[FM10] Upped the Dale!

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

Rochdale A.F.C. are a professional football club located in the Greater Manchester metropolitan county. Formed in 1907, they joined the Football League in 1921, in the bottom division. In the years since, they have been promoted only once (ooc note: they also managed it this last season, the one that I'll be starting play with), in 1969, and were back in the bottom a mere 5 years later. Some derisively call the division (currently the League Two) the Rochdale Division as a result.

Needless to say, with such a record, honors have been few and far between. They do own the distinction of having been the only bottom division team to make the final of a major cup competition (League Cup in 1962, losing to Naarid..., er, Norwich). However, they've been knocking at the promotion door, being in the playoffs the last two seasons (07-08 and 08-09). Presumably, my first task will be to bash the door down and take them up to the promised land of the Not Bottom Division. Not unlike moving from Mississippi to Alabama.

The Dale play their games at Spotland, a cozy little park of 10,249, which is shared with a local Rugby League club. The ground has been Rochdale's home since 1920, with additions made slowly but surely. It's entirely closed in by stands, now, all-seater (except for one small standing area at the Sandy Lane End). It has had a new drainage system installed, after a few seasons of inability to play several scheduled matches and indeed some abandonments. I wont be having to worry about the stadium or its pitch for some time.

OOC Note:

I'm playing as manager of Rochdale as the result of a lengthy acquaintance online with an avid supporter. We both posted regularly on the message boards for The Straight Dope, and he found my interest in English footie interesting, given that I am an American. His usual participation on the boards from a soccer standpoint was spent bashing the “Red Sh*te” and explaining why it was useless to ever expect City to accomplish anything. But he always kept us apprised of the doings of The Dale, and always signed off his posts with “Up the Dale!” Sadly, he stopped posting this winter, I know not why, and I can only hope that he enjoyed the promotion of his black and blues to the third division.

I should also disclose that I've played as Rochdale's manager before, my very first effort on World Soccer Manager 09 (as it's called over here in the States). So I have some familiarity with the side, though, of course, there were some changes. However, I'll be approaching it totally differently this time. That time, after a season of muddling along without much effort (or any cheating) to see how things worked, I shamelessly manipulated results (usually through the save-reload process) to manage promotion to the Premiership, eventually (I was curious what happens in the game financially when you accomplish that). I then gave up after a few desultory Prem games, and moved on to a Leicester save (Foxes are the team I support).

This time I'll be approaching the game as if it were an LLM game. It doesn't qualify as such; I'm not starting low enough. But I won't be using searches of the database as a shortcut for scouting and legwork, I won't be save-reloading when I don't like what's going on, and I won't be taking advantage of various holes in the game to make my passageway easier. In short, I'll be trying to make this be as realistic as it can be, given that I'm a Sunday leaguer at best who's good enough to be the varsity head coach of a high school team (talk about fun times!), but who certainly would not have the attention of anyone with half a football brain when attempting to discuss tactics or technique.

So, onwards and upwards with our little adventure. Up the Dale!!!!!

[DSYoungEsq]

FM '10 v. 10.3

Custom DB: Large DB plus all players in the UK and Ireland.

Countries: Home countries (England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland), Ireland, Portugal, Australia, U.S., Mexico

All available leagues in each country loaded. All teams playable.

[SwiftyBlade]

Good opening, will be following

And with the 'cheating' in your previous game, the person I am currently sat next to is Sheffield United in his second season (Premiership) he did what you did to get promoted AND even took over Man City to buy players from Sheffield United for about £10/£20m a piece so he has money to spend... It does my head in a little, I can't (personally) see why people cheat, surley it takes the fun out of the game?

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: an assessment

Rochdale AFC vintage 2009 are a solid club. I'm handed the job at $1,300/wk, a very nice salary for a novice manager. Sadly, the board has high expectations and tends to agree with my assessment that the club is solid; they expect the playoffs at a minimum, don't allow me to set any other goal, and hand me $0 for transfers, though they begrudgingly are willing to let me increase the payroll by $2.5K per week. It's obviously a bit of a take-it-or-leave-it situation, and I'm sure I'll be talked about as being “under pressure” for most of the season. Well, if you can't stand the heat, get out of Mordor, they say!

The staff are not bad for a club of this level. I have an Ass Man, a GK coach, a Fitness coach, and two Youth coaches. I have two physios on staff, though the board would prefer only one. I also have a scout, and the board is willing to let me have two more, if I can figure out how to squeeze their wages into my limited budget. No more coaches, though, so unless I want to fire the youth coaches, there won't be a first-team coach. That means the poor Ass Man has to be the jack of all trades, as he does all training for the first team other than fitness and goalkeeping!

Fortunately, I've got a good Ass Man. David Flitcroft has been a Greater Manchester area staple since his birth in Bolton. He spent the bulk of his playing days at Chester, Macclesfield, Bury and Rochdale itself, Chester being the furthest away of the bunch. He's been the Ass Man at Rochdale for three years, since he gave up his playing career. He's a well-rounded coach, better than average at almost everything he needs to be (though I question his judgment about player potential). I find him hard-working, adaptable, and of a mind-set very similar to mine when it comes to playing styles and strategies. He and I will get along quite well, which I am happy about as I've heard stories from my friends of Ass Men who were somewhat less compatible.

Rochdale are affiliated with five different clubs (!): they are feeder club for Celtic and Oldham Athletic, and they are parent to Southport, Rossendale and Hibernians of Malta. I like the Celtic link; I have a fondness for Scottish players. Southport and Rossendale are natural local links, though I question the value of Rossendale, given how far down the pyramid they are. I find no good reason for the link to Oldham, since the assumption is that we'll be competing with them in League One soon, and the squad have no players from Oldham (who themselves have on loan about six!), so I'm going to ask that link be terminated pronto. As for Hibernians in Malta, it's a quaint idea. It's limited to them sending us their youth for playing time; supposedly this gives us the opportunity to evaluate possible signings. Malta not being a hotbed of outstanding soccer players, I don't see much use for the link.

