66 John Seasman

Position : Midfield (also played at centre half and right back)

Played : 1984-5 (on loan from Cardiff); 1985-6 to 1987-88

Appearances : (first spell) 8 (second spell ) 87

Goals : (first spell) 0 (second spell) 4

Our next loanee was somewhat more experienced. John had started out as a striker with Tranmere then somewhat surprisingly moved to First Division Luton for £5,000 before he'd scored any goals. Although he scored on his debut he never managed to really break into the side and moved on to Millwall for £10,000. There he was a regular for five seasons although in his last (1979-80) he moved into a midfield role only scoring once.
In 1980 he moved on to Rotherham where he played alongside Halom in what was probably their best ever side. By 1983-4 he had fallen out of favour and only played 8 games. He started the next season with Cardiff and played 12 games scoring twice but by December they were looking to loan him out and he came to Spotland.

We played him in midfield and he made a favourable impression immediately with his instant control and accurate passing and it was a big disappointment when he chose to join champions-elect Chesterfield when the loan period ended. However when we played them in the last game of the season he was nowhere to be seen and was free to re-join us in the close season.

Everyone was pleased by this and he scored a great goal in the 4-1 thumping of Stockport on the August Bank Holiday 1985. However his shine wore off soon afterwards. His passing was very conservative for someone who used to be a striker. He often drifted out of matches particularly when things weren't going well and seemed a bit soft ; I recall a teacher from my school screaming at him to get up away at Swindon , clearly thinking he was angling to be withdrawn from a tough game. He also had a habit of getting injured in November and recovering in February which seemed a bit suspicious.

At the end of 1985-6 with Tommy Cannon demanding big cuts in the salaries budget John was put on the transfer list at nil value but no one was interested. He started the season in the reserves but Halom had to recall him when his laughable replacement Ray McHale proved hopeless. He duly picked up an injury in October but because Halom had forgotten that the use of an additional substitute was being pioneered in the FA Cup that season he was named for the tie at Nuneaton even though he sat in the stand with his leg in plaster !

By the time he had recovered Eddie Gray had taken over as manager and his return did help in the fight for League survival. As a reward he was offered a new contract for 1987-8 at a considerably reduced rate which he accepted. That season he was often used to fill holes at the back which he did surprisingly well although his use as a sweeper in the 2-1 defeat at home to Carlisle who were below us was baffling ,even more so when they were reduced to 9 men. He narrowly avoided being run over at Turf Moor when a car being offered as a lottery prize was driving round the edge of the pitch at half time and just missed him as the players came out of the tunnel.

Gray offered him a new contract for 1988-89 which he probably deserved but the Board publicly vetoed it and sent John on his way. Shortly afterwards Gray resigned ( to become manager of Hull City) which was probably the real motive behind the action but it did seem a bit callous towards a player who, on balance, had been an asset. John played on in non-league with Northwich and Hyde United. He is now a football agent.

65 Mike Fielding

Guess what -no picture of Mike to be found

Position : Midfield

Played : 1984-5 (on loan from Barnsley)

Appearances : 6

Goals : 0


Mike was a short, ginger-haired youngster without any League experience who played in midfield. He was taken on loan from Barnsley in mid-season 1984-5. He showed an appetite for tackling but not too much else. He returned to Barnsley and was never heard of again , his six games for us comprising his entire League career.

64 Frank Gamble

Position : Winger

Played : 1984-5 to 1985-6

Appearances : 46

Goals : 9


Frank was another member of Vic Halom's successful Barrow side and arrived at Spotland around Christmas time 1984. The diminutive 23- year old had played briefly for Derby a couple of years earlier but despite scoring twice in six appearances he was let go.

The reason was almost certainly that Frank had off-field "issues". He allegedly enjoyed the sort of trips that don't require petrol and it was also said that the other players didn't leave things lying around the dressing room when Frank was about. Nevertheless Halom thought he could do a job and was largely proved right.

Frank was a classic winger to whom tracking back was an alien concept but he did know where the goal was scoring five times in 21 appearances to keep his place in the side.
The following season he was much improved and when we played Peterborough in a top of the table clash on 07.09.85 Frank was the difference between the two sides scoring two brilliant goals to edge the game 2-1. When Wrexham came to Spotland two months later their manager Dixie McNeil identified Frank as the man to watch. Unfortunately his goalkeeper can't have been listening for in the second half Frank pushed the ball out of his hands and ran the ball into the net. With neither official having seen what led up to it the goal was given and it turned out to be the winner leaving McNeil apoplectic.

Unfortunately that was more or less it for Frank at Spotland. For reasons best known to himself Vic Halom decided to blow most of our Old Trafford receipts on a new left winger called Mossman and by the time that fiasco had played itself out Frank had left the club and signed for Morecambe. He later gave Southport good service but never returned to League football which anyone who saw him that season would know was a shame.

63 Ian Johnson

Position : Right back

Played : 1984-85 to 1986-87

Appearances : 81

Goals: 1


Ian was another signing from Chadderton FC but stuck around a bit longer. He was used as a utility defender who could fill in at centre half or either full back position. After 8 appearances in 1984-5, he ended up at least featuring in nearly every game the following season. When we finally offloaded Paul Heaton in the summer of 1986 he at last made the right back position his own.



Unfortunately playing in a much-weakened side exposed his own limitations. He couldn’t read the game and was prone to cock-ups. Both his goals were memorable. The first, in the FA Cup at Nuneaton in 1986, clearly went through a hole in the side netting but I suppose it was their own fault for not keeping their equipment up to scratch. The second opened the scoring in the outstanding 4-2 win at Preston in March 1987. Ian hit a speculative shot from just outside the area. Alan Kelly had it covered but inexplicably (my Preston-supporting friends said it was an old pals act to help Dale’s safety bid in the first year of relegation to the Conference) dropped his hands and saw it sail into the top corner.



Eddie Gray obviously didn’t rate Ian and released him at the end of the season. He went to Altrincham but soon dropped another notch and ended up at Droylsden.

