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Lee Johnson - A question for Simon Corney


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Dear Simon (Please pass this email to Simon Corney)

Although a Main Stand season ticket holder I am not a ‘Main Stand Moaner’ and despite being a Kentish Man living in Yorkshire, Oldham Athletic is the only football team I have supported. I bought my first season ticket 25 years ago during the Royle years but have remained a loyal supporter through the long years in league 1.

You and I both know that this is, by virtue of the low attendance and Financial Fair Play, a club which sits in the bottom of League 1 rightly facing relegation fears. You also know that the only way to gain promotion to the Championship, as it can no longer be bought, is to find a good manager and then support him so that with our very limited resources he can improve and build a good team.

I congratulate you on finding that manager. I applauded your capture of Lee Johnson - a man speaking common sense in English and avoiding all the usual football cliches, an intelligent man with a plan. I was delighted with the four year contract and the support you have given him in particular the improvement of the team in the January window when you didn’t sell any players.

What I want to know is why. Why didn’t you tell Barnsley to look elsewhere? Why have you reportedly accepted compensation of just £200k when Johnson has already made the club so much more on astute transfer deals? Why have you let him go when we have a chance of finishing 6th? Why have you removed all hope of promotion by confirming that anyone in the players or staff is for sale? Why?

Supporters need hope, hope that one day we can compete for promotion. If everyone uses the club as a stepping stone then eventually we will sink into League 2, receipts will drop again and there we will stay facing the prospect of relegation from the Football league.

What the club has done does not make business sense. At worst you could have persuaded Johnson to stay until the end of season and then seek work elsewhere.

Without hope there is no point being a supporter. I need your explanation so I can decide if I am going to renew my season ticket.

Robin Todd
R28 Main Stand

 

Copy of my email to the club.

Edited by Hands on
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I think that's a reasonable cause for an email. By LJ going, it completely defeats the principle of him a) signing a long term deal, B) not selling in January and C) having any aspiration for promotion. Say a new man comes in, it is not to late to come 16th,17th etc. Swindon firmly told Barnsley to look elsewhere, why the hell didn't we!

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I couldn't agree more with this!

My first season was an an 8yr old in the promotion season of 73-74 with my late dad!

Never ever have I felt so down and disappointed with the club I have supported for over 40years!

I understand how things work, but Khan signed a new 4 yrs deal not so long ago, and this was publicised immediately - fans all thinking fantastic and giving us something to look forward to - we obviously weren't told of any 'clauses'that either party wanted - why not?

And if no clauses, why weren't Barnsley told to f--k off, as others have reported to do!?

If he asked to go, then why aren't we being told that so at least we can understand the clubs decision?

As always, it appears to us fans as the ones who are being asked to trust others. Trust what? We never know as the communication between my beloved club and the fans, as always is deafening!

I feel absolutely sick to the back teeth today and don't know whether this is one kick in the bollocks too far!

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Dear Simon (Please pass this email to Simon Corney)

Although a Main Stand season ticket holder I am not a ‘Main Stand Moaner’ and despite being a Kentish Man living in Yorkshire, Oldham Athletic is the only football team I have supported. I bought my first season ticket 25 years ago during the Royle years but have remained a loyal supporter through the long years in league 1.

 

You and I both know that this is, by virtue of the low attendance and Financial Fair Play, a club which sits in the bottom of League 1 rightly facing relegation fears. You also know that the only way to gain promotion to the Championship, as it can no longer be bought, is to find a good manager and then support him so that with our very limited resources he can improve and build a good team.

 

I congratulate you on finding that manager. I applauded your capture of Lee Johnson - a man speaking common sense in English and avoiding all the usual football cliches, an intelligent man with a plan. I was delighted with the four year contract and the support you have given him in particular the improvement of the team in the January window when you didn’t sell any players.

 

What I want to know is why. Why didn’t you tell Barnsley to look elsewhere? Why have you reportedly accepted compensation of just £200k when Johnson has already made the club so much more on astute transfer deals? Why have you let him go when we have a chance of finishing 6th? Why have you removed all hope of promotion by confirming that anyone in the players or staff is for sale? Why?

 

Supporters need hope, hope that one day we can compete for promotion. If everyone uses the club as a stepping stone then eventually we will sink into League 2, receipts will drop again and there we will stay facing the prospect of relegation from the Football league.

 

What the club has done does not make business sense. At worst you could have persuaded Johnson to stay until the end of season and then seek work elsewhere.

