Rochdale Season Preview: Henderson the key

With the 2018-19 League One season coming up, The Football Lab spoke to Rochdale fan DD (@_DailyDale)…

In your first three seasons in League One, it felt like you sustained play-off challenges by playing front-foot, high-tempo football regardless of the circumstances. Did fear creep in during last season’s brush with relegation?

I think it was the other way round. We started the season off differently. I missed the first game as I was on holiday and when I came back, every time a defender got on the ball the fans would shout “HOOF”. As a joke of course, but I believe it was because that was what we had done against Scunthorpe in the first home game, a few fans told me that too. That period near the end of the season where we went to a back 5 and changed things up was actually when we went back to our traditional way of playing, and it brought the results. I don’t know why it changed at the start, but it certainly wasn’t for the best.

A lot of fans had said that adding an influential holding midfielder was a major priority. Were you pleased, therefore to see David Perkins return to the club on a free from Wigan so early in the summer?

Certainly, but I was pleased for a different reason. I don’t think Perkins will play every game, but, we have a young midfield, and he can help them improve and mature. They themselves have said this. There’s a chance he could go into a coaching role with us afterwards, like Brian Barry-Murphy did, so it’s a great signing for the club, more off the field than on it in my opinion. Keith Keane, who was released by the club this summer, after only a handful of appearances this season due to injury. He was massive off the field for us, Hill said it himself. I was worried this would be a big loss, but I think Perkins will sort that.

Josh Lillis has been around for a while, having been part of the 2013-14 promotion-winning side. How has he fared at this level?

I think last season was his best so far. He kept 21 clean sheets in all comps. He’s become more of a leader I think. Commanding the back 4 superbly. Him and Hendo scooped the awards at the end of the season do, and rightly so. Peterborough away, 1-0 up and down to 10 men, he made an incredible save in the dying minutes. Crucial all season, we have a lot to thank him for.

Jim McNulty seems to have an affinity with the fans. Will he be a good person for new signing James Finnerty to learn his trade alongside?

Certainly. I think he was a big factor in McGahey becoming so good. Finnerty will probably replace Jim in the end. I think Jim is another one who could potentially take up a coaching role.

Harrison McGahey appears to have an aggressive side to him. Do you see the best of him when he’s one of three centre-backs, rather than two?

I wouldn’t say aggressive. He certainly has strength and uses it. Very enjoyable seeing him shepherd the ball out of play while the attacker pointlessly tried to shove him out the way. He has no chance. Tough to say, are results certainly turned around when we changed the formation so I’d say yes, Jim certainly benefits from it though, and seeing as he is, in my opinion, our dodgiest defender, it’s worth risking it.

Right-back Joe Rafferty strikes me as a player with boundless energy and attacking instincts. Did you perhaps miss those qualities in the first half of the season?

Definitely. Raff is a normally a mainstay in the side, so people were confused and unhappy when sometimes he didn’t start. I think most of our assists came from Bunney in the first half of last season, with Raff being the more solid defensively. No doubt he has that attacking prowess though, just didn’t see it as much this season, for one reason or another.

It looks like left-back (or left wing-back) was an area that changed around a fair bit last season. Who do you see starting there at Burton?

Matt Done. First saw the change at Donny away I believe, and it was desired. We knew he could play there and Bunney’s defending was poor to say the least. He’s still manage to chip in with goals and assists in that position, and although it’s not what we planned for him when he signed, I think it’s worked out fairly well.

Oliver Rathbone seems like a selfless player. When the wing-backs/full-backs go up, is it important to have somebody with the discipline to cover the wide areas?

Certainly. Jamie Allen was the Rochdale Kante before he departed to Burton, never a blade of grass left untouched, and I think Ollie has filled his role really well. Our wing-backs really do have attacking prowess, and it’d be a shame not to use that, so it’s really good that we can free them of their defensive shackles every now and then and that then can know Ollie will cover them.

Callum Camps has signed a new long-term contract last summer. Are you proud of how the local lad has developed?

