427 Frank Fielding

Position : Goalkeeper

Played : 2008-09 ; 2009-10  ( both  on  loan  from  Blackburn )

Appearances : ( first  spell )   25 ; (second  spell) 18

Goals : 0

Frank  was  first   signed  in  January  2009  after  an  injury  to  Sam  Russell. Frank  was  19  and  born  in  Blackburn. He  made  his  League  debut  on  loan  at  Wycombe  in  September  2007  and  did  so  well  the  deal  was  extended  to  the  end  of  the  season  with  Frank  keeping  both  their  regular  keepers  out  of  the  side. Before  joining  us  he  had  a  three  month  loan  spell  at  Northampton.

Frank  was  a  brave  and  agile  keeper  most  notable  for  his  decisiveness  in  coming  off  his  line  and  clearing  the  ball  well  outside  his  area  for  which  he  was  quickly  nicknamed  "Psycho". You  kept  waiting  for  him  to  be  caught  out  doing  this  but  it  never  happened. As  happened  at  Wycombe  his  deal  was  extended  to  the  end  of  the  season  and  we  never  saw  Russell  or  Spencer  again.

The  following  season  he  went  on  loan  to  Leeds  as  cover  but  never  had  to  actually  play  and  he  was  free  to  re-join  us  in  February. Amongst  some  ungrateful  fans  bemoaning  the  departure  of  Tom  Heaton  his  reception  was  a  bit  muted  but  it  didn't  seem  to  bother  him. Frank  did  fine  in  helping  us  over  the  line  although  he  didn't  make  as  many  forays  off  his  line  as  before ( perhaps Sam  Allardyce  had  coached  it  out  of  him ) . He  certainly  joined  in  the  promotion  celebrations wholeheartedly , whipping  his  shirt  off  at  the  final  whistle  and  doing  a  lap  of  the  pitch  on  fans' shoulders.

Frank  spent  last  season  shuttling  between  Blackburn  and  Derby  making  the  subs' bench  at  last  for  the  former  although  he  didn't  come  on. He  went  to  Derby  in  the  autumn  and  helped  them  climb  to  fourth  in  the  table. When  he  returned  in  February  they  were  19th  and  he  helped  them  gain  8  points  from  6  games  compared  to  the  6  from  12  since  his  departure. A  couple  of  weeks  ago  he  signed  a  three  year  deal  with  Derby. Last  season  Frank  also  got  a  call-up  to  the  full  England  squad  as  he  was  on  hand  with  the  under-21s  when  Ben  Foster  got  injured.

426 Mark Jones

Position : Midfield

Played : 2008-09

Appearances : 9

Goals : 0

Mark  was  signed  after  a  trial  in  the  summer  having  left  Wrexham  following  their  relegation  to  the  Conference  after  5  seasons  as  a  regular. He  made  128  appearances  scoring  22  goals  many  of  them  from  a  long  way  out. He  also  had  2  caps  for  Wales  from  2006.

Mark  was  a  strange  signing . It  was  like  we  couldn't  resist  signing  another  accomplished  midfielder  even  though  there  was  no  room  for  him  in  the  side  and  yet  we  had  no  cover  at  all  at  left  back.  Mark  had  to  wait  for  his  debut  until  November  when  he  was  picked  away  at  League  One  pacesetters  Scunthorpe  in  the  FL  Trophy. He  looked  pretty  good  with  instant  control  and  the  ability  to  slip  past  his  man  and  set  an  attack  going. On  the  downside  he  didn't  have  much  physical  presence.

He  had  to  wait  until  Boxing  Day  for  his  League  debut  at  home  to  Shrewsbury  then  finally  had  a  run  of  games  in  March.  Featuring  in  the  heavy  defeats  at  Chesterfield  and  Bournemouth  probably  did  for  his  chances  of  another  contract  and  he  was  released  in  May  having  shown  little  of  what  he  could  do.

He  returned  to  Wrexham  the  following  season  but  was  released  again  in  the  summer  and  now  plays  for  Bala  Town  in  the  Welsh  Premier  League.

