Two Premier League titles in a row for Rochdale, a decent showing in Europe and some shock relegations last season, is three in a row a step too far or just the next step in the Rise of Rochdale.
First order of business is the draw for the European Cup, and it’s a slightly better one than last years pairing against Bayern Munich as we get Albanian Champions Lokomotive this time. No new reserves have come through for us so it’s contract negotiation time. And we’re hit with a massive blow. The dreaded message. Star striker, goal machine, hero of the fans, Kenny Betts is expected to go abroad at the end of the season!
Andy Howard’s value has risen again, along with McPherson, Small, Ripley and Collins. We’ve got enough decent squad players with Tommy Tinkler, Jon Ryan, Craddock and Myers to not really need any more signings yet, as they all do well in pre season and we head to Wembley to face Villa in the Charity Shield.
A fairly straight forward win and we’re of to the coast to open the season against newly promoted Bournemouth. It takes 7 minutes for the Cherries to score their first premier league goal, against the champions, but they’ve just made us angry, Betts especially so, as he bangs in a swift first half hat-trick and win 3-1. Liverpool who struggled early on last season lose their opening game derby against Everton and last seasons chasing pack all face eachother with Derby and Arsenal sharing the points as Spurs beat Swindon. Buxton picks up an injury so we splash out a bit of cash and sign Andy Collett from Notts County.
Betts looks like he wants to leave a lasting impression in his last season with us as he justifies his new price tag, turning in performance after performance and banging in the goals to put us top, as he claims the player of the month award with a perfect 10! Derby make their intentions known that they are to be taken seriously at the top after demolishing a much changed Spurs team 5-0! Liverpool are being Liverpool again with 2 points after 7 games, a repeat of last season and Roy Evans is on the brink, especially after we beat them 3-1!
We’ve got last seasons relegation surprsises Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup, and give the squad players a run out. Moyes scores at the right end (for them) this time as Tinkler makes a case for the first team, in the second leg we make sure and play the first team, running out 4-0 winners, and getting Telford in the next round.
We continue undefeated, winning 5 out of five at home, drawing a couple of away games, and head to Albania to play Lokomotive. It’s a nervy start, and we’re the better team but can’t create much and go in level at the break. Two minutes into the second half and Betts get away to finish clinically and the floodgates open as Henderson, Robinson, and Betts again score to give us a commanding 4-0 lead going into the second leg at home.
Back to league action and Tottenham give us a hard time at the Lane, going 1-0 up, before we equalise and take the league before being pegged back. 2-2 doesn’t help them much as Derby are our closest rivals by 7 points now and we give a lot of the squad players a run out against Telford in the League Cup. They do the job, conceding a couple but scoring four to get us Birmingham next.
We’ve got 2 full internationals in Betts and Limbert now and 2 U21’s with Jon Ryan and Wayne Ripley representing us as we easily brush aside Man Utd and welcome Lokomotive to Sandy Lane. Robinson scores early in the first half and Lokomotive need 5 to go through now. They don’t offer much and the game fizzles out, with Henderson scoring late on and Betts tucking home a third in the last minute to give us a 7-0 aggregate win. In the next round we’ve got Red Star, previous winners and a tough match to come.
We go on a run of 6 straight wins, scoring 22 and conceding just 2, Betts continually banging them in and getting 10’s, seeing off Birmingham comfortably in the league cup in the process to get Leicester in the next round.
We reach the halfway point with an 8 goal thriller at Elland Road as Severeyns proves he’s still a force scoring a hattrick as we share the points in a crazy 4-4 draw!
So next it’s former European Champions Red Star at Sandy Lane as we continue to pursue 4 different trophies, maintaining our 8 point lead at the top over Derby, who are our only real challengers this season. Betts is walking off with the golden boot and player of the season, a massive EIGHTEEN goals ahead! Liverpool don’t look like they’re going to make the same turnaround as last season, still bottom, on goal difference and Roy Evans is sure to get the boot!
Three league titles in a row is beckoning, as we try and get to our first Cup Final too, find out if it’s a stretch too far again, and how much Kenny Betts goes abroad for, next week!
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