A personal message from your PSP editor

It’s a bit of a “chicken and egg” situation in terms of what came first in the young life of Matthew Daniel Turner – kicking a ball or being taken to Spotland for my first Dale game. Recollections vary.

What I do know is my earliest memories of playing football were in an oversized royal blue kit with Carcraft on the front and Jason Peake on the back, imagining that one day I’d get to do what he did.

But naturally as time went on, the realisation that hits almost everybody bar the most talented few dawned upon me – I was pretty hopeless at football. My brain may have been calling defence-splitting passes and top-corner rockets, but my legs and feet would not oblige.

And so, since that grim reality dawned on me, the closest I have come to living out my dream was a few years ago when my mates and I clubbed together to hire the hallowed turf for a morning at the end of the season before it was dug up.

I managed a goal, too – yes it may have been a two-yard toe-bung, it may have been my 25th attempt and I may have botched the celebratory knee-slide but I scored at the Pearl Street End. Nobody can take that away from me!

“Where are you going with this, Matt?” I hear you ask. Let me explain…

I may not be able to play football or any kind of sport for a living, but I have discovered the next best thing – writing about it.

For the last decade, I’ve been living the dream as a sports journalist for the Warrington Guardian newspaper. It’s a job that’s taken me from Leigh to Las Vegas via Whitehaven, Wembley and all points in between.

I love what I do, but it’s got me thinking about how I can use everything I have picked up to serve my first love – my football club, and the community around it.

So with than in mind, welcome to “The Pearl Street Post” – an independent, RAFC-dedicated site that combines the passion of a lifelong supporter with the rigour of an experienced sports journalist.

In the absence of a full-time, dedicated local media source, there’s some excellent blogs, podcasts and the like around whose subject matter is our beloved club and far be it from me to barge in here and say “step aside because I’m taking over,” but I genuinely feel there is a gap in the market for a features-driven website that will cover The Dale in a different way.

If you just want the usual match reports and hum-drum pre and post-match interviews, I’d suggest you look elsewhere. What I aim to do is get into more of the nitty-gritty of what we all see on a Saturday afternoon or Tuesday night and much more besides.

But don’t just take my word for it – there’s already a couple of features that give you a bit of an idea of the kind of feature we’ll aim to provide.

And I want YOU to get involved, too, whether it’s in our social media content or providing written content for these pages – get in touch via the contact page.

Enjoy, and see you in the Ratcliffe!

Up the Dale!