Former boss in return to Dale
JOHN Coleman returns to Rochdale this afternoon looking to build on Accrington Stanley’s superb start to the League One season.
The Reds have gone four league games without a win, seeing them slip out of the playoff positions down to tenth in the division.
Nevertheless, they have been the surprise package so far this season and Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell will be desperate to impress at the club they managed between January 2012 and January 2013.
They failed to rescue Dale from relegation after taking over from Steve Eyre and departed the following season after a poor run of form, heralding the return of Keith Hill.
But if the duo fell short in their bid to bring success to Rochdale, there can be no doubting their achievements in two spells at Stanley.
Coleman and Bell oversaw three promotions at Stanley first time around and last season led the Reds to the League Two title, gaining a place in the third tier of professional football for the first time in the club’s history – and all on a shoestring budget.
There are many similarities between Hill at Rochdale and Coleman at Stanley and the duo’s long-standing association with their respective clubs has offered the kind of stability Hill believes is missing all too often in football these days.
“I don’t know whether it was ever an option to sack me last season,” said Hill.
“At any other football club I think it might have been an option but I think we have shown one another the loyalty to understand the climate of this club with respect to its League One history.
“I am one of only two managers to have earned promotion for the club, so if we had been relegated, why look for someone else? What they could have done is sack me and then reinstated me when they were relegated to League Two to maybe get them promoted again. Personally, I think West Brom should have done that with Tony Pulis last season.
“I think there are some strange decisions made at clubs. We could quite easily have been relegated last season if other clubs hadn’t royally messed up by sacking their manag- ers. I don’t want Peter Winkelman on the phone to me, but the fact that MK Dons sacked Dan Micciche when they did helped us survive in League One, no doubt about it. We looked at that and thought ‘this could go either way for MK Dons’ and we could take advantage. Is it always going to get better when you sack a manager? Is it? Do you not give time to a manager and a group of players so that there is stability and something to build on?”