Rochdale

Kind of a funny club, Rochdale. They’ve been in the Football League since 1921, and in all that time they have never reached the second tier. In fact, they have only been promoted three times and relegated four times! They hold two records of dubious desirability: most seasons in the Football League (94) without ever making the second tier, and longest stretch in the bottom division: from 1974 to 2010 in what is now called League Two. Guess where they are this season!

In fact, in years past people have often referred to the fourth tier as “the Rochdale division.”

They have had some nice cup moments, anyway; they reached the League Cup Final in 1963 from the (of course) Fourth Division, the only team to do so. They lost to Norwich City, 4-0, on aggregate, back when that final wasn’t even played at Wembley. Their first time at Wembley came in 2008, when they lost the League Two playoff final to Stockport County.

In 2018, they made the FA Cup 5th Round after beating Millwall at home in the 4th Round. They held Tottenham at home, 2-2, then lost a lucrative replay at White Hart Lane, 6-1.

Sadly, in 2023, they actually dropped out of the Football League for the first time since 1921. They made the playoffs last season but lost in the first round.

2024–25 SEASON: 4th in National League (lost in the playoffs), 1st qualifying Round FA Cup

2025–26 SEASON: National League (relegated in 2023)

Mainly it’s about nearby Oldham Athletic, but they are back in the Football League. Even sadder is the story of rivals Bury, who went completely out of business in 2019; a fan-owned phoenix club there is currently in the 8th tier.

Rochdale Ladies play in the Greater Manchester Women’s Football League at tier 7. Contact the club for fixture information.

None we noticed

The Dale has played at Spotland since they joined the league in 1920, and for the 13 years before that on the same field without any structures. Its history as an athletics ground goes back to a church cricket club in the 1870s. Today it’s a modern, basic stadium of about 10,000 capacity, with three of four stands all-seaters. It’s officially known as the Crown Oil Arena, which sounds rather more impressive than it is. It’s lovely, though, with trees around and views of nearby hills between the stands, the kind of place where a terrible free kick might land in the cemetery across the street; we’ve seen it happen!

It has one decidedly noteworthy feature. Most stadiums have statues, usually of a famous player or manager. A couple have a statue of an owner. Spotland is the only one we know of with a statue of a supporter, and certainly the only one with a statue in a seat.

It seems one David Clough raised almost £500,000 for the club through raffle sales, then left his entire estate of £250,000 to the club–money which was spent on a new scoreboard and other improvements. He died in 2020, aged 78, and there is now a statue of him in the main stand. While most articles about this say it is in his old seat, a supporter at a game said that’s not actually the case, which is good because it’s a pretty awful seat, right behind the benches and with not much of a view!

TOURS: None

GETTING THERE: Assuming you come up from Manchester by MetroLink, you’ll arrive at Rochdale Interchange, which is about a mile and a half from the ground. You can walk 30 minutes; take bus #468 to Mons Avenue and walk a few minutes from there; or look for the taxi rank and pay about £5 for that trip. Rochdale Railway Station is not as centrally located as the Interchange and is about two miles away.

PUBS: There are actually two at the ground, The Dale and the Ratcliffe Arms, each friendly places with home and away fans mixing together. Down the road is the very cool old Cemetery Hotel with a big menu and much character. In the area around Rochdale Interchange are several good options: the Flying Horse Hotel with an amazing array of plants on the ceiling; and the Regal Moon, a Wetherspoon outlet in an old theater.

GRUB: The club has surprisingly good pies, so plan to have one of those. The Cemetery Hotel has a nice-looking menu, and there are a lot of standard options down by the Interchange.

AROUND TOWN: The town hall is impressive, and apparently Rochdale was the birthplace of the modern co-op movement, but otherwise, the word “tourism” doesn’t even appear on the Wikipedia page for the place. So just go out there on the MetroLink, have a pie and a pint, and see what it was like in the old days in the lower divisions.