There will be no domestic cup final for Manchester United this season but one of their players could play at Wembley. Twice.
Jack Kingdon, on loan at Rochdale since January, is likely be in the Rochdale defence this afternoon against Spennymoor Town in the FA Trophy semi-final. The last time Dale were at the national stadium for a final was in the League Two Play-Off defeat to Stockport in 2008.
Kingdon, 19, started for United at Spotland in the National League Cup in December. Rochdale’s manager, Jimmy McNulty, sidled over to the United Under-21 coach Travis Binnion during the second half and you wondered then whether he had his eye on a player.
Fifth-tier Rochdale signed Sam Mather on loan from United last season and it is a well-trodden path from Trafford to north Manchester. Sam Murray, Ethan Hamilton and Joel Pereira were loaned to Dale in the recent past while Max Taylor and Ollie Rathbone signed for the club permanently.
Dale train at Platt Lane, City’s old base before they relocated to Carrington in 2001. A framed City shirt signed by the squad from Stuart Pearce’s tenure adorns one of the walls at a complex that is now owned by Manchester Metropolitan University.
Rochdale used to train at the cricket ground around the corner from Spotland. Platt Lane is a more professional HQ that enables McNulty to hold analytical meetings the day before matches. McNulty will hold a meeting that roughly lasts between 20-25 minutes and he pours through the opponent’s goal kicks, set pieces and their shape in and out of possession.
Kingdon sat on a Zoom call with McNulty in January when the former centre back pitched Rochdale to the United centre back. Automatic promotion is beyond Dale, sixth in the table, but they currently occupy a play-off berth with seven games remaining.
They also operate with a back three. That is well-timed for Kingdon, what with Ruben Amorim wedded to a 3-4-2-1 system. “When he first came, a lot of us went in to train with him,” Kingdon says of Amorim’s arrival in November. “Learning how he wants to play, a new style, a new system, it’s a pretty similar system to here at Rochdale, so it’s benefited me in that way.
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