Robbie adopting patient approach
Gaffer not rushing out-of-contract stars... but warns he won’t hang around forever
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ROCHDALE manager Robbie Stockdale will play a patient waiting game with the out-of-contract stars offered new deals at the club – but he won’t ‘hang around forever.’
Jordan Scanlon recently accepted the club’s offer, penning his first professional contract.
Dale are now waiting on the five other players offered new terms at the Crown Oil Arena – Max Clark, Stephen Dooley, Eoghan O’connell, Corey O’keeffe and Peter Thomas.
With a number of players away on holidays, Stockdale says there’s no need to set strict deadlines.
But at the same time, he will not be caught out should any one of the players turn down Dale’s offer.
“There’s a soft expiry date,” said Stockdale of the timescale for players to accept terms.
“There will be room for negotiation – I won’t get too het up that things aren’t happening in the first couple of days, people are on holiday, they are hard to get hold of.
“I won’t be hanging around forever, that’s for sure, because we need to make sure that, if those players don’t accept the terms offered, I need to look elsewhere.
“Everybody is very sensible in that situation, the players know that and we’d be very naive to sit here and think the players aren’t looking elsewhere as well to see what’s out there.
“So am I, that’s the name of the game and we’ll see what happens.”
The close season has provided time for Stockdale to reflect on his first ten months at the helm and the tumultuous scenario he walked into at the club last summer.
Shareholders had voted to remove former directors David Bottomley and Graham Rawlinson weeks before Stockdale was brought in by the new board after Brian Barry-murphy walked out three days into preseason – and all the while concerns among the fanbase grew about a potential hostile takeover by businessmen looking to purchase a controlling stake in the club.
Stockdale came in during a time of great uncertainty and said no amount of coaching education could have readied him for the job in hand.
“I’ve been on many a coaching course and diplomas and everything, nothing could prepare me for what we came into!” he admitted. “But credit to the club, the board and the supporters were one, they were together, and I know there are still a couple of little issues in the background, but on the whole they came through it and I think it’s credit to everyone involved in that, to come out the other side a little bit stronger.
“This is our club, it’s the supporters’ club and we want to put a team on the pitch that they can be proud of. That’s my job, I accept that and the buck stops with me.
“But the fact we did get through it shows what can be done when everyone is together and hopefully, moving forward, that will be the case, that we can put a successful team out there.”