Wednesday 1 February 2012

A Rochdale fan writes

On paper Saturday's fixture against Rochdale should be easier than last night's contest with Bury, but then playing the Shakers should not have been such a test as we made it through a below par performance.

A Rochdale fan previews Saturday's game:

It has been an awful season. We had got used to success. Under Keith Hill we made the play-offs twice, went to Wembley, won automatic promotion, then equalled our best ever league place in our first season back in league one. Hill departed at the end of last season, taking Matty Done and Scott Wiseman with him , Craig Dawson, as expected, moved to West Brom and Chris O’Grady signed for Sheffield Wednesday.

The decision to appoint Man City youth coach Steve Eyre was a mistake, he had no knowledge of football at this level and his 21 games in charge produced just four wins, an inability to hold the ball in attack and an appalling goals against record. We were heading for relegation and a very low points total. Despite some promising signs, caretaker manager Chris Beech failed to halt the slide, picking up just three draws from his six games in charge.

Then, we appointed John Coleman, a seasoned campaigner who had been in charge at Accrington Stanley for twelve years. He has a difficult job on his plate but got off to a great start with a 3-0 derby day win over Bury last week, a more attacking approach, some tactical nous and already has made some good signings, with Michael Symes and Kevin Long plugging some definite gaps in the squad.

With 18 games to go and with a new found belief as a result of Coleman’s appointment, we are hoping there is enough time to make a fist of staying in the division. The game at Charlton is going to be very difficult. Anything at all will be a bonus. Bury took a point off you on Tuesday so who knows?  From what I have seen though, I am very impressed by Powell’s managership and Charlton are nailed on certainties for the title.

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