| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. 13:45 - Dec 2 with 10462 views | RAFC1907 |
Rochdale afc was formed 1907, it has done just fine without you and it will do just fine when you go.
WE WANT DUNPHY BACK! |  |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 21:00 - Dec 2 with 3151 views | rochdaleriddler |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 20:45 - Dec 2 by electricblue |
And what did it cost to get rid of that clown £250k!. |
I’ve no idea, I wasn’t being serious |  |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:45 - Dec 3 with 2823 views | ParkinsGimp |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 14:18 - Dec 2 by KenBoon |
Dumbo. Seriously? Nearly 40 years service. Oversaw the development of Spotland from dump to a modern football ground. Was chairman for the most successful years in this club's history and true fan. You might not be a fan of all his decisions, Captain Hindsight, but show him some respect. He has more than earned that from every single supporter. |
Yes seriously , we are in this mess because , he gave KJH a fecking 5 year contract, he let KJH run the roost and sign sh!te like Andrew , McNumpty etc on long term contracts. He allowed it to go on for far too long.
When he first came in he blundered along instead of getting hold of Parkin by the scruff of the neck and kicking him out immediately. Then when he did grow a small pair he didnt have a clue waht to do, so handed stewardship to HillCroft, he was lucky... so that worked, he then took advice from Matey FM and brought in a complete idiot who had been putting the cones out for the kids at City.... eventually he had to go ..he brought in a soft as S21te scouse Bulls"itter who continued to destroy good football and good will in this club. He then panicked and brought KJH back , yes it worked for a bit so luck would prevail,.
Yes him and a few others bought the stadium, which can now be used as an asset for any future chairman.
This is not hindsight ...I said thgis from Xmas when he got rid of Parkin.
But hes a Dale fan , and bought his crisps and walked up to the ground ...so what .... he also could of jeapodised the whole future of this club by letting the Arrogant one have so much control , including alledged dodgy %ages of sales of players etc and other bonuses.
I know a fair percentage of Dale fans are full on mongs , and are usally 3-4 years behind the truth...seems most are now in agreement that Calvin Andrew was a very very poor signing... I said that from day one ...so again I do not use hindsight. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am very passionate. You might not agree with my opinions but I have to say unfortunately I am proved right more times than not. If I am proved right and a player or a situation comes good for the Dale , I am more than happy . But I am not a blind faith man! | | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:52 - Dec 3 with 2810 views | fitzochris |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:45 - Dec 3 by ParkinsGimp |
Yes seriously , we are in this mess because , he gave KJH a fecking 5 year contract, he let KJH run the roost and sign sh!te like Andrew , McNumpty etc on long term contracts. He allowed it to go on for far too long.
When he first came in he blundered along instead of getting hold of Parkin by the scruff of the neck and kicking him out immediately. Then when he did grow a small pair he didnt have a clue waht to do, so handed stewardship to HillCroft, he was lucky... so that worked, he then took advice from Matey FM and brought in a complete idiot who had been putting the cones out for the kids at City.... eventually he had to go ..he brought in a soft as S21te scouse Bulls"itter who continued to destroy good football and good will in this club. He then panicked and brought KJH back , yes it worked for a bit so luck would prevail,.
Yes him and a few others bought the stadium, which can now be used as an asset for any future chairman.
This is not hindsight ...I said thgis from Xmas when he got rid of Parkin.
But hes a Dale fan , and bought his crisps and walked up to the ground ...so what .... he also could of jeapodised the whole future of this club by letting the Arrogant one have so much control , including alledged dodgy %ages of sales of players etc and other bonuses.
I know a fair percentage of Dale fans are full on mongs , and are usally 3-4 years behind the truth...seems most are now in agreement that Calvin Andrew was a very very poor signing... I said that from day one ...so again I do not use hindsight. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am very passionate. You might not agree with my opinions but I have to say unfortunately I am proved right more times than not. If I am proved right and a player or a situation comes good for the Dale , I am more than happy . But I am not a blind faith man! |
Absolutely outrageous summation of Chris Dunphy. Below is a copy and paste of my interview with him in 2015. He actually answers a lot of your accusations directly.
Epilogue
‘The sale of players is the only way a club like Rochdale can survive in the modern football environment,’ says Chris Dunphy. ‘But we are now selling on our terms and not out of desperation.’
The club’s chairman cuts a jubilant figure as I speak to him in an executive box at Spotland on the eve of the 2015/16 season. His point is sharpened by the fact that, just the previous week, he had rebuffed a bid for Ian Henderson from Barnsley (yes, that club again). Henderson scored twenty-two league goals for Rochdale during the previous season and, like those who have blazed a trail on the Spotland pitch before him, his form had attracted football’s vultures.
‘Barnsley made a single mischievous bid, designed to unsettle Ian,’ Dunphy says. ‘It was no more than that. We told Barnsley as much and they went elsewhere. Yes, we still have to sell players — but now the purpose is different. We have a model in place. For example, looking exclusively at our youth-academy players, we want them to have a one-hundred-game target for the first team in mind and, after that, we want them to look to move on to a higher level. It’s good for the player and it’s good for our club.
