MORE IN HOPE THAN GLORY

Published in the National League South game v Hampton and Richmond Borough Saturday 3rd September 2022  We won 2-1 with a 91st minute goal in front of 673

One day, maybe, I will write memoirs of a community pub. So much to celebrate, but also a chance to spill the beans after years of getting it in the ear while not being able to give our version of events.

Maybe that’s why I really enjoyed the behind the scenes, warts-and-all book by Chris Dunphy’s ‘More in Hope than Glory.’ From a young boy who used to walk 4 miles to the ground to becoming chairman leading the club to their most successful period in their history.

‘More than 55 years later, I can still feel the excitement that I felt at those early games….the crowd singing, the feeling of camaraderie, the sheer exuberance of being at Spotland watching football with my mates.’ His first season Rochdale went on a League Cup run that took them to the final and Dunphy was hooked for life.

Dunphy spent over 30 years as a director and the Chairman - ‘it has seen me through births, deaths and even a couple of marriages!’

‘So how did I get involved with the running of the club and why? In 1980, I was very firmly of the opinion that I could help the club survive, though if I am honest with myself, I now realise that this my have been a slightly arrogant attitude but I was much younger then and invincible!

‘If I had fully investigated what was involved and had given it deep, considered thought – as any person with business experience should have done – I would have realised it was a near-impossible task.

‘When you look at the grim facts of the situation, average attendance at the club had dropped from between seven and eight thousand at the beginning of the seventies, down to around one thousand in less than a decade. The state of the ground was abysmal, the standard of football was poor, and most of the town didn’t really care whether the club survived or not.

‘We had been in the bottom division for so long, it was sometimes cruelly referred to as ‘The Rochdale League.’

Dunphy wasn’t wealthy – his company installed heating systems in churches but over time, he transformed the way the club was run; the facilities, the community feel – trying to make the town it represented feel proud of its club. He helped bring ownership of the ground back and the local pub. In his time they won two promotions, got to Wembley in a play off final and drew with Spurs in an FA Cup 5th round game. He balanced the books and made the club sustainable. ‘In December 2009, we went top of the league and the fans on the terraces were singing, ‘Top of the league and paying our bills’ and to me at the time you couldn’t have had a better chant. I knew I had got my message across. We were Team Rochdale, we would succeed.’

The book isn’t full of match facts and only focuses on one season which just happens to be the one where Rochdale came and knocked Slough out of the FA Cup 2nd round 4-0 on a Monday night in front of the cameras. The same cup run when they played Millwall on a pitch that was more sand than grass, which isn’t surprising after volunteers had filed in thousands of holes with sand. This led to Spurs visiting and Dale getting a replay, played in the snow at Tottenham's temporary Wembley ground.

The book echoes what you hear from Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt, who has also transformed a small club into one holding its own in League One. But just like Holt, Dunphy spells out just what has happened to football finances

“When I first joined the club back in 1980, there was only a small financial gap separating the three lower divisions with a slightly larger gap to the top division. As finances were relatively similar in the lower divisions, it was possible for clubs like Carlisle United and Northampton Town to be able to rise up to play football at the highest levels without it breaking the bank. However, as the years went by and stakes became higher, the finances of football changed forever and when the Premier League was formed back in 1992, the gap between the divisions began to grow and this continues to get ever larger, season on season.’

Meanwhile Dunphy had slowly been building Team Rochdale. Their success was down to hard work and – and as with every football game, a little bit of luck – luck which no football fan would surely ever resent the supporters of leagues most unsuccessful club - well maybe apart from Bury fans.

And was it worth it? All that time and effort. After they finally won promotion he headed to the pub. ‘ITS DUNPHY!’ I have never had a feeling like that in my life. Everyone wanted to hug me, kiss me or at the very least buy me a drink. One supporter even offered me his wife for the night! It was day full of ‘money can’t buy’ moments. Highs do not come any higher than this. This was promotion. Fans doing a conga looking for me. We had just finished our most successful season in nearly forty years, we were very nearly solvent, we had changed the image of the club from ‘lowly’ to ‘ambitious’. It truly was Team Rochdale.’

But as in life, best laid plans can unravel. One director was banned from football for nearly a year, another died and slowly there are less allies and Dunphy found himself being edged out, till he announced his retirement without any real fanfare from the club. Maybe that is the end game for most of us who get involved in our community.

People love nothing more than a moan. To blame someone else. To say they could do it better nursing a pint but without ever sticking their head above the parapet. Chris Dunphy thought he could do it better – and he did.

But every Rochdale supporter secretly dreads that if they ever lost their league status, it could for all intents and purpose mean the end of league football in the town forever. They are currently bottom of the Football League pile this season with just a point. While their arch rivals, Bury, renamed the Bucketshakers were thrown out of the league some seasons earlier with their ground currently sitting idle.

We were promised root and branch reform of football – but with this government in turmoil, is that now going to happen? Football clubs, run properly, are the beating hearts of communities no matter what league they play in. Chris Dunphy can hold his head up high “The future of football is uncertain, and I fear for the survival of the game in the lower leagues. Directors must always remember that they might own the shares and the property but the club will always belong to the supporters.’

* More in Hope than Glory is published by Austin Macauley 2022