27 Stewart Thompson

Position : Forward

Played : 1982-3 to 1983-4

Appearances : 31

Goals : 8

Stewart is the first player in our survey not to have played for any other League club. He's also the first one who is still playing !

After Barry Wellings' departure Stewart, from Littleborough, was the third striker at the club so it was inevitable he would get more games in the later part of the season. I'm surprised, looking up the stats, that his record is actually quite decent as I remember him being pants. A big guy with a blonde feathercut and moustache he thought he was better than he was and often cocked things up by trying to be fancy. He also lacked composure in the box and missed decent chances.

Peter Madden loaned him out to Runcorn for a month but he got more first team opportunities under Jimmy Greenhoff and did himself no harm by scoring in each of the new manager's first two games. The following season he scored in the win away at Blackpool which ended our eighteen month wait for an away victory. His best game was in the 3-3 draw at home to Doncaster on Jan 2nd 1984 when Greenhoff played him in midfield. He had a good first half tackling well and finding his men. I remember remarking on this to a friend who hadn't realised it was Thompson ! Then in the second half he spotted the keeper off his line and chipped him from 25 yards. A few minutes later he tried the same thing from a much tighter angle and just squeezed it into the top corner - an absolute wonder goal. Unfortunately our new superstar came back to earth in the next game in the FA Cup Third Round against Telford when his suicidal back pass let them in for the equaliser and started the rot. His career in midfield ended there and then and up front he had new competition from Malcolm O Connor and Jim McCluskie. He scored one more goal away at Northampton but his time at Spotland was drawing to a close.

He surprised everyone in the close season by somehow wrangling a trial at FC Bruges but sanity prevailed and he went to Chorley instead. He played against us for Bacup Borough in a pre-season friendly in the late 80s. He is now assistant manager at Nelson FC and still plays for them occasionally at 45.

26 Gerry McElhinney

Position : Centre half

Played : 1982-3 (on loan from Bolton Wanderers )

Appearances : 20

Goals : 1


The third Bolton – connected player to arrive in December 1982 was the Northern Irish defender who was still at the club. He made a late start to his League career having made his name in Gaelic football in the 70s. He had signed for Bolton from Distillery and had some first team experience.



The 26-year old started off quite poorly, looking particularly vulnerable in a 2-0 home defeat to Wimbledon but once he found his feet he was terrific, forming a great partnership with Bill Williams at the back and becoming our star player. His loan period kept getting extended until an injury to future Dale player Paul Jones saw him recalled to Burnden Park in March. By this time Brian Taylor had recovered enough to come back in but even at his best he wasn’t half as good as Gerry. Gerry kept his place in the Bolton side thereafter and started getting Northern Ireland caps so there was no chance of us signing him permanently.



In 1985 he moved to Plymouth for £30,000 and captained them to promotion from the Third Division. He later moved to Peterborough for £10,000 playing for another three years until injuries pushed him into a coaching role. He later became player-manager of Corby Town.

25 Peter Nicholson

Position : Defender

Played : 1982-3

Appearances : 7

Goals : 0

Hot on the heels of Roy Greaves came his former Bolton team-mate. A veteran of 32 he had made over 300 appearances for the Wanderers in a variety of positions but mainly at right back. After receiving a free transfer in 1982 he had been playing in the West Lancashire League with Lytham St Annes but fancied another crack at League football.

We played him at centre half. To be fair he wasn't as abject as Greaves but didn't do anything to earn a full contrct either and soon returned to the seaside although he made another brief comeback for Third Division Carlisle United the following season.

Peter is now a matchday host at Bolton and also takes part in charity events with other ex-pros.

24 Roy Greaves

Position : Midfield (also played at right back)

Played : 1982-3

Appearances : 21

Goals : 0

December 1982 and Peter Madden was scraping the barrel when he signed the 35 year old ex-Bolton stalwart who had returned to England after two lucrative years at Seattle Sounders.

Whatever good memories Bolton fans have of him he was totally shot by the time he came to us and was the first player I ever booed when his name was announced. To make matters worse he was made player-coach presumably passing on his knowledge of the fine art of giving the ball away. Thankfully Jimmy Greenhoff realised there was only room for one past-it old pro at the club and released him.

He returned to Bolton to run a pub and play Sunday League football.

23 Carl Swan

Position : Centre half

Played : 1982-3 (on loan from Doncaster Rovers)

Appearances : 3

Goals : 0

Carl was the next one to fill in for Brian Taylor. He was the son of former England international Peter Swan but had only played 15 games for Doncaster when he signed on loan for us. See the picture above for what their fans thought of him. I didn't see any of his 3 games so can't comment any further on him.

He returned to non-league football with Buxton , Mossley, Matlock and Worksop after his spell with us

22. Willie Garner

Position : Centre half

Played : 1982-3 (on loan from Celtic)

Appearances : 4

Goals : 0

Willie was the next big centre half to come in for the injured Brian Taylor. He had been Aberdeen's regular centre half until he broke his leg in a European Cup Winner's Cup game in Bulgaria and then couldn't win his place back from Alex McLeish. In 1981 he signed for Celtic but two own goals on his debut killed off his career there and he was loaned to us.

I only saw him in that game against Blackpool but he looked pretty good. Unfortunately he chose to go to Alloa as player-manager instead of moving south.

After two years there he returned to Aberdeen as a non-playing assistant manager to Alex Ferguson. In 1986 Ferguson decided he was too easy-going and sacked him without warning or compensation shortly before leaving for Old Trafford. Willie went to work in a bank and played for Highland League sides before making a shock return to League football at the age of 35 with Berwick Rangers, adding 47 more games and another goal to his tally.

21. Paul Comstive

Position : Midfield

Played : 1982-3 (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)

Appearances: 9

Goals : 2

So we come to the first loan player, some of whom will be hard to recall. Paul had played a handful of first team games for Blackburn Rovers. usually in defence, though with us and for most of his subsequent career he played in midfield.



He made a good impression straight away by scoring on his debut. Then came the moment to savour, a tremendous Rivelino –style free kick that swerved round the wall and into the net with the keeper nowhere near it. That sealed a 3-1 win at home to Blackpool the best game of the season and the most important too since Blackpool were fielding an ineligible player and the two points they lost for that enabled us to finish above them and just outside the re-election zone. Paul completed his initial loan spell and went back to Blackburn but in March Peter Madden re-signed him for another month and he played in my first away game, a 0-0 bore at Halifax. That turned out to be the last Dale game for both men as Jimmy Greenhoff just ignored Paul for the remainder of the loan term.



Paul went on to be a good lower league player for the next decade with Wigan, Wrexham, Burnley, Bolton and Chester , his highest transfer value being £37,000 when he moved to Bolton. In 1993 he signed for Southport and also played for Morecambe and Chorley. He now manages Fleetwood Hesketh FC.