Post by JamesB on Feb 14, 2013 14:40:40 GMT
Preamble
Phew. After a mad couple of days everything has settled down a bit now. With the news that Martin Ling is unlikely to return to the club before the end of the season, we're no longer in the dark and neither are the players. Hopefully they can rally from this, with a new experienced interim manager in charge
History
Rochdale is an ancient market town that was swallowed up by the rapid growth of Greater Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. It is known for being the birthplace of the Co-Operative Movement and its football team, who have spent most of their history in the bottom division. Their promotion at the end of the 2009-10 season was their first in 41 years, and they enjoyed an impressive return to League One in 2010-11, finishing 8th. But the departure of manager Keith Hill to Barnsley, along with key players, led to the inevitable dip and they were relegated in 2011-12. After playing in an all-blue kit for many years, the club now play in an Internazionale-style blue/black striped kit
Spotland was built in 1920, just before the club joined the Football League in 1921. It is also the home of Rochdale Hornets RLFC, who play in the third tier of English rugby league. It has a capacity of just over 10,000
The town also has another football team - Rochdale Town, who play in the North West Counties Football League First Division, the 10th tier of English football
The opposition
- Their form is terrible - no wins in 2013, the last one coming at Bradford on 29th December; that's 6 without a win. This has included defeats to the likes of AFC Wimbledon, Dagenham, Northampton and also at home to Rotherham (seems familiar). They have a marginally better away record than home record - more wins away from home but also more defeats
- Keith Hill returned to the club on 22nd January after the sacking of John Coleman in an attempt to turn around the sliding form. This has meant plenty of new signings - former Colchester defender Michael Rose is the latest, signing on a free this week, joining Andy Haworth, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Ritchie Jones and former Torquay goalkeeper Steve Collis on the list of Hill's signings
- Team vs Northampton: Lillis; Rafferty, Bennett, Cansdell-Sherriff, P Edwards; Kennedy, Tutte, McIntyre, Haworth; Donnelly, Gornell. Subs were Collis, Cavanagh, Pearson, Barry-Murphy, Grimes, Adebola and Logan
Head-to-head
- It's currently Torquay who lead overall with 37 wins to Rochdale's 27, with 17 draws
- When the teams met on August 25th, we beat them 4-2 at Plainmoor. Andrew Tutte gave them an early lead before goals from Bodin, Downes and 2 from Howe gave us a 4-1 lead, before Downes was sent off and Ray Putterill grabbed a late consolation
- Our recent record at Spotland is poor - we have lost on our last 4 visits, with our last win there coming in April 2003 - an own goal from Gareth Griffiths was followed by one of only 2 goals for the club for Simon Clist
- The last meeting between the two sides at Spotland was as long ago as September 2009. Rochdale won 2-1 with Chris Dagnall getting both goals, with a last minute consolation from Chris Hargreaves. Later that season we beat them 5-0 at home with goals from Rendell, two from Benyon, Wroe and Carayol in one of our biggest wins of recent years. We also beat them 5-0 at home in September 1987, while they beat us 5-0 at Spotland in 1985 - this fixture has a history of high-scoring matches, so expect a dour 0-0 on Saturday...
Phew. After a mad couple of days everything has settled down a bit now. With the news that Martin Ling is unlikely to return to the club before the end of the season, we're no longer in the dark and neither are the players. Hopefully they can rally from this, with a new experienced interim manager in charge
History
Rochdale is an ancient market town that was swallowed up by the rapid growth of Greater Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. It is known for being the birthplace of the Co-Operative Movement and its football team, who have spent most of their history in the bottom division. Their promotion at the end of the 2009-10 season was their first in 41 years, and they enjoyed an impressive return to League One in 2010-11, finishing 8th. But the departure of manager Keith Hill to Barnsley, along with key players, led to the inevitable dip and they were relegated in 2011-12. After playing in an all-blue kit for many years, the club now play in an Internazionale-style blue/black striped kit
Spotland was built in 1920, just before the club joined the Football League in 1921. It is also the home of Rochdale Hornets RLFC, who play in the third tier of English rugby league. It has a capacity of just over 10,000
The town also has another football team - Rochdale Town, who play in the North West Counties Football League First Division, the 10th tier of English football
The opposition
- Their form is terrible - no wins in 2013, the last one coming at Bradford on 29th December; that's 6 without a win. This has included defeats to the likes of AFC Wimbledon, Dagenham, Northampton and also at home to Rotherham (seems familiar). They have a marginally better away record than home record - more wins away from home but also more defeats
- Keith Hill returned to the club on 22nd January after the sacking of John Coleman in an attempt to turn around the sliding form. This has meant plenty of new signings - former Colchester defender Michael Rose is the latest, signing on a free this week, joining Andy Haworth, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Ritchie Jones and former Torquay goalkeeper Steve Collis on the list of Hill's signings
- Team vs Northampton: Lillis; Rafferty, Bennett, Cansdell-Sherriff, P Edwards; Kennedy, Tutte, McIntyre, Haworth; Donnelly, Gornell. Subs were Collis, Cavanagh, Pearson, Barry-Murphy, Grimes, Adebola and Logan
Head-to-head
- It's currently Torquay who lead overall with 37 wins to Rochdale's 27, with 17 draws
- When the teams met on August 25th, we beat them 4-2 at Plainmoor. Andrew Tutte gave them an early lead before goals from Bodin, Downes and 2 from Howe gave us a 4-1 lead, before Downes was sent off and Ray Putterill grabbed a late consolation
- Our recent record at Spotland is poor - we have lost on our last 4 visits, with our last win there coming in April 2003 - an own goal from Gareth Griffiths was followed by one of only 2 goals for the club for Simon Clist
- The last meeting between the two sides at Spotland was as long ago as September 2009. Rochdale won 2-1 with Chris Dagnall getting both goals, with a last minute consolation from Chris Hargreaves. Later that season we beat them 5-0 at home with goals from Rendell, two from Benyon, Wroe and Carayol in one of our biggest wins of recent years. We also beat them 5-0 at home in September 1987, while they beat us 5-0 at Spotland in 1985 - this fixture has a history of high-scoring matches, so expect a dour 0-0 on Saturday...