62 Steve Taylor

Position : Forward

Played : 1984-5 to 1986-7 ; 1988-89

Appearances : 101

Goals : 6

Vic Halom did some bad deals but selling Les Lawrence for £20,000 and replacing him with Steve on a free from Stockport was the best bit of business by a Rochdale manager period. The 29 year old began his career with Bolton but scored his first league goals on loan to Port Vale. In 1977 he was sold to Oldham for £40,000 and repaid them with 25 goals in 47 appearances. That earned him a £200,000 move to Luton but Steve failed to settle in the south and after one goal in 20 appearances he was sold on to Mansfield. After one modest season there he moved on to Burnley where he won a Third Division Championship medal and was a key figure inb their run to the League Cup semi-finals. At the end of 1982-3 he was released in a post-relegation clearout and signed for Wigan but moved on to Stockport on deadline day recovering his best form with 6 goals in 12 games. The following season he fell out of favour and hence his free transfer to us.

Steve made an immediate difference to a side which had only won one game at home and helped us climb to a mid-table finish. He was good in the air, fast over 10 yards and a lethal finisher - some of his goals were in the back of the net before the keeper had even moved. He tackled back as well belying a reputation for laziness. His first touch could have been better but you can't have everything. In his second season he was the Division's top scorer (slightly fortunately as Chester's Stuart Rimmer got injured in the autumn when well ahead) with 25 League goals and 31 in total. He got us into the Third Round of the FA Cup and a tie with Manchester Uinted almost singlehanded.

He started the following season in the same style scoring 5 in 9 appearances and one thought he would keep us out of trouble again. However when Rob Wakenshaw was signed "to take the pressure off Steve Taylor" alarm bells began to ring and sure enough just a fortnight later he was gone. John McGrath in the third and worst of three bad turns he did us signed him for Preston for £20,000. For a 31 year old that doesn't seem too bad but we were lost without him and only survived by the skin of our teeth.

To rub salt in the wound McGrath hardly played him and sold him on to Burnley after only 5 appearances.

After Vic Halom was sacked Tommy Cannon said he and Taylor had had an argument but that seemed like he was covering his own back. After 18 undistinguished months at Burnley Steve re-signed for Dale under Danny Bergara in March 1989 marking his second debut at home to Hereford with an outrageous claim to a goal that he was nowhere near to scoring. Though he was better than what we had he was a changed player and spent most of the time berating the referee when you wanted him to get on with the game. He scored 4 in 17 games.

His departure is still shrouded in mystery. He lined up in the team picture for 1989-90 but never featured even in pre-season and eventually re-surfaced on the coaching staff at Boundary Park. Terry Dolan later mumbled something about an injury. Steve next popped up as player-manager at Mossley in 1993 but lasted only a few months with the team winning only once. Steve played four and scored once. He is now a gym manager in the prison service.

61 John Pemberton

Position : Midfield

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

And here's the good player who got lost amid all the comings and goings. John, who had been at Chadderton FC, was thrown straight into the first team midfield in a night game. I think it was at home to Aldershot. Not surprisingly he was completely anonymous, we lost the match and there was no sign of him after that....

... until later in the season he popped up at Crewe for six games. The following season he was their regular right back and eventually followed Geoff Thomas to Crystal Palace. He had a starring role in their FA Cup Semi-Final defeat of Liverpool in 1990, then played for Sheffield United and Leeds until 1996. He eventually returned to Crewe but to give a nice symmetry to his career he only played one game before taking up a coaching role at Nottingham Forest. He was briefly caretaker manager of Forest in 2008.
He has since coached at Crystal Palace and just been appointed to head Sheffield United's academy.

60 Tony Moore

Position : Left back

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 3

Goals : 0

Vic Halom was giving Tony another chance in League football after he'd spent the previous season with Worksop Town. He started out with Sheffield United making 29 appearances before moving to Crewe where he made 17 appearances in 1982-3

Tony unfortunately looked like a pub player, balding , tubby and moustachioed and that was about the standard of his play. He was shipped out again to Belper Town pretty quickly.

59 Les Strong

Position: Left back

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Les was another former team-mate of Vic Halom's this time at Fulham for whom he had made 373 appearances before moving on to Crystal Palace for the 1983-4 season. He was released after only 7 appearances and was a free agent when he came to Dale.

A friend of mine always cites Les as one of our worst ever players but I can't recall him doing anything spectacularly bad in his one appearance. It was his last game of football at any level and he now works in events management and hospitality.

58 John Cavanagh

Position : Right back

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 17

Goals : 0

John was brought in from Bangor City as the next attempt to solve the right back problem. He had been with Preston as a youngster but never made the first team.

Unfortunately the right back problem got worse when John wore the shirt. He wasn't fit enough to last 90 minutes and we kept conceding late goals that stemmed from our right flank when he was in the side.

Reportedly a very amusing guy off the pitch, John was eventually discarded. He emigrated to Australia and played for Newcastle KB United. He apparently still lives there.

57 Paul Malcolm

Position: Goalkeeper

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 24

Goals : 0

Paul was brought in from Durham City when Steve Conroy got injured. He had been an apprentice at Newcastle but never made the first team.



Paul was taller than Steve but in my opinion not as sound and shouldn’t have kept his place when the latter recovered. I remember him making a late cock-up to gift Southend an equaliser then giving a fan a load of abuse for reminding him of it the next game. Before the season was out Dave Redfern had been brought in on loan to replace him. He was released in the summer which Vic Halom said was the hardest decision he’d had to make as a manager.



Paul was taken on by Shrewsbury for the following season but never made the first team for them. He then turned up at Barnsley making three appearances for them in 1986-7. Two seasons later he signed for Doncaster and made 34 appearances for them in 1988-89 before having to retire from professional football. He had a benefit match in 1990 and returned to non-league football with Whitley Bay. He is now a goalkeeping coach working in Newcastle.