(OOC note: I've read a lot of the back and forth on the “reality” of the feeder club setup in FM '10. If this was an LLM save, I'd dump the whole lot of them. As it is, I think I can keep the realism in check. I notice that Rochdale do tend to play Rossendale, at least, in friendlies, and it would make sense that, if you want to see your younger squad members developed through playing time, you'd choose a local club for that. As for Celtic, well, I'll just have to be good about not taking on loan the next great thing.)

One interesting note about the club. Rochdale are trying to economize. Therefore, there is no true Reserve team. There are 23 members of the first squad, and about 15 additional youth team members (three of the first squad are on youth contracts). Rochdale's board did decide to compete in the reserves league this year, which means I'll either have to round up some fodder to fill out a reserves team, or will have to play a lot of youth players for those games if I don't want to tire out the first team substitutes. I think we'll simply forgo the reserves team next season if I'm still around, and stay lean with our payroll. (OOC note: Rochdale actually have withdrawn this year from the reserves league they played in, and feel they can simply arrange friendlies as needed).

Structurally, then, I'm in a sound set-up. It's time next to meet the players and see what we'll be doing with them during the coming season.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale players:

The squad is very solid. There are no standout players, but there is a good core of quality signings, supplemented by four nice loan players. The main strength of the squad is up the center and right side of the pitch; the left side isn't as quality.

Here are the players for Rochdale AFC:

As you can see, the prize of the squad is CM Jason Kennedy. He's competent anywhere in the middle of the park, and can get out on the sides in a pinch. He has no real weaknesses, and although he's not overly good at any particular thing, he does have some height and heads the ball well. He'll be able to run the middle of the park in a standard 4-4-2 pretty well.

Behind him is Craig Dawson, bossing the center of the back line. Craig is fast and good in the air, which is a nice combo. He's not a marking meanie, so he needs someone more physical with him to do the dirty work, I think. Most of the time, at the start anyway, that's going to be Rory McArdle. However, I think I'll be trying to groom Marcus Holness for the other central fullback position. At 20, he's already well-rounded, and all the other CDs appear to be fast and tall, at the sacrifice of being strong and tough. I am mildly concerned about a lack of soccer intelligence across the back line.

Up top we have the Two Chrises, O'Grady and Dagnall. O'Grady is tall and fast, while Dagnall is fast and has good touch and finishing skills. Dagnall also is a workhorse; his work rate already impresses me in just a few practices. Usually, you have to give up some speed for the height factor, but O'Grady is just as pacey as anyone could want. I think it will be a potent combination.

Finishing off the center of the formation is the first of our loaned players, Jason Taylor. Notice we've borrowed him from Rotherham, where they have a glut of DM/CMs. Personally, I think he's as good as any they kept, but I'm more than happy to have him here to prove the point. He will be a very good holding mid, and can slide into the defensive mid slot when our formational needs require. He has mentioned in passing that his fellow DM/CM at Rotherham, Gary Roberts, is unhappy there, because of the glut of players at that position, and has been listed for transfer. I may pursue that shortly, since my backup CMs are not so hot.

On the right side of the park are two good players, Scott Wiseman at the back and Andy Howarth in the middle, the latter loaned from nearby Rovers. Both are decently fast, but they aren't just about speed. Howarth's lack of interest in defensive chores would bother me more if he wasn't backed up by Wiseman, who can cover the load. Also in the mix on that side is the two-footed youngster, Joe Thompson, who is very pacey, but who relies an awful lot on that pace and doesn't have tremendously well-developed skills either on attack or defense.

On the other side is the question mark. Tom Kennedy at the back is good enough, a well-rounded player, but not very pacey, so long probing forays up the left are not going to be his specialty. In front of him is a bit of a compromise, as I think I'll play natural striker Tope Obadeyi, on loan from Bolton, in the left wing; the alternative is to play Joe Thompson over there, and Joe's not nearly so good on the left as on the right, and with O'Grady and Dagnall up top, I would be having to squeeze Obadeyi into the squad as a striker. He will no doubt spend time spelling the Two Chrises, and it's nice to know that Thompson can spell him when needed.

The keeper is a loaner from Rovers as well, Frank Fielding. He's not very fast, and he's the epitome of “white men can't jump,” but he's got good communication skills and comes off his line well, according to my Ass Man. I've heard that he can be a bit unpredictable, but I hear that a lot and oftentimes don't see that it's as damaging in play as some make it out to be.

The backups are where we begin to see issues. To fill out 23 men for the first squad (one sub for each position plus a third keeper or floater), I have to drag up three youth players. Two of them, Josh Brizell and Callum Byrne, are at least decent youth players, with some potential. The third, Tom Buckley, has no present or future value at this level. He's hopelessly outclassed, and he's the only choice for a backup at left wing, after the ambi-sided Joe Thompson. And while Brizell isn't terrible, I'd hate to have to rely on him at left back if Kennedy gets injured for any length of time. Flynn on the right is decent replacement for Wiseman, Toner and Jones in the center can handle being called upon from time to time. But up top, the two C/Kallums (Byrne and Higgenbotham) are no replacement for the two Chrises! Higgenbotham will be good enough with time, but the future is now for Rochdale, and one Douglas Youngson, wet-behind-the-ears manager!

Finally, the substitute 'keeper is alright. Kenny Arthur is no great shakes, but in a pinch he'll do.

I'll discuss the youth team in a later post, after I've had some time to digest their relative merits watching them play. I'm leery of reaching premature opinions on youth; they so often play better than they look, if you know what I mean.

So, in summary, as I see it, the goals for strengthening the team are:

1)Find a good left-sided winger, which would free up Obadeyi to act as part of the strike force. While we are at it, let's also find a good backup at that spot, so we aren't relying on Tom Buckley ever. I can use Joe Thompson as a sub for most games on the theory that he can go either right or left as need be, but in case of injury, I want some solidity at that spot.

2)Find a good backup left fullback. Let's keep the marginal youth players where they belong.

3)Find some backup help at the striker position. If I can find a big bully to stick up there as a target, I'd like that.

