Source: Northern_Echo
Maddison happy to act as assistant
NEIL Maddison has given his seal of approval to Darlington’s temporary management pairing as he and Craig Liddle prepare for this evening’s game with Rochdale.
In a reworking of chairman Raj Singh’s initial plan for the pair to take equal billing as joint caretaker managers, Liddle has been appointed boss with Maddison assistant.
The change was on the insistence of the former Darlington team-mates with the benefit of hindsight, as a similar arrangement in 2006 proved to be a failure.
Next Tuesday it will be three years since David Hodgson was sacked as manager, leaving Maddison and Martin Gray placed in temporary charge but their first game at the helm saw Quakers thumped 5-0.
Ironically, that was against tonight’s visitors Rochdale, so Maddison is relieved there is only one caretaker manager this time around.
“I’ve been in this position before and it’s Rochdale again,†said Maddison.
“Craig James got sent off early on and we got stuffed 5- 0 but this is another day.
“I was looking after the centre of excellence yesterday and we won 4-1 against Grimsby, but we were talking about last time when there were two of us, me and Martin.
“This time it is important that there is only one voice who makes the decisions. Last time there was a choice to make after James was sent off and I was thinking about which player I’d take off and Martin was thinking of another one – it was crazy!
“We took Wainy (Neil Wainwright) off in the end, which I didn’t want to do, and now I think having one voice is the right way to go about things.
“I can still have an input but at the end of the day Craig will make the decisions and I’ll go along with everything he does.â€
Since that shock result Rochdale have visited The Northern Echo on three occasions, including a memorable play-off semi-final in 2008 that Quakers won 2-1 thanks to Ian Miller’s late header.
But fondly remembered is the magnificent curling effort by Jason Kennedy that put Darlington ahead.
He scored an equally impressive goal when the sides met at Spotland in April before joining the Lancashire club in pre-season and he will be in the Dale line-up this evening.
Missing for Quakers is midfielder Jamie Chandler who begins a three-match ban following his dismissal for violent conduct on Saturday while right-back Paul Arnison is close to declaring his availability after recovering from a hamstring strain and may be in the squad.
Josh Gray expects to be fit for the visit of Macclesfield Town on Saturday but Mark Bower (ankle) remains out and Chris Lumsdon (back) is a long-term casualty.
Striker Lee Thorpe had an MRI scan yesterday to ascertain the extent of his groin injury after suffering a set-back in his rehabilitation last week.
Darlington: Hoult, Kane, Foster, Miller, J Smith, Devitt, Groves, Convery, G Smith, Main, Gall.
