Simpson seizes moment as Rochdale hunt elusive glory

Fifth Round Former Wolves player strives to take Spotland club to last 16 for first time by overcoming his old side at Molineux tomorrow

Some Clubs are born into glamour, some have glamour thrust upon them and others, like Rochdale, spend most of their lives hiding from it.

When, in a third-round FA Cup tie in 1920, they raced into a 2-1 lead against Arsenal at Highbury, before eventually succumbing 4-2, the Sunday Times described them as "a club of no great distinction" and for most of the next 80 years that description proved largely accurate.

A modest, well-run club seldom flirted with disaster, and the glory, when it came to Spotland, was watered down. Their astonishing achievement of reaching the 1962 League Cup final was at a time when the competition was even less regarded than it is now and the final was not at Wembley. Their only other significant Cup run, reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup 13 years ago, did involve an away victory at Anfield, but they were playing Marine, the Kop was closed and some 3,000 fans were scattered around just two stands.

No moderately tall clubs, let alone giants, were slain in that 1989-90 FA Cup run – their most prominent victims were Northampton Town, who finished 22nd in the old Third Division. This time, in equalling that achievement, Rochdale have again received less than their due. Their third-round victory over Preston at Deepdale was given 90 seconds of treatment by the BBC, which were almost as dismissive of their defeat of Coventry, unquestionably the upset of the fourth round. Tomorrow, by way of amends, they will devote a full hour-and-a-half to their encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Paul Simpson, Rochdale's player-manager, confessed he did not enjoy the days before Coventry were beaten. A team who had been expected to win promotion for only the second time in their history appeared not to have recovered from the dismissal of the previous manager, John Hollins, and were booed off after a home defeat by Lincoln.

"It's understandable if you're losing games at home when everybody starts the season with high expectations. There's bound to be unrest, unhappy people and shouts of 'Simpson out'," he admitted. "Football grounds are the easiest places to go when you want to criticise."

For now the criticism has stalled. Successive League victories over Oxford United and Darlington have begun to move Rochdale slowly up the table. Feethams did resound with calls for a manager's sacking on Tuesday night, but they were directed at Darlington's Mick Tait.

For someone who spent three seasons at Wolves, reaching the 1998 FA Cup semi-final, which was lost 1-0 to Arsenal, the tie has extra resonance. Simpson wondered if he would be jeered if Rochdale won, although, should this happen, the catcalls would be reserved exclusively for his counterpart, Dave Jones.

"The one regret I have with getting to the semi-finals with Wolves is that I didn't appreciate at the time what an occasion it was. I have no really positive memories of it and I want to make sure that if this is as far as Rochdale go we take away a positive memory.

"I think about the chairman and the directors who over the years have had very little to celebrate. Now they can go to Molineux and enjoy the hospitality of the directors' lounge."

For Third Division clubs, the FA Cup is about money. By no means are Rochdale destitute; they could afford to pay Stoke £150,000 for Paul Connor and Walsall £100,000 for Clive Platt, who between them have scored five times in the Cup this season, but budgets are tight. Some directors questioned the need to stay in a hotel before tomorrow's game. For Platt, Wolverhampton born and bred on the deeds of Steve Bull, the tie is especially poignant; his only previous match at Molineux was in a five-a-side schoolboy game long before the ground was redeveloped.

The Cup run has ensured bids for Platt have been resisted and that some of the players who have taken Rochdale as far as they have ever come in the competition can be offered new contracts. Rochdale's most famous daughter, Gracie Fields, may have made light of redundancy, leading newly-unemployed workers out of the factory gates to the tune of Sing as We Go, but losing your job is as grim as it was in 1934.

Simpson will keep his. Currently, he is only on a playing contract and there are no bonuses. He first applied to manage Rochdale because it would be good practice to write a CV and do an interview, but, when Hollins left, he was asked if he would like the post. Next week he will be given a proper managerial contract. Life expectancy for a manager at Spotland is roughly two years.

Simpson said: "I won't forget one bit of advice Jim Smith gave me: 'So long as you go into it and know that one day you are going to be sacked you just get on with it.' One day it will happen, but while you're in your job you give it everything. If I were to lose my job, the only person who would worry about it is me, nobody else would give a stuff."