It would be completely remiss of us to ignore the passing of 2010 and the wonderful events that we have been witness to during MMX.
Have no doubt, 2010 has been the best year that there has been to support Dale in our 103 year existence. Forget “arguably”, forget “one of the best” and forget the old timers beating the drum with their memories of ’69. This has been the year without compare, but unfortunately a year with go compare.
For me, the highlight was without doubt the away game at Accrington. As one of the 150 people who braved the dreadful conditions to walk to an away game and then be treated to something that typified everything that has summed up the last four years, it will last in the memories for a very long time. It’s irrelevant that we were crap that day for at least the first hour of the game. What is important was the comeback with Gary Jones as our driving force, and then have it all topped off with Higginbotham’s long range effort.
We’ve made numerous comments over the past four years about how under Hillcroft we continue to do the things that this club just didn’t do. We never turned away games into home games, we never came back from such deficits, we never score one goal when four would do, we were never feared.
Of course, there are numerous other highlights we could add into that: destroying Rotherham, Cheltenham and numerous other sides as we bulldozered our way to League One and of course Promotion Saturday itself. There’s still people suffering from hangovers from that longest of evenings back in April. Even the 5-0 hammering at Torquay had with it a sense of pride to see so many Dale fans make that long journey down the caravan packed M5.
But the highpoints have no just been on our way to League One. Jonah’s winning goal at Southampton will be the pick of many supporters as their favourite moment of the year, and for many could even be their favourite ever Dale moment. I’m sure when the man himself looks back on his record breaking Dale career, that unmistakable scouse grin will always appear at every mention of that goal.
Of course, things haven’t all been plain sailing in League One, but reality was never going to see us appear in League One and start footballing all them lot to death as well. But it always worth remembering that there is a massive difference between disappointing results and disappointing form, and its very much a case of small margins right now.
Looking towards the future, it goes without saying that I hope 2011 will be a year in which we avoid relegation and continue with the progress made at this football club. I see no reasons why we can’t achieve a comfortable midtable position, with a top half finish a genuine ambition. Such a final placing would bring the benefits of a seeded draw in the League Cup next season.
Of course, Should the worst come to the worst, and League Two goes back to its former name, then I am confident that there will be no knee jerk reactions at boardroom level. There’s no doubting the absolute quality of our management duo, and they have more than earned the right for a bit of faith to be shown in their direction, and there’s nobody you would trust more to have a second crack at promotion.
Further afield, I would like 2011 to be the year where football finally tackles the rising cost of wages in the game. We cannot continue in this spiral where admission prices rise on an annual basis with the hope that everyone continues to attend.
Clubs have it within their powers to work together and address what is effectively killing the game by introducing effective wage control, with strict punishments for those breaking it. It is impossible to sympathise with the plight of the likes of Plymouth when you hear that their wage bill is four times the size of Oldham’s.
But my plea for financial regulation is not with a view to protecting these clubs, it is to rid the game of the aforementioned culture of passing on the rise in wages to the supporters. I have no doubt in my mind that with fixed regulated budgets, we’d see agents less greedy in their demands fully aware that the clubs will have less money to spend. Add into that, the added benefits of clubs not heading down the administration route and further development of young talent already within their ranks.
That said, in twelve months time, I could write exactly the same thing. Whilst there remains chairmen with delusions of grandeur chasing an impossible short term dream, there is no chance of such necessary changes being made to the game, and further clubs will tread down the lines that Plymouth, Cardiff and and Pompey have been in recent months, and we’ll be whinging on messageboards about having to pay £25 to get into games before the year is out.
Back to Spotland, my new Year wish list would be to see the club making more of a push to sell itself to supporters, both in getting them to Spotland and then getting them to spend their money whilst they are here. If the club has genuine ambitions about remaining a League One club, which I believe it has, it is imperative that they do everything they can to get people through the turnstiles and spending their hard earned cash in the club shop. And if this requires working with existing supporters to do so, then so be it. The call of help to Dale supporters rarely goes unanswered.
So a Happy New Year to Dale supporters all around the world, and let’s hope that this time in twelve months, we’ve got another whole host of high points to reminisce about. Up The Dale
Col