| Tonight’s Fans Forum 19:53 - Feb 9 with 28637 views | DaleyBrent |
UnfortunatelY unable to attend tonight but really keen to here some of the key takeaways if those present wouldn’t mind summarising below:
Thanks in advance! UTD |  | | |  |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:01 - Feb 10 with 4904 views | 49thseason |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 10:06 - Feb 10 by fitzochris |
The pervasive doom and gloom among the fanbase is commensurate with a team that is bottom of the Football League. Trying to dismiss that is folly, in my opinion.
If team performances improve (and results) so does the mood of the supporters. It follows then (rightly or wrongly) that the board come in for less criticism about off-field issues. It's the way football works.
My own opinion is that we are already down (signing a midfielder who is injured and hasn't even joined the club yet typifies how desperate we were in our transfer business by the end of the window).
I have reconciled in my mind that we will be playing in the National League next season and am already looking for the positives in that - new grounds to visit, the chance to actually win more than five games in a season etc.
We rolled the dice in the transfer window with a view to staying up, but hopefully it was with a view to being competitive should we be relegated too (hopefully no cheap release clauses for new recruits but clauses in abundance for other players).
I want to be confident there is a plan in place for this long-term. Chaff and 442Dale make the point about management if we keep losing games to seal our inevitable fate. Do we stick with them next season? If so, why? Would we recruit players to be competitive or just to survive? Is there a budget for that if we don't attract investment?
So many unknowns for me at the minute. |
As much as relegation would hurt, it does present an opportunity to re-enthuse the whole club, to do things that have not been tried before, to be bold when previously we have been timid. the certainty is that we cannot simply keep doing the same old stuff and expect different results. the team needs a combination of youth and experience not a preponderance of either, youth has to get a chance to shine and experience has come with leadership and enthusiasm.
Off the pitch matters have been discussed at length but commercially we have to be smarter and more agile, people need to get out of the office and into workplaces of potential sponsors, we need the whole town to start backing us now by buying lottery tickets , season tickets for their workers , hospitality for their customers etc. They need to know what can be offered, I'm not at all sure that message has gone out much beyond the usual suspects.
And in the event we do survive in the EFL, unless there are major attitudinal changes we are simply postponing the inevitable, The EFL is culpable for refusing to make an equal division of income between the clubs, If they continue to favour the Championship there will be no League, its almost inevitable. |  | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:06 - Feb 10 with 4888 views | BillyRudd |
Thanks for the post Hulldale. Much appreciated.
You wrote...
- A section of the squad have not been going flat out every day in training... they have increased the intensity of training and some players don't like it... they're either not in the squad or in and out of the team, and 1 or 2 may still go out of the club over the next week.
Was this said by JB ? Or was it a feeling you picked up. Even in these days of snowflake entitlement it beggars belief.
Taking the defending for their first goal at Salford as an example, it was,nt exactly bust your gut time to stop the initial punt into the box, and we must believe that the starting eleven are from the camp that do care!
If we only defended every game, like we defended when taking the lead at Bradford I would humbly suggest we would,nt be in the pickle we are. There is something in the thought processes of the pre January squad that I find hard to reconcile as a true blue. |  | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:20 - Feb 10 with 4805 views | HullDale |
It was pretty much a word for word quote from Bentley & Chadwick.
They talked about how we fixed the first phase of set pieces but then started to struggle with the second... either too slow to react, out of position, or in some cases 'walking up the pitch too fast for an attacking phases without completing the defensive work off the second phase'.
There was mention of some players not really fancying it on a Monday & Thursday and then being surprised when they don't perform at full pelt on a Saturday.
Yesterday for the first time we practised 11v11 defensive movements, and have been encouraging players to attack the ball like they would in a match day situation - it resulted in bloody noses for both McNulty and Bennett, which is exactly the level of commitment the management want to see in training.
I get the feeling that JB & NC were less than impressed with the attitude, content and intensity of training when they took over, and now they have really ramped it up they are disappointed in some
players' reaction to it.
