League One club fast approaching key target after blunt chairman statement

Rochdale Hornets are approaching the new League One season full of optimism as they eye up a promotion push in 2025.

Gary Thornton’s side finished third in League One last season before progressing to the play-off preliminary final, only to be beaten by Hunslet, who were eventually promoted to the second tier. It was a performance that represented progress for the Hornets, who claimed seventh spot in 2023 and the club have every right to expect to take another stride forward next year.

The only issue is League One looks set to be ultra competitive next season, with the league expanding to 11 teams in order to accommodate the introduction of Goole Vikings and three teams (Dewsbury Rams, Whitehaven and Swinton Lions) dropping down from the Championship. The structure of the competition has changed too heading into 2025, with a Super 8s system being used to determine who wins promotion to the Championship.

Rochdale are obviously aiming to be in the mix and with a squad that has been strengthened with the likes of Josh Johnson, Tom Spencer and Lewis Fairhurst, they’re pleased with the position they find themselves in ahead of the new campaign.

“We feel like we’re in a good place,” club chairman Andy Mazey told Serious About RL. “There’s some strong clubs coming down and it’s an expanded competition with Goole coming in so we’re mindful that the league itself is going to be harder.

“With the [Super 8s] system that’s going to be put in place we will need to make the top four to be in that mix to be promoted. We feel like we’re in a good place to certainly be challenging.

“You get on the grapevine and you get to know who’s spending what and what other team’s recruitment looks like, it definitely will be the most competitive League One that I’ve ever known. There’s four spots and there’s realistically eight or nine teams who will be competing and have a eye on those spots.”

Rochdale made headlines in October, with Mazey revealing publicly that just 41 season passes had been sold ahead of the new season. However since that rallying cry, sales have increased significantly to the point where the club are already closing in on their sales target for the campaign with over two months to go until their first league fixture against Keighley Cougars.

“Since that article they have picked up,” Mazey added. “I think I was quoted recently as saying we’ve hit 80 per cent of our budget targets and we’re fast approaching hitting our target now.

“With the initiatives we have planned around the kit launch and Christmas sales, I’m hoping that we’ll have over achieved on what we forecast. The reaction has been good.

“We obviously try to set our bar a bit higher every year and in addition to what we’ve forecast we’re going heavy on free season tickets for kids, with some targeted initiatives.

“The main one is the relationship hasn’t always been what we’d have liked with Rochdale Mayfield, the town’s amateur club, but we’ve recently had a series of meetings with Mayfield and we’ll be issuing 400 bespoke season ticket to their junior members.”

Rochdale will get their competitive season underway when they take on Widnes Vikings in the second round of the Challenge Cup over the weekend of January 25 before hosting Cornwall at Rochdale Mayfield in the 1895 Cup a week later on February 1.