‘Since I have been chairman, the club has become financially stable. In the past, we sold our players for survival. Now we sell only if it is in the interest of the player or the club. That is a big difference, believe me. I’ve had criticism for selling our best players in the past, but, through the youth academy, we now have others ready to step up. That’s why our system works.’
As alluded to in the introduction of this book, Rochdale’s recent success has come not from oil-damp cash but from astute management both on the field and in the boardroom.
‘We introduced sell-on clauses to our player sales about ten years ago,’ Dunphy says. ‘That way, we continue to make money over the player’s career. We've made over £5 million from these clauses over the past decade. Rickie Lambert is the best example. He went from us to Bristol Rovers, to Southampton, to Liverpool.
‘We employ a two-fold clause. We tell the buying club that we want money if they achieve certain milestones, such as promotion or reaching cup finals, and then, naturally, if they sell the player on for a profit, we get a cut of that too. The money we make from these add-ons equates to more than the buying club would ever pay in an outright transfer fee.’
While it can be hard for supporters to accept the regular loss of the club’s best players, Rochdale AFC is at least blessed by the fact its current chairman is a lifelong supporter.
As a boy, Dunphy would regularly walk the three miles from his home in Milnrow to Spotland to watch games. He had no idea, of course, that, many years down the line, he would be running the club.
He first joined the Rochdale board for a brief spell in 1980, returned in 1990 and became chairman in 2006. His stewardship of the club during his time as chairman has attracted, for the most part, praise.
‘Football has changed rapidly in the period covered by your book,’ Dunphy says to me. ‘I first joined the board in 1980. At the time, the club owed the Inland Revenue £200,000, which is a lot of money nowadays, but was even more then. On top of dealing with that, the board used to meet weekly to have a whip round to pay the players’ wages. You then had a manager and an assistant manager to pay and that was it. It was all we could afford. Things were that tight.
‘Although things did improve over the following years, meaning we could pay decent money for players such as Andy Flounders, Clive Platt and Paul Connor, we were never too far away from that original model.
‘It was Keith Hill who showed us that by installing an infrastructure we could reap rewards in the long term. We’ve gone on to employ a sports scientist, fitness coaches and goalkeeping coaches. We have a massive back-room staff now, but this is what allows us to bring our own players through.
‘When I took over as chairman in 2006, the board was in turmoil. There was a black hole of about £400,000. I’m not exaggerating when I say administration was a realistic possibility. I didn’t want us to go that way. I’m pleased that I have kept this club competitive but in an honest way. Everyone here has bought into the way we go about things, including the fans. Other clubs are looking at us seriously now. When I go to these chairman’s conferences, people ask me how we do it. They ask how we achieve success without spending millions.
‘The answer is the infrastructure. We’ve a great academy now and right through the club there are professionals at every level. This is how we achieve success.’
Of course, the football club is not Dunphy's only concern. His main business, Christopher Dunphy Ecclesiastical, has installed heating systems in churches for over forty years. It is a testament to Dunphy’s acumen that he has juggled both his roles successfully.
‘The fact I’m not a full-time chairman works well for me,’ he says. ‘Full-time chairmen have too much time to think. They end up interfering in everything. If you've got someone who’s good at their job, you let them do it. That’s what I do in my business and that’s what I do at Rochdale. I know of chairmen who tell managers which players they should be picking and how they should be playing. Believe me, my football knowledge is nowhere near what the manager’s is. They’re the ones who are going to deliver on the pitch, not the chairmen. We make suggestions, sure, and we're here to advise, but it is the manager who runs the team.’
It’s natural, then, that I ask Dunphy about the man running his team presently.
‘Keith Hill is a good football manager because he is a good man manager and he is good on a budget,’ he explains. ‘During his first spell here, he was very outspoken about his budget and what other clubs were doing in the transfer market. Now, during his second period, his attitude has changed. He’s realised there is kudos in achieving success on a tight budget and in playing by the rules. It’s good promotion for him and good promotion for the club.
‘We don't pay big wages at Rochdale and Keith’s approach is that if a player asks about the money first, he doesn’t want them. Keith gets the right players. He gets those who turn down more money elsewhere to play the style of football we play here. They sign for football reasons in other words.
‘I remember talking to Sheffield Wednesday’s [then] chairman Milan Mandarić about Chris O’Grady, who we sold to them in 2011. He said he didn’t want him anymore and that we could have him back. I said we couldn’t afford him, that Wednesday were paying him too much money. Milan said they weren’t. I said Chris was on £1,200 a week at Rochdale, now he is on £6,000. Milan said, “you’re right, I am paying him too much money.”
‘At Rochdale, everybody is pulling the same way. There are no superstars or prima donnas and that doesn’t happen a lot elsewhere in football. Keith has managed to assemble a dressing room of players who are decent off the pitch as well as on it. I'm pleased we have managed to achieve that here.’
Despite the past decade being the best in Rochdale’s history, attendances at Spotland remain modest. Dunphy isn't too concerned, however.
‘I don’t know why more people don’t come to watch us,’ he says. ‘Other than the obvious Manchester clubs, look at Burnley. They get more supporters from Littleborough [part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale] travelling to watch them than come to watch us. They have a history, though. They have won the cup and they have won the league. That gets handed down through generations. Rochdale have never been fashionable in that sense. There have been no real glory days for grandfathers to share with their grandchildren.
