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Reply | Co-chair’s Christmas message
at 16:30 25 Dec 2024
Callum and Sir Peter both have MBAs from Harvard, I am fairly sure running a football club is small beer for them, through the Harvard Alumni, they have access to 85,000 of the worlds best and brightest business people. I think they know what decisions to make and when the time is right to make them, having them onboard is like winning the lottery, lets not piss them off with short- term thinking. Turning an oil tanker takes time and space, turning a club with a century of underachievement is not a quick fix, Harvard has a reputation for turning big ideas into big companies and organisations, building deep foundations is step one of the playbook, what follows could be massive for the club and the town, and like Christmas, all good things are worth waiting for... Merry Christmas to one and all! |
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Reply | Pitch inspection 10.30
at 16:01 22 Dec 2024
There is a big dilemma at the centre of the Trust in that the elected Chairman is not the person representing the Trust on the club's BoD, and even then the position is one of an invitee rather than a fully paid-up board member. Questions will inevitably be asked about the reports received from the Trust's representative but is seems he is not responsible for directly answering and defers to other members of the Trust to do so, and like Chinese whispers, each re-telling could alter the story somewhat, and may then become influenced by opinions rather than actualities.
Whilst this is a weakness the Trust may or may not have to live with , it undoubtedly strains relationships.
Fans also place too big a burden on the Trust in that they want to know the inner machinations of the BoD and expect to be kept informed at a level of detail to which they are not entitled to know even if they are shareholders, particularly in respect of forward looking or sensitive matters perhaps under negotiation with other parties.
For its part, the BoD should accept that its affairs are of great interest to the fan-base and try to be more forthcoming in those matters that can be widely disclosed bearing in mind, that much will depend on the frequency of their meetings.
I can't imagine that there are many limited companies that have invited board members selected by a trust set up by their customers. Generally you would assume that they try to keep their customers onside by delivering a top quality buying experience and a high quality product which then begs the question "does the presence of the trust provide the BoD with an excuse to be less communicative with its customers than might otherwise be the case"?
Clearly, events over the last 4 or 5 years have been a breeding ground for mis-trust and anger and memories are long, but the club is now effectively owned by a single entity which we assume is benevolent and as such, my belief is that we have to place our faith in what they are attempting to do until such time as that faith is proven to be mis-placed. We shall see if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, personally I am fed up with thin gruel. |
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Reply | Pitch inspection 10.30
at 13:57 21 Dec 2024
The water has to go somewhere, if the surrounding drains will not take it then the covers will make little difference Ultimately we may have to take a couple of yards off the pitch on all 4 sides to get drains in with the capacity to take the water away. Its kind of the equivalent of building the pitch up a couple of feet to get more drainage, as at Gigg Lane if memory serves me correctly and probably at many other clubs... |
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Reply | Pitch inspection 10.30
at 11:54 21 Dec 2024
The problem then might be how to get rid of the water from off the covers.. I have always suspected that the water simply does not get to the drains and that the pitch surround needs digging up and big French drains put in on all 4 sides sloping towards Sandy Lane and out to the main drains. |
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Reply | Pitch inspection 10.30
at 11:31 21 Dec 2024
The pitch nightmare continues.. other than a couple of seasons probably over a decade ago when the pitch seemed to drain quite well, this has been a constant problem that annual pitch renovations have not solved and probably made worse despite the outlay of £100,000s.
Its depressing and must have cost the club a fortune , not just in wasted matchday expenses but also in lost support and gate receipts due to shifting Saturday games to Tuesdays with all the knock-on effects of packing games into fewer remaining weeks.
We know the weather here is wetter than at any other football club in the UK, it should be obvious that some sort of wet-weather protection is needed and that the drains need rodding regularly.. unfortunately no-one seems to want to grasp the nettle.. err rods... |
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Reply | Tamworth Tuesday
at 20:02 16 Dec 2024
Not sure we will ever go back to 5 forwards 2 wing halves , a centre half and 2 full backs though, but it would be fun to see what happened |
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Reply | Dagenham match thread
at 15:42 15 Dec 2024
James, I am now in my 7th decade of watching RAFC, 3 promotions, 4 relegations, and the only silverware I recall us ever winning was the Lancashire senior cup -- Twice! Once against Oldham and once against Bury with about 500 people in the ground!
