HornetsGrey

The deal has been done and Rochdale born philanthropist Sir Peter and Lady Ogden have bought the new shares in the football club for £2m. The shares will be held in Trust so that the club can't be sold to a businessman in the future. They are also going to invest a similar sum in a new training facility to bring the main teams, the academy and the Dale Community Trust together onto a single site in the borough. This protects the club and the stadium. They are providing the Dale Trust with a golden share so that the name and ground cannot just be sold on. Well done the Ogdens. They are to invest in a Commercial Head to begin a programme of driving income up and boost attendances so that club is more sustainable. Simon Gauge and Richard Knight, who between them have used their family's life savings of over £600k to keep the club afloat this year, will convert that stake into equity and remain in charge on the Board. That leaves the £2m as investment rather than to repay directors loans. This has to be good news for Hornets too and professional sport in the borough. Lets cap this good news off with a win today

He didn't say that. He made comments that uneconomic leases was a problem in Dale trying to break even when the club announced it needed an investor. I watched the Dale fans forum last night and no mention was made of Hornets or any conditions around the ground except to say that the Dale Board want the ground to be used for sport and never wanted liquidation as an option. They have lost hundreds of thousands each by bank rolling the football club this season and liquidation of the club would have given them more chance of getting their cash back as a liquidator would have sold the ground. They didn't do that because they want professional sport in the borough to survive. They were season ticket holders before and said they will be happy to be back on the terraces after the deal goes through. There was no negative comments at all. I know it doesn't suit your negative style, but I am relieved and pleased that somebody is prepared to invest in our sporting clubs and venue for the benefit of the community that support their sides week in week out on the terraces.

They will have to give a toss. Who knows - they might buy both clubs and take on the SuperLeague. Better than liquidation and an empty stadium - or houses.

I said that we faced losing prefessional sport in the borough if people thought it was preferable to see Dale relegated to non league. The regular on here who said we should dance on their grave. Well here it is . . . they survived through the money through the football pyramid - a loss of £1m a year now they are non league. Without an owner they can't cover the cost. They have been clear that the stadium costs half a million pounds each year to maintain. They haven't got the cash now. I hope Kingsway is ready soon because we might need it. The town doesn't deserve it - but then the town doesn't support either club to deserve it too. A ruddy sad day and hope that some enjoy dancing on the grave. It won't help the rest of us.

With Dale's game off tomorrow due to a frozen pitch, is Sunday's game at risk?

You did say you would dance in the streets if Dale were relegated to non league. Your wish was granted and this is the mess both clubs face. But Dale's latest accounts show Spotland costs £500k a year to run. Grounds cost money - neither club is full of that right now.

As Dale fight to survive, they are trying to fill Spotland on Boxing Day in a boost to show that the town wants a football club. They have sold 6,000 tickets so far - everybody is £1. Yep just £1. Not bad if the alternative is sitting at home watching 1960's films on TV. Would be good if the town got behind them to fill the place and demonstrate to potential investors that the town does care. I will be there.....it all feels a bit last chance saloon though.

They were introduced to the Dale Trust as well as the Board earlier this year and weren't deemed to be credible. A 5 star 100 bedroomed hotel in Rochdale would be a tall order, putting one in the Spotland car park would never work. The football club now needs to slash costs like never before if it is to survive. That means most of the staff will need to be replaced with volunteers and some of the players may need to be part time. Or they go bust and we lose Spotland forever.

Well that has gone pear shaped. Back to square one. WIthout a cash injection will Dale survive? Time will tell

We will see what the new owners want to do. In the meantime we can only hope that the relationship between the two clubs has thawed and we can all progress together. When did you stop working for the Stadium? Given that Bottomley was the CEO for a number of years I find it hard to believe that he disliked as he would do anything to put himself in a good light

News in the press in Newcastle suggest Thunder will go under tomorrow. What a ruddy mess if true. How small can this division get?

And over 1000 there too. A great turnout

And there is the challenge. We are too small a business to need to report the full revenues - but I suspect our losses are as big as our revenue. For every pound in we lost a further pound. I might well be wrong. Workingtons General Manager/CEO was on TV recently and he said he needed 1400 fans every game to break even and he was struggling to cover the gap as attendances weren't there. Granted they have a stadium to maintain, but we are in a worse position if we need the directors to stump up 50% of our income. So how can the club focus on improving matters - it is a big ask to ask the directors to stump up that level of cash each season. At some point they will stop. Matt Rigby has a massive challenge on his hands - but pleased he is trying to make friends rather than enemies in his quest to improve things.

