Plotting path to better times

EVER the forward planner, Keith Hill is plotting a way out of Rochdale’s current malaise – but insists some perspective is called for amid the ‘drama.’

With Andy Cannon, Harrison McGahey, Sam Hart, Brendan Moore and David Perkins having left the club in the last week – and Rory Holden coming in – squad numbers are light.

“We are making plans. We know the games we’ve got coming up and we know the players we’ve got available,” said Hill. “We know there are players out there we would like to recruit but we have to be realistic and I think everyone has to be realistic.

“There is a lot of drama at the minute being created and I keep having to remind people that in 1981 we had to be reinstated into the Football League! This is a club I love, I am a supporter, so I am not having a go at anyone or at the history of the club – but a little bit of perspective.”

Hill feels his players deserve credit rather than criticism for the way they are fronting up to the current struggle for form and confidence.

“I want the players to be admired for the courage they are showing, even though they are getting it wrong,” he said.

“They are not running away, I didn’t see too many giving up and it’s important even in your biggest anger and disappointment that you try to be supportive of them players.

“I know it is hard but trust me, if the supporters do that the players will feel warm and they will react better to it. We have to give the players their belief back and the supporters can go a long way to doing that. They don’t have to give me any recognition, they don’t have to support me, they can say what they want about me. But it’s important they support the team, regardless of who plays, and tries to support them.”