Stronger for tough experience: Robbie
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THE final chapter of a testing campaign is written today as Rochdale close their 2021/22 season at Newport County.
Dale’s Football League status secured, they take on opponents who have missed out on the playoffs in what will be a dead rubber, both clubs already contemplating how best to strengthen their hand over the coming summer months. And for Dale chief Robbie Stockdale, that’s a welcome prospect compared to the chaotic backdrop he walked into last year.
“It’s been tougher than I expected and there have been some things have have surprised me – I can’t say what, I’m not allowed!” he said.
“But last summer was incredibly difficult for the club and starting it with two or three weeks to go before your first game with seven or eight contracted players was tough. Players we wanted to bring in, we couldn’t. But we got through it.
“At times we were very good, at times we weren’t.
I get that and I get the frustrations of the supporters when you are not brilliant all the time. But truth be told, we’re probably going to finish round about where our budget was set at the start of the season. People don’t want to hear that because they want to be challenging all the time, but the recruitment that we made, the players that we lost – in the first week I was here we sold Ollie Rathbone, Steve Humphries, Kwadwo Baah. January, you lose two more key players in your team.
“So of course it was very tough. That’s the model, but at least with a proper summer to prepare and plan, we’ll be much stronger for it.
“I’d like to think that the challenges the club has seen and I’ve seen and that we’ve come through won’t be around again. Some of the things that people don’t see, and I won’t go into too much detail because I’m not allowed to, but it was challenging, no doubt about that. The people that I rely on outside of the building, people I have great respect for and I can speak to on a very confidential basis, they couldn’t help me because they’d never been through it.
“We’ve come out of it and we’re stronger for it. ”
Stockdale felt Bristol Rovers’ celebratory scenes at the end of last Saturday’s 4-3 home loss were over the top given it had only secured a place in the play-offs.
However, the Dale boss wants to see that jubilation again at the Crown Oil Arena
“I’m up for the fight next season and what I witnessed last Saturday, I want that to be us, I want that for our supporters and I’ll be fighting tooth and nail to deliver that for our supporters.
“Looking at the scenes you’d have thought they’d gone up as champions - I think you can see when we’re good we can be really competitive.
“The aim for me and the ambition is that next season we have scenes like that because we all want to be successful, me included, and it will be a busy summer trying to get the right players in.”
It will be a patched up Dale team facing Newport this afternoon with injuries having bit deep into the squad months.
“The injuries have been really hurtful for us - we had seven (last Saturday), and it’s players who have started a lot of games. I’m thinking of Jeriel Dorsett, Liam Kelly, the two senior goalkeepers, James Ball, Tahvon Campbell. All these players were having an impact on the team but now they are out. Credit to the players who are playing at the minute because they are giving everything. It would have been easy for them to have come off it a little bit, but I haven’t seen anything of that.”
Striker Luke Charman picked up a knock against Rovers having netted his first two goals for Dale and he may miss out. That will disappoint Stockdale, who felt the January arrival was just getting up to speed.
“Luke came in and I don’t know if the expectation was a little bit unrealistic for him - he came from part-time football, working night shifts and it was a big move for him from that perspective. I don’t know if some people thought he would just hit the ground running and be the new Jake Beesley.
“He’s been getting closer, his work rate never falters but goals breed confidence for a centre forward. I think he’ll have come off and been slightly disappointed not to get a hat-trick because he did have a couple of chances but the two goals should do him the world of good. Unfortunately he then gets injured and could be missing for the Newport game.” in recent