If you're stuck for Xmas ideas for a Dale devotee or you just want something to get away from the whole Yuletide experience, then here's just the thing.

If the rubbish telly gets you down and the drizzly weather (come on, when did it last snow at Christmas?), why not settle down with a couple of books dedicated to the ever-improving Dale? Over the holiday period Pomona is offering its two Dale-flavoured books for just £5 each. Believe in the Sign and Life Sentence are both written by Dale devotee, Mark Hodkinson.

Long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize and chosen by The Guardian and The Times as one of their 2007 sports book of the year, Believe in the Sign is a ‘sort of a memoir' of a normal, average boy who would have grown up happily average and normal but for a dark and perverse passion: the seductive lure of masochistic devotion to Rochdale FC. The Dale have formed a touchstone of Hodkinson’s life since he first saw them play on a cold, misty night in 1974. He has missed just a handful of home matches since then.

At the start of the 2000/2001 season he was commissioned by The Times  to write a weekly bulletin from Spotland. Over the course of the season,  these articles provided a compelling insight into the fanaticism engendered  for the country's lower league sides and are collected together in Life  Sentence. The column developed cult status as Hodkinson's wry prose touched a chord with fellow supporters, especially during an era when many felt the sport had lost its soul to rampant commercialism. He writes of hope and heartache; anguish and agony; pie and peas on a tray with gravy, please. He also interweaves the life of his football club with the life of his family - a father who is similarly addicted to Rochdale FC and two young sons whom he is hesitant to introduce to the pleasure and pain of Spotland.

They can be ordered individually or together via Paypal by clicking on this link:

http://www.pomonauk.com/shop/store.php 

or via post by sending a cheque for £6.50 for one book or £13 for them both
(which is inclusive of postage) made out to ‘Pomona’ at:

Pomona
PO Box 50
Hebden Bridge
West Yorkshire
HX7 8WA

The books will be mailed out immediately, first-class.

Photo: Action Images

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