| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now 19:33 - Aug 23 with 6545 views | LDuffy |
Just to let Dale fans know that we're expecting copies of Mark's latest book to arrive with us tomorrow, ready for mail-out. It costs £11.50 from Pomona, plus £3.40 UK postage:
https://www.pomonauk.com/shop/store.php
Copies will be also available at the club shop very soon.
The press release supplied by Pitch Publishing reads:
In 1973-74, Britain was in meltdown. The Arab-Israeli War had sent energy prices soaring. Petrol was scarce. Offices were limited to a temperature of 17C and power cuts were frequent. A three-day working week came in as inflation took hold and miners and other workers went on strike.
The northern mill town of Rochdale suffered more than most. Its cotton industry was on shut-down in the face of cheap imports, and the football team was a mirror image of the town — tired, defeated, clinging to life.
The Rochdale team of 1973-74 is considered the worst to play in the Football League. They finished bottom of the third division, winning just twice in 46 league matches. They closed the season with a 22-game winless run and played one home match in front of the lowest-ever post-war crowd. That season, 32 players turned out for the team, many of them drafted in from amateur or Sunday league clubs.
The Longest Winter is as much an intimate and forensic documentary in the Storyville mode as it is a sports book. It evokes the smells, textures and moods of the early 1970s.
Mark has done scores of interviews with ex-players, coaches and fans and put in hundreds of hours of research. He considers it his best football book.
Lucy Duffy
POMONA BOOKS
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:03 - Aug 23 with 6458 views | EllDale |
If Mark considers it to be best book then that will do for me!
Already ordered it for holiday reading. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:06 - Aug 23 with 6436 views | D_Alien |
A book that 'evokes the smells' of Rochdale in 1973/74 for just £11.50?
Not to be sniffed at |  |
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:28 - Aug 23 with 6369 views | dalenumber2 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:06 - Aug 23 by D_Alien |
A book that 'evokes the smells' of Rochdale in 1973/74 for just £11.50?
Not to be sniffed at |
An apt title for what seems to lie ahead…. |  | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 21:26 - Aug 23 with 6231 views | DaleiLama |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:28 - Aug 23 by dalenumber2 |
An apt title for what seems to lie ahead…. |
The seige of Spotlandgrad? |  |
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 23:02 - Aug 23 with 6108 views | mikehunt |
How many points did that team have after the first 5 games? |  |
| The worm of time turns not for the cuckoo of circumstance. |
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 23:09 - Aug 23 with 6084 views | EllDale |
Two draws from memory.
First game was 1-1 at home to Brighton.
There was also a big win against Hartlepools in the League Cup. Went home happy that night but it wore off pretty quickly. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 01:27 - Aug 24 with 6007 views | Albert_Whitehurst |
The Rochdale team of 1973-74 is considered the worst to play in the Football League.
Sincerely hoping the 2022-23 team doesn’t give Mark reason for a sequel…
Ordered mine and looking forward to the read. |  | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 06:51 - Aug 24 with 5910 views | fitzochris |
The shenanigans of the previous regime led me to get to know Mark really well to the point I consider him a good friend. I’ve started this and you can feel he has poured everything into it. I wouldn’t be born for a few years after the events of this book take place, but I can picture it vividly both on and off the pitch. Testament to his writing. I wholeheartedly recommend it. |  |
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:27 - Sep 7 with 5361 views | dalenumber2 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 06:51 - Aug 24 by fitzochris |
The shenanigans of the previous regime led me to get to know Mark really well to the point I consider him a good friend. I’ve started this and you can feel he has poured everything into it. I wouldn’t be born for a few years after the events of this book take place, but I can picture it vividly both on and off the pitch. Testament to his writing. I wholeheartedly recommend it. |
Has anyone received this book yet? I ordered it a few weeks ago. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:43 - Sep 7 with 5316 views | SuddenLad |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:27 - Sep 7 by dalenumber2 |
Has anyone received this book yet? I ordered it a few weeks ago. |
Got mine on Monday just gone, having ordered on line.
Package bore the date 28th August. Obviously, the postal strike affected delivery. About 3 weeks from order to delivery. |  |
| “It is easier to fool people, than to convince them that they have been fooled†|
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 19:50 - Sep 7 with 5201 views | TVOS1907 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:27 - Sep 7 by dalenumber2 |
Has anyone received this book yet? I ordered it a few weeks ago. |
Yes, mine arrived on Monday. |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:55 - Sep 7 with 5080 views | dalenumber2 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 19:50 - Sep 7 by TVOS1907 |
Yes, mine arrived on Monday. |
I ordered on Aug 23, seems to be taking a long time even considering the strikes. Wanted it for my brother’s birthday on Friday so fingers crossed… | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 21:01 - Sep 7 with 5068 views | EllDale |
Preordered mine and it took about five days, arriving last week.
Read it in the same hotel in Southport in which I read the “Overcoat Men” three years ago to the week.
