Few nicknames in Dale history have been quite as disparaging as George Donnelly's, but he could never be accused of not giving his all during his time at Rochdale AFC.

Position: Striker

Appearances: 78

Goals: 13

Arrived from: Macclesfield Town

Left for: Tranmere Rovers

A goalscoring sensation in non-league, George Donnelly was never quite the prolific hero John Coleman or Keith Hill would've hoped for him to be at Spotland - but some of the supporters' criticism of the Liverpudlian striker was unfair.

Having been on the books of his beloved Liverpool for eight years as a youngster, George Donnelly first appeared on the non-league scene in 2007 featuring for Runcorn Town, where an impressive return of 11 goals in just 9 games alerted Northern Premier League side Skelmersdale United, where he played the following season while also working in a warehouse.

With Skem, Donnelly was unstoppable in an 18 month spell, racking up no fewer than 48 goals in 44 games and prompting, at the age of 20, a bid from Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle. Understandably ignoring interest from the likes of Southport and Fleetwood, a move so far away from home perhaps came too early for Donnelly and he would make just two league appearances for the Pilgrims in his 20 months at Home Park, with the majority of that time being spent out on loan.

A four game stint at National League Luton was followed up with two spells across two different seasons (and two different divisions) with Stockport County, where Donnelly found the net 12 times in total in 34 appearances. After the second spell, he joined National League side Fleetwood Town on permanent deal,

In his second spell at Edgeley Park, Donnelly had clearly done enough to endear himself to the Stockport supporters as infamously they voted in a Twitter poll at the beginning of the 2011/2012 season to say that they'd rather sign the 23 year old striker from the Cod Army over a certain Jamie Vardy, who'd just enjoyed a fine goalscoring season at Halifax Town.

County were unable to strike a deal with Fleetwood for Donnelly's services and bizarrely, he soon found himself out of the team at Highbury Stadium as Vardy had in fact made the switch there from the Shaymen and was firing in goals for fun to lead the Fylde Coast outfit to the Football League for the first time.

With first-team chances limited, Donnelly moved to Macclesfield Town, initially on loan before joining permanently, scoring six times in 28 appearances for the Silkmen but doing enough in that time to convince long-time admirer John Coleman to pay a fee for his services in the summer of 2012/2013.

Given that his goalscoring record in League Two and below had hardly been inspiring, it was something of a surprising move, and it took Donnelly a while to find his feet at Spotland too as he didn't find the net until his 11th appearance for the club - opening the scoring in a 2-3 away win against Coleman's former club Accrington Stanley.

It was clear by this point that Donnelly wasn't quite blessed with the most technical skills expected of a footballer at Football League level by this point. Although undoubtedly a workhorse, he would often get the ball caught between his feet, run down blind alleys and miss good chances in a blue and black shirt.

However, one thing that could never be questioned was his commitment. Donnelly would run constantly and would surely never give defenders a second on the ball with his pressing and harrying and he did have a degree of pace and strength - although for all of his physical attributes, he was never quite measured enough in front of goal to be a consistent finisher at the level.

It says enough for Donnelly's commitment that he retained his place in the starting eleven that season even when John Coleman was replaced by Keith Hill, and Hill was glowing in praise of his opinion-splitting striker at times, even comparing him to Grant Holt and tipping him for a big future in the game as he exercised the option on Donnelly's contract for a further season at the club.

Unsurprisingly, the striker's chances were more limited the following season as Scott Hogan returned to the club and immediately showed the kind of ability that would fire Dale to promotion and himself to a big-money move to Brentford. As a result, Donnelly was mostly used as an option from the bench in the 2013/2014 season - but still contributed very effectively at times.

A hugely important last-minute winner in a comeback win over Northampton in October gave belief to Dale supporters that the side could achieve promotion that season and Hill would again praise Donnelly's efforts in two of the final games of the season, the wins over Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham that secured a top three spot as he stood in for the injured Hogan and did the dirty work for the likes of Joe Bunney, Peter Vincenti and Ian Henderson.

A week after that win over Cheltenham, he gave all Rochdale supporters a memory they'd never forget too, scoring the opening goal at Newport County to put the club, albeit briefly, top of the League Two table on the final day. In typical Donnelly fashion, he had to slide the ball into the empty net on the rebound after firing the initial chance straight at the goalkeeper, but few Dale fans cared as they celebrated wildly in the stands following that goal.

Of course, Dale did slip to defeat in the end and Donnelly slipped down the pecking order that summer as Keith Hill strengthened his attacking options. Even so, it came as a huge surprise when, three games into the season, Tranmere Rovers decided to pay a fee in order to secure the striker's services and given that he wasn't the most popular player, fans couldn't believe the club's luck from their end of what seemed like a raw deal for Rovers. Donnelly departed having scored 13 times in 78 appearances for Rochdale, although it's worth noting that 36 of those 78 outings were from the bench.

Indeed, as those supporters foresaw, it didn't quite work out for Donnelly on the Wirrall, and he failed to score in his 11 appearances for the Whites. He spent the second part of that season on loan at Southport, scoring just once in 16 games, before returning to Skelmersdale and spending time with AFC Liverpool and Marine in non-league on Merseyside.

Today he works as a personal trainer and can occasionally be seen in videos from Liverpool's impressive Sunday League scene scoring some frankly obscene goals - which goes to show the difference between League Two and Sunday League, which may silence a few people who feel they could still do it at the professional level.

I felt at the time that Donnelly's detractors were overly harsh on him and looking back, I still feel the same. Although his finishing at times left more than a little to be desired and he was never going to be on the same technical level as team-mates like Ian Henderson and Scott Hogan, one thing supporters often claim is that they're happy as long as the players work as hard as possible on the pitch for the badge. In Donnelly, I feel we had someone who did exactly that.

Photo: Action Images

Frog added 21:07 - Jul 1 I always thought George was a grafter with a never give up attitude, not unlike Hogan. Unfortunately he didn't have Scott's eye for goal.
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