Lots of references to Sean Dyche on the night and his approach to training and physical commitment - clearly an inspiration for our management team. [Post edited 10 Feb 2023 11:21]
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:24 - Feb 10 with 4771 views | A_Newby |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 09:01 - Feb 10 by James1980 |
Does it appear that some are resigned to being in national league next season or is there fight still there until survival is mathematical not possible? |
My feeling from the meeting was that the board are so desperately hoping that we avoid relegation that they do not want to even contemplate the possibility that we get relegated. So to answer your question "fight is still there" |  | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:29 - Feb 10 with 4754 views | DaleiLama |
What I was hoping, against all hope, was that somehow, in some way, a spark of confidence might be created from this forum which might just ignite our survival battle.
We have a fanbase that has lost confidence in the team. EBJ's reported comments hardly turned that around, though as I wasn't there, it's perhaps unfair to make that a statement of fact. We have a young keeper who has so little confidence he is apologising to fans after every mistake (and has now been sidelined). We have a defence that looked solid after EBJ arrived but has now reverted to type and confidence in defending free kicks is back to pre-EBJ days. We largely have a team filled with players more interested in making a 100% certain 5 yard lateral pass to a team mate (even from free kicks in the opposition half now), than a pass to split a defence (total fear football devoid of confidence). We have a board that has put its money where its mouth is and saved us from extinction, but seems to feel fans are now turning against it. We have an ex-Chairman watching remotely who would like to get involved but probably has no confidence in doing so, after the last coup.
I agree with Fitz's post on the last page - in truth, there is only one place that the confidence can start to seep back into the fanbase from, and that's the pitch and a return to winning ways. It's a boat load of responsibility on EBJ's shoulders, which I'm sure he felt last night, but we need inspiration from him now, somehow. He has to find a way to light a fire under the players and get them playing flat out to win games. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and all that.
(stay) Up the dale [Post edited 10 Feb 2023 11:31]
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:51 - Feb 10 with 4625 views | electricblue |
It beggars beyond belief that as a pro footballer they dont fancy the training and dont fancy the mondays and thursdays.....
Its pathetic..
These players should be removed from the squad and train elsewhere away from the rest as their negativity is and will be having the negative effect and that is harder to eradicate... |  |
| My all time favourite Dale player Mr Lyndon Symmonds |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:52 - Feb 10 with 4620 views | A_Newby |
At last night’s forum my feeling was sometimes, what was NOT said in answering questions was equally as important as what was said.
For example, when asked to outline what would happen if we were relegated to the national league the answer was vague and basically, we have / are creating a plan for this. Later it was stated that we would keep the “EFL money” and we MAY get more income from national league TV (BT) money. Whilst these are true and are positives it is not the full picture.
I do not have the full access to the Dale’s financial data only what is in the public domain and based on this and news reports from Oldham’s and Yeovil’s relegations here is what I think would happen.
A positive is we would keep the EFL funding (I think about £450,000) for the first season in the Vanarama league and half that funding in the following season if we are not promoted straight back into the EFL. In subsequent seasons this funding would end.
We currently receive solidarity funding from the premier league of (I think) around £650,00 per season. We would lose this straight away.
We currently receive (I think) about £450,000 a season academy funding from the premier league. It is not clear what happens to this but a comment from EBJ in answering if the players “got it” and were aware of the consequences if the club were relegated indicated that the academy could be in jeopardy.
We also receive (I think) about £100,000 a season community funding from the premier league. Again it is not clear what would happen to this.
So, in summary we would lose between £650,000 to £1.1 million a season funding from the premier league. In these circumstances if our costs remained the same our annual “black hole” in finances would double.
As far as I can see the money from BT for match broadcasting rights pays £6,000 to the home team for a televised match and £1,000 to the away team with the match being switched to 12:30.
Altrincham as an away team in a couple of televised matches have complained that for 12:30 kick off for long distance matches they have had to travel down the day before and stay in hotels. This means that even with the £1,000 fee its costs them money if they are selected to be televised in an away match. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 12:04 - Feb 10 with 4557 views | D_Alien |
Simon Gauge described his role as "ensuring we still have a club in ten years time".
