The Thoughts of Director David James

I would like to welcome all the fans, players, staff and directors of Rochdale to Edgeley Park this afternoon.

Our incredible run had to come to an end at some stage and so it was inevitable that there would be a bit of a falling off in our results. That has happened over the last three games but I know that the players and staff are good enough and strong enough to get us back to winning ways, hopefully starting this afternoon.

One thing that has not fallen off is your magnificent support. You deserve the Number 12 that you have on the team list. The atmosphere at the last few home games has been building and building and it is all down to you, the fans. Thank you from the Board, the staff and the players and please, keep it going.

Just before we played Walsall, I had one of those "I wonder" conversations with my colleagues. I wondered if we could manage to get 50,000 spectators to our last seven home games. Those of you who are good at maths will realise that requires an average of just over 7,000 at each game. A bit of a tall order since, at that stage, we had only had one gate over 6,000 all season. In the three games since that conversation, 20,460 of you have come through the turnstiles, so you can see that it is still achievable, especially with three local derbies in the last four games. Please encourage your friends to come down and support the lads. To have 7,860 against Hartlepool, a figure that would have been the third highest gate in League 1, is tremendous. Once again, thank you for your continued support.

By the time you read these notes, the period for taking players on loan will have closed. Hopefully there will be a couple of new faces around the place to help with the final push at the end of the season. I know that the loan system has its faults, especially when players can be recalled at short notice, but it is the best system that we have got. If FIFA had its way, there would be no system of loans outside the normal transfer windows.

Jim and Peter have shown that they know how to use the loan system to get good quality players into the club and we all have seen how successful that has been. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank all the players who have been on loan with us this season for the efforts that they have made in making this a
more successful season than most of us imagined.

Talk of the play-offs is not banned in the Board Room. In fact it can't be, because the Board has to start planning for what would happen if we do finish the season in a play-off position. At this time I would like to mention two points.

Firstly, we realise that there will be a big demand for tickets for the home semi-final. Season ticket holders will get their usual priority. After that, tickets will be available to fans who produce two ticket stubs from our final three home games (Chester, MK Dons and Bury). It is 2 from 3 because we realise that the Chester game falls in the Easter holidays and people may be away.

Secondly, we will know the definite location of the Play-Off final by Easter. It is looking more likely that Wembley will be the venue but the League cannot decide until the stadium is granted its safety certificate.