But you would need to have spent £300 on the Dale ticket in order to benefit for the £10 offer. I get the challenge but we are in desperate need of attracting new fans. £17 isn't doing it. And our ST Holders were supposed to get 1 more match for the £150. The club isn't to blame for that. The club is damned if they do, damned if they don't. I applaud the attempt to drive people in. If it works we all benefit. If not, we don't do it again.

It certainly feels more positive Andy. Well done. Can we swallow some pride and go on the offensive and appeal to the 2500 Dale paying fans to back Hornets too. I know that some of our fans have seriously damaged the relationship on their messageboard, and of course the comments by people like Tyrone Shoelaces don't help, but if only we could get a few hundred to try us out. Many of them watch other sports in the borough. We'd double our fanbase and drown out the bitter and negative posters.

I am not sure we can afford it - but would rather we used any spare cash for players. When is our £18k a year rent payment up for renewal by the way? Assuming the stadium is still open

So you had problems for 6 years - long before the current Dale Board. We need to move on and I am pleased that Hornets issued the statement they did on 1st August. It must have stuck in the throat for some. Can we not get behind both teams and start to attract new fans. The way things stand I don't think either club will exist in 5 years time, but hope I am wrong. The Dale Board told fans last night that they were close to selling the club to an Amercian consortium a few months ago but it fell through. That would have allowed new investment - for all I know that deal might have included the acquisition of Hornets. They continue to search - but with the electricity and gas costs for Spotland now a quarter of a million pounds, no real contribution from hornets and the dale fan base declining, they need to find somebody as income is declining rapidly. We need to take the blinkers off and get behind both clubs.

But he has facilitated the pitch ownership grant application through the Dale Trust to allow Hornets and Dale to remain at Spotland forever. We have to stop the bitterness and work together to preserve whats left of professional sport in the town. If he had the agenda you suggest (but have no evidence to support your view) then why would he be trying to preserve the pitch from future rogue owners so that both clubs can play on it in perpetuity. You and Anita Bath are part of the problem and not the solution - we need to move on and work together or we are all going to need to go to Mayfield at weekends because we won't have professional clubs to support. Sorry if that hurts.

How are you getting on with that white stick? Have we learned nothing from the shambles of the past 30 years? You can only run a club without a sugar daddy if you cut your cloth appropriately. Bottomleys actions have caused the current problems at Dale. Any fall out with Hornets is down to an approach to doing the right thing on both sides. I can see the argument both ways. Meanwhile we had barely 200 paying customers yesterday and no refreshment and food facilities - Hurricanes will think we are tin pot. We need to focus on trying to build up Hornets rather than blaming the football club. Fan experience counts and we are really not an attractive proposition.

Liked the agility in the first half and whilst Hurricanes were a big side, they couldn't stop the Hornets. We tired a little towards the end. Pitch was excellent, still not at all clear on what was going on with the rules for walking rugby at half time, but amusing nonetheless. And what happened with the catering? Dale started with a new localish catering firm yesterday - as Quirky Catering didn't renew the contract. Anything to do with that?

Dunphy did indeed say he wanted to come back - but he announced it on social media rather than contact the existing board and that was unprofessional. And then he accepted he didn't have the money to cover the size of Dale's budget deficit. Some would love him back, but he started the era of overspending and we are saddled with we now have. I support both clubs. Was there today and will be watching us tomorrow. Whether we like it or not, Dale can't afford Spotland unless something changes. But the pitch was looking great!

They have already sunk £250,000 of their own money in to rescue the club and ground from the unscrupulous bid from a firm that has now gone under. So I think that is more than charitable to be honest. To expect them to put another similar amount in is unreasonable. Unlike Mazey who owns Hornets, these two do not own Dale. I know there are only half a dozen regular posters on here nowadays, but some of the comments are just unfair and are bitter. I just pray we have two clubs in 5 years time. Here's to a good result on Sunday

Oooch. Not sure what we should expect to happen. Dale are short of cash and the directors are offering to put more in as a loan. Or they could go bust and we all lose out. In the meantime Dale and the Dale Supporters Trust are working on a community grant to enable the ground to be passed to the Trust and the grant would repay the loan. That would mean that the ground is truly in the hands of the fans - and both Hornets and Dale are safe. Seems like the best we can hope. I don't see anybody else offering to put a few hundred thousand in to keep Spotland safe. The alternative is that the club lands in the lap of a single owner and nobody has control. Too many people in our town have let both Hornets and Dale decline to the position they both find themselves - and still people are criticising. We don't deserve professional sport to be honest

No. We don't do green shield stamps. Its the Co-op divi books over ere lad

But we did and the Chairman says that the public of Rochdale need to back the club or........? Its a hard slog getting anybody to back professional sport in the town. Beginning to feel a bit too hard to be honest