Commit to me call from boss
KEITH Hill will stand by the players doing it his way as the club look to breathe life into their League One campaign.
Back to back defeats on the road at Oldham and Charlton have seen Dale slip into the bottom three.
And ahead of today’s home game against playoff chasing Peterborough, Hill insists he will show faith in the players supporting his methods.
Matty Gillam was a surprise starter at The Valley in midweek and repaid the gaffer’s backing by scoring the opening goal.
While the Addicks hit back with two goals of their own, it was a much improved performance as far as Hill was concerned. And for the players not making the cut right now, he issued a clear message – you must work harder.
“You can ask me why some of the players aren’t in the squad – it’s because they’re not working hard enough. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
“If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down fighting my way, with my players, who are committed to me, and too many players haven’t been.
“I don’t want to name names because it’s unfair, as all of those players have an open door back into my environment.”
Hill admitted his inclusion of Gillam was based as much on the youngster’s talent as it was on his willingness to see through the manager’s plans.
“I’ll protect Gilly, as long as he gives me everything, and he has done,” said Hill. “That’s why I had no qualms about giving Matty Gillam his starting league debut.
“We’ve lost the game – that goes against me – but all day every day I’ll take that on the chin because Gilly is 100 per cent committed, 100 per cent focused and 100 per cent behind me and the team.
“There’s no selfishness to him and he deserved his goal because of the way he’s been training. He’s working harder than some of the players that aren’t in the squad.
“We’ve also got Aaron Morley and Dan Adshead, and I’m not afraid to use those players, and Andy Cannon got back in the fold. The door is never closed.
“It is on certain players, because you can only ask so many times and in the end they end up sinking you and dragging you down, but I believe in the group of players that I’ve got. I believe in all of them when they’re giving me everything back, and they gave me everything back at Charlton. That’s when I know we can turn a corner with the games that we’ve got left.
“I was really disappointed on Saturday night after the Oldham game and I didn’t sleep much because it almost looked
‘If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down fighting my way’
like a performance that was resigned to our fate, but on Tuesday there was a heartbeat, there was a fight. It gave me hope.”
He continued: “I’ve said to the players that they’ll be forgiven for mistakes as long as they’re 100 per cent committed. I don’t think we’ve had the commitment, if I’m being honest, but we had it at Charlton. We’ve made mistakes but mistakes will get better. I’ll support players who make mistakes if they’re committed towards me and the cause for Rochdale Football Club. Mistakes will happen – as a consequence of those mistakes we’ve lost the game.”