Manager Keith Hill believes his new look squad still has the capabilities to score goals despite the departure of Bobby Grant and says he is happy with the players that he has got at his disposal.
Grant joined Blackpool yesterday for an undisclosed fee and while Hill admits the move has released more money in the budget, he again insisted that he’s not after another striker and explained why to Dale Player.
He said: The timing [of Grant’s departure] is superb. I was disappointed as you would be as a Manager when Bobby handed in his transfer request, but I understood it and it was never a difficult situation.
“We came to an amicable agreement that if a certain price was reached then I and the club wouldn’t stand in his way. He assured me that he would work hard as a squad player until that happened and he did that. He was brilliant in pre-season with respect to commitment and making sure he was fit for Rochdale Football Club first and foremost, and for any other club.
“I’m glad that he has gone to the Championship because there were one or two managers from League Two who were playing psychological games with his mind and were expecting to get him out of Rochdale for no money. I’m glad we didn’t go down that path because nobody would have won. In this situation everybody has won – Blackpool, Bobby and Rochdale. Everyone should be pleased with the situation as we enter into the latter stages of pre-season."
He continued: "Looking forward, I had already done great business in getting Matty Done. He’s maybe a couple of weeks behind everyone else but I think it showed against Stalybridge Celtic that he’s still got great talents to work within League Two.
“With the players that we’ve got I feel as though there’s still capabilities to score goals and I think we’ve proved that in pre-season. I’m not in an urgent request to the Board of Directors to replace Bobby with what you would consider a striker. I’m more concerned about us being more solid defensively and that would imply that my offensive midfielders have to be better defensively in supporting our full backs and central defenders.
"Has it released more money in the budget? Yes, but that’s for a rainy, well not so rainy day because all of a sudden we’re all complaining about the heat and now we want rain. It’s typical that we seem to be moaning about what we don’t have instead of really appreciating what we do have and I believe we have a very good squad of players. I’m really pleased with what we’ve got and the offensive midfield players will cause havoc to any team in this league."
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