Following the well publicized takeover at Manchester City our very own Chris Dunphy gave an interview to The Guardian newspaper as their correspondent wanted the "take" of a man who had gone from fan to chairman.His comments spread far and wide and have indeed been picked up in the middle east with an article on the very influential arabianbusiness.com.
Today the press office has been approached by a reporter from another national newspaper for further comments from Chris as the story begins to grow and take on a life of it's own.
For his part Chris is obviously happy with publicity that the club is getting and said " you never know who might read these stories and anyone out in the middle east with a spare couple of million pounds looking for an interesting investment might just pick up the phone.Provided they had the interest of the club at heart we would talk to any billionaires"
If you haven't read the original article it carried the usual " no promotions forever" lines but was in fact a very fair and interesting piece with Chris's quotes starting with:-
"We as a club are tired of the tag of being the least successful team in the leagues but perversely, this is what makes us potentially unique and a chance for an investor to be part of football history here in England as success for Rochdale would be very newsworthy and generate a considerable volume of publicity. "
"Investment in our club would almost certainly guarantee our rise to the Championship as we would be able to bring in the additional players who would make the difference at this level. The cost of this would be a fraction of other recent deals and indeed Robinho's reported wage at Manchester City for a year would easily support our plans for Championship status in the next six years."
Rochdale AFC has been in existence for 101 years and has been promoted just once, in 1968. It is budgeting for a small loss this year but, with a good run in the FA Cup, it hopes to break even or show a profit.
The club is currently working on a six-year plan to reach the Championship - the second rung of English football. Last year they lost in the Division Two play-off final at Wembley and this season they are striving to go one better and win promotion.
Club bosses say the club's youth programme is key to future success and has recently produced a 16-year-old called Matty Hughes who has been transferred to Scottish giants Celtic, and may well become a future international player. Average home gates are about 3,000 and the club is the number one sports attraction in the town which is undergoing a $1.8 billion regeneration over the next few years.
Dunphy added: "I can't understand the guys who have just bought Manchester City for however much it is - surely they don't expect to have a trading profit on the company?"
"If someone was buying a club for immortality, for recognition, why don't they buy a club like Rochdale? Because for four or five million pounds they could take us up the leagues and have almost guaranteed immortality, if only in a small circle."