Certainly. He was captain last season. Only 21 years old at the time, quite an achievement! I think it’s inevitable he will move on. But he will always be in our hearts I think. Him and Andy Cannon are who spring to mind when I think about our own.

Ian Henderson chipped in with 13 goals last season; he’s not failed to deliver double figures in a season since joining five years ago. Would you categorize him as a club legend?

I’ll be honest. I was worried his goalscoring figures might begin to come down as his age went up, but he just keeps finding the back of the net! In my opinion our best/ joint best player this season alongside Lillis this season, and that showed at the clubs end of season awards. The “legend” topic seems to be fairly controversial in regards to Henderson. I know John Hill is an advocate for Henderson being a Rochdale legend and has said on many occasions how high up in our all time goalscorers he is, though i cannot find the tweets or figures, i imagine he’s not too far off the top! But many people are unimpressed with how irrational Henderson can be. The latest example of it was Peterborough away, needlessly bringing down his man and getting himself sent off, leading us to hang on for dear life to our 0-1 lead, which thankfully we did, if not, Hendo would’ve been in for a lot of stick. Over the course of this season though, I think I’ve seen more people come round to the idea of him being a legend, and I think the fact he plans to finish his career at Dale, will ultimately lead to him being one. He already is in my eyes, and lots of others, but I don’t think everyone agrees just yet!

In Henderson, Calvin Andrew and new signing Aaron Wilbraham, you’ve got three forwards all in their 30s. Do you see youngster Matty Gillam as the only player who could offer pace up top?

I haven’t seen much of Gillam in all honesty, but I don’t think he has much pace either. Fans, or at least I am, demanding for another striker, one like Humphrys with pace. Hendo does posses that, but I imagine he’ll lose, and perhaps already has, a yard or two of pace. We have 2 target men, and I believe we need 2 pacey forwards. Of course Done could be the 2nd, but I think he should stay where he is, I’ll admit I wasn’t very impressed with him for quite a while, an opinion I decided to keep to myself, seeing as he’s well liked. I’m not quite sure which category Gillie fits in, perhaps neither.

The club gave Daniel Adshead his debut at 16 last season. Is it important that you can develop players from the academy?

Certainly. The amount of sales the club have made from talent we have brought through, whether from the academy or just under Hilly is remarkable, and I’d say sometimes the club has relied on that. It can also benefit us in the future, such as the money we got when Hogan went to Villa, I think we got £3m from that, which I believe was our latest annual revenue at the time! It’s also important because it means that sometimes we don’t have to spend time or money on a player, because we already have one! So it saves us money, and makes us money!

Dale aside, what are your thoughts ahead of the League One season as a whole? Any potential dark horses for you?

I think League One gets tougher each season from a Dale perspective, because teams seem to have more and more money! I’m not sure how much of a dark horse they are, but they’ve just come up so I’ll go with it, Luton for me. Outstanding number of goals scored last season and financial backing behind them.

Where will you finish?

It’s a tough one, I’d like to say last season was a blip and we’ll get back to our usual top half with a chance at playoffs, but I don’t think that’ll be the case. We’ve also only played on pre-season friendly so I haven’t much to go off. I’ll go with 15th. I think we’re satisfied with the formation that we used near the end of last season, which is a help. I don’t think our results at the end of the season should be factored into this, because I believe momentum was a big part of that. I think the data put out by Ben Mayhew, I can’t quite remember what it is, Xg, shot/goal or something like that, indicated we should’ve finished much higher than we did, and if I’ve learnt one thing from the NTT20 boys, it’s to trust the data. Yet I’m not going to, because that was last season. I think Hill referred quite a bit last season that there were issues with the squad gelling, but the business has been done early, and the squad have become closer after the miracle of last season! So 15th, not in grave danger of relegation, but not challenging for playoffs either. I think a fairly calm season would do Dale fans good after the drama of last season!

Thanks to DD for his answers. The Football Lab’s verdict on Rochdale can be found on We Love Betting from late July.