‘The other thing is, over a weekend nowadays, there are eight or nine top-flight games on the television. It's easier for people to watch football without having to go out to watch it.
‘When you’re looking to appeal to younger people, you realise most of them enjoy playing games consoles more than real sports these days. People are now actually paying to watch people play games consoles. They're selling out cinema-sized venues in Holland at the minute. In the next fifty years, this could be the new spectator sport.
‘With all that considered, I believe we have to accept these things and get on with what we’ve got. My business plan is to survive if nobody comes through the gates. That’s my focus. It's been suggested that I should sell seats at a third of the price, but then you need to get three times as many supporters in to the stadium to make it work. Quite simply, it wouldn’t.
‘I remember when we played Fulham in the League Cup in 2001. We got about six-thousand on the gate that night and played brilliantly, despite going out on penalties. Someone came up to me in the pub afterwards, enthusing about how good we were. He said he didn’t realise Rochdale could be so good. I asked him if he was coming on Saturday for the league match. He said he would rather wait until we got another big game. That sums up the attitude to me. Some spectators can be fickle folk.
‘Therefore, rather than focusing on the gates, I would look to do a commercial deal on the stadium, for example. We could do a deal for quarter-of-a-million pounds, which would keep us going longer term than a few more people on the gate.’
We then get down to business. I ask Dunphy about the managers featured in this book and, in the interest of fairness, offer him a right to reply to everything they have said.
‘I understand why managers say certain things about their dismissals,’ he says. ‘We’re talking about their livelihood, aren’t we? They've got to protect their reputation, whatever happens. The ones you cover in this book all had their own ways of doing things and that was fine. You can’t stifle individuality and I wouldn’t really want to.
‘But, let’s be honest, those who had to be dismissed were dismissed for a reason.
‘I won’t have it said that I failed to back a manager, though.
‘After we parted ways with John Coleman, he was on the radio saying I wouldn’t back him. He actually signed nineteen players while he was here. I checked up after I heard him say that. I’ve backed every manager since I’ve been chairman. In fact, I’ve backed some too much on occasion.
‘It’s never nice telling someone they are out of a job, but that is what a strong chairman has to do when things are not working for their club. You can tell, as a chairman, when a manager has lost the team. You acquire it as an instinct. You have to act when your instinct starts tingling.
‘With John Coleman, the decisive moment came when it was clear to everyone that we were desperate for a striker. We asked him about this but he didn’t have a clue where to look. The only name he came up with was a centre half. We knew at that point we were going nowhere with John. We had to make the decision to let him go. He’d had his chance.
‘There were other reasons that I won’t go into here, which influenced our decision. There was a culture change at the club, shall we say? Everything came to a head at that point and a choice had to be made.
‘Don’t get me wrong, what he’s done at Accrington is commendable. He fits in perfectly there and does a great job. It suits them, but I realised it’s not where I wanted Rochdale to be. Where we are at the moment is where I want us to be — now and in the future.’
Dunphy also refutes that he reneged on a promise to Steve Eyre that striker Chris O’Grady would not be sold.
‘I met with Chris not long after Keith Hill left for Barnsley,’ he says. ‘He told me he had made his mind up to leave for better money if an offer came in for him. Sheffield Wednesday did just that. I certainly didn’t tell Steve Eyre we were keeping him, as Chris had already outlined his intentions.
‘Before we appointed Steve, after Keith left, we had an unprecedented volume of applications for the manager’s job. The first one I opened was from Ossie Ardiles. The second was from the manager of the Libyan national football team. We had someone who had been at Paris Saint-Germain, as well as a host of Italians. It was crazy.
‘I think Steve is a very good coach but he wasn’t ready to manage a football club when I employed him. I realise that now. Because of what Keith Hill had done at Rochdale, in his first managerial role, coming from that world of youth coaching, I thought Steve would do the same, what with having the same attributes. I was wrong. I can only say that through hindsight.
‘We wanted Steve to succeed. He is an honest and decent lad, but I realised quite quickly that he wasn’t a decision maker. He brought six goalkeepers away on the pre-season trip abroad. Far too many, but we let him get on with it. Unfortunately, he carried on in that fashion. You see, when you're in the position of manager here, with a trapdoor below you, you need to be ruthless. You can’t afford to be indecisive. You can make a mistake once but you can’t keep making it.
‘I think Steve will have learned that from his time here and I’m sure if he becomes a manager again, he’ll be better prepared because of it.’
However, Dunphy does feel that other managers were harshly treated in the years before he became chairman.
‘Before I first took over as chairman, the board wasn’t run as democratically is it is now,’ he says. ‘A lot of decisions were made without the rest of the board being made aware, including me.
‘Paul Simpson and John Hollins were both a victim of this. I don’t think Paul Simpson was given enough support by the board at the time. The ultimatum Paul was given was decided on by people other than me. He got his own back when he got Carlisle promoted in a game against us at Spotland, mind you. He was supping Champagne on the steps here. He was lapping it up and fair play to him.’
Dunphy’s first dismissal as Rochdale chairman was Steve Parkin.
