his first Celtic v Rangers clash and at the end of that campaign he was in the middle for Celtic v Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final.

Over the next five years, Mr Madden officiated at a further eight Old Firm encounters, many internationals and games in the Champions League and Europa League.

His final international was Malta v Estonia in the Nations League last June, which came shortly after he had been invited to referee a handful of games in Greek football.

The summer saw Bobby relocate to Cumbria, which meant he relinquished his Scottish and international duties for a new career in the EFL.

Like all new officials on the list, he has had to start in League One and League Two, but will be hopeful of progressing to the Championship and Premier League if he can reach the same standards as he did north of the border.

Saturday will be Mr Madden’s 24th game of the season, with the previous 23 yielding 65 yellow cards and four reds. He was most recently at Grimsby v Newport just over a week ago.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls