Keith Hill Keith was snapped up by Dale manager Graham Barrow in 1996 forming a terrific partnership with fellow central defender Alan Johnson before the arrival of Mark Monnington. Keith was given another contract at Spotland and he went on to have a successful season in 1999-2000 under new manager Steve Parkin but picking up a large number of bookings lead to a couple of suspensions. His final season during 2000/1 season saw him only played around half the games but it raised many an eyebrow when he left to play for Cheltenham. Following his retirement from playing, Keith joined Dale’s coaching staff, where he held the position of Director of Youth before being appointed as caretaker manager following the departure of Steve Parkin then appointed as permanent manager on 3rd January 2007 as we ended the season in ninth spot, despite being in the bottom three for the majority of the first half of the season. In his first full season as Dale boss, he took Rochdale to the 2007/8 League Two play off final, where we devastatingly lost 2-3 against Stockport County followed next season by losing out in play off semi final against Gillingham but the next season saw automatic promotion, after a 1–0 win against Northampton Town on 17th April 2010 with 68 points, the highest league finish since the 1969/70 season. Following success at Rochdale, he left to take on a position as Barnsley manager before returning to Rochdale after the sacking of John Coleman on 22nd January 2013. Rochdale achieved promotion under Keith for a second time on 26 April 2014 after a 2–0 win against Cheltenham seeing us back to League One.
Josh Lillis Josh re-joined Dale on 11th October 2024 as goalkeeping coach having made 264 appearances from 2009-20 initially on loan from Scunthorpe United then permanently becoming fourth record appearance holder and clean sheet holder in the process. He joined after a spell at Barrow in which he developed from a player into a coach, which has also seen him become a UEFA licensed coach with his own setup called JL Football Coaching “I’m delighted to be back, it was an easy decision, I got asked the question and it didn’t take me long to make my mind up to be honest. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, I’m proud of my time at Dale and can’t wait to pass on my experience. I’ve been back to the Crown Oil Arena a couple of times, this time I’ll be back wearing the badge, all my family are coming, I’m really looking forward to it” Josh follows his father, Mark who took a similar route, going into coaching after playing.