‘With Steve, he was very reluctant to use the young players,’ he says, ‘I think where he went wrong was that he didn't remove Tony Ford as his number two. Tony was great when he was on the pitch as a player, but, when he finished playing, he didn’t do what a number two should have been doing. I suggested Steve make Keith Hill his number two, who was youth coach at the time, but he wanted to keep Tony. I think that was his mistake.’
Parkin was dismissed after an away defeat at Hartlepool, one of the worst Rochdale performances seen at the time.
‘After that defeat, Steve locked himself in the changing room so that he didn’t have to speak to me,’ Dunphy says. ‘I still don’t know how he got home that night because he didn’t get on the team bus. I felt for him, given the success he had had at Rochdale previously, but, again, it was a decision that had to be made.’
The promotion of youth that Dunphy advocates has given the current Rochdale side its strength.
‘Good young players now want to come to Rochdale like they used to want to go to Crewe Alexandra,’ he says. ‘They know they’ve a real chance of making the first team. Academy director Tony Ellis does a great presentation when recruiting young players. He shows them the team sheet from the FA Cup third round in [January 2015], Rochdale v Nottingham Forest. In that squad there were six players from the youth team. We beat Forest one-nil and it’s a great selling point. In the past, the very best kids would go to City or United, now they’re coming here.
‘Look at Jamie Allen as a prime example. He is a Rochdale lad who came through the system and is now the captain of the first team. He's bloody talented, too. He is the new Paul Scholes, just you watch.
‘I know Keith won’t be here forever, just as he wasn’t the last time, but we’re wiser now. I would like us to promote from within from now on. I’ve already identified one person at this club who would make a fantastic manager. He has every attribute that Keith has. You can’t pre-empt these things, though. Things change very quickly in football. It’s a cliché but it’s true. Either way, I have every faith that we’re prepared for the future in every sense.’
And with that we’re done. I shake Dunphy’s hand and leave Spotland with a renewed optimism that the Rochdale Division is well on the way to becoming synonymous with a club other than my own. |  |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:54 - Dec 3 with 2805 views | KenBoon |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:45 - Dec 3 by ParkinsGimp |
Yes seriously , we are in this mess because , he gave KJH a fecking 5 year contract, he let KJH run the roost and sign sh!te like Andrew , McNumpty etc on long term contracts. He allowed it to go on for far too long.
When he first came in he blundered along instead of getting hold of Parkin by the scruff of the neck and kicking him out immediately. Then when he did grow a small pair he didnt have a clue waht to do, so handed stewardship to HillCroft, he was lucky... so that worked, he then took advice from Matey FM and brought in a complete idiot who had been putting the cones out for the kids at City.... eventually he had to go ..he brought in a soft as S21te scouse Bulls"itter who continued to destroy good football and good will in this club. He then panicked and brought KJH back , yes it worked for a bit so luck would prevail,.
Yes him and a few others bought the stadium, which can now be used as an asset for any future chairman.
This is not hindsight ...I said thgis from Xmas when he got rid of Parkin.
But hes a Dale fan , and bought his crisps and walked up to the ground ...so what .... he also could of jeapodised the whole future of this club by letting the Arrogant one have so much control , including alledged dodgy %ages of sales of players etc and other bonuses.
I know a fair percentage of Dale fans are full on mongs , and are usally 3-4 years behind the truth...seems most are now in agreement that Calvin Andrew was a very very poor signing... I said that from day one ...so again I do not use hindsight. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am very passionate. You might not agree with my opinions but I have to say unfortunately I am proved right more times than not. If I am proved right and a player or a situation comes good for the Dale , I am more than happy . But I am not a blind faith man! |
So he was either always wrong or lucky and he panicked a lot. OK.
That is a very hot take you have about supporters thinking Andrew isn't too great. You are indeed ahead of the curve, Captain. |  | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:13 - Dec 3 with 2765 views | TVOS1907 |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:45 - Dec 3 by ParkinsGimp |
Yes seriously , we are in this mess because , he gave KJH a fecking 5 year contract, he let KJH run the roost and sign sh!te like Andrew , McNumpty etc on long term contracts. He allowed it to go on for far too long.
When he first came in he blundered along instead of getting hold of Parkin by the scruff of the neck and kicking him out immediately. Then when he did grow a small pair he didnt have a clue waht to do, so handed stewardship to HillCroft, he was lucky... so that worked, he then took advice from Matey FM and brought in a complete idiot who had been putting the cones out for the kids at City.... eventually he had to go ..he brought in a soft as S21te scouse Bulls"itter who continued to destroy good football and good will in this club. He then panicked and brought KJH back , yes it worked for a bit so luck would prevail,.
Yes him and a few others bought the stadium, which can now be used as an asset for any future chairman.
This is not hindsight ...I said thgis from Xmas when he got rid of Parkin.
But hes a Dale fan , and bought his crisps and walked up to the ground ...so what .... he also could of jeapodised the whole future of this club by letting the Arrogant one have so much control , including alledged dodgy %ages of sales of players etc and other bonuses.
