Name: Mark Stuart
DOB: 15th December 1966
Dale debut: 14th August 1993 – Darlington 1-1
Last game: 6th March 1999 – Leyton Orient 0-3
Also played for: Charlton Athletic, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, Bradford City, Huddersfield Town.
Time at Dale: According to Rochdale AFC Who’s Who 1973-1999, Mark signed for Rochdale having joined Plymouth Argyle for a £150,000 fee but really thrived again when he reached Spotland in 1993. Playing either wing or sometimes as a striker, he was joint top scorer in his first campaign as Dave Sutton’s side challenged towards the top of Division Four and after a move to Chesterfield fell through, he went on to net 41 goals from over 200 appearances in six seasons, many from his trade mark free kicks. In 1995, he netted a brace in Dale’s first ever victory in London, when they won 4-0 at Barnet. Mark was released to Southport by Graham Barrow on deadline day in 1999 without anyone being informed.
Favourite memories of playing for Dale: Mark can remember a couple of stories from the off the pitch side of football at that time with great humour on things that happened at Rochdale in his time there.
The Monday Club “This all started after a good win on the previous Saturday. We came in for training Monday morning and the “Doc” (Mick Docherty) gave us a choice about training or play 10 pin bowling with a few beers thrown in. Difficult choice, but after much debate the lads decided to try the bowling!!! As usual with them it was never going to be a few beers and as the weeks continued this became a regular thing on Mondays. Unfortunately, as the season progressed, results on the pitch slipped a little but on the upside our bowling average had improved by 40 points over the season, so all was not lost”
The Colchester Trip “Friday morning we set off on the coach to Colchester for the Saturday afternoon game. The lads were in a good mood, played some cards, bit of music etc. We arrived late afternoon stopping at the Hotel about 20 minutes from the ground and as we went down for tea around 6pm the usual banter was flying round and a few of the boys spotted that there was a Wedding reception so over dinner we gently persuaded “the Doc” (Mick Docherty) to let us attend the party, he was in charge for the weekend as our manager, Dave Sutton had taken ill on Thursday. He eventually agreed that we could go and have a few beers but curfew was 10pm and no later but as the deadline arrived a few of the senior players wanted to carry on and we had plied him with many a whiskey chaser to keep him happy however he wouldn’t budge on the curfew. We set off back to the bedrooms but he had a last minute change of heart and said ok one more hour. 11pm soon arrived and we helped Mick up to his bedroom and decided to go back down for one more drink. Finally at 2am we decided to call it a day, one of the lads had a massive bump on the back of his head after unsuccessfully dancing on one of the tables and falling off but a good laugh had been had by all. We got up for breakfast the next day with no sign of Mick, he eventually appeared about 13.30pm on the coach as we were setting off to the game, looking rather glum and pale. We had the briefest team talk before the game and as he sat in the dugout on a piping hot summer day, I think he feared the worst. I must admit were not feeling the best but you would never have known as we went 3-0 up in the first 30 minutes playing great football and ran out easy 5-2 winners. An amazing result considering so to celebrate we persuaded “The Doc” to stop off at a local off license to purchase some alcohol for the long journey home, unfortunately, one of the players who will remain nameless, decided to drink about half a bottle of Jack Daniels before we had left Colchester and passed out minutes later (might have been the bump on his head the night before) As you can imagine we were quite boisterous on the way home and thought it would be a good idea to strip the poor lad, who was still asleep, down to his boxer shorts. We got back to the ground late that evening and much to our amusement the look on his partner’s face when he staggered off the coach and into her car in only his boxers just topped the weekend off. Just another quiet away trip for Rochdale!!!”
What are you doing since leaving Dale?: I joined the Fire Service after leaving football playing non-league at Southport, Stalybridge Celtic and Guiseley until 40 years old plus I turned out for Charlton Athletic in Masters football plus for the fire brigade. I can regularly be seen these days at Rochdale home matches with the family, supporting Dale in the Smith Metals Family Stand.
