| I know things take time.... 11:23 - Jun 22 with 72178 views | heywooddale |
I know things take time....and I'm not even expect signings announcement or anything
New management are just bedding in and we've got to make sure we are getting the right people. That is the most important thing.
But at least announce friendly, a hint at the new shirt design or new pie filling we are considering or something.
My dopamine starved brain needs something/anything to engage with!
(This is an entirely unserious post that probably should be ignored)
[Post edited 22 Jun 11:25]
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| I know things take time.... on 05:45 - Jul 23 with 6189 views | TalkingSutty |
| I know things take time.... on 21:44 - Jul 22 by D_Alien |
But do you agree, that if players aren't currently available who're of higher quality than those we have, we absolutely shouldn't be filling gaps in the squad (as perceived by fans) with those who're available? There will be reasons they haven't been taken on already
Plus, if we do just bring in numbers for the sake of it, if and when players of the requisite quality become available, we'll have busted our playing budget and will have no wriggle room for their (no doubt) higher wage demands
[Post edited 22 Jul 21:46]
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I do agree yes, that's why i stated they have to be of a higher quality than we currently have ( not squad fillers/ untried young players at this level). McNulty leaving the club came at a bad time for us, i imagine he and the club already had plenty of irons in the fire in respect of new signings and we've missed out on a lot of those. We now have a rooky manager at this level who wouldn't have had his finger on the pulse in respect of recruiting players from the EFL and there is next to nobody left in the club with a footballing pedigree to help or advise him. One of the reasons some fans would have preferred to see a experienced manager appointed was in regards to recruitment and contacts at this level.Taylor and Done also jumping ship was just as bigger blow as McNulty leaving to my mind, to be honest it leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. So Watson is playing catch up but has also inherited a good bunch of players who will fight for the club, we know that. The January transfer window could end up being more crucial than the current one i think but hopefully not.
Putting all the current renovation work up at the club to one side there does seem to be very little coming out of the club at the moment, everything seems very slow and drip fed, not just recruitment. Nobody banging the drum in repect of sponsorship or corporate hospitality bookings for the upcoming fixtures, no fans forum to meet the new manager, nothing at all from the lady who was brought in to replace Andy Duff. Is she still at the club? Did they have a business breakfast on the day of fixtures being released etc? Even just trying to get through on the telephone to speak to people seems impossible..a answering machine 'leave your contact number and we'll get back to you'. Also a pre-season fixture list that looks a bit thrown together to me, two home games against lower league opposition and none to test us against better opposition. The club also need to keep banging the drum in respect of season tickets, it's gone quiet.
In a nutshell..who inside the club is making a noise and driving the club forward? Who is the public face of the club since Andy Duff left because as a fan there feels like a void that hasn't been filled. To engage the Town and increase crowds the club has to remain high profile and ride on the back of this promotion, do we have the staff within the club with the personality and drive to do that, i'm not seeing it. Cameron is obviously a 'up and at them' type of fella but do we have enough of those involved in the day to day running of the club? It should be buzzing now with excitement and somebody employed by the club should be orchestrating it, somebody with personality and presence. Who is that person? [Post edited 23 Jul 8:14]
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| I know things take time.... on 06:36 - Jul 23 with 6095 views | D_Alien |
| I know things take time.... on 05:45 - Jul 23 by TalkingSutty |
I do agree yes, that's why i stated they have to be of a higher quality than we currently have ( not squad fillers/ untried young players at this level). McNulty leaving the club came at a bad time for us, i imagine he and the club already had plenty of irons in the fire in respect of new signings and we've missed out on a lot of those. We now have a rooky manager at this level who wouldn't have had his finger on the pulse in respect of recruiting players from the EFL and there is next to nobody left in the club with a footballing pedigree to help or advise him. One of the reasons some fans would have preferred to see a experienced manager appointed was in regards to recruitment and contacts at this level.Taylor and Done also jumping ship was just as bigger blow as McNulty leaving to my mind, to be honest it leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. So Watson is playing catch up but has also inherited a good bunch of players who will fight for the club, we know that. The January transfer window could end up being more crucial than the current one i think but hopefully not.