I know a fair percentage of Dale fans are full on mongs , and are usally 3-4 years behind the truth...seems most are now in agreement that Calvin Andrew was a very very poor signing... I said that from day one ...so again I do not use hindsight. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am very passionate. You might not agree with my opinions but I have to say unfortunately I am proved right more times than not. If I am proved right and a player or a situation comes good for the Dale , I am more than happy . But I am not a blind faith man! |
Do you like anyone or anything linked to the club? |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:19 - Dec 3 with 2753 views | IOMDale |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:52 - Dec 3 by fitzochris |
Absolutely outrageous summation of Chris Dunphy. Below is a copy and paste of my interview with him in 2015. He actually answers a lot of your accusations directly.
Epilogue
‘The sale of players is the only way a club like Rochdale can survive in the modern football environment,’ says Chris Dunphy. ‘But we are now selling on our terms and not out of desperation.’
The club’s chairman cuts a jubilant figure as I speak to him in an executive box at Spotland on the eve of the 2015/16 season. His point is sharpened by the fact that, just the previous week, he had rebuffed a bid for Ian Henderson from Barnsley (yes, that club again). Henderson scored twenty-two league goals for Rochdale during the previous season and, like those who have blazed a trail on the Spotland pitch before him, his form had attracted football’s vultures.
‘Barnsley made a single mischievous bid, designed to unsettle Ian,’ Dunphy says. ‘It was no more than that. We told Barnsley as much and they went elsewhere. Yes, we still have to sell players — but now the purpose is different. We have a model in place. For example, looking exclusively at our youth-academy players, we want them to have a one-hundred-game target for the first team in mind and, after that, we want them to look to move on to a higher level. It’s good for the player and it’s good for our club.
‘Since I have been chairman, the club has become financially stable. In the past, we sold our players for survival. Now we sell only if it is in the interest of the player or the club. That is a big difference, believe me. I’ve had criticism for selling our best players in the past, but, through the youth academy, we now have others ready to step up. That’s why our system works.’
As alluded to in the introduction of this book, Rochdale’s recent success has come not from oil-damp cash but from astute management both on the field and in the boardroom.
‘We introduced sell-on clauses to our player sales about ten years ago,’ Dunphy says. ‘That way, we continue to make money over the player’s career. We've made over £5 million from these clauses over the past decade. Rickie Lambert is the best example. He went from us to Bristol Rovers, to Southampton, to Liverpool.
‘We employ a two-fold clause. We tell the buying club that we want money if they achieve certain milestones, such as promotion or reaching cup finals, and then, naturally, if they sell the player on for a profit, we get a cut of that too. The money we make from these add-ons equates to more than the buying club would ever pay in an outright transfer fee.’
While it can be hard for supporters to accept the regular loss of the club’s best players, Rochdale AFC is at least blessed by the fact its current chairman is a lifelong supporter.
As a boy, Dunphy would regularly walk the three miles from his home in Milnrow to Spotland to watch games. He had no idea, of course, that, many years down the line, he would be running the club.
He first joined the Rochdale board for a brief spell in 1980, returned in 1990 and became chairman in 2006. His stewardship of the club during his time as chairman has attracted, for the most part, praise.
‘Football has changed rapidly in the period covered by your book,’ Dunphy says to me. ‘I first joined the board in 1980. At the time, the club owed the Inland Revenue £200,000, which is a lot of money nowadays, but was even more then. On top of dealing with that, the board used to meet weekly to have a whip round to pay the players’ wages. You then had a manager and an assistant manager to pay and that was it. It was all we could afford. Things were that tight.
‘Although things did improve over the following years, meaning we could pay decent money for players such as Andy Flounders, Clive Platt and Paul Connor, we were never too far away from that original model.
‘It was Keith Hill who showed us that by installing an infrastructure we could reap rewards in the long term. We’ve gone on to employ a sports scientist, fitness coaches and goalkeeping coaches. We have a massive back-room staff now, but this is what allows us to bring our own players through.
‘When I took over as chairman in 2006, the board was in turmoil. There was a black hole of about £400,000. I’m not exaggerating when I say administration was a realistic possibility. I didn’t want us to go that way. I’m pleased that I have kept this club competitive but in an honest way. Everyone here has bought into the way we go about things, including the fans. Other clubs are looking at us seriously now. When I go to these chairman’s conferences, people ask me how we do it. They ask how we achieve success without spending millions.
‘The answer is the infrastructure. We’ve a great academy now and right through the club there are professionals at every level. This is how we achieve success.’
Of course, the football club is not Dunphy's only concern. His main business, Christopher Dunphy Ecclesiastical, has installed heating systems in churches for over forty years. It is a testament to Dunphy’s acumen that he has juggled both his roles successfully.
‘The fact I’m not a full-time chairman works well for me,’ he says. ‘Full-time chairmen have too much time to think. They end up interfering in everything. If you've got someone who’s good at their job, you let them do it. That’s what I do in my business and that’s what I do at Rochdale. I know of chairmen who tell managers which players they should be picking and how they should be playing. Believe me, my football knowledge is nowhere near what the manager’s is. They’re the ones who are going to deliver on the pitch, not the chairmen. We make suggestions, sure, and we're here to advise, but it is the manager who runs the team.’
It’s natural, then, that I ask Dunphy about the man running his team presently.
‘Keith Hill is a good football manager because he is a good man manager and he is good on a budget,’ he explains. ‘During his first spell here, he was very outspoken about his budget and what other clubs were doing in the transfer market. Now, during his second period, his attitude has changed. He’s realised there is kudos in achieving success on a tight budget and in playing by the rules. It’s good promotion for him and good promotion for the club.