425 Jordan Rhodes

Position : Forward

Played : 2008-09  (on  loan  from  Ipswich)

Appearances : 5

Goals : 2

Rochdale - Ipswich  connections  are  rare  indeed  - Mark  Stuart  is  the  only  other  one  who  comes  to  mind -  but  this  18-year  old  striker ( the  son  of  former  Olham  keeper  Andy )  arrived  for  a  month  in  September  after  Jon  Shaw  got  injured. He  had  8  appearances  and  a  goal  for  Ipswich  plus  4  games  on  loan  at  Oxford  to  his  credit.

Jordan  scored  on  his  debut  at  Rotherham  then  another  at  Accrington  a  fortnight  later. Neither  were  classics  but  all  chances  are  missable. His  general  play  wasn't  all  that  impressive  but  then  again  he  probably  wasn't  giving  us  his  "A"  game. 

Brentford  got  more  out  of  him  when  he  went  on  loan  there  in  January  and  he  scored  7  goals  in  14  appearances. He  also  got  into  the  League  Two  PFA  Team  of  The  Year. In  the  summer  Jordan  signed  for  Huddersfield  for  an  undisclosed  fee  and  has  been  in  great  form  for  them  scoring  35  goals  in  82  appearances. He  has  also  played  for  Scotland  under-21s  on  the  very  dubious  grounds  that  he  went  to  school  in  Scotland  while  his  father  played  for  Dunfermline  and  St  Johnstone.

424 Kyle Lambert

Position : Midfield

Played : 2008-09

Appearances : 1

Goals : 0

Kyle  was  a  YTS  lad  who  made  a  late  substitute appearance  against  Wycombe  in  September  having   been  promoted  to  the  bench  when  Clark  Keltie  pulled  up  in  the  warm-up .He  was  sent  out  on  loan  to Bradford  Park  Avenue  shortly  afterwards  and  then  released  in  January,

He  moved  on  to  Leigh  Genesis  but  doesn't  appear  to  be  with  them  anymore.

423 Ciaran Toner

Position : Midfield

Played : 2008-09  to  2009-10

Appearances : 50

Goals : 1

Ciaran was signed in the summer on a free from Grimsby. He began his career at Tottenham but made his League debut on loan at Peterborough in 2001. After a further loan spell at Bristol Rovers he was released in 2002 without having appeared for Spurs. He signed for Leyton Orient where he scored twice in 50 games and won a couple of caps for Northern Ireland in 2003. In 2004 he moved to Lincoln and scored twice in 15 games before his infamous training ground fight with Marcus Richardson saw him exiled to Cambridge on loan to the end of the season. He then moved on to Grimsby. He spent 3 seasons at Grimsby and finished joint top scorer with 8 in 2006-07. The following season he struggled with injury and his contract was cancelled by mutual consent having played 94 games and scored 14 goals. Consensus among the Grimsby fans suggested that he was inconsistent but he was often played out of position on the left.


I’d noticed Ciaran playing against us and thought he was a good player so I was quite excited when we signed him. He had to wait a few games for his chance in central midfield but when it came he immediately looked a better partner for Gary Jones than Clark Keltie. Ciaran was a good all-rounder who got up and down the pitch giving the backline some protection as well as making some surging runs from midfield. He was also a much better tackler than Keltie, able to put his foot in without getting booked. His first touch was a bit shaky but he usually got away with it. He only got one goal but it was pretty special, a 40-yarder at Aldershot that won him Rochdale’s Goal of the Season.


For the first half of the 2009-10 season he was struggling with a shin splints injury, then spent a long period on the bench as 4th choice midfielder and we were virtually promoted by the time he got back in the side. Playing in the dismal run of games after promotion didn’t do his chances of a new contract any good and I could tell from his muted participation in the victory parade that he knew his time was up.


Ciaran had a trial at Luton but eventually ended up at Harrogate Town. This was surprising as he was more than good enough for the likes of Accrington or Morecambe but perhaps he has some injury that won’t take full-time training.

422 Jon Shaw

Position :  Forward

Played : 2008-09  to  2009-10

Appearances : 7

Goals : 1

Jon  was  signed  in  the  summer  from  Halifax  for  an  undisclosed  fee.  Jon  was  from  Sheffield  and  made  his  debut  for  Wednesday  in  May  2003. Later  that  year  he  went  on  loan  to  York  but  returned  and  got  more  games  scoring  in  Wednesday's  last  two  games  in  2004. However  that  November  he  was  allowed  to  join  Burton  on  a  free. He  had  three  seasons  there  scoring  26  goals  in  101  appearances. In  2007  he  moved  to  Halifax  and  scored  20  goals  in  37  appearances  to  keep  them  out  of  the  relegation zone  but  then  they  went  out  of  business  anyway.

