Lived in Rochdale for yonks and saw a lot of Dale over the years, especially in that spell that led to first promotion from L2, as has been said, never had any money but oversaw great work in the academy with abysmal facilities and brought through some really good young players. Also spotted and developed a string of players who ended up being golden nuggets financially and going on to do well at higher level, Rickie Lambert, Grant Holt, Scott Hogan a few examples. Dale played some brilliant football then and in the more recent seasons when they went back up and held their own massively against the odds.
Can be a bit prickly when he gets a bit of stick. Sat in main stand once at Spotland and his ongoing dialogue with a couple of moaners in block behind dugout was more entertaining than the game.
As a pair though, him and Flitcroft know what they are doing, will relish the chance they're being given and, with our quality academy / development coaches supporting them, could do well for us if everyone is patient, especially through the rest of this season.
Good luck to them, I hope it works out for them and us