Dale were given a boost this afternoon with the news that Lee Thorpe has signed a six month contract extension keeping him at the club until the start of the January transfer window.

Thorpe was a January transfer window signing last year, just creeping in before the midnight deadline. After a couple of shakey early performances, he started to prove his worth and was looking a solid signing.

Unfortunately, he suffered a nasty dead leg injury that he was unable to shake off for the rest of the season. In addition to that, he famously broke his arm arm wrestling on the way to the first leg of the Play Offs at Darlington in a tussle with Rene Howe. The lengths someone will go to keep his place in the first team eh?

Signing such a short term deal will allow Dale to ensure that there are no long term effects of the injury. Similarly, with Thorpe pushing towards his mid 30's, we won't be saddled with a player if it proves to be one season too far for the Wolverhampton born striker.

Thorpe's signing will see that Dale will be looking at fetching in one more striker before the start of the season as a long term replacement for Glenn Murray.

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