4)Get a permanent goalkeeper. I dislike using loaners; this is one position you can get some real longevity out of, and they end up being the statesmen of the team. The nice thing is, you don't need to go young when you are looking, either; a good 32 year-old keeper will last for almost a decade.

5)Check into the rumor about Gary Roberts at Rotherham.

It's nice that none of these is an imperative. My starting 11 is solid. I'll have to be careful about finding help, given that there's no transfer budget. Gonna beat the old free transfer bush hard to accomplish what I've outlined.

[SwiftyBlade]

Good post there mate, although have you forgotten to put a screen shot in? You could try sending your scout out to various places (although UK seems to be the only option in League 2) to see if you can find anyone suitbable for the positions you are looking at, good luck with getting them

[DSYoungEsq]

I'll start posting screenies as soon as I can figure out where the Alt-F9 command sends them.

Doing PrtScr's and having to paste them into a paint program is for the birds. Civ and EUII both let you take screenies and they are already saved away for you.

[TIR669]

Read all of it, looks interesting.

Alt+F9 saves a screenie to My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\screenshots.

[DSYoungEsq]

That's what everyone says. When I go to that folder, no screenshots folder there. Do things work differently for the Steam version?

[DSYoungEsq]

Ah, as it turns out, it works just fine on the desktop computer; it's the laptop that won't let Alt-F9 work. Apparently, the laptop uses that key combination to turn on the software for the webcam. I'll have to figure out how to change the screenie shortcut in FM 10. Fortunately, the Rochdale save is on the desktop, so sometime Monday I should be able to get the promised screenshot up.

[unitedmadandy]

on laptops its ctrl+P to print screenshots

[DSYoungEsq]

Let's not talk cross purposes here!

Print Screen, a nice little function, is what you get from Ctrl-P. In FM '10, that offers you the option of sending the screen to a printer, or publishing it as a web page, or saving it as a text file. In the old days, if you hit the PrtSc button on your computer, it automatically sent the screen to your printer. Thus the name of the function.

Capture Screenshot, a different nice little function, is what you get from Alt-F9 in the game. This saves a .png image file of your screen at that moment. It does not send it to the printer. You can then retrieve the screenshot image file and manipulate it like any other image file.

Sadly, sometimes these two functions get conflated, either by software or by the hardware people. I remember that, for at least one game I've played incessantly in the past, hitting the PrtSc button would Capture Screenshot. And, of course, in many computers now, hitting that button does not result in the automatic attempt to print the screen, but simply gives you an image on your clipboard. Thus, the public has tended to conflate the two funtions as well.

I have figured out my laptop. As long as the integrated webcam's controlling software is loaded, Alt-F9 is overridden to pull up the camera's control menu. When the software is exited, the Alt-F9 keystroke does what it's supposed to in FM '10. This means that I'll probably want to re-map the keystroke to something that the camera doesn't override.

On my laptop, btw, the PrtSc button is one of several blue "Fn" keystrokes available, and captures a screenshot to the clipboard for pasting into a paint program.

Whenever I find myself frustrated with this sort of thing, I merely remind myself of having to program boot sequences into mini-computers by flipping dip switches and setting the code byte by byte, or having to re-sort old Hollerith punch cards. By comparison, this is easy-peasy!

[DSYoungEsq]

Well, through dint of labor, I've got a screenshot of the team up, and have links to screenies of the players and important info. So y'all can go back and see it the way it was meant to be.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Preseason doings

Well, it's been a very unusual pre-season for The Dale. I have only been able to find one scout possibly worth hiring. He's recommended by my staff, but he didn't answer the advert I had out for scouts. Those that did probably have trouble finding the milk for their cereal in the morning, even when it's in a clear glass bottle. So poor Mr. Forrest has been doing yeoman's duty, scouring the English countryside for eligible players. I've also had him compile report cards on various participants in the trialist matches held in the home countries; one or two plums shook out of that tree, which shows that reading the fine print of the sports pages can actually be of value, now and again. All in all, he's compiled 62 reports for me in a month, pretty amazing results.

The trouble is, most of what he's found hasn't been of much use to me, because of the wages issue. I'm down to about $2K in available wages, with $0 transfer funds (as I started with). I had to offer some of my better youth pro contracts as they turned 17, since they are just good enough I don't want them slipping away from me, yet. That means I've got enough money to hire three good signings who want around $650/wk in wages, or two good $1K men. Sadly, of course, the players who would actually upgrade the squad are going to cost from $1500 to $2500 per week, which even if I can manage to scrape up the cash for one of, leaves me with no money for anyone else.

That's why, after a lovely trial with me, Gary Roberts of Rotherham was sent back to his club. He's good, but he's a DM/MC, and while it would be nice to have a DM, it's more important to fill the left-sided holes, and Roberts was going to cost around $2K. Same with some other trialists I had in; it's like tempting yourself with candy you simply cannot afford to buy. Sigh.

And it turns out that good left-sided players are few and far between this summer. The ones I've wanted to get are pricey. I was beginning to think I was going to get no where in this. But, in the end (I hope), the solution came along and whacked my upside the head, while simultaneously tripping me, holding me down, and sitting on me until I finally figured out that it was a solution.

The solution resulted from the conjoined difficulties of two other issues. First, I noticed that Rory McArdle, projected starting center back, was going to be out for some four months. I didn't want Marcus Holness to have to step up so soon. I wanted to see about taking on loan someone to cover the start of the season. Fortunately, I found Gary MacKenzie, from Dundee's Reserves, where he was listed for transfer and for loan. His price on transfer, combined with his probable wages was just out of my reach, but he made an excellent loan candidate.

Then, in late July, an injury crisis hit, the result of a perfect storm of injuries during friendlies. I was suddenly faced with an almost complete lack of center mids. I quick like a flash got my Ass Man looking for someone, ANYONE to get on loan. Lastly, Celtic sent word that they wanted to send me Luca Sontonocito, who, as it turns out, plays best as a center mid. As if all this weren't enough, I was scheming to land Liam Henderson, who was toiling away for the Watford Reserves, where he wasn't going to do much of anything, but he was, of course, out of my price range. He was, however, listed for loan.