‘We don't pay big wages at Rochdale and Keith’s approach is that if a player asks about the money first, he doesn’t want them. Keith gets the right players. He gets those who turn down more money elsewhere to play the style of football we play here. They sign for football reasons in other words.
‘I remember talking to Sheffield Wednesday’s [then] chairman Milan Mandarić about Chris O’Grady, who we sold to them in 2011. He said he didn’t want him anymore and that we could have him back. I said we couldn’t afford him, that Wednesday were paying him too much money. Milan said they weren’t. I said Chris was on £1,200 a week at Rochdale, now he is on £6,000. Milan said, “you’re right, I am paying him too much money.”
‘At Rochdale, everybody is pulling the same way. There are no superstars or prima donnas and that doesn’t happen a lot elsewhere in football. Keith has managed to assemble a dressing room of players who are decent off the pitch as well as on it. I'm pleased we have managed to achieve that here.’
Despite the past decade being the best in Rochdale’s history, attendances at Spotland remain modest. Dunphy isn't too concerned, however.
‘I don’t know why more people don’t come to watch us,’ he says. ‘Other than the obvious Manchester clubs, look at Burnley. They get more supporters from Littleborough [part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale] travelling to watch them than come to watch us. They have a history, though. They have won the cup and they have won the league. That gets handed down through generations. Rochdale have never been fashionable in that sense. There have been no real glory days for grandfathers to share with their grandchildren.
‘The other thing is, over a weekend nowadays, there are eight or nine top-flight games on the television. It's easier for people to watch football without having to go out to watch it.
‘When you’re looking to appeal to younger people, you realise most of them enjoy playing games consoles more than real sports these days. People are now actually paying to watch people play games consoles. They're selling out cinema-sized venues in Holland at the minute. In the next fifty years, this could be the new spectator sport.
‘With all that considered, I believe we have to accept these things and get on with what we’ve got. My business plan is to survive if nobody comes through the gates. That’s my focus. It's been suggested that I should sell seats at a third of the price, but then you need to get three times as many supporters in to the stadium to make it work. Quite simply, it wouldn’t.
‘I remember when we played Fulham in the League Cup in 2001. We got about six-thousand on the gate that night and played brilliantly, despite going out on penalties. Someone came up to me in the pub afterwards, enthusing about how good we were. He said he didn’t realise Rochdale could be so good. I asked him if he was coming on Saturday for the league match. He said he would rather wait until we got another big game. That sums up the attitude to me. Some spectators can be fickle folk.
‘Therefore, rather than focusing on the gates, I would look to do a commercial deal on the stadium, for example. We could do a deal for quarter-of-a-million pounds, which would keep us going longer term than a few more people on the gate.’
We then get down to business. I ask Dunphy about the managers featured in this book and, in the interest of fairness, offer him a right to reply to everything they have said.
‘I understand why managers say certain things about their dismissals,’ he says. ‘We’re talking about their livelihood, aren’t we? They've got to protect their reputation, whatever happens. The ones you cover in this book all had their own ways of doing things and that was fine. You can’t stifle individuality and I wouldn’t really want to.
‘But, let’s be honest, those who had to be dismissed were dismissed for a reason.
‘I won’t have it said that I failed to back a manager, though.
‘After we parted ways with John Coleman, he was on the radio saying I wouldn’t back him. He actually signed nineteen players while he was here. I checked up after I heard him say that. I’ve backed every manager since I’ve been chairman. In fact, I’ve backed some too much on occasion.
‘It’s never nice telling someone they are out of a job, but that is what a strong chairman has to do when things are not working for their club. You can tell, as a chairman, when a manager has lost the team. You acquire it as an instinct. You have to act when your instinct starts tingling.
‘With John Coleman, the decisive moment came when it was clear to everyone that we were desperate for a striker. We asked him about this but he didn’t have a clue where to look. The only name he came up with was a centre half. We knew at that point we were going nowhere with John. We had to make the decision to let him go. He’d had his chance.
‘There were other reasons that I won’t go into here, which influenced our decision. There was a culture change at the club, shall we say? Everything came to a head at that point and a choice had to be made.
‘Don’t get me wrong, what he’s done at Accrington is commendable. He fits in perfectly there and does a great job. It suits them, but I realised it’s not where I wanted Rochdale to be. Where we are at the moment is where I want us to be — now and in the future.’
Dunphy also refutes that he reneged on a promise to Steve Eyre that striker Chris O’Grady would not be sold.
‘I met with Chris not long after Keith Hill left for Barnsley,’ he says. ‘He told me he had made his mind up to leave for better money if an offer came in for him. Sheffield Wednesday did just that. I certainly didn’t tell Steve Eyre we were keeping him, as Chris had already outlined his intentions.
‘Before we appointed Steve, after Keith left, we had an unprecedented volume of applications for the manager’s job. The first one I opened was from Ossie Ardiles. The second was from the manager of the Libyan national football team. We had someone who had been at Paris Saint-Germain, as well as a host of Italians. It was crazy.