How long do I have to wait before I see an attack minded team with a proper Centre Forward who can both shoot and head a ball and generally terrify defences?
Football is supposed to be a game of scoring goals, not scratching about playing in safe areas and hoping to win 1-0 thanks to a ricochet off someone's backside....This is supposed to be entertainment for Gods sake, not some sort of chess match played on grass... Lets just focus on scoring goals, as many as possible and if we lose 5-4 well done the other team, next time we will score 6!
20 games gone and 30% have been 1-0 wins or defeats.
Of 7 defeats 5 have been by a single goal and the other two were by 2 or more.
Oldham have scored Just 8 more goals and are 7 points above us, if we had scored 8 more goals in the games we have drawn or lost by a single goal we would be comfortably in the Play off positions with 11 more points...
I have 2 questions for JMc... 1) What is your best 11? 2) Do you believe its possible to score more goals or do you prefer to stop the opposition from scoring? |
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Reply | Dagenham match thread
at 23:05 14 Dec 2024
Don't worry, I am an owl..but, is it wrong?
Either its true and results are getting worse or its not true and we are still in a playoff position and we are now ..9th... goals "for" are falling goals "against" are rising there is really only one conclusion the current selections or tactics are not working as well as they were earlier in the season, despite bringing in more players.. Things need to change quickly or we will be mid-table and stuck there. Maybe things will improve as the weather hopefully improves in spring and surfaces get faster, but we dont play with real pace anyway so who knows?
Oldham have scored 8 more goals than we have and are 7 points above us...small
margins over 20 games, but it proves that you have to score goals in this division
you cannot defend your way out of it. |
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Reply | Dagenham match thread
at 20:57 14 Dec 2024
We do not score enough goals and we are getting worse defensively simple as..
Results with Ferguson at CH were better than with Hogan, goals are becoming fewer, its the perfect storm, conceding more scoring fewer and now we are 9th, albeit with games in hand
All Last 8 Diff.
Points per Game 1.65 1.25 -24.2%
Average goals scored 1.40 1.00 -28.6%
Average goals conceded 0.95 1.25 +31.6%
We are conceding more, scoring less as time goes on.. We are now at the point where we need to score 2 goals or more to win a game
Last 4 form, we are 13th
Last 6 form, we are 11th
Last 8 form, we are 16th
Last 10 form we are 10th
Last 12 form we are 13th
Last 4 home games 7th
Last 8 home games 8th
Last 4 Away games 15th
Last 8 away games 10th
Our relative form over the last 8 games Vs all games to date is the 5th worst in the division ,only ahead of Woking Maidenhead Aldershot and Eastleigh |
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Reply | Dagenham match thread
at 18:45 14 Dec 2024
"It was that exciting I actually turned it off after half time and instead chose to write a pile of Christmas cards, something I actually despise doing"
I wish I had thought of that....
Sorry to say, this is a mid-table side with a mid-table manager .. why wait until the last 10-15 minutes to change anything and then to fall for the old sucker punch?... Poor. A point would have been OK with home games to come but going all that way and losing is just sloppy playing and management. And I am not sure the home advantage will prove to be what it could/ought to be be if we cant score more goals bearing in mind the goals against has gone from 0.95 to 1.25 over the last 8 games |
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Reply | From memory 25th anniversary
at 19:40 1 Dec 2024
"The school isnt on the same site".. yes it is, there was once even a plan for the new Academy School to share the pitches with RAFC.. That was because the school build was deemed to be the better solution for the land at Bowlee, some councillors ( you can guess who), were pissed off at the football club anyway because they once gave them a pitch to train on at Bowlee which was totally unsuitable and looked like what it was...a mown field and very wet.. a similar standard to the other pitches that were once there, and was hardly used, I don't think Dale ever trained on it....a complete white elephant. The rest of the Bowlee site down to the gym complex has been handed over to a car boot site and some sort of community garden...