Well, you don't have to beat on me too many times before I can see my way through the fog. I promptly brought in all three on loan, plus a nice ML, Matt Ritchie, in the Portsmouth Reserves who showed up on the list my Ass Man sent me of availables. I managed to negotiate all of them, except, ironically, MacKenzie, for 0% of wages (MacKenzie I have an option to buy for $10K during the loan, which I might exercise, depending on how he does). The result: for the most part, crisis solved.

Through this happy horsepoop, there was the little matter of friendlies. The first one against Celtic at home was a better match than the scoreline indicates. We scored first (on an own goal forced by a lovely cross), then held them scoreless until late in the first half, when they managed a double salvo in the last five min., one on a perfect screamer from 30 yds out. Five minutes after the restart, Keane scored on a breakaway that made my keeper look silly, and then we settled down and held them the rest of the way, even threatening to score a second on several occasions. I sent the U-18s to play the Glen Hoddle boys; not sure why I ever agreed to play the match cause the players are too pricey for my blood, and over-priced by a fair degree, to boot. Ebbsfleet hung an ugly loss on us, 0 – 2 at their place, in a match that not one of my players managed to get a rating of 7 from. Clearly some work was needed.

From there we thumped Rossendale soundly (as we should!). We dominated the whole thing. However, the sign of the times to come arose: two injuries, one to J. Kennedy, a twisted knee that was projected to keep him out of the squad for a month. Scared at this, I sent a mostly youth team into the lion's den that was the visit from Aston Villa; no one had bothered to tell M O'N that you don't play the first string deep in a friendly against an L2 team! In the Southport friendly 4 days later, I again had a youth team playing. This was because in between the two, the idiots in the front office had scheduled Leicester City, as if it was natural for a squad of 22 to play three games in five days against Villa, Foxes and anyone else! But I couldn't kill the Southport match without killing the association with the club, and I didn't want to kill the Leicester match, cause that one was actually one I wanted, so there you go. We played exceedingly well against Foxes, after conceding an early goal, shutting up the shop good and actually had the better of play in the second half (though Leicester didn't let us into the box much). I was proud of that 0 – 1!

But the injuries were piling up, and the 2 – 2 with Oldham was a real battle. Lost another MC in the game. Scored early on a free kick just outside the box, which had resulted from a foul that put Oldham down to 10 men (breakaway). Then proceeded to pretend we didn't know how to play the game, and actually let Oldham go in at the half up 2 – 1. I read them the riot act at halftime, we came back, scored early, but then did nothing but waste chances in front of the net.

Fortunately, the next day, Celtic made their loan idea known and I've spent the last week plugging holes. One of my brighter ideas is to invite some Portuguese players in for trials; I can't scout my “motherland”, but my relatives keep me informed of doings, sending me clippings and the like, and I liked what I read about some of their trialists. We'll see how their trials with us go; might be able to plug the hole at left back (sub) and maybe even sneak a keeper out of the deal.

So, with much too much having been said, here is where we stand going into our first match:

Rochdale's original squad on 8/7/09, after friendlies.

The new, improved Dale, with loan signings, ready for battle.

Girded for battle, The Dale head into the fight!

[Nobby_McDonald]

This is far too long for my liking.

Good luck with it though DS.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

Well, the first month of the League has finished, and Rochdale are meeting expectations. We stand in third place, with an Opening Day draw and a poor result on the road mixed in with three very solid wins. Of course, if one of the wins had been a loss, we'd be solidly esconced in the mid-table, so I'm not taking too much heart, yet.

The result at Cheltenham was the best. As you can see, we completely dominated the game. Other than a slight spell of leakiness in the back, we didn't let them sniff the goal. It also temporarily put us in 1st place, though the next game away at Rotherham quickly dispelled our pretensions. In that game, former Rochdale favorite, Adam Le Fondré tore us apart regularly, despite my having warned the side that he would be out to show his money move had been justified.

Much more disconcerting was the result against Forest in the League Cup. Four of the five of the goals were the result of abysmal marking by the fullbacks, who appeared to simply stand and watch as players went around them. I don't recall what exactly I said to the squad after that match, but I do know I made an impression. The defense has been solid, since, even in the game they lost. Fortunately, my employers didn't expect anything in the League Cup, so they refuse to judge me harshly for our demolishing.

I've been trying to slowly upgrade the squad. It's hard to do, of course, with the very limited budget at hand. I keep getting glowing reports from my scouts, I bring players in for trial, and they make wage demands I simply cannot meet on my budget. I did sign a second scout, Les O'Neill, who impressed me with his likely dedication to the job, as much as by his decent ability to evaluate talent. I sent him up north to root out likely players in relatively impoverished Scotland. I also continue to bring in players from Portugal on trial who's reported results back in July at the Trialists game impressed me.

One of those Portuguese impressed me, and had a decent price. André Cunha is not a world-beater at left-back, but he will do well enough if Tom Kennedy needs to be spelled. With this signing, I am convinced I can challenge for the season with the squad I have, having decent coverage for every position. I'd still like to get a dedicated DM in, for those times when you know you are parking the bus before the game even starts, but I also have my eyes on a third scout, who was recommended to me by the staff, and who has excellent credentials; I hope to send him off to France or Ireland to beat the bushes there for future signings, especially youngsters. I'm going to have a report on the U-18s here soon, and since we are not carrying a full Reserves squad, we need to get some really good youth on board so we can replenish the squad as we go, or sell them off for enough money to finance new acquisitions.

Finances are doing okay; we've essentially held even this month. I'm hoping our participation in the FA Cup and the Johnstone's Paint Trophy see us through to some interesting enough matches that we get televised, which always reaps decent financial rewards. I've only got about $900/wk in salary room, and if I sign the scout, $600 of that will be gone (unless I sack my superfluous physio), so I'm going to have to do further acquisitions on the cheap.

[SwiftyBlade]

Working with a small budget is always tough, but very addictive

[DSYoungEsq]

Working with a small budget is always tough, but very addictive

I find I have to sit on my fingers. I'd probably be better off simply sending the scouts on holiday for the year so I don't read all sorts of tantalizing reports.

