Rochdale Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Jim Bentley as Dale’s new First Team Manager.
The 46-year-old joins the club on a two-year contract.
He will take his first training session today and will be in the dugout for Tuesday night’s Papa John’s Trophy group stage tie against Accrington Stanley.
“I am delighted and proud to become the new manager of Rochdale Football Club,” said Bentley.
“The football club has had some difficult times on and off the pitch over the last few seasons and I am determined to help improve things, move the club forward, and give the fans something to cheer about and be proud of.
“We find ourselves in a difficult position at this present time, but we are only at the very start of the season and I am ready for the challenge that lies ahead.
“I am excited to take up this role and grateful to the board of directors for this opportunity. One thing I can guarantee is that I will give my absolute all for the football club, the supporters and the town.”
Bentley, a former defender, had a 17 year affinity with Morecambe, firstly as a player and then as manager, having taking over the managerial reigns there in 2011, at the club where he had spent the majority of his senior playing career.
During his eight-and-a-half year spell in charge of the football league side, he managed over 400 games and was longest serving manager across the Premier League and EFL until his departure in October 2019 to join AFC Fylde.
Chairman Simon Gauge commented: “I am delighted to welcome Jim Bentley to Rochdale AFC.
“The Board and I felt it was really important that we not only recruited a manager that has had proven League Two playing and management experience, but also someone who will be a good cultural fit for our fan owned and fan-led club, as we all seek to bring us success and get us back up the football league.
“It has been a speedy but very detailed recruitment process during which we with met several potential interested candidates, all of whom have managed at that level, but we instantly found with Jim that he is going to be a good fit with our club.
“He has managed over 400 games at this level and his values of honesty, transparency, work ethic and most importantly fighting spirit are the exact qualities all of us at Rochdale AFC have shown over the past year and want to show in every competitive fixture and in every team the club puts out.
“We all need to get vociferously behind Jim and the team and look forward to climbing up the League Two table and competing in the remaining cup competitions, starting on Tuesday night away at League One's Accrington Stanley in the Papa John's trophy.”
We would like to place on record our thanks to Jim McNulty for stepping up and taking interim charge of the side, and extend that thank you to Kevin Gibbins and the rest of the backroom staff, who helped the lead the team into the last three fixtures. Both McNulty and Gibbins will be part of Bentley’s backroom staff, with McNulty now reverting back to his role of player/coach.
Bentley will bring an assistant manager with him to the club and we will have news on this in due course.
A full video interview with our new manager will follow tomorrow.