 | Forum
Thread | Scott Quigley - Explain
at 17:12 2 Jan 2023
I don't get to see many matches live, but I've taken in Doncaster and Barrow in recent days.
Can somebody explain what Scott Quigley offers our team and quite how he's managed 180+ minutes in these fixtures?
For me, his workrate is appalling, he fails to hold the ball up and offer any of the attributes of the proverbial target man. He gives the ball away continously and is forever arguing with the referee and throwing his arms out. Perhaps if he wasn't so inept, he'd challenge for headers infront of his marker and stop fouling him.
Calvin hasn't played for us for a few years, but I'd rather have him upfront now than Quigley. |
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Thread | Atmosphere
at 15:41 11 Aug 2022
I feel as though the lads responsible for trying to get the atmosphere going in The Sandy Lane deserve their own thread.
Tuesday was my first game of the season and despite only 1400 home fans, they kept the noise levels and positivity going and they deserve credit for that. People and fans are quick to moan, so give them the credit the deserve when something good happens.
Keep it up lads, us oldies appreciate the singing and improved atmosphere.
Can the club help in any way? Music choices just before kick off, same again at half time and full time if the result goes our way. Just a thought and may already have happened, if not reach out to them as it can be a combined effort to improve atmosphere.
Moggy would have been proud. [Post edited 11 Aug 2022 15:45]
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Thread | Club Shares
at 21:11 12 Oct 2021
If any supporters reading this thread wish to buy shares and are unsure how to do it, you can e-mail shares@rochdaleafc.co.uk and the club will supply you with an application form.
All new shares will be approved by The Board of Directors. |
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Thread | David Kilpatrick Funeral
at 14:21 4 Oct 2021
The funeral of our former Chairman will take place at 12.15pm on Tuesday 12th October at St Andrews Church in Dearnley. The cortege will then pass Spotland at 2pm and pause outside Main Reception on the way to a family-only committal at the crematorium.
Mr Kilpatrick's family would dearly love to see Dale supporters in attendance at the church and also at the wake at Spotland afterwards. |
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Thread | Scoreboard Update
at 10:17 19 Jul 2021
Work will begin on Wednesday to install the new scoreboard. It will now be located at an angle in the corner of Willbutts Lane / Pearl Street, meaning more fans will be able to see it. The club will provide photographs of the installment once the groundwork has been completed. Suppliers Scanlite do not currently have any further scoreboards available, so we will monitor this when the season gets underway.
David Clough's statue will arrive at Spotland on the week commencing 2nd August and it will be placed in The Main Stand. Thank you to all the fans who made donations to make it possible, everybody who knew David well will shed a tear when it arrives. |
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Thread | Rochdale AFC Superfan
at 15:57 8 Feb 2021
This article was written by QPR fan Matt Dickenson of The Times and is a beautiful piece about what your local football club can mean to one man.
David Clough adored Rochdale — now they will immortalise him in bronze
The lifelong fan raised £400,000 for the club and left them his entire estate last year — to be spent on the supporters, not a new striker
According to those who knew David Clough, the idea of a bronze statue immortalising him in his flat cap and thick glasses would have horrified a modest man. He was the last to seek recognition
Salt of the earth? Clough was the very definition of the phrase as he cycled home from work at the local bakery and, most familiarly, did his rounds selling scratchcards and collecting weekly draw tickets for his beloved Rochdale AFC.
“David collected money for the club virtually every waking hour, supported by his dearly loved wife, Dorothy, who took care of the paperwork, and counted t’brass,” the club noted of their most devoted supporter. “Many fans will remember seeing him on the streets of Littleborough on his bike, completely wet through, dutifully collecting 50p here and there for his beloved club, with a smile and a profanity.”
Without the likes of Clough, lower league football clubs would wither. He was a real-life version of Gordon Ottershaw in Ripping Yarns; obsessed by Barnstoneworth United, even after six years without a win; teaching his son (first name Barnstoneworth, middle name United) to recite the great teams off by heart; hurling pot plants through the window in despair at another loss.
Clough was a lifelong Dale fan who witnessed the club’s only three promotions, from their first in 1969, living on the same street as record scorer Reg Jenkins. He took up helping with the Goldbond cash draw and scratchcards, selling hundreds of them weekly and dutifully amassing the coins from his collection rounds.