56 Tommy English

Position : Forward

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 3

Goals : 1

Now this was a major surprise. Tommy was a 23 year old England Youth international who'd broken into the Coventry first team at 18 bagging 17 goals in 66 appearances. When Gordon Milne moved to Leicester in 1982 he took Tommy with him swapping him for Jim Melrose. Melrose had been popular with the fans and when Tommy didn't instantly impress the fans started to criticise and according to Milne he couldn't handle it and stopped performing at all scoring just 3 goals in 44 appearances. He was released in the summer of 1984 and was still available in September to come to Spotland for a trial.

He got off to a great start scoring the opening goal in our first win of the season away at Hartlepool. He almost scored in his home debut against Torquay when his sharp shot on the turn was brilliantly saved by Torquay's veteran keeper (and good egg) , Kenny Allen.

But that was our lot. Tommy decided to try his luck with Plymouth instead, scoring once in four games before signing on a more permanent basis for Colchester. Despite a decent return of 17 goals from 43 appearances he dropped out of league football in 1987 playing for Wealdstone and Bishop Stortford before re-signing for Colchester in 1989 . He got another 3 goals in 13 appearances but then moved to Happy Valley, Hong Kong in 1990. When he returned he played out his career with a number of southern non-league clubs.

55 Gary Haworth

No picture of Gary

Position: Forward

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Well I'm stumped with this one. I don't remember him at all. I read that he came from and went back to Radcliffe Borough and that's it. If anyone knows anything more about him please comment.

54 Les Lawrence

Position : Forward

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 15

Goals : 4

Les was Halom’s star signing that summer, a 27-year old big centre forward who’d scored 22 goals for Aldershot in the season just finished. Although £15,000 was a lot of money for us it looked like a steal. He’d started his career at Shrewsbury in the mid-70s but made his mark at Torquay. That earned him a move to Port Vale in 1982 but that didn’t work out and they let him go to Aldershot.



Unfortunately Les was a bit disappointing. He certainly had physical presence but wasn’t very skilful and in a struggling side didn’t seem fully committed to the cause. When Burnley came in for him in November with a £20,000 offer we took the opportunity to make a profit on a letdown.

Besides we had an able replacement lined up …..



Les never really became a first team regular at Turf Moor scoring 8 goals in 31 appearances over the next 18 months. At the end of 1985-6 he was released and joined Peterborough. He stayed there for a season scoring 8 in 33. His final season in the league (1987-88) was spent with Cambridge for whom he failed to score in 13 appearances before moving on to Kettering and Aylesbury United (a very modest 4 in 28 there).

53 Barry Diamond

Position : Forward

Played : 1984-5 to 1985-6

Appearances : 52

Goals : 16

Not the worst but probably the most unpopular player in our survey, Barry would still get booed if he showed his face at Spotland today. Barry came to Rochdale with Vic Halom from Barrow having scored an impressive 36 goals in 55 appearances in his second spell with them.

He took quite a while to adjust to League football and didn't score a league goal until October but he improved once he had Steve Taylor alongside him and just pipped him to be leading scorer with 15. In the summer of 1985 we signed Ronnie Moore and Barry played on the right wing while Dave Thompson was trying to impress at Old Trafford but when Tommo returned he was out in the cold. Halom took the fateful decision to loan him to Stockport and then crazily we allowed him to take the field against us on Boxing Day 1985. Barry comprehensively burned his bridges by getting Joe Cooke sent off, diving for their two penalties and laughing at the fans. It's notable that Stockport didn't let him take either penalty and in fact he didn't score in his six games for them. When his loan expired with Stockport no longer interested a transfer to Halifax was quickly arranged; it's doubtful if he ever set foot in Spotland again.

He scored 3 in 12 for them that season but those turned out to be his last league goals.
After 10 more goalless games in 1986-7 , he went on loan to Wrexham and played 4 more barren games there before dropping back into non-league with Gainsborough Trinity. Thereafter he became a serious nomad having spells at Colne, Morecambe, Mossley (twice), Hyde, Altrincham, Chorley, Horwich and Rossendale before finally finishing up at Castleton Gabriels where he played into his forties. Maybe he sometimes wondered how long he could have stayed up the road if he hadn't been such a silly boy ?

52 Ged Keegan

Position : Midfield

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 2

Goals : 0

Ged was another former Oldham team-mate of Halom’s who arrived in the summer of 1984. He started out at Manchester City where he had a run of games at right back which included the 1976 League Cup Final but was mainly used as cover for injuries and suspensions. In 1979 he moved on to Oldham for first team football and played in midfield though a lot of their fans didn’t rate him. Neither it seemed did Joe Royle who let him go at the end of his first season in charge (1982-3). He signed for Mansfield and played 18 games for them in 1983-4 but was released at the end of the season.



Ged’s career decline continued at Spotland. He played in the first two games of the season - I have a vague memory of him wandering around like a headless chicken against Hereford - but was then dropped and quickly despatched to Altrincham. He found a new career in insurance for many years but is now apparently a car park attendant at Manchester Airport. He is also a keen golfer and has made a mark in local amateur tournaments.

51 Keith Hanvey

Position : Centre half


Played : 1973-4 to 1976-77 ; 1984-5

Appearances : (first spell ) 121 (second spell) 15

Goals : (first spell) 10 (second spell) 0

Joe Cooke’s first defensive partner was Keith, a rare survivor from Dale’s Third Division days who was returning to the club at 32 from Huddersfield Town. Keith started out at Manchester City but didn’t make a League appearance for them before moving to Swansea. He soon returned north to Rochdale to play in the disaster season of 1973-4 and stayed for another two seasons before being sold to Grimsby. After a protracted tussle between the clubs he was sold to Huddersfield in 1977 and formed a successful centre half partnership with a certain Dave Sutton which helped the club win promotion twice in the early 80s. Keith only made 9 appearances in the Second Division and was released at the end of 1983-4.



He looked a bit shaky as Dale made a bad start to the season but was beginning to improve when he injured his groin in the FA Cup First Round tie at home to Doncaster (also notable for the burning of a picture of Arhur Scargill in the Sandy). Already making his mark in business he decided to retire at this point and the club hosted a testimonial game between Huddersfield and a Ron Atkinson XI (featuring Peter Barnes and Peter Beardsley) later in the season. I think that makes Keith currently the last Dale player to receive a testimonial and as they seem to have gone out of fashion in recent years that record will probably stand.


Keith has made a good career for himself in sports event management and hospitality , having spells as commercial manager at Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, and now runs his own company Keith Hanvey Associates.

50 Joe Cooke

Here Joe is in action for Bradford in the FA Cup Quarter-Final in 1976 against eventual winners Southampton

Position : Centre half

Played : 1984-5 to 1985-6

Appearances : 75

Goals : 4

It's fitting that the 50th player in our survey was such a hero. By far the most successful of Halom's summer signings, Dominican Joe was still only 29 when he signed on a free transfer from Bradford who clearly thought he was a crock having only made six appearances in 1983-4. Joe had made his debut for them when only 16 as a striker and scored 22 goals for them in 1975-6. After over 200 appearances for them he went to Peterborough in a swap deal in 1978 but after less than a season he moved on to Oxford. I'm guessing from his record that it was there he first started playing at centre half but I'll invite correction on that . After two years there he went to Exeter before returning to Bradford in 1981.

I would give Joe equal credit with Steve Taylor as the main man in keeping us clear of the re-election zone for the two seasons he was here. He was the rock at the back particularly in his first season when the players around him came and went in dizzying succession. Though there were often calls for him to play upfront, that only ever happened when we were chasing games in the second half; he was too vital to our defence. Les Chapman and Barry Diamond certainly knew that when they contrived to get him sent off at Stockport and one shudders to think what the latter said to provoke the model professional into decking him. Captain Joe was said to be a greater disciplinarian than the manager and I remember one story that Joe was promised that a stopover at a pub on the way back from an away trip would only last for one drink. When that didn't happen Joe went outside and stood in the car park for an hour or more waiting for the rest to emerge.

I often wonder if that was the real reason for Joe's sudden departure for £12,000 to Wrexham in 1986. It's true that Halom was under a lot of pressure from chairman Tommy Cannon to cut costs but we then spent £5K on a new defender (who wasn't fit to wipe Joe's arse but we'll come to that) and would have spent another wedge on Swansea's Dudley Lewis had he not turned us down so that excuse rang a bit hollow. I think Halom just wanted an obvious successor out of the way as his position became more precarious.

Joe lifted Wrexham to mid-table security as we nearly went out of the League and Halom got sacked, but after 51 games he had to retire and returned to Yorkshire playing for lowly Liversedge FC.

49 Steve Edwards

Position : Right back

Played : 1984-5

Appearances : 4

Goals : 0

Now we’re into 1984-5 and the Vic Halom era which is going to be fun as there were many short-term signings (at least two of whom I never saw play) who made little impact and will be hard to recall. Steve is a case in point. Halom was fresh from a triumphant season in the Northern Premier League taking Barrow into the Conference amid a blizzard of goals but he was a newcomer to League management and his first instinct was to surround himself with familiar faces from his playing days. So Steve arrived on a free from Crewe to solve our right back problem having previously played alongside Halom at Oldham.



However he never looked the part and, after a dreadful start to the season he was one of the first casualties and swiftly moved on to Tranmere. Surprisingly he flourished there after being restored to the midfield role he had originally held at Oldham, making 72 appearances for them before moving on to Oswestry Town. He is now a Company Director at New Earth Water Services a plumbing firm in Oldham.

48 Andy Dean

Position : Left back

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Andy completes the 1983-4 season and Les Chapman's caretaker reign. In fact he replaced Chapman for the only game the left back missed that season, a 3-0 defeat at Doncaster on May 5th 1984. He had previously been with Burnley on schoolboy terms.

Andy was only 17 and looked a bit raw but everyone was poor that game. He joined Mark Ennis in moving on to Salford FC. He now lives in Berlin and runs his own sportswear business Syllesports Sportswear.

47 Jim McCluskie

Position : Forward

Played : 1983-4 to 1985-6

Appearances : 19

Goals : 0

Jim was the other YTS player alongside Shaun Reid but had to wait a bit longer for his debut, coming on as sub in a home defeat to Bury on April 21 1984 then making his full debut in the 5-0 drubbing at Halifax.

It was hard for Jim, a big lad even at 17 , to impress in a side playing so wretchedly but he did look to have the makings of a decent striker. He wasn't selected at all in the following season but came back in the side in 1986 when many had forgotten him to replace the injured Ian McMahon in midfield. It wasn't really his position and morale in the side had fallen through the floor (allegedly because Vic Halom had made promises of perks which the Board couldn't sanction) but he was starting to impress by the end of the season.

It was therefore a surprise when he was released in 1986 , the more so when you saw some of the rubbish that Halom brought in that summer. Jim played in Jersey for a brief time then kicked off a long, successful career in non-league football with Mossley. He also played for Hyde United, Witton Albion (who paid £10K for him), Barrow, Accrington Stanley and most notably Morecambe for whom he scored 99 goals in 193 appearances. He moved into management with Rossendale and Accrington and is now chief youth scout at Preston.

46 John Humphreys

Position : Winger

Played : 1983-4 (on loan from Oldham Athletic)

Appearances : 6

Goals : 0

Accompanying Paul Heaton from Oldham was this 19 year old who'd come through the ranks and made 13 appearances in their first team.

Unfortunately I'd rate John as second only to Matt Dickins as our worst ever loan signing. Just as he was a keeper who couldn't stop a shot, John was a winger who couldn't beat anybody.

Oldham freed him at the end of the season and he moved on to Horwich RMI.

45 Paul Heaton

Position: Midfield (also played at right back)

Played : 1983-4 to 1985-6 (initially on loan from Olham Athletic)

Appearances : 89

Goals : 4

If you read the M.E.N. Pink Final (remember that ?) in the late 70s/early 80s you’ll recall the wildly exaggerated claims made for every player that put on a shirt for Oldham Athletic (Palmer for England etc). When Paul broke into the side as a teenager in 1978 you’d have thought he was the new Johann Cruyff from their ravings though to be fair he did make the England Under-21 side. Unfortunately two broken legs halted his progress and Oldham had effectively written him off by the time Les Chapman took him on loan in March 1984.



He looked completely disinterested in the 5 games he played that season so there was some consternation when Vic Halom gave him a permanent contract and made him his personal rehabilitation project. This only increased when he was selected ahead of the likes of Peter Farrell and Ian Griffiths who subsequently left the club. Perhaps understandably, Paul’s avoidance of hard tackles made Adam Rundle look like Stuart Pearce but it made him a very limited player. He played mainly on the left side of midfield showing the odd moment of skill like his shuffle and cross for a classic Steve Talylor goal against Chesterfield in December 1984 but these were few and far between. In the 1985-6 season he was mainly used to fill the perennially problematic position of right back despite being left footed. His last contribution was scoring the goal away at Peterborough that kept us out of the re-election zone for the second year running , a feather in Halom’s cap so he got a modest payback for his faith in the player.


However even he now conceded that Paul wasn’t a League standard player anymore and released him. He moved to Finland signing for Kuusysi Lahti . He married a Finnish girl and enjoyed an extraordinarily long twilight career in Finnish football still playing in 2002 at the age of 41. He was last heard of as a coach at FC Tarmo.

44 Jimmy Blake

No picture of Jimmy - this was also unlikely

Position : Right back

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 2

Goals : 0

The next time there was a vacancy at right back it went to another even younger player. Either Jimmy or Mark Ennis was the last new player of Jimmy Greenhoff's reign ; I suspect it may have been the latter with Les Chapman opting for a different player when he took over. Either way Jimmy made no impression at all and there's no record of where he went on to either.

43 Mark Ennis

No picture of Mark - I didn't seriously expect to find one.

Position : Right back

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Mark was an 18 year old from Salford who had been playing regularly in the reserves and got his first team chance in the problem position of right back early in the new year; I can't remember exactly which match. I thought he did well but he was never seen again and subsequently signed for Salford.

42 Shaun Reid

Position : Midfield

Played : 1983-4 to 1988-89 ; 1992-3 to 1994-5

Appearances : 240

Goals : 14

Shaun made a little piece of history on 14 January 1984 when he became the first Dale player to come through from the YTS scheme making his debut as part of the wholesale changes to the side following the humiliating defeat by Telford. It was an inauspicious start and it was only afterwards that we learnt he was the brother of Everton’s Peter Reid then at the peak of his career.



During his first season there was little to suggest he could be anything more than an enthusiastic understudy to Neville Hamilton. The following season, after Nev had been released, he got more opportunities and had a particularly good game in the last fixture away at champions Chesterfield though it has to be said the Spireites were “having a cigar” that day. His progress was stymied by a broken leg early the next season and he only made 8 appearances plus three on a month’s loan to rock bottom Preston.



The injury to Ian McMahon put him back in the first team in 1986-7 and he was a regular thereafter. He divided opinions amongst the Dale faithful mainly on age lines. Younger fans thrilled to his fierce commitment and robust tackling (plus the odd deplorable incident like when he slugged a York player to the floor). Older fans bemoaned his lack of vision and poor passing - “he wins it, he gives it away again” was their complaint.



Eventually Danny Bergara accepted £30,000 from York City for him in the autumn of 1988 and he spent the next four seasons there (106 apps, 7 goals) before being given a free transfer. He was re-signed for Dale by former team-mate Dave Sutton for the 1992-3 season to form a midfield partnership with Steve Doyle. “One’s got no brains, the other’s got no legs” was how one critic put it. To be fair Shaun’s game had improved a bit; he could take free kicks and got a few more goals, but his basic strengths and weaknesses remained the same.



Shaun decided to leave Dale again at the end of the 1984-5 season and signed for Bury . He was a bit part player in their promotion-winning side making 21 appearances and not scoring. He moved on to Chester where he got more involved in the coaching side after a serious injury and played less often. As Graham Barrow’s miserable tenure at Spotland was coming to an end in 1998-9, rumours swept the terraces that Shaun was about to return as manager and when the teams met each other late in the season Barrow refused to shake his hand at full time. When Barrow subsequently returned to Chester Shaun moved on to Leigh RMI but only made one substitute appearance (his sole game outside the League’s bottom tier) for them. He retired in 2000 and has variously been a driver, football agent and property manager since then. The photo is from his court appearance for drink driving earlier this year.

41 Ian McMahon

Ian is the guy in the white shirt in the middle . The other Dale players are Dave Grant (L) and Keith Hicks (R)

Position : Midfield (started out as a central defender)

Played : 1983-4 to 1985-6

Appearances : 91

Goals : 8

Curiously Jimmy Greenhoff didn't sign anybody from the start of the season until after Christmas when the injury to Bill Williams forced his hand and he brought in Ian, initially on loan, from Oldham where he'd made two League appearances.

Only 19 he wasn't immediately impressive but considering he was replacing the only decent defender we had that wasn't surprising. His most memorable moment as a centre half was in an absolutely abysmal game away at Chester when pint-sized future Dale man Ron Hildersley disposssed him and started moving away with the ball. McMahon then took him out with a fabulously insouciant headbutt for which he was only booked. Perhaps the ref appreciated his style.

Les Chapman saw enough potential to sign him permanently but he started the following season in the reserves. When Vic Halom brought him into the first team it was in midfield and it was soon clear that he was much better in that position. He was short of pace but fierce in the tackle, a decent passer and had a ferocious shot. He scored an absolute screamer to put us 2-1 up at home to eventual champions Chesterfield and was a key player in the much improved Dale side of 1985. Towards the end of the 1985-6 season he suffered a knee injury which no one suspected at the time would end his career but it did. At the end of the 1986-7 season in which he didn't appear at all he announced his retirement.

Halped by the PFA, he went into sports administration and coaching and later turned up at Spotland again as commercial manager for Hornets. He was chief executive at Doncaster Rovers in the period after the infamous Ken Richardson era and wrote a book "The Only Way Is Up" taking much of the credit for the club's revival. He also had a spell as managing director at Hull. He now resides in America ; check him out at www.fwfever.com/About/CoachesClub/294939.html
but beware - he does seem to be from the David Hamilton school of self-serving exaggeration !

40 Ian Griffiths

Position : Winger

Played : 1983-4 to 1984-5

Appearances : 42

Goals : 5


There are basically two types of winger in the lower leagues. Type 1 is the player who appears to have all the right skills but rarely displays his full talent. Type 2 is a more consistent performer with ineradicable faults that limit their effectiveness. When we replaced Eui Martinez with Ian, who had made over 100 appearances for Tranmere, we were going for the latter in place of the former.



“Griff” , a short Scouser with the requisite bubble perm and ‘tache, was full of energy and quite pacy but he was very one-footed and never looked up so had a tendency to bottle himself up in blind allies. Nevertheless he was one of our better performers in a dire season and got a few goals notably the winner at home to Blackpool with a fierce drive, a goal that I felt unable to celebrate due to the proximity of infiltrating Seasiders in the Sandy who weren’t very happy about it. At the end of the season he joined Peter Farrell in holding out for better terms and like him was let go by Vic Halom , only making one League appearance in the new season.



He went on trial at Port Vale in October 1984 and made 12 appearances before injuries, including trapping his finger in the toilet door on the team coach, ended his career there. He moved on to better times at Wigan making 82 appearances before moving to Japan with Mazda Hiroshima. After two years there Wigan re-signed him in 1990-91 but he was only a squad player and the following season joined Wrexham making his last 14 League appearances before joining Rhyl FC

39. Steve Johnson

Position : Forward

Played : 1983-4, 1985-6 (on loan from Bristol City ), 1989-90

Appearances : 49

Goals : 12

Steve was the biggest signing in the summer of 1983, poached from our neighbours Bury for a tribunal - set fee of £13,000. He said he wanted to play for Jimmy Greenhoff and must have been a fairly forgiving person as he had been subjected to some unsavoury abuse on his previous visits to Spotland.



Steve was “a brick outhouse of a striker” (@ Stuart Hall) . There were no frills to his game ; he was a big lad who put himself about a bit and scored with reasonable regularity. In fact his goal average improved slightly when he came to Dale. He scored one of the goals in the best result of the season, the 2-0 away win at York in the FA Cup but then Wigan came calling with £25,000 and the Board took the money over having a decent season. He had only played 19 games scoring 7 goals.



Steve did well at Wigan and his value went up to £40,000 when just a year later he moved to Bristol City. This proved to be a bad mistake as he struggled to settle in the area and his form suffered. In December 1986 he returned to us on loan, a strange move by Vic Halom as we already had a big centre forward in Ronnie Moore and Steve played (ineffectively) out on the left wing including the game at Old Trafford where he was selected ahead of Tony Towner, a completely baffling decision. Before one of the home games in this period my mate and I were playing snooker at Norman’s before the game and Steve was playing on an adjacent table. When we left at 2.20pm to walk up to the ground he was still there so we concluded he mustn’t be playing that day. Come three o clock there he was on the pitch, a nice little insight into the professionalism of the club in those days !

Steve’s last game was away at Wigan in the Freight Rover Trophy where we were thumped 6-0. A group of fans barracked him all the way through the game for no obvious reason (and it must have been a bit disconcerting for Ian Johnson who was also in the side to hear a constant chant of “Johnson Out”) and Steve rounded off a miserable night by giving them the wanker sign at the end of the game.



When his loan spell ended with us he started another one with Chester and this was much more successful, Steve scoring 6 times in 10 games to get them over the line to promotion. He made a permanent move to Scunthorpe for the start of 1986-7 season and spent two years there before moving to Chester for 1988-89. Though he played in 38 games he was now 31 and given a free at the end of the season. He went to Sweden for the summer then began his third spell with us in December 1989 when Terry Dolan signed him to boost our attack. Though he had lost some pace it wasn’t too difficult to be an improvement over Dean Walling and Kevin Stonehouse and Steve did OK, scoring the goal against Whitley Bay that took us into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup (a goal celebrated with an unfriendly gesture towards someone in the crowd). He is also remembered well by some of us for driving a wayward warm-up shot straight into the face of one of our most annoying supporters away at Exeter.



Though he signed up for the following season he didn’t feature even in pre-season friendlies and was said to be training with the A team. He soon left for Ireland though he returned to wind down his career with a number of local non-league sides.



He was last heard of working as a financial adviser; presumably legit though he would have been well-equipped to “advise” people to pay their debts on time !

38. Vernon Allatt

Position : Forward

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 40

Goals : 8


Ah Vernon. The very name causes Dale fans of a certain age to tremble. Vernon was originally signed by Walsall from his hometown club Hednesford Town but didn’t make his League debut until he moved to Halifax. He spent four years there without making much impression ; by his own admission (in a Lancashire Evening Post interview in 2003) he was a bit soft. On deadline day 1982-3 he made a surprise move to Bolton but didn’t make a League appearance for them and followed Mike Doyle to Spotland.



Vernon had a problem from the start in that he was paired alongside Steve Johnson and they were too similar, target men rather than goalpoachers. As the shorter of the pair Vernon was expected to be the goalscorer but, putting it kindly, finishing wasn’t his forte. I think it was the game at home to Doncaster where the keeper failed to cut out a low cross and the ball rolled to a stop in the mud two yards out by the far post. Vernon was umarked but unbelievably put it wide, certainly the worst miss I’ve ever seen at Spotland and it cemented his reputation in many eyes. Shortly afterwards injuries meant he had to play at centre half at Crewe and he put in a very good performance. As the season wore on and Dale disintegrated he gradually began to earn some respect as the player who was trying hardest.



