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TVOS Preview - Rochdale v York City
at 09:46 27 Mar 2025

As a York fan, I was surprised how lethargic/off it Rochdale looked, then a bit less surprised when I learnt you were in the Trophy semi-final (try my best to ignore it even when we're still in it!). I can't speak for your own circumstances but we've had good runs in the Trophy in the past and seen how the lure of playing at Wembley can have an affect on players at this level. The last time we won it we were relegated to the National North weeks before, which doesn't tell the whole story but tells enough of it. The fact you're in the play-offs with games in hand means you're decent side, as much as this league has peaks and troughs quality wise, it's hard getting into them regardless, so I can't really think why else you played large chunks of the other night looking like a team at the end of the season with nothing to play for.

As for your managers comments about budgets, from the outside he comes across like he's fighting a cold war with the chairman (I guess most managers are) and that he's under pressure. Just comes over strangely defeatist for the manager of a club that's fighting on two fronts, anything can happen in the play-offs and you've got a great opportunity to go all the way in the Trophy.
From our perspective, I won't try and kid on that budgets are irrelevant because we all know that's not true, but last season we spent a fortune, to the kind of level that'd generally see clubs competing for titles. The problem is we spent it horribly in the main and avoided relegation by the skin of our teeth. This season we've spent it much better, although Felix and Pearce were frees for example (obviously disingenuous if we pretend that being able to offer attractive contracts isn't a big part of such signings and would we have even been in for them if Hinch wasn't in charge? Likely not) as was Male who was part of a Dorking side that shipped goals for fun. The 'headline' signing of Stones is still one for debate, not because he's a bad player but because it remains to be seen where he fits in, in fact it's not difficult to argue his inclusion coincided with a slump in form as we changed the way we played to accommodate, something put right the other night. In other words, having a big budget is one thing, managing it well another. All that said, we're still going to miss out on the title by a decent margin to a team that have kept to a way of doing things and patiently built. I'm waffling anyway, apologies, none of that is news to any of you as football fans! Gateshead are probably the best example of a club consistently doing it well on a good but not massive budget, especially if you're a club in a position to hang on to players.

Good luck in the Trophy, as much as many of us deride it as 'tinpot', it was undeniably a great experience winning it the first time (2nd time less so, your team singing 'champions' weeks after being relegated is a 'difficult' one), seeing your club lift a trophy at Wembley is special regardless.

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Yawkshur

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