That is, of course, entirely laudable. I think what it also means is that we're likely to see a change in how the club is viewed, both from within and with the expectation that the view will also change from without
By that, i mean that he didn't say his role was "ensuring we still have a club in the football league in ten years time".
Like others, i'm now pretty much reconciled to Dale playing outside the football league for the first time in my supporting history (mid-60s onwards). We skirted with dropping out of the league at least half a dozen times in the first couple of those decades, and the feeling then really was that if we dropped out, we'd almost certainly be finished. The advent of the National League (and the NLN) changes that dynamic
There are plenty of clubs we used to play week-in week-out in both those leagues below where we are now. For more recent fans, starting from say the year 2000, they've known little but relative success with big games and just one short period of setback until 2020. I can appreciate it may feel different for them, but they and their offspring are the ones who need to keep supporting looking into the future. The ambition to become a Community Club is therefore the change that i feel the Chairman is focusing on
For him to stop the footballing rot that set in well before his stewardship is, i feel, beyond his capacity and that of the board without major external financial support, which we all know raises a whole host of issues. But the rot must stop somewhere, and it'll likely be at a level commensurate with our current income potential. I have to say, it's been a long time coming - my lifetime, in fact
That's the feeling i'm left with after the forum. I'm not looking to attribute blame to anyone currently within the building, as the saying goes. But keeping the flame alive is also down to each one of us, as fans. We must keep on fanning the flames [Post edited 10 Feb 2023 12:07]
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 13:14 - Feb 10 with 4253 views | DaleFan7 |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:51 - Feb 10 by electricblue |
It beggars beyond belief that as a pro footballer they dont fancy the training and dont fancy the mondays and thursdays.....
Its pathetic..
These players should be removed from the squad and train elsewhere away from the rest as their negativity is and will be having the negative effect and that is harder to eradicate... |
It's a joke if this is what some of the player's attitude is but it certainly explains certain omissions from the squad.
If I turned up for work, didn't put the effort in, couldn't be arsed on certain days and performed poorly on a regular basis, I'd be well out of the door. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 13:49 - Feb 10 with 4104 views | KnavesmireBob |
Cheers for all the reports, especially those of you who've outlined a fair bit of detail, it's really valuable context for an exile who doesn't get his arse across the M62 as much as he should.
Threads like this are a reminder than occasionally ignorance is bliss and sometimes it's a case of being careful what you wish for in terms of transparency and communication. But it's also a reminder that this message board is full of top notch people with a shared passion who really care about that passion, and whatever level we find ourselves in 6 months time I suspect we'll all still be here trying to find our own unique (in some cases very unique!) way to express that with nowt but a common goal of always trying to make things better. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 13:49 - Feb 10 with 4104 views | 442Dale |
I think the overriding feeling of uncertainty that is prevailing at the moment. What are we, where are we heading and what will we do along the way to get there?
Stockdale gets an increase in budget - why if there were any concerns over finances?
The club puts a proposed share issue to shareholders, with no mention of these being available to outside investors who may then want to take a controlling stake in the club.
https://www.rochdaleafc.co.uk/news/2022/november/shareissue_181122/
Six weeks after the AGM/EGM, with no further updates via the Trust or the club that the low uptake in shares may result in a change of approach, we are told: “It has become essential that we look for outside investment. Anybody putting in this level of investment may want to take a controlling stake in the club at some stage in the future and the board are open to exploring how to facilitate this, providing the investor guarantees the future sustainability of the club. Significant due diligence will be undertaken as part of this process, both internally, and via all relevant EFL processes.”
https://www.rochdaleafc.co.uk/news/2022/december/statement_301222/
If there was a Dale fan/fans now who bought up a considerable amount/all of the remaining shares would we still seek outside investment?
If we would why not announce this before the share issue and make it clear then we will move away from being fan owned?
