SIR - It was highly predictable that the former chief executive of Rochdale Football Club, Francis Collins, would enter the fray with an unwarranted and offensive attack on the directors of Rochdale Hornets.

It is often illuminating when uncomfortable facts start to strike home how the response becomes offensive and it is, of course, a shield in the absence of any facts.

The fact of the matter remains that between 1989 and 1996 Rochdale AFC teams played 210 matches at Spotland Stadium while Hornets played 112 matches and during the same period each club was charged the same amount of rent.

In addition, being a full-time club, Rochdale AFC used the stadium on a daily basis as a base for
their training activities. As a part-time club Hornets trained in the evenings usually away from Spotland.

The 'Agreement' which ensured a part-time club paid the same amount of rent as a full-time club was drawn up by Rochdale Council.

The 'Agreement' also provided Hornets should pay £1 each for the 500,000 £1 shares they purchased in the Stadium Company. Since then the stadium has benefited from further investment of around £4 million and has become the envy of many other clubs. For the Dale and the Council to say the shares are now only worth 30 pence each is shameful and smacks of opportunism.

Ray Taylor
Chairman
Rochdale Hornets