New manager Vic Halom wanted to keep him but Crewe came in for him. Vernon has an interesting story about this. In one of his appearances for Halifax against Crewe he had been intimidated out of the game by their centre half (and ex-Dale man) Bob Scott and been roasted for it in the dressing room. His first appearance for Dale was against Crewe and he kicked Scott every chance he got until the defender was substituted. Dario Gradi told Vernon that Scott had recommended him for his fearlessness and the two became best mates. Vernon’s record for Crewe was almost identical to that at Dale then he moved to newly-relegated Preston. He only scored 3 in 19 games as Preston finished bottom of the League and he was singled out for abuse. His name crops up a lot on PNE web forums when nominating their worst players. Colin Murphy gave him another chance at Stockport and Vernon took it with both hands scoring 10 in 24 games to lift them clear of the relegation zone in 1986-7. He rates Murphy as the best manager he played for and the one who significantly improved his game. When Murphy left for Lincoln, Vernon went to Holland for a spell with Hercules and made a brief return to Crewe where he scored 2 in 5 appearances but then decided to swap football for the Prison service and re-signed for Hednesford. Just months later, a serious car accident put an end to any sort of football though fortunately he was able to resume his day job and some years later appeared on Fort Boyard.

37. Mike Doyle

Position : Centre half

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 24

Goals : 1

At 36 Mike Doyle was even older than Chapman but had played most of the 1982-3 season in the Second Division with Bolton so it was perhaps not unreasonable to think he could do a good job for another season in the Fourth. The former Manchester City stalwart with 5 England caps had also enjoyed an indian summer with Stoke before moving to Burnden Park.

There were still signs of class in Doyle's play, moments that made you sigh in appreciation of his skill but it was soon apparent that his legs weren't up to another 46 games and before Christmas he had been dropped in favour of Bill Williams. His relationship with Greenhoff deteriorated and he was fined for not turning up for a reserve game at Chorley. In his autobiography his only comment on his Dale career was "Jimmy was a misery". Later in the season injuries got him a recall and he was in the side at Halifax; I remember the Observer saying how sad it was to see such an illustrious player "ambling about to no purpose in a rank bad Fourth Division defence".

Already a successful businessman he retired at the end of the season.

36. Les Chapman

Position : Left back (also played in midfield)

Played : 1983-4 to 1984-5

Appearances : 88

Goals : 0

Les was nearly 35 when he signed for us after a long career with Oldham (two spells), Huddersfield (partly in the top division), San Jose Earthquakes, Stockport and Bradford City.



He had primarily been a left sided midfield player but usually played at left back for us. There’s no doubt he had been a useful player but there wasn’t much left in the tank when he came to us. It was often left to him to bring the ball out of defence and it was particularly aggravating to see him dithering on the halfway line, afraid of being caught for pace if he took it any further, after the raiding of Eric Snookes. Les was given the job of caretaker manager after Greenhoff’s sacking but if anything things got worse culminating in the worst Dale performance of my time watching them, the 5-0 thrashing at Halifax. Despite all this he got another contract from the incoming manager Vic Halom an ex-team mate from Oldham. He finished the season in midfield after Dave Grant was signed.



Halom released him in 1985 saying he should look to move into management which he promptly did, returning to Stockport as player-manager. He played against us in the infamous game when Barry Diamond got Joe Cooke sent off which killed off any lingering affection for him at Dale. A year later he left them (in a dire state) to become John McGrath’s assistant at Preston. Amazingly, he made another 53 League appearances for them even after they went up and the Preston fans of my acquaintance thought he was a useful player. He eventually succeeded McGrath as manager and lasted two years before being sacked. He moved on to coach at Manchester City where, apart from a brief spell coaching at Huddersfield, he’s been ever since, currently working as kit man.

35 Bob Oates

Position : Right back / Centre half

Played : 1983-4

Appearances : 42

Goals : 1

Bob was a former England Youth international who'd made over 300 appearances for Scunthorpe but was still only 27 when we signed him. I suspect he may have had a long term injury problem that they gave such a stalwart a free transfer.

Bob is remembered as being part of Dale's worst defence, the one that conceded 5 goals away at re-election rivals Halifax. This is probably a little unfair on Bob who was used mainly at right back when he was really a centre half. He certainly looked more comfortable when he played in that position. He was competent but, like the rest of that defence, short of pace and it was not really a surprise that he was freed after one season.

He went into non-league football with Walton United.

34 Steve Conroy

Apologies to Steve for the context. He is conceding the winner at Aldershot (26.11.83) . The other Dale players are L-R Mike Doyle, Les Chapman (I think) and Bob Oates.
Giorgio Mazzon is the Aldershot player.


Position: Goalkeeper

Played : 1983-4 to 1984-5

Appearances : 49

Goals : 0

Steve was the first signing of the close season. He had made over 100 appearances for Sheffield United playing in all but one game in the 1978-9 season but never establishing himself as first choice.

Steve was a good competent keeper and needed to be. He won the Supporters Player of the Year in 1983-4 and was probably Jimmy Greenhoff's best signing though neither position was hotly contested. Steve's most memorable moment came in our FA Cup First Round game at home to Crewe. As the ref blew for half time one of Crewe's scrotes got over the barrier and tried to nick his gloves case. I didn't see what happened next but the allegation was that Steve was a bit over-zealous in retrieving it. The second half kick off was delayed while the police dithered over whether to arrest him. In the end he came out and maintained his clean sheet as he did in the League game at Gresty Road where he completed a hat-trick of shutouts against them in a poisonous atmosphere.

Unfortunately Steve fell victim to Vic Halom's scorched earth attitude to the players he inherited. He was injured three games into 1984-5 and Halom brought Paul Malcolm in. Despite being patently inferior to Steve he kept his place and Steve went to Rotherham in exchange for a pre-season friendly. By the time that came round he had already retired in order to run a pub.

33 Malcolm O Connor

Position : Forward

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 16

Goals : 3

With a solitary substitute appearance near the end Malcolm wraps up the 1982-3 season.
He was an 18 year old striker signed on non-contract terms from Curzon Ashton and had been scoring steadily in the reserves.

The following season he got more chances in the first team and did OK in a poor side getting vital goals away at Bristol City and Hartlepool. At the end of the season we offered him a new deal but the trainee accountant turned his back on professional football and returned to Curzon.

He soon moved on to Hyde where he scored 55 goals in 1986-7 and then to Northwich but never turned out for a League side again. One hopes he doesn't regret the decision now.