This is not a post saying we don’t want or need outside investment, it’s trying to establish when and how this was seen as the route forward and exactly what it will mean to us as a club, because I’m not sure that was made clear last night. What happens in the summer if there is no investment? Is there a plan to budget better so that any playing budget can be absorbed by what we have?
Where are we? What are we? What is the plan for the future?
Of course, this uncertainty probably impacts what we see on the pitch. |  |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 14:01 - Feb 10 with 4025 views | golfaduffy |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 13:49 - Feb 10 by 442Dale |
I think the overriding feeling of uncertainty that is prevailing at the moment. What are we, where are we heading and what will we do along the way to get there?
Stockdale gets an increase in budget - why if there were any concerns over finances?
The club puts a proposed share issue to shareholders, with no mention of these being available to outside investors who may then want to take a controlling stake in the club.
https://www.rochdaleafc.co.uk/news/2022/november/shareissue_181122/
Six weeks after the AGM/EGM, with no further updates via the Trust or the club that the low uptake in shares may result in a change of approach, we are told: “It has become essential that we look for outside investment. Anybody putting in this level of investment may want to take a controlling stake in the club at some stage in the future and the board are open to exploring how to facilitate this, providing the investor guarantees the future sustainability of the club. Significant due diligence will be undertaken as part of this process, both internally, and via all relevant EFL processes.”
https://www.rochdaleafc.co.uk/news/2022/december/statement_301222/
If there was a Dale fan/fans now who bought up a considerable amount/all of the remaining shares would we still seek outside investment?
If we would why not announce this before the share issue and make it clear then we will move away from being fan owned?
This is not a post saying we don’t want or need outside investment, it’s trying to establish when and how this was seen as the route forward and exactly what it will mean to us as a club, because I’m not sure that was made clear last night. What happens in the summer if there is no investment? Is there a plan to budget better so that any playing budget can be absorbed by what we have?
Where are we? What are we? What is the plan for the future?
Of course, this uncertainty probably impacts what we see on the pitch. |
Kind of mirrors my thinking. I'm confused as to why there has been such a sudden aboutturn in the message from the boardroom.
Those supporters who answered the plea for help and bought a few thousand shares a year ago could lose everything if an outside investor comes along and buys the available shares plus the board members ones.
Must admit, I too am at a complete loss to fathom why Stockdale was retained at the end of last season, and then given a bigger budget to waste on as poor a selection of players as we have seen in ages. Then he was sacked after a few games of this season. It doesn't make any business sense at all. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 14:19 - Feb 10 with 3930 views | dalemark |
Just to follow on from my post last night, Richard Knight reached out to me this morning to discuss the feedback, concerns and offer of help. We've had an honest and detailed chat this afternoon.
I won't go into detail of the conversation as that wouldn't be right, but I do think there is an acceptance that things in certain departments should be better, a willingness to work on it and an opportunity with the new kit supplier to reset our retail offering and approach too.
I'm meeting with Tony next week, maybe Richard too, and will see where we get to. One thing Richard did make clear is that the club are open to offers of support, and we should see detail of that over the coming week. Time will tell, of course, but I didn't come away from today's conversation feeling I'd just had a healthy does of lip-service.
& it sounds like the new boot rack is sorted too! |  | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 15:09 - Feb 10 with 3709 views | 442Dale |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 14:19 - Feb 10 by dalemark |
Just to follow on from my post last night, Richard Knight reached out to me this morning to discuss the feedback, concerns and offer of help. We've had an honest and detailed chat this afternoon.
I won't go into detail of the conversation as that wouldn't be right, but I do think there is an acceptance that things in certain departments should be better, a willingness to work on it and an opportunity with the new kit supplier to reset our retail offering and approach too.
I'm meeting with Tony next week, maybe Richard too, and will see where we get to. One thing Richard did make clear is that the club are open to offers of support, and we should see detail of that over the coming week. Time will tell, of course, but I didn't come away from today's conversation feeling I'd just had a healthy does of lip-service.