He could not drive so everything had to be done by bike, which he carried out, unfailingly in all weathers, for almost 30 years. By the time Clough died last June, aged 78, it was estimated that he had single-handedly raised more than £400,000 for Rochdale. Pretty astonishing, but there was more.
Clough and his wife had not been able to have children – “they fostered, which tells you what sort of people they were,” Richard Wild, a close friend, explains – so he left his entire estate to Rochdale. Almost £250,000, it turned out.
Wild, a Championship assistant referee who befriended Clough when he was also working on the club’s fundraising, is one of the executors of his will. He was by Clough’s side when he passed away in a nursing home.
“David said that he didn’t want the money going on a centre forward who would disappear after a couple of years,” Wild says. “He wanted it spent on something to benefit the fans, something he would always be able to look down on and see.”
A new electronic scoreboard at Spotland Stadium, now the Crown Oil Arena, is already in the planning and there are discussions about other ways to upgrade supporters’ facilities that are hard to maintain at a League One club badly hit by the pandemic. Clough’s devotion and generosity will make a lasting difference.
Then came the idea for a statue. Another fan, Mark Cryer, who never met Clough, heard about the bequeathal and thought it was only appropriate to mark Clough’s loyalty.
The notion of a statue was taken from Valencia, who commissioned a lifelike bronze of Vicente Navarro Aparicio and erected it in the fan’s seat at the Mestalla. Aparicio had continued to watch matches despite losing his sight, and there are plenty of parallels with Clough.
One of his last games supporting his beloved Dale was an emotional afternoon in May 2018 when they were saved from relegation by Joe Thompson, who had twice recovered from cancer and then scored the winning goal. Clough was at the match in a wheelchair, blind after a stroke.
“We were commentating for him, screaming our heads off when Joe Thompson scored that goal to save us,” Wild says. “At the final whistle, knowing we were safe, David burst into tears.” He would enjoy one more game, a home win over Accrington Stanley, before passing away.
An initial target of £2,500 to build a statue was quickly passed – a decent version will cost several times that – and the total is climbing towards £6,000, helped by donations from fans of other clubs who have been touched by Clough’s story.
The statue will sit in Clough’s seat in the main stand, where he enjoyed his passion of supporting the Dale through thick and thin. “Hopefully it will be just as he was, with his flat cap and those thick glasses,” Wild says. “He won’t mind me saying he was a quirky looking chap but he was the most wonderful, down-to-earth man you could meet.
“He would have hated all this attention, not his style at all, but it’s great that fans not just from Rochdale but other clubs think he is worthy of this recognition. The world would be a much better place if there were more David Cloughs. We miss him dearly. He would have been 79 on Thursday.” His voice cracks a little as he says it.
To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/davidclough
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Thread | Cloughie's Statue
at 17:48 5 Feb 2021
Could I request the help of fellow fans to help us reach our target of £10,000 for Cloughie's statue? The appeal has today had four donations from Newport fans (there may be more but some are anonymous), purely and simply because a thread appeared on their messageboard. It got me thinking, that the more forums we can post a thread on, the more donations we will get.
I would therefore kindly ask that if you are a member of other team's forums, that you copy and paste the article from Matt Dickinson of The Times (at bottom of this message) along with a link to the Just Giving page. It is such a heart-warming story, that you can see from the reaction of Newport supporters, that other fans will donate if they get to hear about it.
If you are able to add a thread on another forum, please let us know on here and we can then tick that particular club off. It just saves the people behind the campaign registering on all the different forums if some Dale fans are already contributing and have usernames.
Thank you kindly.
__________________________________________________________________
David Clough adored Rochdale — now they will immortalise him in bronze.
The lifelong fan raised £400,000 for the club and left them his entire estate last year — to be spent on the supporters, not a new striker
According to those who knew David Clough, the idea of a bronze statue immortalising him in his flat cap and thick glasses would have horrified a modest man. He was the last to seek recognition
Salt of the earth? Clough was the very definition of the phrase as he cycled home from work at the local bakery and, most familiarly, did his rounds selling scratchcards and collecting weekly draw tickets for his beloved Rochdale AFC.