Putting all the current renovation work up at the club to one side there does seem to be very little coming out of the club at the moment, everything seems very slow and drip fed, not just recruitment. Nobody banging the drum in repect of sponsorship or corporate hospitality bookings for the upcoming fixtures, no fans forum to meet the new manager, nothing at all from the lady who was brought in to replace Andy Duff. Is she still at the club? Did they have a business breakfast on the day of fixtures being released etc? Even just trying to get through on the telephone to speak to people seems impossible..a answering machine 'leave your contact number and we'll get back to you'. Also a pre-season fixture list that looks a bit thrown together to me, two home games against lower league opposition and none to test us against better opposition. The club also need to keep banging the drum in respect of season tickets, it's gone quiet.
In a nutshell..who inside the club is making a noise and driving the club forward? Who is the public face of the club since Andy Duff left because as a fan there feels like a void that hasn't been filled. To engage the Town and increase crowds the club has to remain high profile and ride on the back of this promotion, do we have the staff within the club with the personality and drive to do that, i'm not seeing it. Cameron is obviously a 'up and at them' type of fella but do we have enough of those involved in the day to day running of the club? It should be buzzing now with excitement and somebody employed by the club should be orchestrating it, somebody with personality and presence. Who is that person? [Post edited 23 Jul 8:14]
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There's a rebuilding job to be done, for sure. In a lot of ways, and despite McNulty and his coaching team getting us back into the EFL, i'm glad we have a new management team to take us forward. Momentum will have been lost but in other ways, Ian Watson was chosen for a track record that McNulty didn't have when he took over
I read fans feeling panicked on here because we haven't got the same squad numbers as last season, whilst forgetting that ar least some of those extra numbers were duds who contributed precisely nothing
Yes, each successive transfer window will be an opportunity to build upon what we have. I look forward to a different style of football, albeit with basic principles retained, and envisage a season similar to McNulty's first full season with us. Anything better will be a bonus
Edit: just read the second paragraph you added. It does seem a bit quiet. The Andy Duff exit then almost immediate second exit from his new employer seems really odd, and i think there's a tale to be told there at some stage [Post edited 23 Jul 6:42]
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| I know things take time.... on 06:49 - Jul 23 with 6062 views | TalkingSutty |
| I know things take time.... on 06:36 - Jul 23 by D_Alien |
There's a rebuilding job to be done, for sure. In a lot of ways, and despite McNulty and his coaching team getting us back into the EFL, i'm glad we have a new management team to take us forward. Momentum will have been lost but in other ways, Ian Watson was chosen for a track record that McNulty didn't have when he took over
I read fans feeling panicked on here because we haven't got the same squad numbers as last season, whilst forgetting that ar least some of those extra numbers were duds who contributed precisely nothing
Yes, each successive transfer window will be an opportunity to build upon what we have. I look forward to a different style of football, albeit with basic principles retained, and envisage a season similar to McNulty's first full season with us. Anything better will be a bonus
Edit: just read the second paragraph you added. It does seem a bit quiet. The Andy Duff exit then almost immediate second exit from his new employer seems really odd, and i think there's a tale to be told there at some stage [Post edited 23 Jul 6:42]
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Agree about squad numbers, we've ended up with far too many players over the last couple of seasons. Too many players of a similar ilk and style, very few of them good enough to break into the first team and too many constantly injured. Wasting the playing budget. A trimmed down squad but one with much more quality is whats required. I'll be happy with staying up this season, i've lowered my expectations because of the upheaval over the summer and what i perceive to be a struggle in respect of recruitment. I'll expect a lot more in season two when Watson has had a few transfer windows under his belt. I'm intrigued to see how quickly he can implement the style of football he wants to play, hopefully we will see a bit of that at Tranmere next Saturday. A increase in tempo, intent and urgency in our play when in possession would be nice. [Post edited 23 Jul 7:03]
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| I know things take time.... on 09:56 - Jul 23 with 5713 views | isitme |
We are shopping late and do not want to be saddled with permanent signings for the sake of numbers that will eat into budgets and possibly laden the club with players who in the medium to long term will not play. We have two players on season long loans. I would not be surprised if we ended up with some loan signings until January to fill out the squad. That gives more time to secure the players Watson actually wants.
It would be unfair on Watson to expect anything other than survival with the team playing attacking football with fight. We are at the beginning of a new three year plan and most of the players inherited by the new manager will be out of contract at the end of the season. He will then have time to plan accordingly and next season will be his tean.I think the two friendlies this week will give a clearer picture as to where we are at. I suspect it will be mix and match on Saturday and then the 'first team' will get more minutes on Tuesday.
