Rochdale AFC: A Question of Trust

The battle for Rochdale is over, for now. But the attempted hostile takeover by a group of speculators leaves deep concerns about the EFL’s ability to protect clubs from those with questionable motives and even more questionable methods.

On the 16th of August 2021, the English Football League issued a notice that it had begun disciplinary investigations into the acquisition of shares in Rochdale Association Football Club. It was a formal, almost dry, acknowledgement of a battle that had been raging all summer. A company called Morton House MGT, the EFL alleged, had acquired control of the club without its prior consent.

For the supporters of a club whose history is defined by modesty, this was a fight for its very soul. Rochdale’s greatest recent achievement, an 8th-place finish in League One in 2015, came after 36 consecutive years in the Football League’s basement. This is a club whose identity is entwined with its town, the birthplace of the Co-Operative movement, a spirit reflected in an ownership structure of over 300 shareholders. This summer, that structure was threatened by an unwanted takeover bid.

A Hostile Approach

The men behind the bid were Andy Curran and Darrell Rose, from Essex and Worksop respectively, with no known prior connection to Rochdale. Curran, with a background in construction and property, was previously involved with Lee Power at Swindon Town. Rose owns a luxury car dealership. They were allegedly offering shareholders multiple times the value of their shares, but the purpose behind their intense interest remained opaque, leading supporters to form their own conclusions.

Their vehicle was Morton House MGT, a company whose accounts for the year to July 2020 gave little impression it had the funds to support a League Two club. The pair claimed the next set of accounts would prove their financial muscle. Adding to the mystery was the involvement of Alexander Jarvis, a financier whose LinkedIn page boasts of helping Chinese investors acquire European football clubs. Yet Curran and Rose had made no mention of foreign investment, raising suspicions, particularly in light of recent media investigations into facilitators who can hide the true identity of club buyers.

The club they sought to control was already in a state of flux. Relegation from League One at the end of last season was followed by significant upheaval. The chief executive and a director were voted out at an EGM, a new chairman in Simon Gauge was appointed, and popular manager Brian Barry-Murphy departed for Manchester City’s under-23s.

'Nancy Boys' and Boxing Rings

Any attempt to win over the community was spectacularly undermined by the bidders’ own behaviour. Chairman Simon Gauge complained to the FA about homophobic and insulting comments allegedly made by Curran during a Zoom meeting with the club board and the EFL. Curran is alleged to have called the people of Rochdale ‘small minded’, the board ‘nancy boys’, and suggested settling disputes in a boxing ring. Jarvis’s reported response that any such comments were surely not “meant in the way that they’ve been interpreted” did little to calm the situation.

Trust evaporated completely. At a July meeting with a small group of fans, an investor claimed to have already bought 42% of shares and provided proof of funds. The Dale Trust, the club’s supporters trust, relayed this information. Days later, the EFL contacted the Trust, via the club, to state that neither claim was correct. It had still not received any evidence of the source and sufficiency of funding from any potential purchaser.

An Unanswered Question

In the end, the pressure told. Faced with an EFL disciplinary investigation, Morton House MGT informed the League it was formally withdrawing from the approval process and planned to divest its shares. The firm, its directors, and representatives also confirmed they were refusing to co-operate with the League’s ongoing investigation.

It was a victory born of supporter vigilance. The Dale Trust and the wider fanbase did an incredible job of scrutinising the speculators, digging into their backgrounds and challenging their contradictory claims. They fought because Rochdale AFC matters to its town in a way it never could to outsiders.

The immediate threat has passed. But the questions raised by the affair have not. How did these individuals get so close to taking control of a Football League club without consent, and why will we probably never find out what their true intentions were?