Ref Watch...Dermot Gallagher

That was Man City's 0-0 draw with Portsmouth on the 23rd of August when he, now infamously, only issued Ben Thatcher with a yellow card for nearly caving in Pedro Mendes' skull!

He has since refereed just three Football League matches, in which time he has issued 10 yellows and one red card, presumably after a disgruntled right back took a machete to a cocky winger after one nutmeg too many…

But what has his record been like when he has been in charge of the Blues?

Well, it's not been great really…

He has taken charge of five Everton games since 2004/05 and we have won one, drawn two and lost two.

The win came at Portsmouth in 2004/05 when an 80th minute Tim Cahill header was enough to secure the Blues' fifth win of the season and keep us in third place.

Cahill was also booked in that match and Mr Gallagher has seen fit to book the Aussie sledger in two of the other four matches he's refereed.

He was cautioned, along with Leon Osman, during the 0-0 draw at Old Trafford that season and again last term, this time with James McFadden, as the Blues went down 0-2 at Tottenham.

Do you reckon he's just booked Cahill there?

The only other yellow cards he has shown to Everton players in the last three seasons were brandished at Hibbert and Beattie as Everton drew 1-1 at Middlesbrough, again in the 2004/05 season.

So the worrying stats for the Blues, as far as Mr Gallagher is

concerned, are that they have only won once in the last five games he has taken charge of and Cahill has been booked in three of them.

And, as if that wasn't enough to worry about, the last Everton game he refereed was the 0-4 shoeing we took down at the Hawthorns last season!

Speaking of which, a reader emailed me (sorry mate, I deleted the email by accident and lost your name) to tell me that was the worst away day of his life.

It was made even worse when the tannoy ("It's a public address system!" Partrdige fans!) announcer…er…announced:

"And that was Albion's best ever Premiership victory…Albion 4 Everton 0!"

Oh dear!

But, on the plus side, Sheffield United have had just as torrid a time with him as we have!

The Blades have drawn two and lost one of the three games he has taken charge of in the last three seasons.

All of these matches took place in 2004/05, when the football authorities appeared to quite like him.

He oversaw the Blades 0-1 defeat at Cardiff, their 0-0 draw with the mighty Gillingham at Bramall Lane and a 1-1 draw at West Ham in round four of the FA Cup.

Only one Blades' player was booked over the course of the three games as Paul Thirwell picked up a caution during the draw with Gillingham.

So, in a nutshell, the game will be a draw, we'll have Cahill booked and they won't pick up a single booking.