The Overcoat Men: How Two Unsung Heroes Thwarted a Secret Plan to Kill Off a Football Club

by Mark Hodkinson

The story of two men who almost single-handedly saved their football club from extinction. In the 80s David Kilpatrick and Graham Morris spied architects' plans to turn Spotland, the home of their beloved, beleaguered Rochdale AFC, into a housing estate. They set about saving the club but first had to take on the 'enemy within' - fellow directors. 

Genres: Football

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2019

Reviews

[Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read this for a while. I’ve perhaps got a biased view as this is about the club I support and in particular the (really) bad old days. Being a fan who started going to games in the late 90s/early 2000s I’m somewhat spoiled with relative successes of my small lower league club compared to those attending in the 70s and 80s. A real eye opener to the hand-to-mouth existence the club had in that period.
For those not of a Dale persuasion but interested in lower league football this will still provide an entertaining and informative read and insight into the somewhat amateurish way many clubs were run at the time. (Though perhaps not so great reading for the fans of Altrincham!)

[Kemill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best, really. Reading about the history of Rochdale and their early successes was interesting, but the book sort of petered out...but I guess when the two protagonists step in, what follows is a reasonably stable period and isn't particularly noteworthy. it's really a character piece and a potted history of who did what and who didn't do very much..
interesting to read about re-election to the football league before automatic promotion from the conference..

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight to the trials and tribulations of running a football club by a great author.
When it was written just a couple of years ago Rochdale were in League One now they have just been relegated out of the Football League for the first time in their history