Given the obdurate attitude of RMBC to sport and leisure generally in the town, I have grave doubts that an RAFC training complex will ever be built on RMBC property, certainly nothing to equal or better Platt Lane. In 2007, RMBC has washed its hands of sport and leisure and handed the problem to Link 4 Life, now an independent Trust( Rochdale Boroughwide Community Trust), after the 10 year deal with RMBC funding it to the tune of £15m a year expired a number of years ago.. 2018 I think.
I also predict that the plan to extend the main stand will run into problems because of the reduced parking spaces it might cause and the pressure that will be put on local streets... I sincerely hope I am wrong, but I have seen how elements of this Council operate at close quarters and its not a pretty sight. Ask the folks at Hopwood Hall ( the real Hall, not the College) what they think of RMBC and its attitude to supporting community projects.... (they held a public meeting last week which is on Youtube), the anger is palpable. |
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Reply | Shareholders AGM 2024
at 17:09 26 Nov 2024
Much ado about nothing. That there is so little to discuss compared to recent AGMs simply means the ship is out of choppy waters and the board are concentrating on other, bigger "stuff" . The day to day irritations are for discussion at a fans forum at an appropriate time, not the legally required AGM . . No news is good news.. the club is in safe hands. |
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Reply | Potential threat from the weather to Saturday's match
at 11:38 23 Nov 2024
Our six-fingered friends are out in force on their forum, apparently we didnt want the game on because we took the covers off yesterday as our 1st choice goalkeeper and striker are both injured.... this of course means we are tinpot and a range of other descriptions and unfit to be a football club...The Biffos are certainly living up to their nickname today.... |
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Reply | Hopwood Hall
at 17:04 20 Nov 2024
No, one is an FE college on the site of a former Catholic Teacher Training College, the other is a money pit... |
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Reply | The Bigger Picture
at 14:54 17 Nov 2024
Well spotted, my copy checking isn't what it used to be....but yes, Ernie would have been a wonder at this level.... |
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Reply | The Bigger Picture
at 13:53 17 Nov 2024
Interesting observations but genuine discussion is hampered by a lack of real information. 3 years to get back to the EFL and 5 years to become self- sustaining off the pitch are ambitions that may prove to be beyond our capabilitiesand take longer than planned. However, at least it is aspirational and signals intent, something we haven't had for donkeys years, if ever.
Achieving these ambitions may take longer than many seem to think they will, but there is no devine right to promotion and the cash required will be affected by economic headwinds particularly bearing in mind this is one of the poorest towns in the country and " benefits" from a council that has neither the vision nor political will to see an opportunity when it kicks the door in.
Much of this will be outwith the previous experience of the Ogdens despite their deep roots in Rochdales soil. They will learn quickly, I have no doubt, but their initial enthusiasm will undoubtedly be slapped in the face by the reality of dragging a club and town with a "can't do" attitude into higher realms.
As long suffering fans, our fortnightly traipse to the COA is a sort of medieval pilgramage, generally miserable with occasional excitement and the sustinance of beer and pies enjoyed in the company of friends and acquaintances. How we long for a new Jenkins, Taylor, Lambert , Holt or a Henderson in his pomp. Someone the kids of today will talk about to their kids, somehow I dont think Mitchell and Rodney will quite fit the bill. Essentially the fayre on offer is mediocre stodge, designed to subsist but not thrive.
The imagination being applied behind the scenes is not being replicated on the pitch , but what did we expect? Turning a supertanker around is a huge task, hopefully the promised changes will soon be put infront of us and the renewal will begin in earnest, the longer it takes the more the sense of unrest will grow.
Montgomery explained leadership with a piece of string laid on a table, if you push from the back end it goes where it likes, if you pull it from the front, it goes where you want it to... simple, we need more, clear, unambiguous leadership with a clear destination, route map, sufficient petrol in the tank and the manpower to do the job, I fear we have a way to go yet....but like good pilgrims, we keep the faith and we keep on keeping on, what else can we do? [Post edited 17 Nov 14:51]
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