Thank you TVOS and John Treleven. Ron Bridges certainly makes sense on this one.
Back in May 1987, Dale were playing Stockport. Win and we couldn't be relegated to the Conference which, having been bottom of the league for a large part of the season post-Christmas, was some achievement.
Ron Bridges was the referee and as a regular at Spotland, he was well-known to the fans, but wasn't very popular.
I was stood near to the main entrance when he arrived at the ground. He parked up his car and started to walk to the door, before being stopped by a burly steward who said something along the lines of "You can't park there, guv!"
So, Mr Bridges asked me to watch over his kit bag while he went to move his car; he wasn't impressed and looked flustered, which was unusual for him.
Anyway, he moved his car, came to get his kit bag ("Thanks son") and went into the ground.
Shortly after I bumped into a Dale fan of some seniority and told him this tale.
"Who was the ref?" he asked me.
"Ron Bridges" I replied.
"Oh God, we've had it tonight. We're doomed to the Conference," came the outburst from my friend. "He never gives us anything anyway and now some bloody steward has put him in a bad mood before the game has even started!"
Fortunately we won 2-1, although there seemed to be an excessive amount of added time at the end.