Keith Hill - a look back at a Rochdale legend's career

After the whole Keith Hill "will he, won't he" saga finally came to an end this week after he dismissed reports he was taking up the managerial role at Barnsley, while everything was up the air over his future it got me thinking about how much he's achieved at Rochdale and looking back on his management career...so this blog post is dedicated to the man that's made Rochdale the club it is today...Keith Hill.

We have never been and never will be a glamorous club, having spent so long in the basement division and with one promotion to our name, we don't pretend we're something we're not and neither does Keith Hill and that's why I believe he's succeeded at the club in his first management role. We struggle with attendances and we don't have wealthy financial backers.


Keith Hill originally took over the reigns at Rochdale back in December 2006 as caretaker manager after Steve Parkin departed. At the time he was Director of Youth and his position was merely seen as a stop-gap until we appointed someone "better". How wrong we were. We were 22nd in League 2 when he took over, facing the dreaded relegation, but his appointment seemed to turn performances around and in January 2007 his position was made permanent with David Flitcroft by his side...by the end of the season Rochdale finished one place outside the play offs.


The following season Keith Hill and David Flitcroft - aptly named Hillcroft - led Rochdale into the play offs, beating Darlington in a nerve wracking penalty shoot out before we had our time at Wembley for the play off final, unfortunately losing out to Stockport. I actually blogged about this if you'd like a read of my Wembley adventure. Most people thought our performances would suffer, but we bounced straight back to the play offs once again, unfortunately this time we went out in the semi-final stages against Gillingham.


Once again, people talked, had the momentum gone? Had there been too much heartache? Of course there hadn't, we were living the dream flirting in and around the play offs, so when the 09/10 season arrived we really weren't ready for what awaited us...our first promotion since 1969.


We started the season with our "no fear" attitude, something that Hillcroft had implemented in the team, we had no reason to fear anyone in the league and both the players and the fans embraced the culture that Hilly had brought. The 09/10 season will never be forgotten at Rochdale, we took the league by storm, skipping past each and every time, leading the pack ahead of the likes of Notts County. That was until the final leg of the season and, quite rightly, we started to loose that drive as players started to tire. It was a tense end to the season, we threw away so many chances to claim the title including a 5-0 battering away at Torquay but the day finally came against Northampton at home...Rochdale were promoted to League 1. We finished the season in 3rd place behind Notts County and Bournemouth, although I could honestly say most fans saw Rochdale as the true champions of the league.

The celebrations started but it wasn't long before people started to doubt our ability in League 1, many thought Keith Hill's abilities didn't stretch that far, so as I sit here now writing this blog post I smirking at the fact that we've just finished the 10/11 season in the League 1 and we finished just a few places outside the play offs. We battered Southampton home and away and proved we could hold our own against champions Brighton among so many other performances.


But it's not just the results that Rochdale have to thank Keith Hill for, how players have progressed from Rochdale just prove what a hell of a manager he is...Chris O'Grady is the perfect example, he took him from being out of favour at neighbours Oldham to running League 1 defenders ragged all over the pitch. And then there's Craig Dawson, it's almost a fairytale, a local boy playing in non-league football before being given his chance at Rochdale, next season he will play for West Brom.


We might still not be and probably never will be a glamorous club, but we're now a club that footballers want to play for thanks to the Hillcroft regime. They've changed the club from floundering in the lower half of the basement division to contending with a place in the League 1 play offs. And their influence on the pitch has been mirrored behind the scenes, every inch of the club is run professionally right from the centre of excellence through to the first team, yet Hillcroft has maintained a family feeling around Spotland, one where fans are just as important.


And that's where I end this blog post. I don't know what's next for Keith Hill and David Flitcroft, although I know their immediate future is at Rochdale, but we all understand that they're destined for bigger and better things...I just hope that when that day arrives, we bring in someone who can carry on the Hillcroft legacy. And with that I simply finish with, NO FEAR.