We're due to visit County on Tuesday evening. So who better to get the lowdown on Stockport from than a County fan? Andy from Hatters Matters answers our questions that we've sent him.

1) Who are you, and how long you been following County for?

My name is Andy and I am the editor of the Stockport Club Fanzine site HattersMatters. I’ve been following County since the early 90’s and i’ve been doing an online fanzine since 2001.

2) How's this season going for County? You often seem a bit hot and cold to an outsider.

Last season we finished just outside the play-offs and everyone expected us to improve on that placing this time around as we strengthened the squad in the summer so at the moment things are going to plan. Like last season, we’ve hit a decent vein of form at the right time of the season to get ourselves handily placed in the play-offs. We’ve got a tough run in so if we are still in the play-offs at the end of the season then we’ll have done very well.

 3) What's the current thinking on Gannon? Seemed like there were a few questions marks being raised a few weeks ago.

Jim came in for a bit of stick during the first half of the season as things weren’t going well on the pitch (mainly at home) although looking back, part of that poor form was due to the fact that our squad had been decimated by injuries. We now have a fully fit squad to choose from and the results are reflecting that.

Jim has done a great job since keeping us up during the 2005/06 season so no matter what he achieves in the future he will always be a firm favourite with the majority of the County faithful.

4) Now Elding's gone, who should we be looking out for from your side on Tuesday?
Fellow striker Liam Dickinson has emerged as a real star player following Elding’s departure and he has been scoring the goals to push us into the play-offs. We have also got a lad on loan from Manchester City (Shaleum Logan) who looks decent at right back, although he is also a real force going forward as well. Left winger Tommy Rowe has been watched by various Premiership scouts and manager Jim Gannon rates him as the one player who could go on and make it in the Premiership.
 
5) This pixel ground thing. Surely you're wasting your time aren't you? That Sale Sharks fellow won't really sell will he?

When the Trust took over ownership of the club a deal was agreed with former owner Brian Kennedy where he would sell the ground back to the Trust if they could come up with £4.5 million within a 10-year period. We’re currently 2 years into that 10-year period so there is till plenty of time to come up with the money. The groundforapound.com web site has been launched so that the club can raise a £1 million deposit for the ground and that scheme has raised £50,000 in just under a week so things are going well.
 
6) On the subject of your ground, is there any chance of the impending monsoon calling the game off?

It rained in the second half of Saturday’s game with Bradford and there were signs that the pitch was struggling to cope with the rain. Hopefully we possess the necessary covers to keep the pitch dry, if not then there could be doubts about whether or not the game will take place.

7) I remember reading that you had some young kids leaving County for Liverpool recently. Given we've had Scouse interest for one of our youths, what sort of deal did you get from Liverpool?

The information regarding Ryan Crowther and his switch to Liverpool was undisclosed as former owners Cheshire Sport receive a percentage of all transfer fees as part of the debt owed to them, so the club prefer not to release fees into the public domain. All we do know is that a friendly has been arranged against Liverpool at Edgeley Park for next summer. I’ve seen reports suggesting that we got around £200,000 for him although that figure could be way off the mark.
 
8) Who do you think will be the four teams to finish in the Play Offs?

That’s a tough question as at the moment it looks like being any four from a possible seven teams (Darlington, Hereford, Wycombe, County, Rotherham, Chesterfield and Rochdale). Rotherham’s play-off aspirations will rest on the outcome of their creditors meeting on Tuesday so it could go down to four from six. Wycombe usually bottle it as the season draws to a close so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop out of contention.
 
9) Dale and County seem to have been playing each other forever. What's your earliest memory of a game between the two sides?

My earliest memory of County vs. Rochdale was an Autoglass Trophy match at Spotland when Danny Bergara was still in charge of us (pre-1995?). You pulled off a cup upset that night and I think you won 2-1. I seem to recall that Danny came in for a bit of stick from the terrace for his tactics in the game.

10) We couldn't not mention it. The 7-2 from last season. What was your take on it?

That 7-2 drubbing was a strange game to watch from a County perspective. The players forgot how to defend, everything you hit went in and our normally reliable goalkeeper suddenly looked dodgy. We perhaps could have got back into the game if we’d have scored the first goal after the half time interval but unfortunately you got the first, and second, and third…..

We’ve had some good results against yourselves in recent seasons so no doubt the 7-2 drubbing was pay back.

And if that's not enough, we've got another interview with a different County fan for you, as Tommo has interviewed another.

Afternoon mate, how’s it going and what have you been up to since the Rivals.net balls up?

Hi mate, everything's not too bad over here. Since I left County Matters I've set-up my own independent County site, www.county-blog.co.uk, which started in late December, and is getting bigger slowly but surely.

Last time Rochdale Edgeley Park you were on a record breaking run of form and you seem to be hitting a similar run of form now too… What’s your personal opinion on how have County performed in the last few games?

The last few games, bar Bury and Notts County have all been superb. We've beaten some tough sides, ala Rotherham and Hereford, and played some really nice stuff along the way. Since Christmas, we've had key players returning from injury and hitting form and that’s probably the main reason behind our recent success on the pitch.

Jim Gannon has also improved as a manager over the course of the season. He's still young, and I think most County fans will agree that some of the mistakes that he made earlier in the season were very poor, but obviously he's learnt the error of his ways and is doing the simple things right now, like praising the players more often rather than making fools out of them in public as he did numerous times earlier in the season when things weren't going too well.

There seems to be a bit of confusion as to which end is available to the Dale fans tomorrow night… Could you confirm which stand/s will be open?

