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Reply | Former director?
at 06:42 3 Sep 2025
That's correct. A email pleading with fans to cancel the planned vote and pointing out the damage that those removing Bottomley and Rawlinson would do to the long term future of the club. The email has been retained i believe. A last minute desperate attempt by another charlatan who had infiltrated the club and has been proved to be a wrong'un. The worrying thing is that even at the end we still had some 'fans', i prefer to call them 'hangers on' who backed Bottomley etc 100% even after he left the club. In their eyes the problem was the 'trouble makers', the mob. Some of those people are still around the club and are now currying favour with the new regime. They were Bottomleys biggest backers and they know who they are. I suppose you get them at every club.
If anybody with a criminal background or of dubious character puts themselves in a position of responsibility at the club then i would like to think that supporters would sound the alarm, most of who are shareholders in the club.The Ogden family would expect that at a time when they are pumping millions of pounds into the club. To keep quiet wouldn't be normal. The alternative is to brush it under the carpet and look the other way, pretend it's something and nothing. The best way to deal with a boil is to lance it, we've seen what happens when you leave it to fester and as a club i would expect that we are now operating in a much more professional manner than we've seen in the past.
Can you imagine what state the club would be in now had the likes of Bottomley, Rawlinson, Grinrod etc been allowed to carry on unopposed? Something that some supporters would have allowed to happen had it been up to them. We'd have no club now. Thank god for the 'mob' and the 'toxic' troublemakers, the ones who put their head above the parapet and speak up if things don't seem right. Life long fans who love the club and don't deserve to be derided, especially by those who were nowhere to be seen when the bullets were flying and the club needed saving. [Post edited 3 Sep 8:21]
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Reply | Fred Ratcliffe
at 13:42 31 Aug 2025
I left school at 15yr old to go and work for Fred Ratcliffe as a spring maker. Didn't take my exams which i now regret. I did an apprenticeship which involved one day at Rochdale tech college or up at Robinsons engineering on Fishwick street. Judith and her brother Stuart were our bosses. Firm but fair. I still see Judith up at the Dale.The shop floor at Ratcliffe Springs was like the university of life, some proper characters who all looked after the young apprentices. We even had a football pitch adjacent to the factory. Fred would turn up in his blue Rolls Royce regularly, and on our last day before Xmas he would walk the factory floor and give us all our Xmas present...a mince pie and a can of Boddingtons. I could always get a flyer to catch the supporters club coach to midweek away games and as a Dale fan it was good to work for the Chairman of the Club. Got a lot of good memories from working there and still friends with a lot of springmakers. The pay was poor at that time though so eventually i left. Had it not been for Fred Ratliffe i'm pretty sure that Spotland would have been housing a long time ago. Fred Ratcliffe, David Kilpatrick, Chris Dunphy...three fabulous Chairman. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Wealdstone v Rochdale
at 17:03 30 Aug 2025
Great win against a decent Wealdstone team. Some good defending and Watmuff also did very well. Capitalise in our home game next week now and we're off to a great start. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Wealdstone v Rochdale
at 16:04 30 Aug 2025
Wealdstone are no mugs. Make sure we defend set pieces properly and we should be ok. We need to keep eleven players on the pitch also, don't give them any help. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Wealdstone v Rochdale
at 14:50 30 Aug 2025
A strong starting eleven, it's a pity Pritchard is missing but Tarryn has started the season well so it doesn't really weaken us. High tempo, quick passing and a bit of ruthlessness in front of goal should be enough to beat these. |
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Reply | Members who called the Trust EGM
at 09:40 27 Aug 2025
A Supporters Trust should be actively encouraging all members to contact them if they have any concerns in relation to the Trust or the club. If you look around our fanbase and any fanbase, not just ours, you can identify some fans who might need a little bit of help, or maybe suffer with a disability or health issue. We have now got a brilliant initiative up and running with Her Game Too. We are actively encouraging families, that in turn means young children. Now i would put all of those supporters as potentially 'vulnerable' people if there isn't safeguarding in place and as fans we all have a responsibility to look after each other, i would suggest even more so if its a supporter who might need help for whatever reason.
