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I'll never forget his first press conference as Barnsley manager where he declared we were to be aiming to win the title otherwise what was the point. He was chewing gum and telling us about the great side he was going to build. It was exciting.
Fast forward to our first defeat, to Morecambe in a league cup tie at Oakwell and post-match he asked what Barnsley had ever won before, telling the reporter that the fans need to lower their expectations.
It was ever thus with Keith. Hot and cold. Happy and angry. Lovely and bitter.
I've seen plenty of managers in my 30 plus years watching my club but he's still the one I remember the most for good and bad reasons.
He'll be fine at Bolton in terms of the current job that needs doing.
If they ever get back to a level, and the expectation rises, it'll go south I'm afraid.
Keith Hill has worked wonders for Rochdale AFC, he's had you competing a division higher than you ought to be. You are well-run financially, considering your gates and other revenue streams, it's commendable. But it seems it's become harder the last couple of years to compete, hence the survival battles.
I know Keith can rub folk up the wrong way, but it's awful to read so much negativity about him on here, considering everything he's achieved for you over the years. It screams Wenger and Arsenal. Where you're ignoring all the good and focusing on the bad.
From the outside, but knowing the respective budgets of each club and other factors, you're about where I'd expect you to be, under Keith. With another manager, I fear you'd be worse off.
Your noisy neighbours who get the bigger crowds, better history, more budget, they're generally behind you in terms of division/results in the last decade.
Dare to dream by all means, but remain grounded in reality too. Your club's made progress. Made it under Keith's watch. Right now you're a level above where most would place you. Support the manager, players and club in remaining so.
We weren't anywhere near our best yesterday, but you have to sometimes look at the opposition for reasons why that might be. Yesterday's Dale performance was probably the second best I've seen against us at home, after Doncaster.
It's one of the worst displays from us at home, we looked slow and sloppy for large spells. But even at 1-0 down I still expected us to win. And lo and behold, we played like we can do for about 15 minutes and scored twice. But Dale never threw the towel in and on another day, you score during that goalmouth scramble.
If I was a Dale fan, I'd be taking real heart from the display.
McNulty, Henderson, Dooley and Matheson all impressive.
I thought your away support impressed too, backed your team throughout despite a low turnout. Great that they joined in with the moment for Patrick Cryne too, as did Keith Hill who I still think is a top bloke.
Spoke to some of your directors, your media team are one of the very best also. All in all, a real credit to football and I wish you all the best luck in retaining your L1 status against all the odds, yet again. I think you'll do it comfortably if you can play like yesterday on a regular basis.
First off, I'd just like to say that once again, the people of Rochdale were very welcoming, you have terrific people working behind-the-scenes and Leighanne in particular is always a delight. I actually felt bad for her upon leaving late last night, but she was as lovely as ever. As was Keith who greeted us all on arrival and had nothing but kind words for our club afterwards. I know he had a pop at some Dale fans again post-match but you/we are used to that by now.
Regards the game, it went like our previous three in the league in terms of dominance and we deserved the victory. I feared another Wimbledon in the first half hour as the goal wouldn't come, but once it arrived that was that. Although, had Pinillos not blocked Rafferty's shot early in the second, things may have altered? Hard to say because we've not conceded yet so not sure how we'd react to that.
I don't believe you'll struggle this season based on what I saw. I don't think many sides outside the Premier League would have coped with us last night, it was one of those performances that come along very rarely. We were similarly excellent against Oxford and Bradford, but not quite to that extent. Dale tried to play, all credit to you for that, but we throttled you to death. Bradford for a spell and Wimbledon throughout, they hoofed the ball, didn't take any risks and defended like Trojans. We will need to find a remedy for that sort of approach where teams park the bus. But yeah, come and take us on, play football and that suits this system we employ.
Also, whilst we are a smaller Championship club and not big spenders, at this level there can't be much bigger in terms of fanbase, budgets, expectations. Whereas Dale and Keith have to do everything on the cheap and probably have a bottom four budget. There were nearly more of our fans than yours last night. So you're seriously punching in L1. In my opinion of course.
