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'Why would we change our winning formula?'

Richard Partington
10/ 5/2008

PREPARING for this evening’s play-off semi-final first leg against Darlington has been a case of business as usual for Keith Hill and his squad this week.

The Rochdale manager briefly pondered whether or not to change things ahead of the biggest game of the campaign to date – but dismissed the notion out of hand. After all, why change a winning formula?

"Why should we do anything different?" he asked. "We’ve been successful with the way we’ve done things.

"I asked myself the question, I asked Dave the question and I asked the lads the question – should we be doing anything different? The answer was a resounding ‘no’, because we are successful at what we do. So why change it?

"Nothing changes, we’re not trying to create a carnival atmosphere – we are just focused on the job we want to do.

"We had two really intense days this week, Monday and Tuesday, when we worked on things we hadn’t worked on for a while because we’d been playing Saturday and Tuesday for several weeks running. This has been a week where the first two days have been really productive, hard work sessions, everybody had Wednesday off and we were back in on Thursday morning for another good session of small-sided games. It was very productive and a case of the players just doing their jobs."

Considering the limited budget Hill has worked with since taking the reins at Rochdale, the fact his side start today’s two-legged contest as slight favourites to progress against one of League Two’s fat cats is a measure of the progress the club has made under his guidance.

"The season’s form counts for nothing now," he insisted. "That season is over and the play-offs are a different animal altogether. You just don’t know what to expect.

"I think the bookmakers have got it about right in that they can’t really choose between the four teams.

"Football evens everything out and over the course of 90 minutes it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got in the bank. We’ve seen Barnsley beat Chelsea and Liverpool this season so it’s an even environment when you get out there and play the game.

"It’s not about how much this or that player cost, it’s about looking the opposition squarely in the eye and saying ‘I’m going to compete today, regardless of how much you cost.’

"That’s our mentality. We probably are underdogs with respect to finances and resources, but we are more than capable of matching any side on any given day.

"We are not blessed with financial riches in terms of how deep our pockets are, but we are blessed with skills and abilities. One of those is the fighting spirit we have and there is a real desire to succeed in any match, any training session."

It’s a confident bunch of players he takes up to Darlington today, a team who reflect their manager’s enthusiasm for the game and for achieving success.

"I’m enthusiastic in anything I do and I’ve always got a smile on my face," said Hill. "People might say I’m a little bit arrogant, but I’m not, I’m just very confident and I expect to lead the life I lead to the full and I expect the players to express themselves in a similar sort of manner.

"I am a winner, there’s no doubt about that in my mind and if that gives off any sort of arrogance then I can’t apologise for being a winner. the players are winners as well.

"I have no fear we will give everything we’ve got trying to win the play-offs, and if we end up losing we will be very proud with what we’ve achieved so far this season.

Hill finished third in the League Managers Association’s performance table, the highest ranking manager from League Two and ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez.

"The LMA table is probably one for my mother. She might stick the table on her fridge.

"But to me it’s just another table, yesterday’s news. It’s nice at the time but it’s more accolades for my family and for Dave Flitcroft’s family to enjoy."