Jon  made  his  debut  at  home  to  Barnet  and  scored  a  superb  third  goal  when  he  volleyed  home  a  long  ball  from  Sam  Russell  first  time. That  was  my  son's  first  game  at  Spotland  but  he  was  fast  asleep  at  the  time  so  my  celebrations  were  muted. Unfortunately  that  was  as  good  as  it  got  for  Jon  as  he  got  injured  while  having  a  difficult  time  at  Bradford  in  his  next  game. By  the  time  he  recovered  Lee  Thorpe  had  established  himself  as  our  main  centre  forward  and  Jon  became  the  forgotten  man  of  Spotland.

In  January  he  was  sent  out  on  loan  to  Crawley  Town for  the  rest  of  the  season  where  he  scored  a  respectable  5  goals  in  17  appearances  despite  being  stuck  out  on  the  wing. He  returned  in  time  to  make  a  substitute  appearance  in  the  play-off  semi-final  at  Gillingham  and  there  were  hopes  that  he  would  come  good  in  his  second  season.

It  didn't  look  too  good  for  him  in  the  pre-season  game  at  Rossendale  when  he  somehow  contrived  to  hit  the  post  with  his  header  when  un-marked  six  yards  out  though  he  scored  twice  later  in  the  game. He  came  on  as  sub  in  the  opening  game  at  Port  Vale  and  in  the  League  Cup  at  Wednesday  but  those  were  his  last  games  for  us  - I  missed  both  as  I  was  walking  The  Furness  Way ( see  clarke  chroniclers  walks   for  details ) .  He  was  loaned  out  to  Barrow  where  he  scored  5  in  14  appearances  despite  a  jaw  injury  and  Gateshead  though  he  only  made  one  appearance  for  them.

Jon  and  the  club  decided  to  call  it  quits  in  January  2010  and  he  signed  for  Mansfield  scoring  3  goals  in  13  appearances. He  was  not  kept  on  and  moved  on  to  Gateshead  where  he  has  found  his  shooting  boots  again  scoring  17  goals  ( including  a  hat-trick  in  a  7-2  defeat  of  Wrexham )  in  37  appearances.

421 Scott Wiseman

Position : Right  back  ( also  played  at  centre  half )

Played : 2008-09  to  ?

Appearances :  103  to  date

Goals : 1  to  date

Scott  accompanied  Clark  Keltie  from  Darlington. His  career  began  at  his  hometown  club  Hull  City  where  he  made  his  debut  in  2004  and  somewhat  fortunately  got  an  England  under-20  cap  under  his  club  manager  Peter  Taylor. Despite  that  he  never  really  established  himself  in  the  Hull  side  and  went  out  on  loan  at  Boston , Rotherham  and  Darlington  signing  permanently  for  the  latter  in  2007.  In  fact  Scott  made  less  apperances  for  Darlo  as  their  own player  than  he  did  on  loan  so  his  release  was  not  surprising.

After  a  false  start  playing  on  the  wing  in  the  first  half  at  Grimsby  Scott  settled  to  contesting  the  right  back  position  with  Simon  Ramsden  with  occasional  outings  at  centre  back. He  confronted  Keith  Hill  with  an  interesting  choice , a  really  pacy  raider  who  could  cause  havoc  going  forward   but  was  suspect  at  the  back  or  someone  who  was  slower  but  sounder.

By  the  end  of  the  season  he  had  chosen  Simon  Ramsden  and  decided  to  release  Scott  perhaps  also  influenced  by   a  desire  to  cleanse  the  squad  of  the  ex-Darlo  influence. However  Ramsden's  departure  to  Bradford  caused  a  re-think  and  Scott  was  offered  a  new  contract  instead.  He  responded  with  a  brilliant  season; some  would  say  he  was  player  of  the  season  in  our  promotion  campaign. He  was  a  major  threat  going  forward  where  opponents  still  seemed  to  be  surprised  that  a  big  guy  could  move  so  fast  but  he  had  now  made  good  his  defensive  deficiencies  and  was  now  solid  there  too.

Scott  has adapted  well  to  League  One  and  is  one  of  our  major  assets.