‘I think Steve is a very good coach but he wasn’t ready to manage a football club when I employed him. I realise that now. Because of what Keith Hill had done at Rochdale, in his first managerial role, coming from that world of youth coaching, I thought Steve would do the same, what with having the same attributes. I was wrong. I can only say that through hindsight.
‘We wanted Steve to succeed. He is an honest and decent lad, but I realised quite quickly that he wasn’t a decision maker. He brought six goalkeepers away on the pre-season trip abroad. Far too many, but we let him get on with it. Unfortunately, he carried on in that fashion. You see, when you're in the position of manager here, with a trapdoor below you, you need to be ruthless. You can’t afford to be indecisive. You can make a mistake once but you can’t keep making it.
‘I think Steve will have learned that from his time here and I’m sure if he becomes a manager again, he’ll be better prepared because of it.’
However, Dunphy does feel that other managers were harshly treated in the years before he became chairman.
‘Before I first took over as chairman, the board wasn’t run as democratically is it is now,’ he says. ‘A lot of decisions were made without the rest of the board being made aware, including me.
‘Paul Simpson and John Hollins were both a victim of this. I don’t think Paul Simpson was given enough support by the board at the time. The ultimatum Paul was given was decided on by people other than me. He got his own back when he got Carlisle promoted in a game against us at Spotland, mind you. He was supping Champagne on the steps here. He was lapping it up and fair play to him.’
Dunphy’s first dismissal as Rochdale chairman was Steve Parkin.
‘With Steve, he was very reluctant to use the young players,’ he says, ‘I think where he went wrong was that he didn't remove Tony Ford as his number two. Tony was great when he was on the pitch as a player, but, when he finished playing, he didn’t do what a number two should have been doing. I suggested Steve make Keith Hill his number two, who was youth coach at the time, but he wanted to keep Tony. I think that was his mistake.’
Parkin was dismissed after an away defeat at Hartlepool, one of the worst Rochdale performances seen at the time.
‘After that defeat, Steve locked himself in the changing room so that he didn’t have to speak to me,’ Dunphy says. ‘I still don’t know how he got home that night because he didn’t get on the team bus. I felt for him, given the success he had had at Rochdale previously, but, again, it was a decision that had to be made.’
The promotion of youth that Dunphy advocates has given the current Rochdale side its strength.
‘Good young players now want to come to Rochdale like they used to want to go to Crewe Alexandra,’ he says. ‘They know they’ve a real chance of making the first team. Academy director Tony Ellis does a great presentation when recruiting young players. He shows them the team sheet from the FA Cup third round in [January 2015], Rochdale v Nottingham Forest. In that squad there were six players from the youth team. We beat Forest one-nil and it’s a great selling point. In the past, the very best kids would go to City or United, now they’re coming here.
‘Look at Jamie Allen as a prime example. He is a Rochdale lad who came through the system and is now the captain of the first team. He's bloody talented, too. He is the new Paul Scholes, just you watch.
‘I know Keith won’t be here forever, just as he wasn’t the last time, but we’re wiser now. I would like us to promote from within from now on. I’ve already identified one person at this club who would make a fantastic manager. He has every attribute that Keith has. You can’t pre-empt these things, though. Things change very quickly in football. It’s a cliché but it’s true. Either way, I have every faith that we’re prepared for the future in every sense.’
And with that we’re done. I shake Dunphy’s hand and leave Spotland with a renewed optimism that the Rochdale Division is well on the way to becoming synonymous with a club other than my own. |
Just out of interest Fitz, did CD identify - off the record - who the prospective manager was? Assume it was BBM? |  | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:25 - Dec 3 with 2724 views | fitzochris |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:19 - Dec 3 by IOMDale |
Just out of interest Fitz, did CD identify - off the record - who the prospective manager was? Assume it was BBM? |
You assume correct. | |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:54 - Dec 3 with 2666 views | IOMDale |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:25 - Dec 3 by fitzochris |
You assume correct. |
In which case, that's more than good enough for me. So, CD and KH have both, in the past, identified BBM as somebody who has the potential to make a great manager, which puts the current predicament into perspective and adds weight to the suggestion that he's being asked to make silk out of a sow's ear. | | | |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:14 - Dec 3 with 2617 views | SuddenLad |
I firmly believe that BBM is right for this club and for the job he's doing. If he is given financial support, he will be able to develop the team with a few necessary 'tweaks'. Without that help, he'll be struggling massively.
We have a brilliant academy set up, including Tony Ellis, who doesn't always get the credit he deserves for the role he plays.
However, on recent performances, we CANNOT survive in League One without addition to the squad and it's unfair to expect and be dependent upon, academy players to be increasingly responsible for our league position. Bolton refused to play their kids because of the 'psychological damage' it caused.
That substitutes bench against Pompey was almost certainly the youngest bench that any League club has named this season.
Injuries are unfortunate and we have had more than our fair share, but please give the manager the tools to do the job rather than making his life far more difficult than it needs to be. |  |
| “It is easier to fool people, than to convince them that they have been fooled†|
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:26 - Dec 3 with 2577 views | RAFC1907 |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 20:49 - Dec 2 by sweetcorn |
The irony.
