Article: Barrie McAuliffe

Our esteemed and experienced master of ceremonies this Sunday is Alan Wiley.

Usually residing in the Premier League, the man in black has a solid twenty seven years experience in the middle.

On Sunday he will be taking charge of his third Cardiff City match this term. First this year was our 1-0 away defeat at Southampton, while Ninian Park led to a more favourable result in our 1-0 victory over Plymouth.

Wiley has yet to oversee a Barnsley game in 2007/08 in his thirty seven games. When not looking over the Premier League, two matches have been in the League Cup, one in League One, two in League Two and three in the FA Cup.

The three FA Cup match run began in the third round proper as Arsenal beat Burnley 2-0 and Kyle Lafferty was sent off after an hour. Only one yellow card was shown.

In round four, Wiley refereed Sheffield United v Manchester City in the Blades 2-1 shock win - the match being referred to as 'Balloongate' for the opening goal and what has already become an iconic piece of FA Cup history. In that match there were five yellow cards.

Next came Manchester United v Arsenal in round five and yet another red card - this time for Eboue after forty nine minutes in United's 4-0 thrashing of the Gunners. Six yellow cards were shared evenly between the two top flight pace setters.

Wiley has only shown one other red card this season, coming in August for Blackburn's Ryan Nelson in their home draw with Arsenal. Yellow cards have been much more prevalent however, with one hundred and eighteen being waved in the air.

His most shown in one game this year was nine, coming in the fire filled encounter between Arsenal and Chelsea. The Gunners won the match by a single goal, while Chelsea picked up five yellows compared to Arsenal's four. It's not his most shown in a game however, with the record standing at ten yellow cards in the FA Cup third round replay between Dagenham & Redbridge and Charlton in 2001.

While this will be Alan's first match at the new Wembley, he does have big game experience and was also in charge of an FA Cup semi final last year. The venue was Old Trafford, prior to the London switch. Eventual winners Chelsea were the victors over Blackburn following extra time.

The year before, Alan was the main man for the FA Cup Final itself at the Millennium Stadium, in which West Ham were the unfortunate losers to Liverpool on penalties. He has also been involved in other high profile matches, including the Community Shield in 2002 plus two League Cup semi-finals to add to the many big games in the top flight.

It was at the start of the2005/06 season as that he last saw the Tykes in their League One away loss to Scunthorpe. Of the three Barnsley players booked, one was Stephen McPhail.

We'll be hoping that the cards are in short supply this Sunday and an encounter worthy of what is already a memorable year for the famous old trophy.

We'll be hoping for a lot more on top of that also. Come on City!!

Want to know more about Alan Wiley? Check here