The perpetual Rochdale rollercoaster took another turn on Wednesday night with the announcement that Brian Barry-Murphy has left the club.
Just a few days into pre-season training for the 2021/2022 campaign, a shock announcement came via the official website that the manager, after over two years in charge, has informed the club via his agent that he has decided to step down from his position.
The reasoning for this decision is as yet unclear, but with pre-season just about to get underway and with the likes of Eoghan O'Connell and Jimmy Keohane having very recently signed contract extensions, the timing is certainly worrying to Dale fans.
Barry-Murphy first took charge of the team on an interim basis in March 2019 and was quickly handed the job on a permanent basis as he led the side to six wins in their remaining 11 games that season to escape relegation from League One.
In the 2019/2020 campaign, Dale escaped the bottom four again when the season ended early, but the campaign will be best remembered for the side's cup exploits with trips to Manchester United and Newcastle United in the EFL Cup and FA Cup respectively.
With no fans allowed in the ground in 2020/2021, Dale finally succumbed to relegation under BBM, an improvement in results in the final stages of the campaign coming to late to lift the side out of the bottom four.
Former assistant Lee Riley will be taking training for the time being alongside Jim McNulty for the time being as preparations continue for the upcoming season.