“David collected money for the club virtually every waking hour, supported by his dearly loved wife, Dorothy, who took care of the paperwork, and counted t’brass,” the club noted of their most devoted supporter. “Many fans will remember seeing him on the streets of Littleborough on his bike, completely wet through, dutifully collecting 50p here and there for his beloved club, with a smile and a profanity.”
Without the likes of Clough, lower league football clubs would wither. He was a real-life version of Gordon Ottershaw in Ripping Yarns; obsessed by Barnstoneworth United, even after six years without a win; teaching his son (first name Barnstoneworth, middle name United) to recite the great teams off by heart; hurling pot plants through the window in despair at another loss.
Clough was a lifelong Dale fan who witnessed the club’s only three promotions, from their first in 1969, living on the same street as record scorer Reg Jenkins. He took up helping with the Goldbond cash draw and scratchcards, selling hundreds of them weekly and dutifully amassing the coins from his collection rounds.
He could not drive so everything had to be done by bike, which he carried out, unfailingly in all weathers, for almost 30 years. By the time Clough died last June, aged 78, it was estimated that he had single-handedly raised more than £400,000 for Rochdale. Pretty astonishing, but there was more.
Clough and his wife had not been able to have children – “they fostered, which tells you what sort of people they were,” Richard Wild, a close friend, explains – so he left his entire estate to Rochdale. Almost £250,000, it turned out.
Wild, a Championship assistant referee who befriended Clough when he was also working on the club’s fundraising, is one of the executors of his will. He was by Clough’s side when he passed away in a nursing home.
“David said that he didn’t want the money going on a centre forward who would disappear after a couple of years,” Wild says. “He wanted it spent on something to benefit the fans, something he would always be able to look down on and see.”
A new electronic scoreboard at Spotland Stadium, now the Crown Oil Arena, is already in the planning and there are discussions about other ways to upgrade supporters’ facilities that are hard to maintain at a League One club badly hit by the pandemic. Clough’s devotion and generosity will make a lasting difference.
Then came the idea for a statue. Another fan, Mark Cryer, who never met Clough, heard about the bequeathal and thought it was only appropriate to mark Clough’s loyalty.
The notion of a statue was taken from Valencia, who commissioned a lifelike bronze of Vicente Navarro Aparicio and erected it in the fan’s seat at the Mestalla. Aparicio had continued to watch matches despite losing his sight, and there are plenty of parallels with Clough.
One of his last games supporting his beloved Dale was an emotional afternoon in May 2018 when they were saved from relegation by Joe Thompson, who had twice recovered from cancer and then scored the winning goal. Clough was at the match in a wheelchair, blind after a stroke.
“We were commentating for him, screaming our heads off when Joe Thompson scored that goal to save us,” Wild says. “At the final whistle, knowing we were safe, David burst into tears.” He would enjoy one more game, a home win over Accrington Stanley, before passing away.
An initial target of £2,500 to build a statue was quickly passed – a decent version will cost several times that – and the total is climbing towards £6,000, helped by donations from fans of other clubs who have been touched by Clough’s story.
The statue will sit in Clough’s seat in the main stand, where he enjoyed his passion of supporting the Dale through thick and thin. “Hopefully it will be just as he was, with his flat cap and those thick glasses,” Wild says. “He won’t mind me saying he was a quirky looking chap but he was the most wonderful, down-to-earth man you could meet.
“He would have hated all this attention, not his style at all, but it’s great that fans not just from Rochdale but other clubs think he is worthy of this recognition. The world would be a much better place if there were more David Cloughs. We miss him dearly. He would have been 79 on Thursday.” His voice cracks a little as he says it.
To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/davidclough
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Thread | Silver Shirts
at 14:11 7 Sep 2020
Rochdale Vets are now wearing the silver away kit but are short of a couple of XL shirts. Clearly the years haven't been kind as never used to wear XL lol.
Do any of you have this shirt in such a size that you'd like to sell or donate to a local team? |
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Thread | Oldham Friendly
at 14:24 25 Aug 2020
We beat Oldham today 1-0 with Baah being described as 'frighteningly good.' Matt Done played up-front all game.
