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young side, jitters, etc. - but time for moaning about that is at the end of the season
so thinking rationally -
- with 3 games to go, we are 2 points behind the leaders and could still win the league - beat Bristol Rovers on Monday, we could be top of the league with 2 to play - 5 points will probably be enough, as Fleetwood still have to play Chesterfield. 6 points will be enough - Fleetwood also have to play Southend - Chesterfield have to play Burton and Fleetwood (and Dagenham away) - Scunthorpe have a tricky away tie at Exeter, and tricky homes against play-off chasing York and Oxford - Scunthorpe let in (yet) another late, late goal today, leaving the championship wide open
Ok, I'm clutching at straws a bit, but that was Colchester's result from Boxing Day, a side who have an outside chance of a play-off place. Stevenage went 2 up, Colchester pulled 1 back, only for Stevenage to go on the rampage and score 4 in twenty minutes... sound familiar?!
well last year - but that was an exception: a relatively settled squad who went forward on the euphoria of promotion...
but usually we start poorly. Always felt the reason for that was that we don't have the luxury of signing players in June, but the doors are still revolving as the season kicks off and the team still getting to know each other. We've made a lot of progress in terms of our image and attracting players but - let's be realistic - we still struggle to compete on wages (which is why Perkins has rejoined Hill at Barnsley, but not at Dale).
Imagine Keith Hill had lost Craig Dawson and Chris O'Grady before the season had barely started... and Scott Wiseman... are there any of the vitriolic posters who think that wouldn't have made a difference? That it wouldn't have taken a couple of months to reshape the side and get in decent replacements? That we wouldn't have lost games? Struggled? Of course we would.
Obviously when we haven't won a league game, it makes us nervous, and we've not had to look down for a long time now. But some of posts on here after 5 games are astonishing. We've have a couple of decent cup games and played well at times in the league - it hasn't quite come together yet. I thought it was only Barnsley supporters that slagged off their manager after a handful of games.
Even if Hillcroft were here, even if Dawson and COG were here, this would still be a much more difficult season than last. If we're really honest we blew it at the end of last season: there were signs then, even with the team intact, that changes would need to be made this season or we would fall back.
And with the heart ripped out of the team, how is the new manager supposed to change that overnight? Hillcroft knew everything about their players because they'd worked with them for a long time: they were a family: it will take time for the new managerial team to do the same. You don't become family overnight. When Hillcroft got replacements, they gradually moulded them into a 'Team Rochdale' player. It didn't happen overnight. Some of the players they brought in - Shaw, Elding - failed. That's life. Others went on to make history.
Just because we've had a few years of the good times, let's not forget how we pulled together to get here in the first place. It was pretty bad, not long ago.
So we are now aiming to play Oldham on a Saturday - got that from their website, not ours mind.
Likely attendance?
How many were at the abandoned game? (the club have been asked but won't tell us)
Less, all those who have lost their ticket (can't resell those on police advice)
Less, all those who can't make it and don't ask for a refund (can't resell those tickets)
Less 500 extra people who would probably come now the game is on a Saturday.
The club have come up with this political euphemism "on police advice" (we won't be selling any more tickets)… can someone come on here and tell us what that actually means? Did the police propose such a high policing bill for any extra tickets that we'd have lost money? Are we appealing the decision now the game is on a Saturday? Does this mean our ground capacity is now 7500? Why are Oldham having less problems with the police, despite virtually the same capacity?
Oldham sell their tickets online to supporters anywhere in the country - isn't it time we did this? Maybe Oldham have an infrastructure left over from their Premiership days. There are lots of people who for all sorts of reasons, want to be able to buy tickets late and spontaneously without having to drive to Spotland; others who don't want to have to queue for family tickets on the day; many people who might sometimes come to Spotland who don't live in Rochdale (there's actually a lot of good will towards Rochdale amongst people who aren't supporters of any particular club). Extra hassle puts people off. We need these 5 games a season supporters, and these type of supporters are easily put off when they read something on the official website that implies the only way of buying (and then exchanging!) a ticket is to come in person to the ticket office. Like ain't like that anymore, families are busy, a flush of activities competing for their time and money, several kids doing different things. Decisions are made at 10pm in front of a computer, the moment they have to think about taking time off work to go to Spotland during office hours, they just don't go.
To match our Championship ambitions, isn't about time we put in place a more professional system? Everybody in the commercial entertainment business sells seat tickets online. Except us. I know people who put on events for 100 people and know nothing about the internet who set up online ticketing, because they know they'll sell another 10%. That's the difference between a play-off place and just outside. All it takes is a phone call to Ticketmaster, and you get this: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/oafc/default.aspx (£3 postage/booking fee - cheaper than a drive to Spotland for many, and crucially 60 seconds of your time).
Oldham are selling all 10,800 seats for the Huddersfield game and talk about "maximising income streams" - meaning allocating seat numbers, and giving the smaller section of the Rochdale Road End to away fans as well. In this way, the police allow them to sell every seat in the ground, they reduce their police bill - and it's not all-ticket.
What's our capacity? 10,249, but we will be restricted to, maybe, 6500 for a Saturday game against our nearest neighbours - wtf?? Unallocated seating must be the key, and you have to conclude that the police are not happy with the way we are distributing our tickets and organising the stadium for sides with a large travelling support.
We can dither through this season knowing there are not that many sides who'll fill the away stand - but what if, what if we sneak into the play-offs, peak at the right time and find ourselves in the Championship? Much better to get this system sorted out now, iron out any problems this season when we don't have this issue every other match, just in case we find ourselves, once again in dreamland.
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