& it sounds like the new boot rack is sorted too! |
Could a detailed report of any meetings be sent to the Trust/posted here so any progression can be tracked?
On a similar note, having spoke to George Delves after the forum, it was asked if supporters could be involved in the process of narrowing down kits to be voted on. It was taken on board that the benefits of this would avoid the problems encountered previously (13/14 especially) and allow further input in the process. It was suggested this could be an in-person meeting.
Hopefully this will see further communication from the club soon. For those who weren’t aware of the kit panel previously, the club asked fans to register an interest and details were provided to do so. | |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 15:15 - Feb 10 with 3658 views | dalemark |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 15:09 - Feb 10 by 442Dale |
Could a detailed report of any meetings be sent to the Trust/posted here so any progression can be tracked?
On a similar note, having spoke to George Delves after the forum, it was asked if supporters could be involved in the process of narrowing down kits to be voted on. It was taken on board that the benefits of this would avoid the problems encountered previously (13/14 especially) and allow further input in the process. It was suggested this could be an in-person meeting.
Hopefully this will see further communication from the club soon. For those who weren’t aware of the kit panel previously, the club asked fans to register an interest and details were provided to do so. |
Yep - Murray is coming to the meeting next week so the Trust will be fully up to speed. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 15:23 - Feb 10 with 3597 views | 442Dale |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 15:15 - Feb 10 by dalemark |
Yep - Murray is coming to the meeting next week so the Trust will be fully up to speed. |
Thanks. Please try and ensure there’s info released to all supporters - this could possibly fall within any structure that’s set up within the Volunteer Army (presuming we will hear more details about this shortly) so may already be in place. | |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 16:19 - Feb 10 with 3368 views | James1980 |
Some of the stuff on this thread about the playing side of things is making me think why the hell should I/we bother? (I will by the way). Fans give up their time and money to support their football team (Ok sometimes on a Saturday/Tuesday evening it hasn't been exactly supportive at times, but not without reason) The very least us as fans should expect is players to turn up to training and put in a shift to help improve things come matchday. Dare I say even injured players could do upper body conditioning or if they can't do that watch videos of the games during Hilly's best days and see what no fear football looks like.
Re the share sale if it had been said. 'If we don't sell all the shares to fans we will be looking for an outside investor to buy them' would the motion have passed at the EGM?
Was it asked why the threshold for number of shares wasn't dropped or indeed set at 100 during a cost of living crisis in a not so affluent area? | |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 16:44 - Feb 10 with 3233 views | jonahwhereru |
Anna Frith took over following the awful events with David Amiss. She was only only candidate from a mainstream party. Only 14k votes got cast. As it was at the peak of the Partygate stuff there were over 1k spoilt papers. To her credit she has her publicity machine well oiled and is in the paper every day. The other Southend MP is like Lloyd a long time seat filler, and you never hear from him. But fair play her voice is out there.
As for the club after a very dodgy first season in the league, they are now close to the play offs and getting gates of over 5k. Some of my mates who I thought would just stop going after they lost league status are still turning up, and again starting to enjoy what is happening on the pitch. I hope that shows that it wouldn’t necessarily be all over for us if we dropped.
This with yet another winding up order hanging over them due to the reckless behaviour of the property developing owner.
When all said and done their situation is much worse than our’s. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 16:49 - Feb 10 with 3197 views | sxdale |
If players aren't giving their all in training they should be sacked off, I would think this is a breach of contract. Get rid without paying out their contract. Maybe the money saved could be used to bring in a free agent or two. I also think there is a case for gross misconduct for refusing to train.
Alternatively name and shame, perhaps us fans could find new ways to motivate them.