'It could and should have been 5' was the other comment made. |
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Thread | David Clough Funeral
at 07:37 26 Jun 2020
It will be held at Rochdale Crem on Thursday 2nd July at 11.50am. It would be great to see Dale fans in attendance to give a club legend the send off he deserves. Wearing of club colours is welcomed. |
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Thread | Worst TV Match Ever?
at 21:38 16 Dec 2019
I know the pitch was poor and we have injuries galore, however has there ever been a poorer mens adult game of football shown on live TV? |
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Thread | New Kits
at 20:27 8 Jul 2018
I am just going to throw this one out there, but I am of the opinion that last season's kits are better than the new ones introduced last week.
My reasoning behind this claim is that although both of the shirts are nice, as 'kits' they don't work.
Discuss.........................
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Thread | Budget
at 20:43 1 Jan 2018
I think it is time that fans started to question budgets and the finances being afforded to our manager. I should state that I am a KH fan, despite many mistakes this season, however the constant delving into the barrel of rejects is catching up on us; not surprisingly in my opinion.
I only choose to question budgets based on the income from the sale of Scott Hogan. I understand completely how we function as a club under normal circumstances, however the money from Brentford was not normal and should have allowed a slightly more ambitious approach than the likes of Jordan Slew and Kosi Nthle. Matt Done and the acquisition of Jordan Williams granted show ambition but not enough given income into the club in January 2017.
Am I being unfair? I don't expect gambles akin to the mob up the road, far from it but surely we cannot continue to prosper when signing players realised by clubs lower than us in the pyramid. Is it sheer madness expecting the manager to polish turds all the time and so many of our recent signings fall into this category. They weren't deemed good enough for League Two never mind the higher reaches of League One!
Anyway, answers on a post card please. For a start, does anybody know how much we actually got from the sell on clause? |
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Thread | Smell The Coffee
at 19:24 18 Nov 2017
I think it is time that we all sat up and faced a touch of realism. That realism, I'm afraid, is that we are in a relegation dogfight and nothing I have seen since August is able to convince me otherwise.
Firstly, I have every faith that Keith Hill will turn around the current situation. He is far and away the best manager we have ever had, has the experience, knowledge and ability to rectify our faults but he has a very big job ahead of him and some serious decisions to make.
Defensively we are woeful. We conceded 3 today but it could easily have been 6. We are naive, lacking confidence and only Harrison McGahey could walk away from today with his head held high. The situation at left-back is worrying beyond belief with both our options nothing short of absymal of late and our left-sided centre-half hasn't been good enough for many years now. He makes basic mistakes all the time, today his calamitous defending should have cost us a further 2 goals and he worries me both on and off the ball every time I watch him. In years gone by he would easily have been good enough for our side, now however we are trying to compete at the top end of League One.
Replacing the likes of Allen, Lund and NML was always going to be an impossible task. We have replaced them with cast offs that no other clubs wanted and expecting KH to work miracles every time is asking a lot. I know where we belong in the footballing pyramid but can we realistically expect KH to keep over-achieving with rejects from other clubs, some of whom are below us in the footballing structure? It is a big task, perhaps too big in 2017 with the current bunch we have on the pay roll.
At present I firmly believe that KH doesn't know his best team and system to play them in. I have struggled to see the appreciation of Hendo in midfield full stop, he is our best centre-forward and needs to play there. I know that we lack creativity and pace throughout the side but however we line up, I feel that Hendo needs somehow to be at the tip of it all. The same is true of Matty Done, not able to function properly in midfield and therefore arguably needs to play through the middle.
KH has arguably his poorest ever squad for a League One campaign. I'm sure he doesn't need the likes of me to tell him the task ahead, however he will need to make some huge decisions on players if we are to pull through the other end and survive relegation.
With the current bunch, I cannot see us scoring enough goals as even with Hendo and Done in attack, we completely lack any form of creativity to provide a platform for them. Calvin, as much as we love him , scores very few and creates even less and therefore we don't have that spark anywhere across the middle of the park as I see it now. Jordan Williams (Barrow) has been a huge dissapointment and we need an injection of flair from the loan market at the earliest opportunity the rules permit. The Directors need to back KH even more than they have ever done before, let him go out and bring in a couple of players who will help us at the top end of the field and relieve the pressure on the defence.
