Robert Madley turned to refereeing when his playing career was curtailed by a recurring wrist injury when he was just 16. He played for Leeds United and Barnsley academies before being released after he broke his right wrist for the eighth time.
He was one of the first officials to appear at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium when he was an Assistant Referee at the England U16-Spain U16 match in 2007 at the age of 21
He also ran the line at the 2009 FA Vase Final and was the fourth official at the Blue Square Premier League Play-Off final in 2010. Both matches were played at Wembley Stadium.
He did officiate the Northampton-Fleetwood Town FA Cup tie in November 2009 but this season is his first as a referee with his debut coming in the League Two match at Gigg Lane on 7 August 2010 with Port Vale beating Bury 1-0. The PNE v Derby match will be his first in the Championship
His last match was the a Second Round FA Cup tie on 14 December with Hartlepool beating Yeovil 4-2
So far this season he has produced 27 yellow cards in 14 matches but with no red cards.
His assistants are Robert Jones from Merseyside and Iain Siddall from Lancashire. The fourth official is ex-premier league referee Steve Bennett who retired at the end of last season to be a coach of up and coming referees. The referee from Kent last game involving PNE was over twelve years ago with a 1-1 draw at Luton on 15 August 1998 which saw a red card for Michael Appleton.