Q&A: Rochdale AFC Head Coach, Jimmy McNulty

Rochdale Football Club have announced their new Head Coach Jimmy McNulty, on a two-year contract.

McNulty had two interim spells in charge of the team during the 2022/23 season, including their final eight games of the campaign, which yielded a return of three wins and three draws.

The 38-year-old, who has represented the club for eight seasons as a player, joined Dale in the summer of 2015, following spells at clubs such as Macclesfield Town, Stockport County, Brighton & Hove Albion, Barnsley and Bury.

He has made 237 playing appearances for the club, more recently transitioning into a player/coach role.

Style caught up with Jimmy to discuss his plans to kickstart the season ahead...

Style: After two spells as interim manager, how does it feel to have been given the Head Coach role permanently?

I feel incredibly lucky. It’s an amazing feeling. It probably won’t quite sink in until it’s all over – because I’m so busy in the midst of it all. Hopefully it’s not all over for a long, long time in the future! It feels surreal but I do feel very fortunate. It’s the fulfilment of an ambition that I’ve had for a long time.

You've had a long playing career - how do you feel that will benefit in your first Head Coach position?

It will be invaluable because I’ve felt what it’s like to be out there first hand. I’ve felt the pressures, felt the fears. I’ve got to know what playing against certain opponents feels like. A lot of people who haven’t played get a feeling about certain players being selected or not selected. But there’s also a real feel that you get out there from playing against certain people and against a certain type of opponent. The mental imprint that a player can have playing against a certain player, I’ve had that experience for a long time. They would be the key factors to take from my playing days into my management days.

What's the benefit of being named Head Coach instead of Manager?

Hopefully a Head Coach is spinning much less plates than a manager is spinning! There will be less fires to put out I would think.

One of your previous clubs, Bury FC is coming back this season, it must be nice to see them return since they were expelled from the football league?

It’s brilliant. I’m really happy for the fans over there and the people that gave their life to the club. Certain key stakeholders come into the club, make key decisions and then disappear having ruined everything at the club that those people care about. People are the most important thing in football clubs. Good people got hurt and lost a big part of their lives when they lost that club. So, I’m genuinely happy and it’s a great thing that they’re back.

What are your fondest memories of Rochdale AFC?

The one that sticks out to me is probably surviving relegation on the final day of 2017/18, when Joe Thompson scored the goal to keep us up against Charlton Athletic. The FA Cup runs as well were great moments, especially the Tottenham Hotspur games. There are other good memories too, such as challenging up at the top of League One, upsetting some of the big teams. There is a collection of moments and memories.

With the unfortunate relegation last season what are your aims and ambitions for the coming season?

My aims and ambitions are to provide the club with the stability that we’ve not had for a few years, first and foremost. We have to improve bit by bit, day by day, and see where that can take us. I’ve got private ambitions beyond that, but they are my upfront ambitions that I’m willing to share right now.

Rochdale's academy have had a known pipeline of talented players coming through, such as Ethan Brierley and Luke Matheson - are you hoping to continue this?

We’re hoping to restart it this season. We’re right at the end of the production line with that, because we’ve lost the connection between the first team and the academy. We need to reconnect that and restart it. There might be a shortage for the coming season or two on that, but hopefully we will start to see the fruits of our labour once we reconnect those parts of the club.

Which managers or coaches have had a biggest influence on your coaching and managerial career so far?

A few for different reasons. Jim Gannon for how he was tactically...

Gus Poyet for how he was ruthless and all about winning. He did everything possible to win a game – and I mean everything. That opened my eyes and I thought a lot of him. Nigel Adkins for how he managed people. Everybody wanted to play for him. And Keith Hill had an influence on me having worked with him for many years. He had the ability to reignite certain people’s careers that they thought were lost.

The National League is notoriously a difficult league to get out of. What is going to be the difference to get Rochdale back to the Football League?

We have to find our identity again and stick to it. We have to become something again. We’ve not known what we are for a few years, so we have to find our identity and be brave enough to stick to it. We have to do that for a sustained period and we will begin to find the levels that we once had.

What do you do to get away from football and relax?

I don’t!!

Who would be in your dream 5-a-side team?

Gianluigi Buffon, Paolo Maldini, John Stones, Ronaldo (Brazilian), Lionel Messi.

Do you have a message for the fans?

We appreciate your support. We can’t achieve anything with you, so your direct input genuinely affects the output of your club. I hope you can support us as much as possible in this new, exciting chapter for our club.

Matt Parkinson