So we come back to safeguarding and best practice, as a club and as a supporters trust that is a very important aspect of their responsibilities, they have in their posession the personal details and data of over 2000 supporters between them. Some of those people will be classed as vulnerable and everyone of us has a right to expect that our data is stored securely, the person viewing it is of good character and trustworthy and that the data is used for its intended purpose and not divulged to other parties. It's commonsense but its also the law. A CBR check on those with access to personal data would be commonsense because expecting those with a criminal record to declare it themselves would be very naive. Best practice i think they call it. I'm confident George Delves will be aware of all that anyway, he's switched on.
If i raise a legitimate worry that i have with the Supporters Trust then i expect it to be treated with the seriousness it deserves and not to be castigated or made to feel guilty for coming forward. I would also expect them to investigate it without favour looking at all the information available and apply best practice to their thinking. Safeguarding issues need to be front and centre of everything now, the Ogden family would expect that. Those associated with initiatives like Her Game Too deserve to know that they are in a safe space and their welfare is a top priority. As a club we are now embracing community involvement and with that comes added responsibilty, the landscape of the club is changing for the good. So if we see something that doesn't seem right then speak up and report it. Nobody deserves to be stigmatised or derided for doing that. [Post edited 28 Aug 9:04]
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Reply | Atmosphere
at 08:03 27 Aug 2025
They've made a massive difference to the matchday experience in that stand. You feel like you're at a football match and their enthusiasm has most of the fans joining in with some of the songs. The drum will get on some people nerves understandably but it wouldn't be the same without it. As for the amount of flags around the stadium..thats just a fantastic effort by all involved, it gives you a sense of pride and belonging when you read them. It's our house now. |
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Reply | Members who called the Trust EGM
at 22:48 26 Aug 2025
We have no toxic fans. We have some fans who challenge things and ask difficult questions, wear their heart on their sleeve and get passionate about the club. We have fall outs and cross words, differences of opinions. None of that is being toxic, its called caring about the club. Nobody at the club is above criticism, well maybe the Ogden family are but you know what i mean. |
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Reply | Members who called the Trust EGM
at 22:40 26 Aug 2025
Yes, it's ridiculous it's come to this to be honest. The group challenging the process simply wanted to air their opinions in relation to the Trust Director role. Personally i thought the job spec was too involved and needed looking at. I was on the fence as to whether a Trust Director role was required or not. I think a lot of the group were in favour of the role. It wasn't a good meeting at all , i thought the Trust Board approached it with the wrong mentality which antagonised those present. Thats just my view. The Trust Board are there to act on behalf of the members, it didn't seem like that to me on the day. Its obvious now that we were viewed as a'mob' before the meeting actually took place. |
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Reply | Trailblazers?
at 21:29 26 Aug 2025
Not from one league game to the next league game they haven't. Its not unusual for it to happen from a league game to a cup game. |
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Reply | Members who called the Trust EGM
at 20:45 26 Aug 2025
Yes, agree with that. Not bothered how anybody on the Trust Board views me, it only needs good people to stay silent for bad things to happen. Let them get on with it.
Toxic five..probably some of the fans who put their life on hold to help save the club. Holding people to account and asking difficult questions is what all supporters should be doing. It doesn't make people toxic if its warranted. |
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Reply | Members who called the Trust EGM
at 20:12 26 Aug 2025
Glad you've posted this because i approached a senior member of the Trust last week with a serious safeguarding concern and was treated as though i was the problem, completely nothing to do with me. Something that was the topic of conversation between numerous fans pre- match in the bar and something that i thought the Trust needed to be aware of. I was spoken to as though i was the person at fault when all i had done was forwarded information that they really needed to be aware of. I thought they would have welcomed the information and thanked me for flagging it up.