If we lose against Tranmere I expect to see a friendly on the Saturday when the first round of the cup is being played against a Premier League team XI or under 21 side to get some more minutes into the players legs, although hopefully we will be playing Bradford. |  | | |
| I know things take time.... on 10:49 - Jul 23 with 5576 views | rafc1977 |
| I know things take time.... on 22:55 - Jul 21 by TVOS1907 |
But, as has been explained before, we don't need to replace 14 players. Of those released, the following made minimal contributions last season:
Burger: 7 starts, plus 9 as a sub
Duku: 2+1
Gomez-Mancini: 0+3
Hosannah: 0+5
Humbles: 0+1
Myles: 1
Pritchard: 11+10
Smith: 6+16
Tutonda: 1+9
What we need in the squad is fewer players like the above.
While the Tranmere game is of course important (although Bradford away to follow, if we win at Tranmere, is very tough), I still think the focus is more likely to be on getting the squad almost complete by the time we play Newport, which is still 25 days away. [Post edited 21 Jul 23:46]
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Agree with this, we shouldn't be looking to replace these 9 as it can be clearly seen they made minimal to no impact (Pritchard & Smith aside, but even then both I wouldn't consider the standard of what we now need)
What has me puzzled is the signings of Francis and Bilongo, Francis with a couple of years L1 experience and decent game time under his belt at Exeter and Bilongo with L1 & L2 experience at Bristol Rovers.
Neither dislodged the players in front of them in the NL, so realistically why would this be different in L2. And if somehow they are just far better suited to league football and do become starters this year its surely East or Gilmour missing out for Francis and Beckwith for Bilongo, big calls.
Francis made 13 appearance's from 18 available league games since signing on Feb 10th, but most if not all of these were as a sub. Bilongo signed in January, had 25 league games to go at but featured 3 times (info from Fotmob)
With Francis having worked with Ian Watson previously you'd expect he will feature more and experience wise, again you'd expect he should be able to do a job in L2. Same with Bilongo (to a lesser extent in fairness, and not worked with Watson before)
I get it was McNulty signing these players, not Watson. And maybe the slight tweak in formation/play will mean we see more of the qualities that they must have. We need genuine competition for places to ensure players are performing to keep their places.
McNulty got it right more times than wrong in terms of signings/loans and the impact they made, personally I don't think we saw the best of these two players in the NL and I am hoping they push on more this season as that will be a big bonus. |  | | |
| I know things take time.... on 11:05 - Jul 23 with 5515 views | EllDale |
Didn’t the arrival of Bilongo more or less coincide with the conversion of Dan Moss to left wingback (originally perhaps planned for just one game to counter Gus Scott Morris)?
That effectively limited his game time.
Can’t see IW using Moss as anything other than a conventional defender this time around. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 11:24 - Jul 23 with 5456 views | D_Alien |
| I know things take time.... on 11:05 - Jul 23 by EllDale |
Didn’t the arrival of Bilongo more or less coincide with the conversion of Dan Moss to left wingback (originally perhaps planned for just one game to counter Gus Scott Morris)?
That effectively limited his game time.
Can’t see IW using Moss as anything other than a conventional defender this time around. |
Moss has the knack of getting on the end of moves to finish or provide assists, and it'd be a shame to lose that
IW will have reviewed our performances so will be aware, whatever decision he takes regarding deployment | |
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| I know things take time.... on 12:00 - Jul 23 with 5323 views | TVOS1907 |
| I know things take time.... on 10:49 - Jul 23 by rafc1977 |
Agree with this, we shouldn't be looking to replace these 9 as it can be clearly seen they made minimal to no impact (Pritchard & Smith aside, but even then both I wouldn't consider the standard of what we now need)
What has me puzzled is the signings of Francis and Bilongo, Francis with a couple of years L1 experience and decent game time under his belt at Exeter and Bilongo with L1 & L2 experience at Bristol Rovers.
Neither dislodged the players in front of them in the NL, so realistically why would this be different in L2. And if somehow they are just far better suited to league football and do become starters this year its surely East or Gilmour missing out for Francis and Beckwith for Bilongo, big calls.
Francis made 13 appearance's from 18 available league games since signing on Feb 10th, but most if not all of these were as a sub. Bilongo signed in January, had 25 league games to go at but featured 3 times (info from Fotmob)
With Francis having worked with Ian Watson previously you'd expect he will feature more and experience wise, again you'd expect he should be able to do a job in L2. Same with Bilongo (to a lesser extent in fairness, and not worked with Watson before)
I get it was McNulty signing these players, not Watson. And maybe the slight tweak in formation/play will mean we see more of the qualities that they must have. We need genuine competition for places to ensure players are performing to keep their places.
