Rochdale
vs
Macclesfield Town
Match preview

Build Up

If I'm being honest, I'm getting a bit bored of the whole thing. You see, as a club we've been rather cruel to our friends from Macclesfield over the years, and yes their reaction is just a tad predictable, and like a night back with an ex girlfriend, it may be fun initially, but getting rid of them afterwards tends to be a touch difficult as they hang around leech like.

We've long memories. Mention their crowds, and 5000 of the buggers come on asking when we last got promoted. Mention them getting Luton fans to sing their songs for them, and we get 90 minutes of drums and balloons in response. Mention that we're not really rivals, and we get physically attacked with 95.1 carved into our faces by rusty Stanley Knives. Mention the state of their Moss Road ground, and it's like desecrating on the steps of a church. And if you ever, ever, ever mention the words N** L*****  at them, then it's fatwah time with our own club having to ring round various other N** L***** clubs to apologise. You couldn't make it up.

But as someone who was once described as the most politically correct person that he knows by one messageboard regular (thought that was quite a nice compliment to pay someone), I think it's time that we make the peace with our friends from Macc. So here we go.

Dear Maccies

1) We like your ground. We mean it. It's a nice trip for us. A few decent pubs along the way from the station to the ground. We usually have a good following there. And it's healthy too. We get plenty of fresh air thanks to no restrictive roofing, and given you have to queue up for one of the seventeen pies that will be on sale from approximately  10:30am, then chances are you won't return from Macc land having added to that ever increasing waist band. All heart Maccies. We'll thank you in the long run.

2) We really are rivals. But only in a we are rivals for hatred from Altrincham sort of way. I know Macc and Alty have some sort of past allegiances from that time that we're not allowed to mention, but they know deep down that Alty hate us more. We're the ones who Sidebottom's mob blame for them not getting into the football league.  So given we are their enemy's enemy, that kind of makes us friends. Would you like to come round for tea?

3) We don't really think you'll go down. Well we did, but not in a nasty way that you misassumed that we did if indeed misassumed is a word. It wasn't a "ha ha Macc are going down sort of thing", it was more of a patronising "Ahh, the poor lot from Macclesfield could be in trouble this year." You've made a good start, and we don't doubt for one moment that if you get any sort of result this weekend, you'll put down the balloons, ticker tape and drums to infiltrate the messageboard to hammer out your ripostes. They should bring back Points of View for that sort of thing. But you're quite entitled from your lofty position of 13th to shove it right back down our throats. We were wrong and are sorry.

4) We don't blame you for all the crap you've given us over the years. You suffered too. We should form some sort of help group. So I offer out the hand of friendship to our Cheshire brethren and let us form Durkan's Anonymous. Together we can rid ourselves of the memory of his large frame hurtling down the wing at a snail's pace, and invite Richard Green to come and brew up for us. Guess he was better than Simon Davies though.

5) That kit of your's is ahead of its time. Cynics might say that it looks like the sort of thing that a five year old has designed, but the real high class fashion on the catwalks of Milan gets derided every single year without fail. Does Gaultier get put out if some horrible Lancastrian has a go at him for wearing a skirt? I doubt it. So don't allow our mocking of that S thing on your shirt to put you off. Please apologise for our own ignorance to the top designers who came up with that design. Unless it really was drawn by a five year old.

6) You are a proper league club. You're not even the N** L***** whipping boys anymore. If I was a Maccie, I'd happily turn my nose up at the likes of Morecambe and Accrington being allowed into the Football League. I'd even be arguing along with Dale supporters that its time to raise up the drawbridge. Macc didn't spend 83 years or whatever it was trying to get into the Mecca that is the Football League only to find themselves playing the same sort of sides that they left behind in the C*******. It'd be like us making it all the way to the Championship and playing Scunthorpe and Colchester. We'd feel cheated. Come on Macc, join us and we'll repel the invaders from Dagenbridge and Hereford and keep the Football League pure for proper Football League clubs. You're one of us now. Did your 10 year anniversary programme count for nothing?

So there we go. There's probably a few more bits we need to apologise for but we'll save them for when we head to Moss Road later in the season, by which time after you've scoured every word in the programme this weekend we will no doubt have even more things to apologise for.

Yours Insincerely

A Dale fan.

Prediction League

Don't forget to make your prediction of the score and first score by taking part in the Dale Prediction League

Oppositionwatch - Macclesfield

New manager Ian Brightwell has led the Silkmen to a steady start to the season which has seen them lose just one game so far, and that being one in which they a couple of disallowed goals cost them dear.

They'll head to Spotland on the back of successive away wins. They won their last league game at Hereford 1-0 and followed that up with the same scoreline in that JPT thingy in midweek against Wrexham, so there'll be some confidence in their ranks this weekend.

Even the departure of star defender Danny Swailes has had not ill effect on the Silkie's form, and with Francis Green having something of a renaissance up front having already matched last year's goals total, it'll be a case of more Humble Pie than Nag Pie on the menu for many, especially if Green adds to his four goals this weekend.

Played for both

Oh dear. There hasn't half been some rubbish to have turned out for both sides over the years. So in honour of that, we've come up with a feature specifically aimed at that.

Click here for the crap Dale / Macc joint XI.

And further apologies to Dave Grant who doesn't belong anywhere near to a side like that.

Form Guide

last five matches

Best Odds Available