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9 August 2014
The Royal First Division season began today, with Paul Sanderson's Rochdale side at home to Montrose. A very busy preseason, which saw Sanderson taking significant steps to build the kind of club he wanted, therefore came to a close.
Rochdale played five friendlies during July and early August. They routed smaller clubs like Boston United (6-2) and Porthmadog (6-2), were routed in return by Nottingham Forest (0-5), edged a similar Vauxhall Motors side (2-1), and lost a close one to Barnsley (0-1). The Barnsley friendly looked like it would be an annual event, as the League Two club was now Rochdale's parent club.
Last month, host Brazil won the World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Germany in the final. The winning goal was scored by Paquito, who played his club football at home, with Fluminense. England, too, delighted their supporters, advancing to the Semi Final with a 1-0 result over Croatia. Their hopes of a championship ended when Germany saw them off, 0-3, but they won the third place match, 3-2, over Paraguay.
Rochdale found themselves in Group B this season, as it appeared the Royal First Division re-sorted its clubs every year. The Dale would face familiar opponents such as York City, Morecambe, and Cheltenham and new foes like Cambridge United, Luton Town, and Accrington Stanley.
Some pundits were tipping Rochdale as the best bet to win the championship. Sanderson didn't play up this prediction, but he didn't discount it, either. "We're certainly strong enough to contend this season. We proved that with our play during the second half of last year. We had 36 points at the halfway point of the season, and we finished on 80. That's a fifty percent increase."
Rochdale's 54 second-half points were best in the league, two more than champions Chesterfield and four more than Bristol Rovers, the other club who had reversed their fortunes after Christmas. "If we can pick back up where we left off, we will be in great shape."
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