style exclusive: Robbie Stockdale

Rochdale Football Club recently welcomed Robbie Stockdale as their new First Team Manager.

The ambitious 41-year-old has played across the leagues notching up over 250 appearances at clubs including Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham, Rotherham United and Hull City.

He started his coaching career at Grimsby Town in 2010 before going on to join Sunderland two years later. Robbie spent six years at Sunderland and was part of the first team set up under the likes of Sam Allardyce, as well as having three stints as caretaker manager.

After leaving the Black Cats, he was appointed as Paul Heckingbottom’s assistant at Hibernian in 2019, before reuniting with Allardyce in 2020 as first team coach at West Bromwich Albion. He was also capped five times by Scotland during his career.

Style caught up with Robbie, who has joined Rochdale on a two year contract, to discuss his first managerial position, his hopes for the season and why Dale supporters will always be the 'lifeblood of the club'...

Style: How are you settling into the club?

Robbie: I’m settling in very well. Everyone’s been very welcoming. It’s really good to be back on the grass working with the players - that’s what I enjoy doing.

Why did you want to come to Rochdale?

Obviously the job came up and I’d been waiting for an opportunity to get in as a manager for some time. I feel like I’ve done the hard yards; I’ve worked at every level from youth teams to Premier League and you know, sometimes it’s just a good fit. I’ve turned down jobs in the past, I’ve missed out on jobs in the past but when I spoke to the board it felt quite fresh and exciting to be part of a club that’s fan owned. It’s certainly unique in many ways; there’s not many of those types of clubs around and if we can get it going and everybody is aligned and we’ve got the same goal, we’ll have a good chance of success.

What convinced you to take your first step into management?

I felt that it was the right time for quite a while to be perfectly honest but the opportunity or the jobs that come up haven’t really appealed. This one just felt a little bit more like an opportunity that I could be successful at rather than going into a team that was really struggling. Coming in before the season was also a big factor; quite often jobs come up, Christmas/January time and those are jobs which are really difficult to get the team back up the league and they might be in relegation trouble. So, this one is almost a clean slate, for everybody.

What’s your aim for the season?

My aim is to be as successful as possible which is ultimately promotion back to League One. Now people have sort of criticised me for saying that and setting too high standards or too high targets, but I think realistically we should be aiming for that. I’d imagine that every other manager in this industry and this league would be saying the same thing; nobody wants to settle for second best, so our aim is to be promoted. Now, we will work ever so hard to try and achieve that and if we don’t, then we’ll obviously have to review that at the end of the season, but fingers crossed we’ll achieve what we want to achieve.

Have you had chance to get to know the Academy players coming through?

Yeah, we’ve had five training up with us all the time - Ethan, AJ, Jordan, Ben and Kacper. They took part in nearly all our pre-season games and have done very well; I’m very impressed. I’m big on personality and character and they all seem grounded and very hard working. I know the club’s history with producing players and hopefully that will continue with my sort of background in developing players and working closer with the academy.

Who are your role models?

I don’t think I have a role model - I think you’re influenced by many things such as people you work and play with. I suppose I always enjoyed playing in a team which was on the front foot, attacking, trying to score as many goals as we possibly can and not sitting off the opponents. That was kind of my mantra in the best teams I played in. Obviously, I’ve worked with some outstanding managers as well and you steal little bits from each one and I’m very keen to say that I’m a young person and I won’t try to imitate anybody. I’m going to try to be authentic to me.

You have a new Assistant Manager, Jimmy Shan – have you worked together before? What will he bring to the club?

I’ve known Jimmy for a long time but this is our first time working together. We’ve known each other through our coaching badges for 6/7 years, maybe even longer. I know Jimmy will bring absolute quality on the training pitch, he’s a fantastic coach. He’s very enthusiastic and able to take the strain off me when I’ve got other things to deal with as the manager and again we trust each other implicitly. I know Jimmy will give his all to be successful, as I will.

What advice would you give to young, aspiring footballers?

The ability gets you into the building, it’s your attitude that keeps you there. What I mean by that is, that I played with many a player who was better than me growing up but maybe didn’t have the attitude, application or the drive to carry it on. Believe it or not, being a footballer is quite difficult, it’s almost a 24/7 job. You have to live your life right, off the pitch, and on the pitch you’ve got to be dedicated and work hard. Also - you’ve got to have fun; there’s a time to be serious and there’s a time to relax. The environment you want to create in a football club is for players to enjoy coming in and that’s what we try to develop here.

Do you have a message for the supporters?

It’s really exciting to see you back and hopefully we’ll give you a team to be proud of. We hope to entertain you and hope that if we win, lose or draw you can come away from the game having enjoyed yourself and having seen a team that’s given its all for the supporters. I guarantee we’ll demand 100% every game and I think if supporters see that on the pitch they’ll forgive maybe not winning a game, but if the players are leaving it all out there then that’s the bare minimum.

Supporters are the lifeblood of the club, they’ll be here long after myself and all the players - it’s their club and we want to make them proud.

Ruth Parkinson