Our very existence as a football league club is on the line and some of these herbert's are crying off. Never been so angry | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 16:58 - Feb 10 with 3124 views | EllDale |
I’m not normally a fan of polls on here but perhaps we could and make some shrewd guesses as the the identity of these players? | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 17:07 - Feb 10 with 3052 views | richfoad32 |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 16:58 - Feb 10 by EllDale |
I’m not normally a fan of polls on here but perhaps we could and make some shrewd guesses as the the identity of these players? |
I wouldn't be a fan of that either, could lead to uncalled for vilification of some. I'm sure Bentley has got it in hand. | | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 17:17 - Feb 10 with 2977 views | bluevein64 |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 11:51 - Feb 10 by electricblue |
It beggars beyond belief that as a pro footballer they dont fancy the training and dont fancy the mondays and thursdays.....
Its pathetic..
These players should be removed from the squad and train elsewhere away from the rest as their negativity is and will be having the negative effect and that is harder to eradicate... |
Exactly my thoughts and the thoughts of many other Dale fan's I suspect, I'd like to add that these same players that don't "fancy Mondays and Thursdays" don't give a shite about Rochdale, the Club or the Supporters, they'll move on (hopefully sooner rather than later, plans may already be afoot who knows) to their next wage packet never looking back, never feeling in any way responsible for their stinking toxic attitude, they could do with a taste of Brian Clough's medicine and take then down a coal mine (probably not as there aren't too many left) or an Abattoir somewhere like that where ordinary people have to make a living, somewhere that'll make them feel sick to the pit of their stomach, somewhere where there might be just one minuscule or a chance that they might feel honoured and privileged to earn a living as a Professional Footballers take them to Springfield Park and watch those Sunday morning players, playing their hearts out, giving their all and paying for the privilege, having said that there's probably a clause in their contact saying that they can't be exposed to ordinary people! I don't whom these space wasters are or how many there are of them ( there may be so many that we couldn't raise a team, then that kicks my plan of action into touch) however, if I had my way I'd pay them off, cut out the cancerous growth - I was payed off and let go because I was useless and didn't like being worked too hard at training and the Club were in danger of being relegated - but that upon your CV ! |  | | |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 17:48 - Feb 10 with 2822 views | DaleiLama |
| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 14:01 - Feb 10 by golfaduffy |
Kind of mirrors my thinking. I'm confused as to why there has been such a sudden aboutturn in the message from the boardroom.
Those supporters who answered the plea for help and bought a few thousand shares a year ago could lose everything if an outside investor comes along and buys the available shares plus the board members ones.
Must admit, I too am at a complete loss to fathom why Stockdale was retained at the end of last season, and then given a bigger budget to waste on as poor a selection of players as we have seen in ages. Then he was sacked after a few games of this season. It doesn't make any business sense at all. |
I hope all those shareholders went into their purchases with their eyes wide open and I'm equally hopeful none of them expected to get any benefit from it. I didn't - I did it to help the club in its hour of need.
The board had a similar MO when it stepped up, not once but twice in many cases. I'm also guessing that each step of getting to where we are now was a process and depended on what happened before it - in other words a series of events and a reaction/decision to the outcome of each previous event requiring another decision. Not to mention the shifting geopolitical landscape occurring as a backdrop to all this. None of us outside the boardroom is privy to the full slate of facts surrounding the finances of the club and the circumstances of the failed takeover, then the consequential fall out from it.
I applaud the board for doing what they did and for admitting mistakes. Am I happy they were made - of course not - but they were appointed to get us out of a mess. Only time will tell whether we end up in a bigger mess, but one advantage of being a shareholder is that you have a vote and the board is accountable to shareholders.
For me, the jury is still out on the subject of fan-owned, sustainable and our league status and there are lots of moving parts and outcomes still possible. As for your point on Stockdale, there's no way that would happen with the benefit of hindsight and no way his funding could ever be described as anything other than a mistake. | |
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| Tonight’s Fans Forum on 17:55 - Feb 10 with 2765 views | Ninco |
I realise that the night was about Dale, but did they mention the meeting they had with Hornets and the council? I know there was a statement, but it doesn't really tell us anything and Hornets are also keeping quiet.
One thing that puzzles me is that Hornets have taken on a firm of groundsmen, which is strange as they rent COA which has a groundsman. | | | |
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