JIM: ‘BELIEVE IN A GREAT ESCAPE’
McNulty fired up to maintain proud record...
HE’S been ‘dead and buried’ before and lived to tell the tale, so it’s no wonder survival expert Jim McNulty believes Rochdale can stave off relegation.
Even after Keith Hill’s side ended a seven-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Northampton a week ago, becoming the last team in the EFL to win an away game, second-bottom Dale were eight points from safety.
It looks a tall order as they try to preserve their prized third-tier status and is in stark contrast to their FA Cup exploits, but McNulty won’t be giving up. The Dale defender has never been relegated across an 11-year professional career.
“It’s a huge ask, it really is,” said the Runcorn-born defender, “but we’ve got to hold on to hope that miraculous things have happened from shocking situations before.
“I’ve been involved in a couple myself. I was dead and buried with Macclesfield and Barnsley but Paul Ince and Dave Flitcroft revived us.
“The odds will say we’re going down but there’s always hope.”
Ince – now out of the game for four years – hauled Macclesfield to League Two safety, having been eight points adrift in 2007, and Flitcroft engineered a final-day Championship escape act at Barnsley back in 2013.
McNulty has twice been promoted from League Two, part of the Stockport side that beat Rochdale in the 2008 play-offs, while bagging automatic promotion with Bury in 2015.
But survival in this term’s League One relegation scrap would mean just as much to the 32year-old.
Journeymen
“If Rochdale stay up this season, it’ll be as enjoyable as my promotions,” he said. “I’ve moved clubs a lot, and journeymen such as myself tend to experience both promotions and relegations.
“I’ve had some near scrapes and I’m definitely involved in one right now but we’re all fighting.”
McNulty was brought to Barnsley by Keith Hill, and the pair are now reunited at Rochdale, who reached the FA Cup fifth round with a 1-0 replay win against Millwall in midweek.
The central defender thinks the Spotland chief is responding to drop-zone pressure just fine. He believes it’s the players who need to step up.
“He is a realist and he knows we are exactly where we deserve to be in the table,” he said. “Maybe the players are the ones who haven’t coped with the situation very well.
“We have a young squad and these boys haven’t really been used to the fears of relegation.
“We are suffering a bit and I don’t think a lot of the young academy players are used to hearing groans in the stands, rather than cheers.”
The former Everton academy man knows the Dale faithful have been spoilt by a string of emerging talents in recent seasons.
Supporters have seen the likes of Aston Villa hot shot Scott Hogan, Cardiff flyer Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Burton duo Matty Lund (currently on loan at Bradford) and Jamie Allen rise through the ranks. But, as home-grown youngsters Andy Cannon, 21, and Callum Camps, 22, shine in midfield, McNulty remains positive. “I definitely feel the fans are still with us,” he said. “The players will take a bit of flak because the fans have been watching very good players for the last few years, who have gone on to bigger things. “It’s probably fair to say those players shouldn’t ever have been plying their trade at our club. “I would argue we are ultimately a League Two club with League Two attendances and budget. “We could end up being back there, but the club has been built on over-achieving in my time and long before.” One thing’s for sure – McNulty and Dale won’t go down without a fight.