[LUHG]

Good read!

Rochdale is my home town club and I must say your knowledge of the place is quiet astonishing.

[DSYoungEsq]

LUHG, thanks, it's nice to hear that! I love learning about the location and the club; it's a bit of a vicarious experience. I'm glad that I seem to be getting it right.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Slippage - 9/30/09

The last month has seen some slippage in our position, though two recent wins have recovered some of the damage. Meanwhile, we are working within our very limited budget to secure some hope for the future, by signing youth players of quality. Sadly, our squad still relies too much on loaned players for my liking, a trend which continued this month when one of the Two Chrises up top picked up a bad injury.

Our initial joy at surviving the first JPTrophy hurdle is quickly dampened by the Moorecambe result. Continuing our trend from August, we yield up the Goal of the Month for Sept. to Paul Mullin of Moorecambe, who one-times a screamer from the edge of the area. A worrying trend appears in the game: sloppy play at the back combined with poor finishing up top. This is a recipe for disaster. Although the back end tightened up against Torquay, the front end fired 18 blanks at the Gulls (perhaps distracted by the bright yellow kits!).

The nadir of this suicidal approach to footie came against Northampton, who come very close to being bottom-propers. Our keeper gets chipped 32 min. into the game, after Chris Dagnall gets stretchered off with a torn groin muscle that will be keeping him in front of the telly on Saturdays for at least two more months. Finally, in the 83d min., it dawns on the lads that failure to score a goal means they will lose the game, with all the attendant humiliation, so Ritchie comes through to save their blushes. Of course, the 1 – 1 result should still have them quite red-faced.

The good news is that this seems to have impressed upon the lads that the game is best played by scoring many, and yielding few. The result against Hereford was especially pleasing, as they were 9th at the time, one place behind our own low-spot. The Darlington game, and the upcoming Burton game will hopefully provide a breather and some needed confidence. Sadly, the upcoming trip to Huddersfield, who are promotion candidates for the Championship, will likely doom our continued presence at the JPT draws this year.

I've focused efforts on improving the squad through youth acquisitions. You will recall we have essentially a $0 transfer budget. I freed up some salary money by letting some of our youth players with no real future go. In their place, I've brought in Matthew Brown, Jordan Hatton, Oliver Nicholas, Steven Page and Peter Varga. In addition, I've taken on loan a real gem: 17-year-old John Marsden. Marsden's presence has already been felt, as he's making up for the loss of Dagnall.

Rochdale Reserves Sep 09

Rochdale Youth Squad Sep 09

My efforts to improve the squad will be helped immensely by our newest, and best scout, Pat Holland. He's off turning over rocks in Ireland for us. I feel quite confident that my three new scouts will be the mainstay of a long-term improvement in our fortunes.

Monday morning staff meetings are now getting quite dull. Lacking any real money to spend, we simply sit and drool over the people the scouts report to us, talk about how much we'd love to see Spotland filled to the brim, and sit on our hands so that we don't do anything really, really stupid.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Recovery - 10/31/09

October was a month of clawing. We clawed our way back up the table a bit; we clawed out some good results against superior teams in the cups. The whole month has seemed like a big battle just to get anywhere. I am sure that part of this is because we simply cannot do much in the way of strengthening the squad, thanks to the limited budget. But month's end sees us sitting within a couple points of the automatic promotion spots.

Position Table

Rochdale Squad

We start the month in a very sloppy fashion. Against 17th placed Burton, we give up a goal in the 11th min. on a long goal kick by Burton. The rest of that game was filled with poor efforts, though ironically Mr. Cunha manages to get MoM. Even more ironically, on that same day our U-18s take down the Liverpool youth 2 – 1! I ranted at the players a bit, and at least it seemed to stop the slippage.

The rest of the month followed a simple theme: score very few goals and hope the opposition can be limited to none of their own. It worked in the sense that we didn't lose any more games. The win against Barnet was actually left until the waning moments; the 0 – 0 result at Grimsby Town was not the snooze-fest the scoreline would indicate. If you like watching your team squander plenty of chances, you'd have been quite happy that day! But this theme of low-scoring efforts needs to come to an end; we need to start springing O'Grady to better results.

It was the cup results that raised the eyebrows. Facing Huddersfield in the JPT, we scraped a 0 – 0 result despite giving them 21 shots to 3 of our own. Fortunately, we have an awesome keeper, who saved two of the PKs, and we moved on. Leeds are up next, a stern challenge to come. Then, who should we draw in the First Round of the FA Cup but Huddersfield, again at their place! The pattern of the game (played on 11/7, but I'm sneaking it into this report for the compare/contrast effect) was identical, though this time they only managed 15 shots (to our 2). Now, we get to face them at Spotland, with BSP side Kettering Town waiting to travel to the winner's home.

The only new player is Aaron Greene, a 19-y.o. AM L/FC who is speedy. He was a steal, and so I couldn't resist adding him. I knew that Matt Ritchie would be leaving us at the end of the month, and I cannot re-loan him this season, so I need someone else to slip into that slot when Tope Obadeyi cannot play there. The lack of funds makes my Monday Staff meetings quite boring still; we've taken to sampling various cheeses, though we had to change cheese shops, since the local one tended to be out of most anything we wanted to try. Even Cheddar.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Treading Water - 11/30/09

Question: If you are treading water, do you have to keep your mouth above the water?

Position Table

Rochdale Squad

The month started with the FA Cup tied game against Huddersfield, chronicled last month. This set up a return battle at Spotland, where, if we could simply manage another such stalemate, we might be able to sneak another grand win on penalties. Sadly, when we finally played the replay, our players lost the plot, and actually scored the opening goal! I knew then and there we were done for, and indeed, the game was level again within five minutes. We grimly hung on until about halfway through the closing half, the usual pattern being repeated (tons of Huddersfield shots, none of our own). Eventually, Huddersfield found an opening, and took the lead. At that point, caution was thrown to the wind (hopefully, the local channel's weathercaster was alerted so he could warn those downwind!), and we pressed forward for an equalizer of our own. For a change, we proved we could press them, and our spirits were boosted by the 78th min. dismissal of a Huddersfield midfielder to a straight red. But, despite several good chances, we simply couldn't break through. Now, we console ourselves with the thought of our uncongested fixture list.

