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Reply | Coaches
at 16:35 4 May 2026
Sorry, I should have given more details. We go out Saturday and return Monday. Making a bit of a trip out of it. Looking at return journeys for Sunday only, they are £200 or so. There are still £65 outbound tickets for Saturday and £65 tickets returning Sunday/Monday. Grab a Travelodge for £100 Saturday night and not much difference in price plus a night away. |
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Reply | Coaches
at 13:30 4 May 2026
Avanti sell a family ticket for £65 that covers up to 2 adults and 3 kids. If the alternative is £250 for 5 coach tickets, I know I'm happy to deal with extra hassle of getting into Manchester/getting to Wembley from Euston. Train travel far quicker and much better for kids so definitely worth considering as an alternative. |
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Reply | Wembley
at 23:49 3 May 2026
I've just booked family advance tickets through Avavti from Piccadilly to Euston for £65.each way. Going out Saturday, returning Monday. Covers 2 adults and up to 3 kids. Crazily cheap compared to the usual tickets. Borrow a child if you need to. |
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Reply | We will need 3 goals on Saturday
at 09:37 22 Apr 2026
My thoughts are that we need to come out flying from kick off and try and get a goal in the first 20 mins. The first blow in this contest was landed on York in the 99th min at Braintree and its so important to get another one in as soon as possible. That'll upset the York game plan and put doubt through the team and fans. 6k plus Dale fans will be making all the noise and it'll be game on.
Starting slow and the usual pedestrian build up will play into the oppositions hands. Keep the ball on the grass as much as possible and move it fast and forwards. The long balls we've seen of late won't work here unless its 90 minutes plus. Some suggestions online are that York don't deal all that well with multiple decent crosses into the box, so we need to get whoever fits that role best to make it work on the left. I'm not sure who that is out of the 3 or 4 possibles. TAR and KG will hopefully click into top gear on the right. Every blade of grass needs to be used, not just across the back and through the middle.
Its very possible 3 goals will be needed, but whatever happens we need to give it everything we've got. That goes for us, the fans and the town, as well as the team and the club. These days are rare. Nobody wants to walk out of the there at 2.30 on Saturday thinking 'if only'. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Braintree Town v Rochdale
at 12:13 18 Apr 2026
On several occasions this season I've hoped for a win that makes a statement of intent to the chasing pack. I don't think it ever happened when I'd hoped. Similarly, the number of times we've scored at home in the first 5 or 10 minutes with the chance to put in 4, 5 or 6 goals and yet again it didn't happen. Today has to be a win. However, if ever a statement win was needed, its today. We've seen recently that York aren't as mentally strong as some of their fans would like to believe and anything that puts more doubt in the York players, management and fans can only help. They're more than aware that they'll be dealing with 6000 plus Dale fans next week in a winner takes all match. Let's turn the pressure up even more with 3 or 4 goals today. |
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Reply | Refwatch - Altrincham v Rochdale
at 14:20 19 Dec 2025
With any chance of the match being shown in The Ratcliffe gone due to the current groundworks, is anyone aware of any local pub showing the game on tv this evening? The only place I know of is Moody Blue, but as it's Mad Friday, maybe it'll be a little bit busy in there to watch it. Thanks. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 08:16 28 Nov 2025
Its looking more likely now that tomorrow's weather will be a real test for the current pitch and its protection. The forecast has chopped and changed all week, but it looks to be firming up as quite a wet day at some point. The chances of that wet portion of the day being after the cover is removed is quite high. The game itself could be played in wet conditions.
Following a fairly dry week and considering the cover has been in place for a few days, the pitch should have drained enough to give it a proper chance of dealing with and soaking up a few hours of heavy rain. We just don't get much luck with the timing of the weather. Any other day this week and there'd be no issue at all. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 16:16 26 Nov 2025
The pitch played heavy and slow for at least in the 1st half against Aldershot, following the domes removal earlier in the day. If the manager had any issues, I guess they were based on that. By contrast, the surface seemed fairly decent last night for our faster paced football. Perhaps post dome groundwork is a little more complex than normal? |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 12:44 23 Nov 2025
After watching the game in the Ratcliffe yesterday, I walked past the back corner of the ground and it was easy to see that the usual covers have returned following the passing of the wonderdome. Given the 2 upcoming home fixtures in the next 6 days, and the iffy rain forecast for the week (including today's constant showers), it'll be interesting to see what measures are taken to keep these games on. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 18:54 14 Nov 2025
Current weather conditions are fairly exceptional and it's wild out there, as I'm sure most Rochdale based folk on here would agree. Without covers, or using the recent covers, tomorrow's game would not be going ahead. If the match plays tomorrow as planned, then enormous credit to the club for sorting the new cover arrangements out. I'm sure its neither easy nor low cost to sort out. There'll probably be plenty of other games that don't go ahead due to waterlogged pitches. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 16:31 12 Nov 2025
Something a little off with these calculations.
