From broken toys to broken dreams - Rochdale's decline

Rochdale's time in the English Football League came to an end this season, with their relegation confirmed after their 1-0 defeat by Stockport County on 22 April

The 2022-23 campaign is one that will live on in the memory of Rochdale fans - but for all the wrong reasons.

Dale's 102-year stay in the English Football League officially came to an end following their defeat by Stockport County in April.

The club went on to finish rock bottom of the League Two table and are now preparing to play non-league football next season.

The story of how they went from League One stability to the National League is one that involves "broken toys" and broken dreams.

BBC Radio Manchester spoke to those who know the club best to find out what went wrong and if there is hope for the future.

• Listen to BBC Radio Manchester's documentary on Rochdale's rise and fall

Dale's relegation from League Two was confirmed during their defeat at Edgeley Park but the writing had been on the wall for much longer.

Having been promoted to League One in 2010 - a first promotion for the club since 1969 - Rochdale were buoyant.

Their stay in the third tier might have only lasted two seasons before they dropped back to League Two, but they were promoted again in 2013-14.

From that point, the club had seemed well-run and a stalwart in League One, punching above their weight against the division's elite.

But in the space of just three seasons, Dale have gone from third tier to English football's non-league having lost a whopping 26 of their 46 games this term.

Building a team around 'broken toys'

Dale finished eighth in League One in 2014-15 on their return to the third tier with 10th-placed and ninth-placed finishes in the two seasons afterwards.

In the "glory years" at the end of the 2010s, Rochdale pushed Manchester United to the brink at Old Trafford in the EFL Cup only to lose on penalties.

The wheels were set in motion for this success by the man who took them into the third tier for the first time in 2010.

Previously a youth team coach, Keith Hill stepped up to lead the club after Steve Parkin's sacking in December 2006 and transformed Dale's fortunes, but did so in a cost-effective manner.

"We never overspent. We overachieved massively. I can't tell you the budget but it was a massive overachievement and that was almost as satisfying as getting promoted from a football perspective," Hill told BBC Radio Manchester.

"We did it with honesty, methodology and recruiting what I call the 'broken toys' and making a team out of these players and giving them an opportunity not just to represent Rochdale, but to make themselves better people.

"We were creating a career path for young players like Craig Dawson and Scott Hogan, or established career pros like Nathan Stanton and Gary Jones, and bringing the likes of Brian Barry-Murphy to the football club.

"You knew that if you played for Rochdale, or you worked for Rochdale, you might be underpaid to a certain degree. But you knew there was a career path there for you and we gave good opportunities."

'You can't run a club like a corner shop'

The glory days begin - Keith Hill won promotion to League One on two occasions with Rochdale, firstly in 2010

As well as fostering talent from elsewhere, Rochdale did good business selling young players for a tidy profit.

Luke Matheson, who scored the equaliser at Old Trafford at just 16 years old, joined Premier League side Wolves for £1m while Dan Adshead left for Norwich for £750,000.

Lucrative FA Cup ties against Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, which both went to replays, also did much to boost Dale's finances at a time when they were competing with clubs in League One which had much bigger budgets.

Former chairman Chris Dunphy aided Rochdale's success behind the scenes throughout the 2010s but admits it was not always easy given the club's stature.

"When I was there, we used to set a budget that we would lose around £200,000 at the end of every season," he said.

"Something would always come along. We would either sell a player or we'd have a cup run. But you always had to be prepared if that didn't happen.

"It sharpened you up if you knew you'd have to put your hand in your pocket at the end of the season to cover that difference.

"It's very important that you take a broader look at the finances of a football club. You can't run it like you're on a corner shop. You can't say 'this season our turnover will be £1m so we've got to make sure that we get exactly that money in'.

"You've got to look at it maybe over two or three seasons and think 'well, you know if we make £1m a season on transfers, we might lose £1m next season'. So you've got to look at the broader spectrum. This is why you've got to have a plan of what is coming through and you've got to make that workable."

A failed takeover and further decline

Following their relegation from League One in 2021, Barry-Murphy, by then manager after moving from being a player to the coaching staff, left the club at his own request while chief executive David Bottomley left by mutual consent.

But there would be further off-the-field drama to come in the form of a failed 'hostile takeover' of the club by Morton House, which overshadowed preparations for Dale's return to the fourth tier.

So why has the club regressed even further this season and what impact did the events of summer 2021 have on the club?

"If we're being honest with ourselves, we should really have been relegated last season," Colin Cavanagh of supporters' group Dale Trust told BBC Radio Manchester.

"I think if we'd started last season in October 2021 or November 2021, we would have been relegated.

"There is certainly a hangover from what went on in the summer of 2021 which has never gone away.

"We just couldn't arrest the decline we had from last season. We signed loads of new players. Some signed for the current manager, some the last, some for the manager before then. We've got a collection of players who should be good enough."

As a result of the events of summer 2021, the club were handed a six-point deduction by the EFL, suspended for two years for failure to comply with the league's regulations over an attempted takeover.

Bottomley, who had gone on to work as chief operating officer of non-league side AFC Fylde after his departure from Rochdale, was among those given a two-year ban from operating as a relevant person by the EFL.

And current Rochdale chairman Simon Gauge said he feared the club could follow neighbours Bury by going out of business.

"In my mind, as a supporter of the club, I could see us turning into another Bury overnight," Gauge said.

"It was a day-by-day, week-by-week existence at that time. Problems were presented to you on a daily basis and legal questions were asked.

"It was an extremely frustrating time as well because the people you thought would support you just washed their hands of you."

'The National League is unforgiving'

Jim Bentley won just seven of his 36 games in charge of Rochdale in all competitions, losing 20, before he was sacked in March

Robbie Stockdale, who replaced Barry-Murphy as manager, steadied the ship in 2021-22, keeping the club in League Two despite their off-field issues.

He was sacked, however, following a run of four defeats from their first four league games of this season, with former Morecambe boss Jim Bentley taking his place.

Under his tenure, Dale won just six out of 32 league games and were 10 points adrift of 22nd-placed Crawley with eight games left when he himself was sacked.

Jim McNulty took over to steer the club through the remainder of the season but the downward spiral had started and, despite wins over AFC Wimbledon and Walsall, the loss to Stockport confirmed they would be playing National League football next season.

"It makes me quite angry to be honest, when I think about it. It so simply could've been avoided. We all make wrong moves in our lives but it's how quickly you readjust yourself to the right path," Hill added.

"It will get worse before it gets better. There is such an adjustment. Some teams don't adjust. The finances are different. The supporters will lose a certain amount of belief and a certain amount of interest, and you're playing against seasoned, hardened National League teams who will eat you alive."

In the midst of their relegation, Dunphy had been in talks with the club over potential investment but later pulled out of the process.

McNulty, meanwhile, will lead Rochdale into the National League having been given a two-year deal as manager on Friday.

Asked about their current situation and his past at the club by BBC Radio Manchester before he entered talks about a possible return, Dunphy said: "I don't regret going when I did because I couldn't work with the board members that were there at the time. In hindsight, I may have gone a bit too soon, I don't know.

"I have to say, what's happened since I left is exactly what I expected to happen. I don't know what's happened to all the money. The current board is not the board that was there when I left. They've had their own problems to deal with.

"I must admit, I didn't expect them to drop out of the division but I knew they would struggle."