The JPT didn't go any better. Our fans joyfully welcomed the fans from our near-neighbor in the midlands; our Board joyfully filled its coffers with their ticket fees. Then we looked on as Becchio and Beckford showed why Leeds are destined for the Championship. Indeed, for large stretches of the game, it appeared that our fullbacks were watching the show, too, to judge from their impressive imitations of standing stones on the Salisbury plain. 0 – 3 Leeds, in an awful display.

Fortunately, the league is going somewhat better; the forwards have begun to realize that scoring two or more goals in a game actually helps us out. Chesterfield and Notts Co went down to 2 – 1 defeats at Spotland, games that were cut from the identical blueprint (hit two before the break, then sit back and eventually let the opponent have dying moment hopes). Of course, these displays bookended a truly disappointing result away at Dagenham and Redbridge. That game saw an awesome display of offensive firepower in the first quarter of the game, after which both teams tried very hard to break the 2 – 2 lockup. Sadly, we let them succeed in the 83rd min., after which the lads simply had no answer left. This game was a “massive 6-pointer” as they say, since we went into it in 3rd, with Dag & Red sitting just above us by a point. We look forward to the rematch in late Feb. at Spotland.

So we finish the month as we started, esconced in 4th place, just out of the automatic spot by goal differential. December brings some matches against the bottom of the table, so we will hopefully scoop up some points there. We've added a 16 yo DR on a youth contract, that being the sort of deal we are limited to at present. The reserves and the youth still outperform their expectations, so in the long run, we may be able to support our efforts if/when promoted. It's all about the mo, now. Up the Dale!

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: The Dale: Half a Season Onward – Boxing Day, 2009

Rochdale AFC continue to bump along just within taste of the riches. But the team lacks a true, defining character. As a result, the results are inconsistent, just enough so to keep us from becoming one of the elite. We appear to like to flirt, but are scared to death of commitment. So we have wound up the first half of the season pretty much where we've been for some time: in touch with glory, but equally in touch with ignominy.

Position Graph

Squad

Our first match of the month, against Bradford City, was postponed due to the perpetually waterlogged pitch at Valley Parade. This gave us some time to heal up and rest up. But you wouldn't have been able to tell it from the form we showed thereafter. A very agonizing 0 – 0 draw against lower-end dwellers Macclesfield showed that our inability to maintain a consistent front two has hamstrung our striking power. No sooner did Chris Dagnall come back from lengthy injury rehab than Chris O'Grady, the league's leading assist man, fractured his ribs. Fortunately, young John Marsden, 17, on loan to us from Celtic, has found his scoring touch. But the deft assists are still going wanting.

The stupidity of the result against the Silkmen was amply displayed by the excellent result against Lincoln away the following Saturday. Lincoln have been shadowing us on the league table; rarely have we been separated by more than one place. They were quite up for the game; after our lovely goal in the 31st minute we had to hang on for dear life. Had we played with that commitment the week before, Macclesfield would have left the pitch in baskets, wondering when they had joined an NBA game!

It was against Shrewsbury that my patience came to an end. After a tense opening 30 min., we manage a wonderful goal by mercurial loan Tope Obadeyi. I've been begging this guy to play to his capability; he's sulked ever since Bolton sent him to us. But as I'm enjoying this long-overdue display of ingenuity, we allow the opposition to walk the ball the length of the pitch and fire one home within two min. As I watch the ball go through my back line like a spoon goes through Jell-O, I'm told by my Ass. Man. that the central back I've been counting on to be the glue for our defense has decided I'm a footballing idiot, so he doesn't want to put out for me. After watching a couple more insipid displays from him, I yank his ass off the pitch, and make it clear after the game that I expect no more such nonsense. It seems to have worked; his stats since are much better.

Meanwhile, on the 23rd of Dec., we finally get to play our postponed game in hand against Bradford. After a listless first half (we seem to have motivation issues against teams at the bottom of the table), we finally come alive, and manage a pretty stiring 2 – 1 second half victory, in which GK Fielding is the MoM. Of course, this propels us into 3rd place Heaven, so we promptly drop the next game away to Crewe, in a game where any evidence of footballing skill on our part was, I am sure, quite unplanned and totally coincidental to the fact we were on a football pitch.

So the half-way point sees us in 4th Place in League 2. We've been crashed out of the cup competitions. We need to play a slightly better second half if we intend to accomplish our goal of promotion without the lottery of playoff games. The squad looks decent, and we are far and away the leaders in the league in being stingy at the back. But our inability to manufacture scoring opportunities is beginning to catch up to us. I'm beginning to think they need to be sent onto the pitch carrying lamps, in search of an honest goal...

[CoachFlu]

Doing well.

Looks like you need to increase the goal bonuses though. Or award something other than money for every goal scored. Like a piece of underwear from the manager's wife. Or a pony.

[DSYoungEsq]

Doing well.

Looks like you need to increase the goal bonuses though. Or award something other than money for every goal scored. Like a piece of underwear from the manager's wife. Or a pony.

"One day, a man was walking down a country road. As he passed a farm, he saw a large mound of horse manure sitting in a field. To his surprise, a little boy was digging into the mound, bare-handed. The boy was furiously throwing the horse dung aside right and left, and, in the process, getting quite filthy. The horrified man yelled quite loudly to the little boy, 'Hey there! Son! What do you think you are doing??' Replied the little boy: 'With all this horse manure, there's got to be a pony in here SOMEWHERE!!!' "

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Smoke and Mirrors - 2/1/10

Well, we did it again. We sat for a single half-week in third place, and promptly crashed back down to 4th. But this month (augmented by the end of Dec.), we began to dig ourselves a hole that may end up a grave in the not-so-distant future. Anyone looking at our performances and then seeing where we sit on the table would insist that black magic had to be involved somewhere.

