Haines has the Boxing Day whistle

Last updated : 26 December 2012 By Tony Scholes

It won't be his first game between Burnley and Derby either. He was the man in the middle last season at Pride Park when Charlie Austin grabbed his first ever Burnley brace in a 2-1 win.

Londoner Haines started refereeing in the 1990s but it was when he made the move north to Sunderland that he began to take things seriously. He started refereeing in the Wearside League and moved onwards and upwards via the Northern League until joining the Football League ahead of the 2007/08 season.

Now 47, he's in his sixth season and he says his style is to referee with a smile on his face. Whether he's done that in his three previous Burnley games I don't know, but there have certainly not been any problems encountered in any of those games.

So it is probably no surprise to see him placed in a high position in the RATE THE REF Table. He's currently in fifth place with a rating of 83.19 out of 100 and averaging over 20 in each of the four categories.

He always seems to average around three yellow cards per game and it is the same this season. In 15 games there have been 43 yellow cards and one red card.

Of those yellow cards, 22 have gone to home team players and 21 to away team players. The only player he's sent off this season is Yeovil's Ed Upson in their 3-0 defeat against Preston at Deepdale.

His last game was on 8th December, Gillingham's 2-1 win at Rotherham. There were six yellow cards in that game, the most number of cards in a game he's refereed this season. The players carded were Jason Taylor (Rotherham) and Deon Burton, Charlie Allen, Matt Fish, Stuart Nelson and Charlie Lee (Gillingham).

The assistant referees are Billy Khatib (County Durham) and Simeon Lucas (Lancashire). The fourth official is Football League referee Richard Clark (Northumberland).

Previous Burnley Games

Season Opponents V Res Y R Burnley Players Carded
             
2010/11 BARNSLEY h 3-0 1 0 n Mears
2011/12 DERBY COUNTY a 2-1 2 0 n Mee
2011/12 PORT VALE a 3-1 3 0 n Mills, Wallace