Full match preview of this weekend’s game with Hartlepool United as we kick off our League One campaign at Sunny Spotland.
It’s back.
That feeling of expectation when you wake up on a Saturday morning. That feeling of putting on the new shirt for the first day on a match day. That walk to the ground and the first sight of others doing the same. That feeling you get inside when you hear someone lambast Joey T for not being Lionel Messi.
Yes it’s football season time, and it’s about time too.
But without wanting to sound like some sort of advert for Sky Sports, this time it’s different. This is League One Football in the flesh, in HD, in 3D, in 34DD if you wish, but this is what we’ve waited 30 odd years for, and this Saturday it’s happening.
Think about all the places we’re visiting – St Mary’s, The Valley, Hillsborough and so on. Grounds and teams that we’ve seen on TV or we’ve gone as plucky potential giant killers. Well if I’ve being honest, the new teams don’t bother me in the slightest. For me it’s like being taken to New York, Paris, Monte Carlo etc by Kylie Minogue. Dale are my Kylie and I’m no tourist. This season is all about Dale and what we do and we’re not here to just make up the numbers.
Because if you look at the teams in League One, and with the odd exception, its like a who’s who of the past ten years or so of Dale opponents. With Keith Hill as manager, we have already beaten seven of our opponents in the past three years, and as supporters we’ve seen victory against many others that we’ll be facing so it’s not like we’re walking into some arena of invincibility.
Of course the million dollar question is how are we going to do this season, and one thing that almost everyone can agree on is that no one has a clue where we are going to finish. Conversations about where we’ll finish tend to end up with “but I’ll take fifth from bottom” though that’s only through League One being a complete unknown for us.
The manager is looking up. Speaking to supporters on Thursday evening, Keith Hill insisted that he was looking for the club to gain a second successive promotion but without a hint of bullishness that he expected that to happen. Even he used the BITFFB line, albeit with a whole of host of “reluctantly”, “if I had to”, “if it was a choice between that and being publically executed”. Aims are high but remain realistic.
There’s no irony lost that as we step into this so called unknown that we’re playing the League side that we have played more than any other club through the Football League. The fixture list doesn’t look right without Dale v Hartlepool on it, and I’m sure for supporters of Hartlepool, they’ve missed their trips to the Church and the Willbutts Lane Chippy just as much as we’ve missed wondering where the Ice Rink is.
As opening fixtures go, it’s one that both sides will be happy with and see it as a great way of relieving early season pressure. There’s no doubting that all common sense goes out the window when the three game League tables start appearing, and genuine pressure mounts on those clubs with a zero in the W column. It shouldn’t but it does, so both Hill and Turner will be looking at getting that first win on the board this weekend.
Chris Turner brings his Hartlepool side after a pre-season which could be best described as being indifferent. Results haven’t been great, and there have not been massive changes to a side that finished just outside the relegation zone last season. It’s perhaps understandable that they have been tipped for drop in many of the often lazy season predictions.
But games between the two sides have always been close. Even back in the bad old days when both teams took it as a compliment when they were only labelled as crap, there was never much between the two sides.
In terms of team news, it’s looking better for us than for our visitors. Dale boss Keith Hill has practically a full squad to pick from. Pre-season has been injury free, and the only doubt was new signing Anthony Elding as we awaited international clearance for his services. That age old problem eh? But thankfully, our friends in Hungary have come up trumps, and Elding has been given the thumbs up. Or whatever the Hungarian equivalent is.
Pools have one or two issues of their own, but have been boosted by a couple of new signings in the past couple of days. Midfielder Paul Murray who spent the past couple of years at Shrewsbury has signed a short term deal with them, and striker Fabian Yantarno has joined up but like Elding, he too is awaiting international clearance. We never had this to put up with when Graham Barrow’s Dale took on Mick Tait’s Pools.
Hartlepool defender Gary Liddle is forced to sit out this game due to a suspension carried over from last season which led to them being deducted points. What is it about Hartlepool and ineligible players? ïŠ
So the countdown is now on before we start playing in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1974. The fans are ready, the players are ready. Let battle commence!