The Squad and Tactical Set-up

Position Graph

Playing six matches and winning one isn't what I envisioned when I told the lads we needed to improve upon the first half of the season. Losing to league leaders Rotherham wasn't such a bad result, though it is galling to watch Rotherham top the table through the prolific efforts of one Adam Le Fondre. For those who aren't up on such things, Mr. Le Fondre spent the previous two seasons (and part of the one before that!) as the top goal scorer for – wait for it – yeah, you guessed it, Rochdale AFC. He got delusions of grandeur, we thought, and insisted upon transfer to a team that could actually make it out of the “Rochdale Division”. “Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out,” we thought, smugly. Well, the club did; they let him go to Rotherham before I got here. Had they bothered to ask ME, I'd have said he was not someone they wanted to let go, but that's all water under the bridge.

Or so I tell myself as I watch him piling up what will eventually be twice the number of goals he ever scored for the Dale.

Anyway, we kept him off the scoresheet. Sadly, we didn't keep Rotherham off it, allowing an 89th min. penalty to seal our fate. But, as I said, that's not so bad.

It was losing to 21st placed Cheltenham that finally made me blow my stack. That game was a total disaster. We spent the first half doing nothing of much note, but at least we weren't letting them have much, either. Then, after my stirring speech of “let's go out there and win it for the supporters, and we can win this, and the pressure's off and you can just let the result flow!” (I'm not sure which I said; it all blurs after a while, since it obviously is of no value what I say; I'm sure I could simply say: “have at it” and I'd have as much success!), they proceeded to ignore opposition strikers with balls at their feet not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Fortunately, only twice were the bums able to put the ball in the net. The second one looked like a Keystone Cops video. To top it off, my deep-lying midfielder managed to go batty with several fouls over the course of the next 7 min. and thrown off the pitch for his trouble.

This all, of course, happened when we had managed to scrape our way into, yeah, you guessed it, Third Place!

It's been clear to me for some time we need more strike power. Fortunately, one of my staff recommended Steve Marlet, who for reasons related to his age, was toiling along with a relatively obscure French club. Realizing he was easily better at 37 than any of my current crop of strikers, we offered the French club to take him off their hands. He promptly held us up for a stiff salary, which in my eagerness to have goals I was willing to pay (though likely I'm overpaying him by at least a factor of 50%). I was worried about his condition and age, but with the exception of two games in April, we are only playing on a weekly basis from now til the end of the season, so it should all be good. See how he compares to the aforesaid Adam Le Fondre.

Or, at least it would be if we could simply manage a few weeks with both Chris' healthy!. No sooner was O'Grady back to partial training than Dagnall managed to injure himself again, and will be out for at least two months. This made me even MORE glad I grabbed Marlet. And the good news is that O'Grady grabbed himself his league leading 13th assist in the Bury game. So maybe we can scrape together some respectability.

The final news is that I found I have a temper. About New Year's Day, Kallum Higgenbothem, who was filling the shoes of left wing while Tope Obadeyi was injured, and who was admittedly doing a good job of it, rejected my suggestion that he start trying to utilize the channel rather than always hugging the touchline. I don't like hearing “no” from players; he was transfer listed and out the door inside of two weeks. That surprised me; I'm usually not very phased by such things. But it was quite satisfying when I got the news that he had apologized to me in the press for whinging on about it. It was even more satisfying when I sent him packing even after the “apology.” I notice that my central defender isn't acting as if I'm not worth playing for any more, so maybe they just needed to see I had a backbone.

Now, if only we can get on with winning, rather than our currently cheap Las Vegas Strip magic act!

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Riding the Ragged Edge - 3/1/10

The Yell. That's what they will call it around here. It's the sound that escaped my throat in the 90th minute of the game held at Moss Rose on 2/28/10. It came right after “The Goal”, or at least, the most recent version of that beast. And so, after riding the very edge of disaster, The Dale are now in control of their destiny. But March will be crucial; after the next three games, the rest of the season is against the bottom of the table.

Position Graph

The Squad

In looking at my notes from the month, I see that almost all the games have the notation “must win!” attached to them. It was a very important month for us. Going in, I knew that the game on 2/20 would be huge, as Dag & Red are in 2d place and we have struggled to keep them in touch. Last time, you may recall, we had them held at their place 2 – 2 until the very end of the game, when they thumped two past us to win. This time, I envisaged a different result, one that would propel us into the guaranteed playoff spots for good.

Too bad no one clued in my players as to the plot.

We did ok with the two games leading in; a home win against then sixth placed Crewe, and an away draw against Notts Co. But those two games did offer up a sample of issues that continue to plague us, namely, lack of our own firepower and a worrying tendency at the back to let opposition strikers waltz in on goal and shoot unmolested. Those are not habits you want your players to inculcate.

Dag & Red made the most of those tendencies. We scored in the second minute when my new French signing took a breakaway pass and buried it past the keeper. From that point on, we hardly sniffed the goal, and the Daggers were allowed to run through our middle (once for 50 yards! without a single attempted tackle!) on both their goals. But in this crazy world we live in, the loss actually GAINED us a spot on the table (Shrewsbury lost by more, and GD is where it's at, baby!).

So, of course, we proceeded to do even worse against Bradford, who have been steadily rising to the top portion of the table since we last played them. I tried 3-3-2-2 on the recommendation of my Ass Man, but of course it was a total failure. The scoreline of 2 – 3 flatters us, since they let us score a screamer in the 90t min. to let us have some pretend hope. And to add injury to insult, Dawson was stretchered off and will be out for over a month, leaving my back line looking quite weak.

So, of course, it was with trepidation that we travelled away to Moss Rose for a rare Sunday night TV appearance. Saturday's results had put us into 7th place, as the top of the table is quite packed up, and all the competition managed wins, except for Shrewsbury. I tried as hard as I could to impart to my troops the enormity of the game. And to be fair, it's clear they knew they needed to do well; the Silkmen got two shots on my goal. We peppered them with well over twenty. None of which went in.

That is, until J. Kennedy scored “The Goal”, a screamer from outside the area, and The Yell was heard!