McNulty got it right more times than wrong in terms of signings/loans and the impact they made, personally I don't think we saw the best of these two players in the NL and I am hoping they push on more this season as that will be a big bonus. |
I believe Bilongo picked-up an injury shortly after his arrival, hence why he was rarely on the bench and only appeared once more, as a late sub at Eastleigh.
In the two pre-season friendlies to date, he has played much higher up the left flank than Beckwith, who tends to be more central.
Perhaps Francis's signing was to give East and Gilmour more competition and to 'keep them on their toes'. Given they are such consistent performers, it could be argued it worked. This is pure speculation, though. |  |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| I know things take time.... on 12:21 - Jul 23 with 5231 views | TalkingSutty |
| I know things take time.... on 12:00 - Jul 23 by TVOS1907 |
I believe Bilongo picked-up an injury shortly after his arrival, hence why he was rarely on the bench and only appeared once more, as a late sub at Eastleigh.
In the two pre-season friendlies to date, he has played much higher up the left flank than Beckwith, who tends to be more central.
Perhaps Francis's signing was to give East and Gilmour more competition and to 'keep them on their toes'. Given they are such consistent performers, it could be argued it worked. This is pure speculation, though. |
I don't mind Francis he looks neat and tidy to me, same as Petit. We are blessed with four good midfield players and Jenkins also comes with good credentials. The style of play that Watkins wants to implement could also take those players levels up another notch. East in particular is one who i think could benefit, i think at times the game was too easy for him in the National League. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 19:32 - Jul 23 with 4477 views | pioneer |
| I know things take time.... on 09:56 - Jul 23 by isitme |
We are shopping late and do not want to be saddled with permanent signings for the sake of numbers that will eat into budgets and possibly laden the club with players who in the medium to long term will not play. We have two players on season long loans. I would not be surprised if we ended up with some loan signings until January to fill out the squad. That gives more time to secure the players Watson actually wants.
It would be unfair on Watson to expect anything other than survival with the team playing attacking football with fight. We are at the beginning of a new three year plan and most of the players inherited by the new manager will be out of contract at the end of the season. He will then have time to plan accordingly and next season will be his tean.I think the two friendlies this week will give a clearer picture as to where we are at. I suspect it will be mix and match on Saturday and then the 'first team' will get more minutes on Tuesday.
If we lose against Tranmere I expect to see a friendly on the Saturday when the first round of the cup is being played against a Premier League team XI or under 21 side to get some more minutes into the players legs, although hopefully we will be playing Bradford. |
Do we know what the new 3 year plan is? | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 19:35 - Jul 23 with 4470 views | 49thseason |
| I know things take time.... on 12:21 - Jul 23 by TalkingSutty |
I don't mind Francis he looks neat and tidy to me, same as Petit. We are blessed with four good midfield players and Jenkins also comes with good credentials. The style of play that Watkins wants to implement could also take those players levels up another notch. East in particular is one who i think could benefit, i think at times the game was too easy for him in the National League. |
I think IW will utilise more players off the bench than perhaps has been the case... starters and finishers, .
In our last season in the EFL we used 49 players and scored just 44 goals , only Henderson, Rodney and EEL have survived at Rochdale since that debacle, and to be fair when you consider where that squad is at today there are very few, if any ,that you would want to re-sign to replace those that we now have.
I would like a tricky winger and another goalscorer and probably another defender , but generally the team looks better than the one that relegated us . That's not to say we will be challenging for the top of the table , but, I think what we have is competent enough to get us comfortably to mid-table, especially if Watson can get a better tune out of Rodney and if Mani D can get some quality service.
We need to score twice every outing, if Watson can deliver that, we will be fine... |  | | |
| I know things take time.... on 19:53 - Jul 23 with 4427 views | isitme |
| I know things take time.... on 19:32 - Jul 23 by pioneer |
Do we know what the new 3 year plan is? |
To be chasing promotion to League One. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 01:07 - Jul 24 with 4066 views | pioneer |
| I know things take time.... on 19:53 - Jul 23 by isitme |
To be chasing promotion to League One. |
That’s an aspiration, not a plan. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 08:06 - Jul 24 with 3840 views | 442Dale |
| I know things take time.... on 01:07 - Jul 24 by pioneer |
That’s an aspiration, not a plan. |
It’s not much different to the “three year plan” to get back to the EFL.
