Stockdale perfect fit for board’s boss profile
ROCHDALE chairman Simon Gauge and the board drew up the ideal profile of the next Dale manager when Brian Barry-murphy shocked the club by walking away – and Robbie Stockdale fit the bill perfectly.
“We wanted somebody with a strong academy background because that’s an important part of our club, a young, ambitious, hungry manager who had probably not had a managerial job before who had been working as a number two or an academy manager somewhere,” said Gauge.
“But we also wanted, coupled with that, someone with plenty of experience and contacts in the game as well.
“Robbie ticks a lot of those boxes of what we were looking for and then, when we got to interviews and started talking to him we as a new board were trying to be open and honest - and we found he was exactly the same, totally open and honest. He’s got a really good quiet sense of authority about him.
“We were taken in by him when he was talking about football, he wanted to play attacking, high intensity football and as we’re trying to build a new identity for the club, we really bought into his vision.
“The other thing that really impressed us about him was the fact he’d done a lot of research on Rochdale Football Club! He certainly didn’t come into the interview cold. He’d done his own match reports from games last year, he knew all about our squad, the playing style, he came up with ideas how he could improve things and a whole list of transfer targets he had in mind for each position as well. So he was really ready to hit the road running and we were blown away by him.
“He’s got a lot of contacts in the game, he knows the budget we are working to, knows what he’s got left to spend and he’s totally confident in terms of getting some permanent signings in and some exciting loan signings as the summer progresses.
“We’re very grateful to the staff for taking on looking after the squad while we’ve been without a manager. They have done a great job and now Robbie is able to move in and stamp his style on the team.”