A pitch area of 7140sqm with 4.3mm of water theoretically sitting on top, gives a volume of 30,702 litres. Using UK gallons, that works out at roughly 6,760 gallons. A bit more than you worked out.
Easy way to work out is for every sqm of pitch, if 10mm falls (as it often does at the moment) then x10 for litres. So on a typical 7000 sqm pitch every 10mm of rain = 70,000 litres.
Tent cover or no tent cover, the ground still has to deal with all awful lot of water. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 13:07 12 Nov 2025
Great news. Should ensure Saturday goes ahead. Hopefully this is a winter solution to the pitch problems and not just a short term rental. It'll not just keep the rain off, it should prevent frozen pitches too. Hopefully the pitch sides will deal well with the high water run off from the pitched cover. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 22:56 11 Nov 2025
Interesting. After overhearing a comment by a senior member of the groundstaff in the Ratcliffe earlier, I did wonder. He was certainly confident about Saturday. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 07:49 11 Nov 2025
Unfortunately there's much more information out there in addition to the Met Office. Plus if you go on the MO app and run through the maps section, the scenario with the stalling front is now clearly showing for Fri/Sat. The app can often be delayed in getting the info correct at 3 or 4 days out. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 22:26 10 Nov 2025
Its very difficult to see how Saturday's game will go ahead. We have pretty much a carbon copy of the weather that we had in the run up to the Scunthorpe match. If nothing has changed regarding pitch protection, it is hard to see a different outcome.
Rain is forecast tomorrow morning and evening, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday is just damp all day if not particularly wet. There's also a chance that a front heading slowly north, stalls over us into Friday and Saturday. If that happens it'll definitely be game over. Hate to be so negative, but this is the reality the club is currently in. |
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Reply | Update on the pitch
at 12:27 7 Nov 2025
Yeah, at 7 to 8 days out you begin to get a good idea on the 'flavour' of the weather to be expected but not the exact details. Unfortunately, any signal for a break to drier conditions has slowly disappeared over the last few days and late next week and into the following week now looks pretty unsettled and possibly quite grim at times as a battle sets up between cold to our north and warmth to the south. I really hope it doesn't happen but we could get stuck in the middle for a few days. All subject to change of course at this timescale and I'm sure the club are more than aware. |
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Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 18:14 5 Nov 2025
Another advantage a tent type setup gives, and this helps get the pitch to a state we can only currently dream of, is that if deployed for a while it would allow the full depth of the pitch to drain out excess water as much as possible. That would give the pitch plenty of capacity to soak up any rainfall that fell following the cover removal. |
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Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 13:02 5 Nov 2025
I've got to agree that this is the initial route to go down. All options to stay at the COA have to be exhausted before thinking of moving out. The cost, complexity, logistical nightmare involved in moving is hard to imagine. The upsetting of hundreds of season ticket holders who can't or won't travel elsewhere. Would they be within their rights to ask for refunds.
This tent type cover, expensive I'm sure, will be a quicker, simpler and cheaper option. The covers we have, were clearly a cheaper solution, but they don't suit a pitch that doesn't drain freely. The elevated cover not only keeps the rain off, but also allows air beneath to constantly dry the surface. Something the current covers do not.
I agree that a little bit of civils work would be needed to upgrade drainage to the sides at the main stand and Wilbutts, but its far easier than packing up and shipping out to another ground. |
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Reply | Rochdale v Scunthorpe on Tuesday
at 15:06 4 Nov 2025
Just when you're hoping for a positive outcome, it all goes wrong. This really does flag up problems that need sorting by the club very quickly. I have no idea what the solutions are.
From the club's own update yesterday, the covers went down on Sunday. Yes, we've had rain most days recently, but the only rainfall of any note fell early Saturday morning and even that amounted to less than half an inch. Any other rain with the covers down has been mostly light with the odd heavy burst blowing through pretty quickly. Certainly not enough to escape from the covers onto the pitch.
In effect we've had a bit of rain 3 1/2 days prior to a match, and not managed to get it on. How does that work for the next 4 months, when if anything, the background conditions will only deteriorate?
At least it looks drier for the next home games, but will that be enough?
Some very radical solutions are needed, and needed fast. |
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