With Watson’s arrival they’ll still be formulating the specifics. Similar to how it may have constantly evolved when McNulty was here as the clear foundations he’d put in place before the Ogdens arrival helped in achieving the goal a year early.
In many ways that turbulent first season in the NL was crucial as it allowed the manager and players to get a structure in place that could only be of benefit when there was more investment available. The stars aligned due to intelligent, hard work on and off the pitch.
It’s to be hoped that continues. |  |
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| I know things take time.... on 11:46 - Jul 24 with 3520 views | TVOS1907 |
| I know things take time.... on 19:32 - Jul 23 by pioneer |
Do we know what the new 3 year plan is? |
Does there need to be a 'new' one?
The 'plan' will just continue as before, so
* making the club more self-sustainable
* growing attendances
* developing homegrown players
* selling on those players, as well as any other players we bring in and develop
* making more use of the stadium away from matchdays
* establishing ourselves back in the EFL.
I'm sure other people can add more. | |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| I know things take time.... on 12:32 - Jul 24 with 3401 views | TalkingSutty |
| I know things take time.... on 11:46 - Jul 24 by TVOS1907 |
Does there need to be a 'new' one?
The 'plan' will just continue as before, so
* making the club more self-sustainable
* growing attendances
* developing homegrown players
* selling on those players, as well as any other players we bring in and develop
* making more use of the stadium away from matchdays
* establishing ourselves back in the EFL.
I'm sure other people can add more. |
Cameron Ogden expressed a desire to get into EFL1 following our promotion? | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 17:01 - Jul 24 with 3059 views | frequency |
Waller signs 12 for months |  |
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| I know things take time.... on 17:10 - Jul 24 with 3023 views | Bainesy15 |
| I know things take time.... on 17:01 - Jul 24 by frequency |
Waller signs 12 for months |
Worst kept trialist secret ever. Think this is a really good signing, particularly as a back-up keeper |  | | |
| I know things take time.... on 18:20 - Jul 24 with 2855 views | EllDale |
For what it’s worth Pete O’Rourke is linking Dale with Wigan winger Jonny Smith. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 18:56 - Jul 24 with 2768 views | NorthernDale |
He also states Salford and Tranmere, so if we are interested in him, we will face competition. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 19:44 - Jul 24 with 2666 views | pioneer |
| I know things take time.... on 11:46 - Jul 24 by TVOS1907 |
Does there need to be a 'new' one?
The 'plan' will just continue as before, so
* making the club more self-sustainable
* growing attendances
* developing homegrown players
* selling on those players, as well as any other players we bring in and develop
* making more use of the stadium away from matchdays
* establishing ourselves back in the EFL.
I'm sure other people can add more. |
I was responding to isitme who said there was a new 3 year plan. | | | |
| I know things take time.... on 20:08 - Jul 24 with 2592 views | TVOS1907 |
| I know things take time.... on 18:20 - Jul 24 by EllDale |
For what it’s worth Pete O’Rourke is linking Dale with Wigan winger Jonny Smith. |
For what it's worth, we had him as a trialist in the summer of 2019.
He even got to wear the pink kit in a friendly at home to Huddersfield... | |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| I know things take time.... on 20:51 - Jul 24 with 2492 views | James1980 |
Any rumours if there's going to be a fans forum and if so a likely date? | |
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| I know things take time.... on 22:23 - Jul 24 with 2350 views | TVOS1907 |
| I know things take time.... on 20:51 - Jul 24 by James1980 |
Any rumours if there's going to be a fans forum and if so a likely date? |
I would imagine there will be one, James, although a date hasn't been announced yet. It would be unusual for there not to be, especially with a new manager at the helm. | |
| Maestro? No.
Elite? No.
Heavyweight poster? No.
Able to be rational and not over-react to individual results? Yes. |
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| I know things take time.... on 00:34 - Jul 25 with 2225 views | Sandyman |
| I know things take time.... on 22:23 - Jul 24 by TVOS1907 |
I would imagine there will be one, James, although a date hasn't been announced yet. It would be unusual for there not to be, especially with a new manager at the helm. |
The last Fans Forum was announced as the "first" of 2026.
Whether that is the first and last one, or a second one is to follow, has not been communicated by Dale Trust. Forum dates used to be issued well in advance and organised accordingly. Apologies if I've missed an announcement, as others on this group have. |  |
| "And only as far as Casey Pettit......" |
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