In other news: I applied to be Algeria's coach, because I can't resist a certain amount of silly behavior. I was, of course, rejected. When they fail to do well at the World Cup, I'll point and laugh.

[DSYoungEsq]

Just had to boast about the next result:

About time was all I had to say.

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: Running the Gantlet - 4/1/10

Sixth, fifth and fourth. Those were the relative placings of the Dale's first three March opponents. That's a steady diet of really tough opposition. Three massive six-pointers which could have dumped the team into mid-table oblivion. Fortunately, the team rose to the challenge and, as a result, should be able to see out the remainder of the season as automatically promoted. And, in the process, they managed to prove they could still score plenty of goals.

Position Graph

The Squad

Early in the season, the team had managed three separate times to nail three past the opposition keeper without response. But since those early, halcyon days, the pickings for thumping wins had been quite slim. The Lincoln game, then, was quite the shock. Not only did our boys pound in four unanswered goals, but one of them finished in 3rd place in Goal of the Month consideration. Furthermore, the fullbacks never offered any hint of weakness. It was a hopeful sign of good things to come the rest of the month.

For once, the team didn't flatter to deceive. Newly signed Frenchman Steve Marlet spared the team's blushes against Shrewsbury with an 89th min. strike. However, he's left hanging his head a minute later when, almost directly from the restart, he steals the ball and takes off on a nice breakaway that left him one-on-one with the keeper, only to scoop the ball over the net. The next game, against Accrington away, sees the Dale grab an early lead, only to give it up late with an own goal on a wicked cross cum shot to the back post. By finishing the Accrington game still in third place, the team had run their Valley of Death, and emerged if not with the full 600, then at least with a goodly portion.

The finishing match of the month against lower end dwelling Grimsby was almost anti-climactic. Chris O'Grady's role has turned from provider to producer, and with another two-goal game, he has firmly cemented himself as the top scorer for the club this season. The only worrying trend is the continued ability to play down to the opponent; with a steady diet now of bottom-half teams, this needs to stop.

We did take one step to strengthen the squad. We did grab on loan Sunderland's Australian center-mid, Dylan McGowan. This was primarily to act as cover for Jason Taylor. We now think our squad is sufficient to last the rest of the season. We play seven April matches, so depth of squad is a concern, and McGowan helps us avoid a nasty surprise if Santonocito and J. Kennedy both get injured.

April, then, should be about finishing off our goal of promotion. I doubt we can catch Dag & Red, let alone runaway and hide leaders Rotherham. Still, with a mostly cream puff opposition to come, we shouldn't be looking at any real slippage into the playoff lottery. Up the Dale!

[DSYoungEsq]

Interim update: We're in 2d place now, a point ahead of Dag & Red, with Rotherham already locking up the championship. 6 games to go. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop!!!

[DSYoungEsq]

Up the Dale!

The Dale: It's the Rochdale Division no more!

I have never been so emotionally up and down as during the last month-and-a-half of the season. We entered April with 8 games to play, sitting in third place by a single point. Behind us were plenty of teams steaming towards the finish line, with that third-place spot in their sights. We started grandly, and got it up to 2d. Then, the floor caved, and were forced into the lottery of the playoffs to advance. After a penalty kick survival in the semis, it was left to a second-half Wembley strike to send us to heaven.

Position Graph

Early in the season, our goals had all been coming via the help of striker Chris O'Grady, who took an early lead in the assist category. After he was injured, he came back with the scoring touch, instead. His goals helped, but his lack of assists began to make winning games hard. Since we were facing mostly bottom-half opposition in April, I decided to tweak things to see if I could restart the goal-scoring binge. Instead, I nearly killed it for good.

The Chesterfield game was an example. I tried using a diamond 4-4-2 (no wings). I had been assured by my Ass Man that the field at Chesterfield would make this type of formation a good choice. The first half was so desultory, I almost fell asleep watching it. O'Grady managed to save our blushes, but even after Chesterfield were down to 10 men in the 70th min., we hardly scared the goal. We were slightly better at home against Bournemouth two days later, and here our hopes got a serious jolt of excitement, because that win propelled us past Dag & Red into second place!

From there, it was roller coaster time! We lost to the Gulls, but hung onto second place. The Darlington game should have been a result we could have mailed in; they were so firmly rooted to the bottom of the table that I'm surprised they didn't just ask to go down half-way through the season. Instead, we manage to let them have ANOTHER Goal of the Month candidate on the way to a very thrilling result which did nothing for my heart's longevity.

With three matches to go, all we had to do was win two of them and we were home free. So, of course, we lost two of them, sandwiched around one of our best efforts when Burton Albion came to Spotland. The Barnet game was the epitome of frustration, as we scored first, only to let them hit two in the space of 30 seconds, followed by 70 min. of us flailing around and failing to get it even close to right. We knew going into that game a win was probably a must; as it turned out, a tie would have done the trick!.

On, then, to the playoff lottery. Port Vale hosted us first, and that game was very exciting; again, we offered up a Goal-of-the-Month candidate (fortunately, they don't pick one for May!). When we came home on the following Wednesday, I made it clear to my lads that the other team would have to score over actual dead bodies; the lads got that right, though they lost the plot at the other end where they were supposed to pile up some Port Vale bodies of their own! I hate penalty shootouts; both teams missed two of the first five (we missed #4, which meant PV could have won with their #5, but they sent it wide). When the injured Marcus Holness put in the final kick, I let out a very big sigh of relief. I'd have been jumping up and down, except I knew that Wembley was beckoning, and I wasn't really wanting to walk between the twin towers for this occasion.

It didn't help that our back line was so patched up I had to call up a marginally decent 17-y.o. from the youth squad to sit on the substitute bench, hoping to God he wasn't actually needed. The only thing we had going for us is that our opposition was Lincoln, who we had beaten away 1 – 0, and at home 4 – 0. Still, we let them have the lead, and it was left to the Two Chris's to save our day in the 75th minute (O'Grady with his final assist of the year to lead the league!).

And so, the Dale are Up!! I'll post a season-summary later, but at least my efforts managed to successfully mirror real life in getting us out of the Rochdale Division. How long I can keep us out is anyone's guess!