Ingham: Staying put better for Rossy

ROSSENDALE’S chairman Nicholas Ingham has told the Rossendale Free Press that promotion will probably be beyond the club this year – but that he thinks staying in the Northern Division could be better for them.

“I’d like to be in the top three or four places but Preston [Grasshoppers] have come into the league determined to go back up and I think it’s between Hull and Lymm for the play-off place – and then you’ve got Harrogate,” he said.

Rossendale finished runners-up last season and lost in their promotion play-off by just one point, but Ingham believes that remaining in their current league may be better for the club given their facilities – and he also suggests that it will help the club to keep their promising young players.

“Realistically, if we’d gone up last season, it could have been a step too far. Our juniors are thriving. We don’t want the young players thinking ‘Rossendale, they’re up there, they’re going to bring players in’ – we want to keep our own young players and bring them through.”

Rossendale’s Senior Colts – the Under-18s team – have impressed this season and sit fourth after three wins from their last five matches.