32 Andy Higgins

Position : Centre half (also played as striker )

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 33

Goals : 6

Oh dear. Jimmy Greenhoff's other deadline day signing was a former Port Vale team-mate who was available after failing to impress at Hartlepool. He gave us an early indication that our new manager didn;t really know what he was doing

The giant defender looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street and unfortunately played like him too. He was a bit better when we played him upfront largely because he could do less damage there and to be fair he did get a few goals with his head. He actually got more goals in a Dale shirt than the records suggest but that's because a fair few of them went in at the wrong end; I seem to recall he scored an own goal in three successive games. The whole defence was bad under Greenhoff but he was the worst of the lot.

Thankfully Les Chapman released him at the end of 1983-4. Amazingly Chester extended his stay in League football and he played 19 games for them before heading south to play for Hellenic in South Africa.

31 Everton Carr

Position : Left back

Played : 1982-3

Appearances : 9

Goals : 0

Everton was signed just before deadline day to cover for the injured Eric Snookes. He had started out at Leicester but got more first team football when he moved to Halifax.

He looked competent during his brief stay with Dale but both he and Snookes were released at the end of the season.

He signed for Nuneaton Borough and played against us three years later when we beat them in the F A Cup First Round.

30 Brian Greenhoff

Position : Defender

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 16

Goals : 0

It was perhaps inevitable that Jimmy's younger brother Brian would follow him to the club. Brian had started at Manchester United and progressed through the ranks and into the England team but then lost his regular place to Gordon McQueen and eventually went in the opposite direction joining Leeds in 1979 for £350,000. He had two good seasons before injury struck and when he returned there were question marks about his general fitness. At the end of 1981-2 Leeds were relegated and Brian joined a number of big name signings who had come to the end of their three-year deal and couldn't get a new one in recession-hit Britain. He then drew opprobrium by leading Jimmy Hill's squad of players in a similar situation to South Africa for a boycott-busting tour that failed miserably. He lay low playing in Finland until Jimmy gave him the call.

As Brian was still only 29 I was quite excited about him coming to Spotland but unfortunately some other "fans" didn't share my enthusiasm and started shouting "Big Fat Brian " whenever he played. Though he wasn't overweight he didn't do much in the 7 games he played that season. The following year he was nowhere to be seen until December perhaps enticed back by the player-coach role now that Roy Greaves had left.
He played a further 9 games at right back and was much better although that still didn't silence the idiots.

He left Dale when his brother was sacked and that ended his League career. He later played at Chadderton and managed Whitworth Valley. He fell foul of the law on a drink driving charge not helping his case with a ridiculous story about consuming numerous whiskeys after the accident. He lived in Rochdale for a long time working as a rep for a sportswear company but now resides in Spain.

29 Jimmy Greenhoff

Position : Midfield

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 16

Goals : 0

The first of two player-managers (not counting caretakers) in our survey. Greenhoff's appointment to replace Peter Madden seemed to result from a home game against Port Vale on 6th November 1982 when Dale were leading 3-0 with 25 minutes to go. Vale brought on player-coach Greenhoff and Vale had a point by full time. By this time Greenhoff was 36 and had had an illustrious career with Leeds, Birmingham and Stoke before a glorious indian summer with Manchester United. He still is regarded as the best English player never to get a full cap. In 1981 he went to Crewe before a spell in America with Toronto Blizzard. He came back to England to the job with Vale scoring 5 in 48 appearances for them.

Vale got the last drops of juice from the can as far as playing went. In his appearances for Dale, Greenhoff (who was a heavy smoker off the pitch) took the role of midfielder a little too literally and never left the centre circle. I remember during his first game at home to Hereford the crowd were wildly applauding his every touch (not that there were many) but that soon wore off. The following season he only made 4 appearances a sad end to a great career.

As a manager the consensus amongst former players is that he was a nice guy who was too indecisive. I thought he made his big error at the end of his first season when he released too many of the squad; players like Hilditch, Snookes and Weir were better than their replacements. He improved the side's position by two places at the end of 1982-3.

The following year he achieved one or two good results, a 4-1 thumping of high-flying Reading, the ending of the away hoodoo at Blackpool and a 2-0 win in the FA Cup against runaway leaders York. That latter result led to the humiliation of defeat by Telford after which Greenhoff's days were clearly numbered.

After his sacking in March 1984 he went back to Vale in a non-playing role but soon was out of football and running an insurance company. That too failed to prosper and he now works for a drugs company as well as being a matchday host at Old Trafford.

28 Geoff Thomas

Position : Winger

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 11

Goals : 1

With a solitary substitute appearance before the change of manager in 1982-3 Geoff marks the end of the Peter Madden era. A youngster from Littleborough (and an acquaintance of mine told me an unsavoury story about him which we won’t go into) he of course represents The One We Let Go having gone on to play for England (albeit not with great distinction).



Geoff got more chances the following season coming into the side after the Telford debacle and scoring the winner in the next game away at Crewe.

That apart he really didn’t look very good at all playing on the left wing, looking uncoordinated and failing to beat his man. However Crewe saw something they liked there and came in for him before the March deadline. Caretaker boss Les Chapman said he didn’t feel able to offer Geoff a permanent contract and I have to be honest and say I agreed with the decision.



The rest is common knowledge. Dario Gradi converted him into a central midfielder and his rise mirrored that of his club’s . In 1987 Crystal Palace bought him – he came over to our coach to say hello when we ended up at the same services as their team coach a year or so later - and he went up with them into the old First Division in 1989. A couple of years later he was in the England side (only under Graham Taylor but still…) making his name with an aimless punt (neither shot nor pass) over the by-line from distance. In 1993 Palace were relegated and he signed for Wolves. Increasingly prone to injury he moved on to Nottingham Forest, Barnsley, Notts County and finally Crewe again before retiring in 2002.



A year after his retirement he was diagnosed with leukaemia and saved by a bone marrow transplant from his sister. Since then he has been an active fundraiser , setting up the Geoff Thomas Foundation to improve treatment for blood cancer sufferers. In 2005 he cycled the Tour De France route for this purpose.