Definitely recommended. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 11:07 - Sep 8 with 4740 views | LDuffy |
Really sorry that the book orders have taken longer than expected to reach people.
They have arrived with us at Pomona on only a piecemeal basis and then we've been affected by the postal strikes and August Bank Holiday. Hopefully they are now getting through to everyone.
Lucy,
Pomona Books | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 14:06 - Sep 8 with 4640 views | diver |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 11:07 - Sep 8 by LDuffy |
Really sorry that the book orders have taken longer than expected to reach people.
They have arrived with us at Pomona on only a piecemeal basis and then we've been affected by the postal strikes and August Bank Holiday. Hopefully they are now getting through to everyone.
Lucy,
Pomona Books |
When will they be available at the club shop ? | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:21 - Sep 8 with 4544 views | dalenumber2 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 11:07 - Sep 8 by LDuffy |
Really sorry that the book orders have taken longer than expected to reach people.
They have arrived with us at Pomona on only a piecemeal basis and then we've been affected by the postal strikes and August Bank Holiday. Hopefully they are now getting through to everyone.
Lucy,
Pomona Books |
Looks like mine won’t be arriving by tomorrow in time for me to give it as a present. Shame nobody has replied to my email from Pomona either. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:02 - Sep 8 with 4464 views | LDuffy |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 18:21 - Sep 8 by dalenumber2 |
Looks like mine won’t be arriving by tomorrow in time for me to give it as a present. Shame nobody has replied to my email from Pomona either. |
I'm sorry to hear you've not received the book, dalenumber2. I can't find the email to which you refer. However, If you send your details to james@pomonauk.co.uk, we'll do our best to get a copy to you tomorrow, if you're in the Rochdale area.
I'm afraid stock has still not arrived at the club shop, despite Stuart's best efforts to gee up a complex distribution chain that starts in India and has been hit by shipping issues, rail strikes and postal strikes. We'll get there!
Lucy, Pomona Books. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 22:47 - Sep 8 with 4352 views | dalenumber2 |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 20:02 - Sep 8 by LDuffy |
I'm sorry to hear you've not received the book, dalenumber2. I can't find the email to which you refer. However, If you send your details to james@pomonauk.co.uk, we'll do our best to get a copy to you tomorrow, if you're in the Rochdale area.
I'm afraid stock has still not arrived at the club shop, despite Stuart's best efforts to gee up a complex distribution chain that starts in India and has been hit by shipping issues, rail strikes and postal strikes. We'll get there!
Lucy, Pomona Books. |
Thanks for responding, I have sent you an email. DN2. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 23:18 - Sep 8 with 4315 views | hammerdale |
A great book that stores many memories for me, many I had forgotten ☹ | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 13:17 - Sep 9 with 4074 views | pioneer |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 23:09 - Aug 23 by EllDale |
Two draws from memory.
First game was 1-1 at home to Brighton.
There was also a big win against Hartlepools in the League Cup. Went home happy that night but it wore off pretty quickly. |
Yes 0-2-3 in first 5 games but then went 1-2-0 in next three...then the rot set in! | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 13:41 - Sep 9 with 4067 views | EllDale |
The rot set in when Walter Joyce decided that he couldn't cope with the experienced professionals that he'd inherited and decided that he would rather play younger players.
That led to the likes of Colin Blant, Len Kinsella (a personal favourite of mine), Malcolm Darling and Dick Renwick leaving.
He did sign Stan Horne and Jim Grummett after Christmas but the rot had set in by then. | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 23:15 - Sep 12 with 3724 views | LDuffy |
Good news - The Longest Winter is now available at the club shop.
Copies are also back in stock at Pomona and can be ordered from here: https://www.pomonauk.com/shop/store.php
These are by far the best sources to purchase the book so that the author, publisher and Dale receive maximum returns!
Lucy,
POMONA BOOKS | | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 00:26 - Sep 13 with 3692 views | Sandyman |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 13:41 - Sep 9 by EllDale |
The rot set in when Walter Joyce decided that he couldn't cope with the experienced professionals that he'd inherited and decided that he would rather play younger players.
That led to the likes of Colin Blant, Len Kinsella (a personal favourite of mine), Malcolm Darling and Dick Renwick leaving.
He did sign Stan Horne and Jim Grummett after Christmas but the rot had set in by then. |
Blant and Kinsella were excellent indeed. My favourite out of those three was Malcolm Darling - a very skilful forward. |  | | |
| The Longest Winter by Mark Hodkinson: available now on 21:58 - Sep 13 with 3473 views | Rodingdale |
An excellent read - and season 22/23 will be a good sequel “The country gripped with unrest, cost of living crisis, worst team ever etc” RAFC the club that keeps on giving. At least we got rid of the youth team manager so there’s hope but this is bad and no Ratcliffe re-election safety net available. … It’s going to be a very long winter. | | | |
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