Now that some time has passed since the end of the season, I wanted to reflect on the 24/25 campaign and provide an update on current activities at the Club.
As I mentioned in my previous communication, it is easy to forget how difficult the situation was at the Club this time last year. Aside from the financial position, which was clear to all, the internal operations at the Club had necessarily been stripped back to the bare essentials, and many of the staff were going above and beyond just to keep the Club functioning at a basic level.
Given the amount of work that would be required to build back the core internal operations at the Club, my main concern on the footballing front was to ensure stability and ideally push for a playoff place, which would represent tangible improvement on the 23/24 season.
With that in mind, I am very pleased with how the team performed. A fourth-placed finish is an excellent result and an FA Trophy semi-final to boot. Inevitably, when you come so close to even greater success, the satisfaction is tempered – especially given how close we were to winning both of those key games.
However, we have strong reasons to be optimistic about the coming season. The core of our team is already in place and has had a season playing together. Jimmy and his technical team are aware of those areas we need to strengthen and are working hard to do so over the close season in what is a very competitive transfer market. We will, of course, update on any new signings when they happen, but I can assure you that our aim is to seek to continually improve the squad with the players we need to give us the best chance of success in this league.
Unfortunately, and as previously communicated, our Category 4 Academy will close on June 30th, as we are not permitted to apply for a licence under EPPP for 2025/26 due to it being our third season outside of the EFL. We have, however, joined forces with our Community Trust to ensure that we continue to offer full-time football opportunities for aspiring local 16-19-year-old players via our Sports College programme. We will also welcome back boys teams from U8-U16 next season, adding around 150 new players to The Dale family.
Congratulations must also go to our Women’s first team, who achieved promotion to the North West Women’s Regional Football League in just the second season after reformation. We have identified female football as a potential growth area for the club in future years, and look forward to forging even closer links with Rochdale AFC Ladies, as well as other local and regional stakeholders.
Off the field, we have made significant strides too, and I have picked out a few highlights below to mention. On the staffing front, we have strengthened our key leadership team, bringing in Andy Duff as Managing Director and Chris Garland as Head of Operations, as well as Jamie Stoddart as our Commercial Sales Manager.
We have partnered with a new ticketing provider, Fanbase, which has already proved very successful and additional work is currently ongoing to upgrade all the turnstiles at the ground with new automated access control systems, as well as new ticket scanners.
A new stewarding partner has been engaged in CSG, in an effort to ensure we offer the best and safest levels of stewarding for our fans and other visitors.
We have recently entered into a further new and exciting partnership regarding our retail operations and will announce more details on that in the coming weeks.
In terms of our fan engagement efforts, we have established a Club Advisory Board (CAB) with 17 members alongside Club representatives. The CAB has met twice so far, and I am very encouraged by the constructive and productive engagement to date. I look forward to it becoming a key pillar of the Club. On a related note, Ruby Loynd has joined us as Fan Liaison Officer to help improve our engagement efforts even further.
So much more work has been carried out over the season, much of which won’t necessarily be visible, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the staff at the Club, both on and off the pitch, for all their hard work. But we recognise that there is lots more to be done!
In terms of current activities at the Club, preparations are in full swing for the upcoming season. Work has commenced on a seasonal renovation of the surface of the pitch. I need to be clear with everyone that this is a surface renovation and not a complete rebuild. A complete rebuild is the only way we will solve the fundamental underlying issues we face. However, a rebuild is likely to cost close to £1.5m, and with the Club’s budget for next season (excluding any pitch works) already requiring additional funds of £2m, this additional expense is not something we can justify at this stage.
We are aware, and I am afraid it is unavoidable, that not rebuilding the pitch carries the risk that we will face difficulties again in the winter. Our best chance of mitigating that risk is to avoid water entering the pitch in the first place. Last season, by the time we had purchased full-size rain covers, the pitch had already become waterlogged to the point where the covers made little difference. This season, we intend to have a strict regime in place to fully cover the pitch whenever there is material rainfall and to minimise the times before and after a game (and before and after rugby games) when it is uncovered in the wet. New lightweight rugby posts have been purchased, which will mean we can cover the pitch overnight between a Saturday and a Sunday when Rochdale Hornets are playing.
The regime for keeping the pitch covered will require a huge effort from our ground staff, as removing water from the covers is not an easy task. To assist the Club in this endeavour, we will be looking to establish a pool of volunteers from Dale and Hornets fans who are willing to come to the Club at key times, pre- and post-games, to help out. More information on how to volunteer will be published in due course.
There are many more updates to follow in the coming weeks, including announcements on new and renewed commercial sponsorships, transfer activity and kit launches. In addition, we are planning to hold a series of volunteer days in July where fans can come to the Club to assist our stadium maintenance team in refurbishing parts of the ground to improve the fan experience. Again, more details on that will follow in due course via our website and social media channels. If there are any fans out there who are experienced tradespeople and might be interested in assisting this effort with time, expertise and/or supervision, please do get in touch via the fanservices@rochdale.co.uk email address.
At the time of writing, over 1,200 Season Tickets for the upcoming campaign have been sold, with more than eight weeks still remaining until opening day. I would like to thank every supporter who has purchased so far, and we look forward to that number continuing to rise as we approach the new season.
It leaves me to wish you all an enjoyable summer, and I look forward to seeing you all at the Crown Oil Arena for the 25/26 season.
Up The Dale!
Cameron
