Hi, guys i’m going to do my first story ever.
I really liked all of the stories on this site, that’s why I wanted to do a story myself. I’m Belgian so please excuse me if my English isn’t that good, but I think you’ll be able to understand me.
I'm going to start at Rochdale with a manager called James Gardner, no not the Aston Villa midfielder.
I hope you’ll like the story, enjoy it

All the best mate

Gardner signs for Rochdale.

There still are a few teams still looking for a new manager and some of them were hoping to contract James Gardner, a 42 year old manager who has loads of experience in the lower leagues in England. He played for example for Plymouth, Oxford united, York city, Bournemouth etc. Gardner was born in Bournemouth and when he was 6 years old he started his career at his beloved football team AFC Bournemouth. Now he goes into this new challenge with a lot of excitement.

With the interest of Burton Albion, AFC Rochdale, Wycombe Wanderers and Gateshead FC James Gardner had some difficult choices to make, but in the end he chose for Rochdale.
He’ll earn 1.6k a week and signed a 2-year deal with a possibility of extension.

“Chris Dunphy called me a few weeks ago, he said he was really interested in me. I was already speaking to other clubs over a contract but in the end I chose to sign for Rochdale, because I think they have a lot of potential and the chairman wants to give me full control of the team.” Said Gardner.

When Gardner arrived at the club for the first time, a lot of fans showed up at the Spotland stadium. With Rochdale reaching for the play-offs and maybe even promotion, Gardner has a really tough season ahead of him. The fans hope to go back into 3rd after last year’s disappointing relegation. We wish him and the fans all the luck they need.

@C94z thanks a lot

The squad

I’m pretty happy with the squad, it has a lot of quality players and to reach the play-offs we’ll need those players.

The only thing it lacks is another winger. We only have 3 wingers and I want to get another one, but with a budget of only 10k we’ll have to look for a free player or a loan. When I was looking on the market I found a decent player, Junior Brown. He’s a 24 year old left winger who plays for Fleetwood. I’m looking to sign him on loan to widen the squad. He won’t be playing a lot of games when he signs, I’m willing to sign him as a stand-in. So I sent a bid for a season long loan, paying all of his wages. Now I hope he signs because there weren’t any other decent looking players on the transfer market.

Preparing for the season

Before the season starts we have to play 4 friendlies which will prepare us for the challenging season. We really look forward to start the season against hartlepool at our own ground. But first we need to get a good pre-season and that starts with a home game against FC Dundee. A week later we’ll face Port Vale also at home. The last 2 games are a home game against Kilmarnock and an away game against Welsh side Cefn Druids.

Junior Brown signs loan deal with Rochdale.

Rochdale and Fleetwood have finally reached an agreement over 24 year old winger Junior Brown. Rochdale will pay %50 of the wages of Brown which is £400 a week. Gardner is delighted to finalize this deal:
“After these heavy negotiations I’m very relieved that we have signed Junior, we needed another winger and I think he’s a great player.”
It’s not sure that Brown will play a lot of games but if he gives the best of himself he might get a spot in the first team.

Saturday 6th July 2013 15:00

Rochdale AFC v Dundee FC 1-0

Friendly
Spotland
Attendance: 871

Matty Done (17’)

Ian Henderson (7.3)

Post-match analysis:

It was a pretty boring game until Matty Done got the first goal. After that Dundee was pressing and trying to force a goal, but the defence did very well to keep the sheets clean. Ian Henderson was running up and down the pitch recovering balls and creating a few chances.

Tuesday 16th July 2013 19:45

Rochdale AFC V Port Vale 2-0

Friendly
Spotland
Attendance:846

Graham Cummins (28')
Scott Hogan (47')

Michael Rose (8.3)

Post-match analysis:

The game started with a few chances for both teams but only Rochdale finished them, goalie Robbie Thomson from Rochdale was absolutely stunning. Michael Rose was chosen Man of the match because he was brilliant both attacking and defending.

Sky Bet sets odds for Sky Bet League 2

The lowest odds for winning the league are for Scunthorpe, Portsmouth and Chesterfield with all odds of 6.00, after them come Fleetwood Town with an odd of 7.00 and Hartlepool with 9.00

Then there are Burton Albion and Oxford United with 11.00, Rochdale 13.00 and Exeter and Bury 15.00.

Sky Bet predicts that Mansfield and Accrington Stanley will end up being last in the league with odds of 34.00

Saturday 20th July 2013 15:00

Rochdale AFC V Kilmarnock 2-0

Friendly
Spotland
Attendance:858

Scott Hogan (2')
Jack O'Connell (32')


Jack O'Connell (7.9)

Post-match analysis:

An early lead scored by Scott Hogan made it an easy game with most of the possesion in the first half for Rochdale. A diving header from Jack O'Connell after a corner kick doubled the lead for the Dale. In the second half Kilmarnock had taken over the possession but they weren't creating much chances. A deserved 2-0 win for Rochdale.

Rochdale signs contract with Adidas

Yesterday on a press conference, chairman Chris Dunphy said that Rochdale have reached an agreement with Adidas for the sponsoring of the new shirts.
Rochdale will earn approximately 1 million pounds in the next 5 years.
The new shirts will be released within this week.

Monday 29th July 2013 19:30

Cefn Druids V Rochdale AFC 1-1

Friendly
Cefn Mawr
Attendance: 182

Scott Hogan (62')
Mike Davies (90+3')

Scott Hogan (7.4)

Post-match analysis:

It's a very bad result with the first game of the league in sight. We didn't finsih our chances. We had 7 shots on target while Cefn Druids had only 1 on target in the added time.

July Report

Results

It was a good pre-season, except for the last game, that was very dissappointing. We only conceded 1 goal in 4 games which is very good. Scott Hogan seems to be in-form and I expect him to score 20+ goals in the league this season.

August Fixtures:

The season kicks off against Hartlepool. Then we play Sheffield United in the Capital One cup. On the 10th of august we travel to Burton. In august we also face Chesterfield, Plymouth and Oxford United. I hope we can get at least 11 points out of 15 in the league fixtures and a win against Sheffield United would be nice as well

Please don't beat Sheffield United!