Thank you to the fans I saw who were just as welcoming, and to Ian who I saw in the carpark pre-match, below is one of the things I do these days.
I'm still here. I still read the forum, I just don't contribute much. Same on my twitter, and elsewhere. I've had to massively step back since making working in football my profession rather than the hobby it was previously. Pretty much what TVOS said.
And so I sadly can't give you anything much more than is already out there.
This takeover has though been in the pipeline since around February this year. Mr Lee, Mr Conway, Ms Hung, Mr Beane (don't) and Mr Parekh have all attended numerous games during this time, they've not just shown up from nowhere and bought the club. They and our owner of 14 years, the great Patrick Cryne have done much homework.
From what I can gather, it is 'carry on as you were' but with budgets across the club increased. Not massively so, but we're now able to stop the sort of pilfering we see every transfer window where we lose a myriad of players that sees us start from square one again.
Of the 92 football league clubs, you can count on one hand the amount who have the amount of land we have. So much room for expansion and development, renovation etc. Have a look at what they've done for Nice in France.
Think the plan is to massively increase the way the club is run, the way the club looks, to modernise it and create a more appealing identity, rather than the one we've been saddled with for years.
There'll be no more 'teams like Barnsley' or 'tinpot Barnsley' etc.
We now have people on the board worth billions. crazy. But true.
How will it go? No idea. I can only guess.
We are meeting the new owners tomorrow before the press do, I might well be getting my p45!
On a Dale note, I see it's been a season of struggle so far. I still ALWAYS look for your result pretty much straight away. I still care. I am surprised at your season so far, but I know how good Keith is so I'm assuming he'll be backed, supported. Hope so.
Your design the kit thing, I love that. Sadly, it's not something we can do, being with Puma. However, we're lucky in that we get to choose bespoke kits from them, kits we ask them to make, and with fan like myself involved in the club, our choices will go down well. But that is a superb initiative from Dale. There's some great folk at your club. Having met and worked with Leighanne in a media capacity, I can certainly confirm she's one of the best at 'this' job we do.
Take care my friends, have a great Xmas and a wonderful New Year!
Bit late to the party here, but can I just say that everyone at Dale was more than welcoming last week. Leighanne is such a lovely lass and looked after us perfectly. I saw a couple of familiar faces too.
And you were more than a match for us on the night, up until the 60th minute mark where our better fitness told (in my opinion).
What Keith Hill manages to get out of Dale is unreal.
However... I have to agree. Up until last summer, I usually tipped you lot to do well. Last season I expected a drop-off. I was wrong. Which is why I try and temper any criticism of the big man. But it's definitely defensively where Dale suffer. The errors/gaffes are costly. He sorts that out and who knows.
Looking forward to coming over on Tuesday night. My first trip to Spotland whilst working. Shame, as I can't see the Daley lads for a beer or three etc. But I'm sure it will be a good test for our practically new squad.
Hecky moans a lot, but I have to agree with him at present. Yes, we've done amazingly well the last couple of years, but this now needs to be a big altered approach. We've cashed in on everyone. This is a completely different team. Brand new pretty much. But let's not keep doing this now. We've got all that coin, but let's now build something a bit longer term.
Exciting times, but at the same time, trepidation's there too.
Good luck for the season. I don't get online much these days. But I'm still a closet Daley.
Merry Christmas to my Dale friends, you know who you are.
What a bloody season you're having, again. Unbelievable. Even I didn't see it this time. Just further cement my belief that apart from Hecky, Keith is the best manager out there.
And is true that Bury have lost 11 on the spin or summat? I said sacking Flicker wasn't the answer. Idiots.
I was told he was on Stewart's short list as they see him as the perfect man to get them back up whilst working to a budget and bringing players through. I can totally see that logic. He'd be perfect for them long term.
But I don't see it as good for him.
It's a compliment though, it shows Dale are doing well.
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