 

Without hope there is no point being a supporter. I need your explanation so I can decide if I am going to renew my season ticket.

 

Robin Todd

R28 Main Stand

 

Copy of my email to the club.

 

Agree with the above in terms of supporters need hope, i personally think Johnston is very ambitious & Corney had no choice in the matter

 

Compensation hopefully goes into finishing the new stand, which needs to be finished as soon as possible in order to bring much needed revenue into the club, thus giving us hope for the future.

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He'll still come out with some bull:censored:, some rant, he would have stayed if Evans signed, because LJ didn't like the unfair stick Barry is getting, having no club shop, the fact Corney got a golden pbrick and he didn't ................

 

I really suspect that a large proportion of the blame will be put on us (the gates) and that this doesn't allow us to compete with the spending of a club like Barnsley.

Edited by Markoasis
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Agree with the above in terms of supporters need hope, i personally think Johnston is very ambitious & Corney had no choice in the matter

 

Compensation hopefully goes into finishing the new stand, which needs to be finished as soon as possible in order to bring much needed revenue into the club, thus giving us hope for the future.

Your right ,

Think SC had little choice in the matter , looking at the available timetable i would say that LJ actually applied for the job.

Once that happens there is no point even trying to get him to stay.

May as well bite the bullet and see what compo we can get.

Unfortunately as much as we all hate it we are what we are , a poorly supported league one club .

JR went through the same thing as LJ with gates below 3000 but he had the foresight , skill and courage to see it through.

LJ obviously hasn't and ambition has clearly thrown him over to the greener grass side.

All we can do is support the club and hope SC can find another JR.

 

Highly unlikely but not impossible !!!!

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Johnson had the whip hand. nothing mroe nothing less. This is what he said:

 

It wasn't a case of wanting to leave Oldham because I loved my time there, but I wanted to progress and give myself the best opportunity to achieve.

"It is a great time for me to come here and hopefully achieve something special."

 

All I, and me, in that. His choice.

 

For all we know, one of the reasons Johnson has bailed is that we pulled out of signing Evans.

Edited by singe
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How on earth have we received just £75k for a very in-demand manager with a very long contract along with a quality coach?

 

He was worth far more than that to this club, and probably far more in the current market. Not just that we have gained so little, we have given our manager to a genuine rival of ours in a critical period of the season. Also, why does it appear that the caretaker bosses, with no experience of management seemingly - from what has been said - been put in charge until the end of the season?

 

We have been absolutely FLEECED once again.

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May be, rather than being a case of Corney having no choice in the matter, he actually decided he'd rather have £75k (or £200k depending on who you believe) in the bank than LJ as his manager.

A friend of mine who works at another local club told me he'd heard on the grapevine that their relationship had deteriorated over the past 3 to 4 months and that LJ's agent was letting people in the game know he'd be interested in discussing any other opportunities that might arise.

Of course, this might not be true. It certainly appearred to me that Corney was still backing LJ strongly in the January transfer window.

But it might make interesting reading when Corney gives his version of events.

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Roll back two years and the number of people on here posting how Corney doesn't have a clue hiring Lee Johnson and has done it on the cheap yet again to save himself money rather than thinking about the club and now people are saying we didn't get enough for our prize asset and why has Corney let him go. Corney could have said no but it seems like LJ is pretty content with his new move and wasn't giving any indication that he wanted to stay. A similar situation with Paul Murray, offered a chance at something better (probably for more money) and there isn't much point in standing in the way to prevent it when the person want to do something else.

 

I think LJ should have stayed and finished off what he started this season and then had a look at options but he made his decision he wants to be with a club he thinks can get to the championship which clearly he didnt really believe he could do with Oldham..

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We used to get 4 or 5 interviews with Corney a season.

 

 

When was the last time he did one? There's a lot of outstanding :censored: which the fans deserve an explanation for.

 

What's the motivation to go and see us get spanked at home against Preston? No manager, half a squad out with injuries.

 

There was a time Corney would issue a rallying cry. Now it appears that he just doesn't give a :censored:.

Edited by PlayItLivo
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For all we know, one of the reasons Johnson has bailed is that we pulled out of signing Evans.

 

I was disappointed that he didn't threaten to resign if Evans was signed.

 

No manager wants the boardroom to be deciding who is signed. A problem he may face at Barnsley, seeing as he is only head coach and not manager.

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