So all-in-all, not a good day. I honestly didn't feel that relegation was an option until today, now however I am beginning to fear we have a long and hard few months ahead. I just cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel at present and like all the travelling faithful today, I need to see something that changes my pessimistic outlook.
Up The Dale! |
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Thread | Keith Knows
at 11:07 20 Aug 2017
I have just listened to the interview with KH after yesterday and I'm glad he has used phrases like "defensively poor." His whole demeanour tells me he went away from that ground yesterday thinking exactly the same as me and that is "what have I just witnessed?"
The second-half saw us start with what I consider our first-choice back four and I expect going forward to see Raff back in his rightful position and Canavan not featuring much. The latter, along with Ntithe, were extremely poor yesterday and gave me, the rest of the travelling fans and their teammates the jitters every time they went near the ball. The distribution of our keeper, who made some fantastic saves by the way, didn't help them as they aren't comfortable in possession and got us into trouble when the ball should have been 60 yards further down the field; architects of our own downfall yesterday I am afraid.
The second Shrews goal before half-time was embarrassing beyond belief. I don't like to single players out but watch McNulty and offer an explanation as to his thought process as play builds up towards our game. He has nobody to mark, so therefore either go to the ball or drop off and help Canavan. He does neither, doesn't prevent the cross and our fragility at the back is exposed.
KH knows that we have issues defensively and he will sort it. He always does, so keep the faith and let's stuff Bury next week. They have much bigger issues than we do and have spent a small fortune to acquire them as well.
Oh and final thought on the referee. I thought he had a tough day at the office and I was convinced the Shrewsbury penalty was a cracking tackle but angles can be deceptive and he got it 100% right. Same can be said for the other two penalties as well I might add.
Up The Dale! [Post edited 20 Aug 2017 12:07]
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Thread | Credit Where It's Due
at 20:49 19 Sep 2016
People can be quick to criticise footballers so I thought I would share a little tale with you all.
Last Sunday I was with my boys aged 5 and 7 at Norden Cricket Club. As usual we happily playing a combo of football and cricket when a certain Jamie Allen walked past us. Initially my boys didn't spot him but with some prompting they were soon engaging in conversation when my 5 year old asked him "will you play football with us?" Without delay Jamie agreed and proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes practising passing and shooting with my kids.
As you'd expect they loved every minute and if they weren't fans for life before they are now.
Thanks to Jamie for his time and patience when many others would have made an excuse and simply not made the effort, especially with children so young. The boys both now want Allen 24 on their kits and couldn't wait to go to the game to see their best mate Jamie Allen.
Up The Dale! |
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Thread | A Word of Warning
at 10:02 30 Apr 2016
No junior kits in stock this morning and no warning given whatsoever to parents. Arrived early doors with two boys desperate for new kits only to be met with the line 'they haven't arrived'.
Really poor from the club and we let ourselves down badly at times like this time and time again on the retail front. I'm not one for whinging needlessly but I know from personal experience that it isn't hard to get things such as a kit launch correct.
It isn't about naming and shaming, can we please just do the basics correct and not leave parents like me with disappointed children on their hands. Poor show after a good build-up of promoting the new stock only for key sizes in my case to then not be available. [Post edited 30 Apr 2016 10:04]
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Thread | Gorgeous George
at 21:35 28 Aug 2015
Has signed for his old club Skelmersdale United in Evo-Stick Premier Division. |
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Thread | David Perkins
at 10:27 17 Jan 2014
Is currently in the North-West (by the seaside) signing for somebody on 18-month deal after being given permission to leave Barnsley. |
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Thread | Where Are They Now?
at 09:18 20 Feb 2013
I was refereeing at Bootle last night in the North-West Counties League and came across two former Dale strikers.
Firstly a certain Kevin Townson playing centre-forward and also the Bootle physio was the legend that is Stevie Whitehall. Super Stevie works for the NHS now as a physiotherapist as well as helping out at The Delta Taxi Stadium.
He said his son was enjoying life at Spotland as well. |
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