I think they call it shooting the messenger, unfortunately though there are some things that shouldn't be brushed under the carpet. If it's not taken seriously by the Trust then i'll take it up with the club. All i did was report something that should be of concern to all Trust members and the Trust Board in particular. You can't say anything to the Trust though, disagree with them at your peril because any hint of criticism and they label you as a trouble causer. [Post edited 26 Aug 21:01]
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Reply | BBM Watch
at 16:57 26 Aug 2025
Still didn't care about the club. Good riddanpce to him, not a nice person. Didn't love the club, secret contract and a mate of Bottomley. His associates are poor also. Give me Jim McNulty and his shortfalls a million times over BBM and his lap dogs. Neither of them are welcome back to this club. Jim's done a decent job and when he leaves he willl be welcomed back even if things don't work out. BBM was our worst ever manager for numerous reasons. [Post edited 26 Aug 17:23]
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Reply | Is McNulty the 'worse manager we've ever had'
at 10:43 26 Aug 2025
Intelligence should never be confused with commonsense and that was highlighted at Brackley on Saturday. I do think McNulty is a intelligent fella, he makes some daft decisions along the way though and invariably they prove to be costly. He has Done and Taylor alongside him now, they really should be helping him with that and hopefully wont just be nodding dogs. Reflecting back on that defeat i know Jim is the main man but Taylor and Done must have also been fully on board with the team change, so refering to it as a coaching team decision might be fairer. You would like to think they are a think tank and honest and open debate is encouraged. [Post edited 26 Aug 11:06]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Sutton United
at 10:20 26 Aug 2025
Being ruthless and picking up points against the lower placed teams could well prove to be the key to winning this league. Respecting the point doesn't apply now that we have better quality player, a draw is two points dropped. If i'm being honest though i don't reckon McNulty believes we can win the league deep down and wont be targeting it. It's not in his nature to think like that. He'll be expecting York or Carlisle to be thinking in terms of going straight up because of thrir budgets. My hope is that Done and Taylor can instill a ruthlessness into our performances away from home but we saw none of it against Brackley. Win these next three games and we'll be flying and we are more than capable of doing that if we field our strongest available team in each game. [Post edited 26 Aug 10:31]
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Reply | Is McNulty the 'worse manager we've ever had'
at 08:16 26 Aug 2025
You would have expected us to look a lot fitter and fresher than Sutton yesterday after having the weekend off but we saw the complete opposite. We had several players who coudn't run up the pitch near the end of the game, totally sapped of energy. It doesn't help though when the manager is telling everybody that the players are tired. That second half was a worrying watch for me, we looked so low on energy and the game plan, decision making was non existant. Pinned back in our own half. It's airbrushed away when you listen to McNulty though but after the 50th minute of yesterdays game we let a poor Sutton team boss us all over our pitch.
We have talented players but are they fit enough? Walking football at Brackley and ponderous play in our own half again yesterday with EEL acting as the orchestrator on the halfway line. This team plays better with pace but as we saw at Brackley, when we dont shift the ball quickly it gives our opponents time to organise and set their defence and then we struggle to break them down. The blueprint to how we need to approach each game was the Gateshead game and keep the intensity up throughout by bringing in fresh players from the bench, high tempo football. That's how you utilise your squad, games last nearly 100 minutes these days so bring fesh quality and energy on in the last twenty minutes, tell those who start to empty their tanks in every game. Professional footballers should be able to hit those fitness levels and the intensity of the Barnet and York players last season showed the standards required. We seem to change the tempo of our play from one game to the next, probably more worried about our opponents than concentrating on ourselves.
We've made a good start but there's plenty for the coaches to work on, we need to keep improving now and get better. Winning against the poorer teams in the league is crucial and the fixture list has been very kind to us, we need to build up a points buffer now in the next few games and put pressure on other clubs. [Post edited 26 Aug 8:36]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Sutton United
at 06:20 26 Aug 2025
Excellent summary, we did defend well and Sutton utilised the tools they had at their disposal. It's early days yet with Watmuff and i've made my views known about young loan keepers but i thought yesterday his handling and positioning was very good. My worries about having a 17yr old in the net are easing, obviously he will make the odd mistake but he's the most composed young keeper i've seen and i already rate him better than any we had on loan last season, no histrionics does the basics right. You can see the defenders trust him also. A final word for Moss when he came on as substitute, he got stuck in and made a good contribution. |
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