It's not generally known by us either which stands will be open to opposing fans. Usually, the Railway End behind the goal is only open for bigger away followings due to the extra costs of policing the extra stand but I'd imagine Rochdale should bring a decent amount over to EP, so my guess is you'll have the option of sitting in the Railway End.

Where’s the best place for us Daleys to have a pint or two? 

There's a fair few pubs all within a short radius of the ground. The Royal Oak, The Armoury and The Sir Robert Peel are ones that spring to mind but couldn't tell you whether they let away fans in, most should do though.

County are running a scheme involving pixels at the moment, could you shed some light on what’s going on and why County are after raising such a larger amount of money?

Yeah, www.groundforapound.com started just the other day, and we're hoping that it'll raise the £1m needed for a deposit on Edgeley Park. Basically, the club was sold to Cheshire Sports in 2003, and due to large debt, we lost ownership of Edgeley Park. When we bought the club back in 2005, we got the option to buy back Edgeley Park within eight years, and having secured a mortgage, we now need £1m as a deposit, and we're hoping Ground For A Pound will raise the money needed!

The idea is that anybody can buy one or more pixels (£1 each) on a large image of Edgeley Park, to advertise their website, business etc, and once we reach our goal of 1m pixels sold, everybody who has bought one goes into a draw, and the winner gets to name a stand at Edgeley Park, and that person will get free tickets to their stand for life! We've had a fair bit of press so far too, appearing on Sky Sports News, Soccer AM etc and it isn't going too badly at the moment, just over 46k sold at the time of writing.

Is it anything to do with the redevelopment of the Railway End at Edgeley Park?

Not really, as I said above, the reason we've started Ground For A Pound is to try and raise the £1m needed for a deposit on Edgeley Park. There have been rumours the club are going to do something on Booth Street and behind the Railway End but there's been no clear plans at this stage.

Can you tell us what County are planning to do with the Railway End?

It's a little unbeknown to us as well. There have been rumours that the club are going to be doing something behind the ground but as above, nothing set in stone yet, it'll all hopefully become clear once we regain control of the ground.

What’s it like sharing a ground with a Sale Sharks?

Annoying sums it up really. It's obviously bad enough the fact that they play on the pitch in all weather conditions, but them training on it as well some days of the week is an absolute joke. They have also decorated the ground in all sorts of Sale shite and memorabilia, and moved all the club staff into a cramped building next to the Railway End but as much as I hate to say this, it's their ground and they can do what they like with it while it's theirs. The sooner we get control of the ground the better!

Are they to blame at all for the pitch looking so bad on Saturday’s highlights?

There are yes. The groundstaff at County do a superb job just to get the pitch playable, and as has been mentioned by several club staff, it must be extremely demoralising to see all their hard work undone by the peanut huggers.

Which County players should Rochdale fans be looking out for tomorrow?

We've got a fair few players who are capable of causing Dale all sorts of problems. Liam Dickinson who scored our two goals at Spotland this season is a real handful up front, and I don't remember any defence really becoming able to cope with his strength and power so far this season. The two wingers supporting him, Anthony Pilkington and Tommy Rowe are also capable of scoring goals. Pilks has scored some crackers this season and Rowe netted a hat-trick in the 4-1 demolition of Rotherham the other week and has been linked with Arsenal and Spurs recently.

James Spencer and Adam le Fondre make their first return to Edgeley Park since their summer moves to Rochdale tomorrow, how will they be treated by the home fans?

I'd imagine they'll be a few wankers that decide to boo them, but personally I don't feel there's any real reason to boo either of them. Spencer always got on with the fans but he lost all his confidence after a few howlers and sections of the crowd started to get on his back. Alfie scored some vital goals for us as well, and there's no real reason to hate him either. The rumour was that Gannon and him didn't get along well at all and that was the reason he left, but we'll never find out the real truth I guess.

Are their any other Rochdale players that County fans aren’t looking forward to seeing?

Well I guess most would have said Glenn Murray but he's left of course now. For me, David Perkins has always looked a decent little (literally!) player, and scored a good hat-trick at Chesterfield I think it was. Gary Jones always holds the Dale midfield together well too.

Have County got over the 7-2 result from last season or will they be looking for a bit of revenge tomorrow night?

It's been long forgotten for me, but it's still a bad memory which is a shame because overall last season was extremely good. Obviously we'll be out for revenge and we restored some pride with the three points at Spotland earlier this season, so we'll be hoping to take another three off you tomorrow!

Who’s been the most dangerous team you’ve come up against this season? And were bury the worst?

Well, our heaviest defeat of the season was against Darlington, and although I was away for that (thank god!) I'll probably say them. Barnet weren't too shabby either, they beat us 4-2 earlier in the season, but that was when they were flying, but they're down towards the bottom of League Two now. And no, bury weren't the worst I'm afraid. They actually beat us at Edgeley Park I'm sad to say.

What’s your prediction for tomorrow’s game?

It'll be a tough one that's for sure. We're not too hot at home and you're good away from home. We've both got decent attacks but I fancy us to nick it just. 2-1.

Where do you fancy Stockport to finish the season? And what do you think Dale’s chances are for promotion?

Well, I'd say automatic promotion is just about beyond reach, although not impossible if say someone like Darlington go on a poor run of form. I think as long as we continue our good form, and barring a major fook up like last season we'll finish 5th. As for Dale, I think your shaky home form could be your undoing, but I'll go for you to nick the last play-off spot at the expense of Rotherham.

Thanks for your time mate and all the best for the rest of the season!

And you!

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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