Football Season Guide

Rochdale are coming from another season in which they have punched somewhat above their weight, as theynever came close to being dragged into the relegation race, while even looking like outside play-off candidates for a long time. The Dale are coming from another summer which saw them lose more players than they brought in, although the sole departures that could genuinely hurt them being those of central defenders Oliver Lancashire and Ashley Eastham, who have joined a couple of the Dale's league One rivals in Shrewsbury and Fleetwood. They have turned Niall Canavan's loan stay from Scunthorpe into a permanent move, and have brought in two more players with previous League One experience in Harrison McGahey and Sanmi Odelusi, while Oliver Rahbone, joining from Manchester United Reserves, is an unknwon at this stage. All in all, it is more of the usual for the Dale, who do not have a particularly talented squad and do not have a lot of money to spend on new signings. However, they have kept hold of all of their key midfielders and attackers as well as their manager Keith Hill, and will feel that this should be enough to keep them up.