You mang. |
Listen Kyle, you may think you're safe behind your keyboard. But if you have anything to say in person we can arrange that no problem at all. | |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:32 - Dec 3 with 2550 views | dingdangblue |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:14 - Dec 3 by SuddenLad |
I firmly believe that BBM is right for this club and for the job he's doing. If he is given financial support, he will be able to develop the team with a few necessary 'tweaks'. Without that help, he'll be struggling massively.
We have a brilliant academy set up, including Tony Ellis, who doesn't always get the credit he deserves for the role he plays.
However, on recent performances, we CANNOT survive in League One without addition to the squad and it's unfair to expect and be dependent upon, academy players to be increasingly responsible for our league position. Bolton refused to play their kids because of the 'psychological damage' it caused.
That substitutes bench against Pompey was almost certainly the youngest bench that any League club has named this season.
Injuries are unfortunate and we have had more than our fair share, but please give the manager the tools to do the job rather than making his life far more difficult than it needs to be. |
And if he's not right for the club - he's bloody lucky in cup draws! |  |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 13:58 - Dec 3 with 2411 views | blackdogblue |
Not tagging Fitz”s post as will take up a page...
Open & honest chairman, there’s a blast from the past, I always found him approachable in the Cem & stood next to him at a Flyde friendly a good few years ago at the old ground and he chatted away.
What makes me laugh is the reason he went was not being able to find a striker... see nobody since has managed this either ... |  |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 14:00 - Dec 3 with 2404 views | nordenblue |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 11:13 - Dec 3 by TVOS1907 |
Do you like anyone or anything linked to the club? |
He thinks the program's not too shabby...  | | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 14:14 - Dec 3 with 2382 views | TVOS1907 |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 14:00 - Dec 3 by nordenblue |
He thinks the program's not too shabby... |
You're assuming he can read. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 15:58 - Dec 3 with 2270 views | Rochdale_ger |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:26 - Dec 3 by RAFC1907 |
Listen Kyle, you may think you're safe behind your keyboard. But if you have anything to say in person we can arrange that no problem at all. |
You sound really scary |  | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 16:25 - Dec 3 with 2214 views | Scunnydale |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 20:52 - Dec 2 by TVOS1907 |
Or Steve, diminutive 1980s Southampton forward. |
Ha! I used to work with him many moons ago. |  | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 19:47 - Dec 3 with 2020 views | RAFC1907 |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 15:58 - Dec 3 by Rochdale_ger |
You sound really scary |
As do you. | |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 19:50 - Dec 3 with 2002 views | Shun |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 13:58 - Dec 3 by blackdogblue |
Not tagging Fitz”s post as will take up a page...
Open & honest chairman, there’s a blast from the past, I always found him approachable in the Cem & stood next to him at a Flyde friendly a good few years ago at the old ground and he chatted away.
What makes me laugh is the reason he went was not being able to find a striker... see nobody since has managed this either ... |
The reason he went is not being able to find a striker? Can you elucidate? |  | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 19:55 - Dec 3 with 1981 views | SI_Blue |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 15:58 - Dec 3 by Rochdale_ger |
You sound really scary |
God another keyboard warrior!! | |
| Backs Against The Wall Since 1907 |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 01:11 - Dec 4 with 1810 views | sweetcorn |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:26 - Dec 3 by RAFC1907 |
Listen Kyle, you may think you're safe behind your keyboard. But if you have anything to say in person we can arrange that no problem at all. |
Sorry must have missed this. Very edgy using first names, well impressed |  |
| Leader of the little gang of immature cretins. |
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:26 - Dec 4 with 1605 views | Rochdale_ger |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 01:11 - Dec 4 by sweetcorn |
Sorry must have missed this. Very edgy using first names, well impressed |
I would be in fear for my safety | | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:43 - Dec 4 with 1528 views | BigDaveMyCock |
Why doesn’t Bottomley take a leaf out of Boris Johnson’s book and blame whoever was CEO nine years ago?
There are plenty of thick c unts out there who’ll believe him. [Post edited 4 Dec 2019 12:54]
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 17:09 - Dec 4 with 1349 views | Rochdale_ger |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 12:43 - Dec 4 by BigDaveMyCock |
Why doesn’t Bottomley take a leaf out of Boris Johnson’s book and blame whoever was CEO nine years ago?
There are plenty of thick c unts out there who’ll believe him. [Post edited 4 Dec 2019 12:54]
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Aaaaaaaaand it gets brought back around to conservatives/Brexit. | | | |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 18:38 - Dec 4 with 1263 views | BigDaveMyCock |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 17:09 - Dec 4 by Rochdale_ger |
Aaaaaaaaand it gets brought back around to conservatives/Brexit. |
Nope, just thick c unts. Although well spotted re the correlation. [Post edited 4 Dec 2019 18:40]
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| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 18:43 - Dec 4 with 1243 views | RAFC1907 |
| Bottomley and Kilpatrick GET OUT OF OUR CLUB. on 10:26 - Dec 4 by Rochdale_ger |
I would be in fear for my safety |
Why what's your safety exactly?
Is it something you own that sits in the corner of your wallet?
Don't worry nobody will be doing any assaulting because someone's found the name of a person who feels comfortable abusing people on a message board.
We are all Rochdale fans at the end of the day but some fans need to realise that there's a difference between reality and loyalty.
Quite similar with the Hill situation this time last year. | |
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