Dale have "reluctantly" given Barnsley FC permission to talk to Dale boss Keith Hill about taking over at Oakwell from Mark Robins who left earlier this week.
This news came after a couple of days of rumours which eventually saw Keith Hill go to extremely short offs to take over as the new manager of Barnsley FC, before being outed as the preferred choice by Barnsley on Thursday.
Noises from Rochdale suggest that the club have had an agreement with Hill that they would not stand in his way if another club came in wishing to speak to him, and so it was with reluctance that they allowed the club that we knocked out of the Carling Cup to speak to Keith Hill.
So what happens now? Well Barnsley are still playing their cards close to their chest and have suggested that permission to talk does not equate with an imminent appointment and that Hill is just one of a number of people they wish to speak to.
Hill and his assistant David Flitcroft signed two year extensions to their deal at Spotland just twelve months ago, and if they do decide to move on, that part of the deal will require compensation paying by the South Yorkshire club.
If they do decide to take over at Barnsley, it will bring back memories of Steve Parkin's departure who also left Dale to head to Oakwell. That move proved sour for Parkin, who was dismissed by Barnsley as they languished in administration less than a year after taking over.