Statement by Chairman

[mikejh45]

1 minute ago, JoeP said:

 

For arguments sake, lets say he did do his due diligence and Corney pulled the wool over his eyes with some of debts, the other debts like the HMRC were his as soon as he bought the club!  It's great that, according to the statement, we're back on an even footing, but should we really be grateful for doing something which should have been his immediate intention?  He's not here for the love.  He's bought a business and has had to spend a bit to stop it declining beyond recovery.

 

The mistakes he's made so far have been massive - he's interfered in team matters and handed out unsustainable contracts to average random players.  Those two actions were huge not only in our relegation, but also increasing the club's debt/his own spending.

 

I like the tone of the statement, but it really tells us nothing.  The hard work for him starts now.

 

No problem with your HMRC comment but you have ignored AL referring to the companies that have issued winding up orders which he has had to deal with along with other debts that Corney avoided paying at the end of his tenure.

 

As for interference in the team.....yes, he brought in players but it was Wellens choice to play or ignore them. If AL wanted to play Menig, he would have over-ruled Wellens and played Menig far more than he did . Relegation was purely down to Wellens's poor tactical nous, poor team selection and lack of man-management.

 

[Latics and England]

I am delighted that we have got a statement. It has felt as though the club has been shrouded in secrecy these last few months. The tone is very positive and that is just what we want to hear.

 

The comments about cleaning up the mess that has been left behind by the former owner stacks up and explains Abdallah' s urgency in getting Corney completely out of the club.

 

No more HMRC debts is fantastic news.

 

My fear that he has already blown the money that he had available for developing the club have not been allayed by this statement and it would still be lovely to hear about the plan he has for the club. Whilst the statement has high level hopes there is nothing which tells us what we should expect in specific time periods. I will want to know what we are hoping to achieve this season. If it is about consolidating and that is going to lead to a realistic chance of challenging for promotion next season then tell us. That might take a bit of pressure off the manager from the fans. It would, however, mean that we would have to challenge next year.

 

I also don't like the inference that when we sack Byrne (and that now feels inevitable) it will have been Frankie's decision. That doesn't feel consistent with what was said last night in the post-match interview.

 

Overall it is a step forward but there are still plenty of unanswered questions, many of which will actually need actions rather than words.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Latics and England

[mcfluff1985]

1 hour ago, rudemedic said:

Am I right in thinking that there was a Trust meeting on Monday, where this sort of issue was raised? 

 

If so it's a good turnaround in under 48 hours. 

I saw the trust were asking what events people wanted. Not sure the meeting was anything about anything like this originally. In 3 months you'll get the minutes

[ChaddySmoker]

3 hours ago, kowenicki said:

 

Down the swanny? Are you suggesting he should have ignored the debts, entered admin and restarted at the bottom of the pyramid? 

 

Jackanory time. 

You really should think before you type. 

Do you really expect anyone to believe that we had £3M of current debt? 

He blew too much money on wages last year. A lot of that on his own players. 

Now look at the players we are left with. 

 

 

[kowenicki]

4 minutes ago, ChaddySmoker said:

Jackanory time. 

You really should think before you type. 

Do you really expect anyone to believe that we had £3M of current debt? 

He blew too much money on wages last year. A lot of that on his own players. 

Now look at the players we are left with. 

 

 

 

Where did I say we had 3m debts? 

[League one forever]

11 minutes ago, Latics and England said:

I am delighted that we have got a statement. It has felt as though the club has been shrouded in secrecy these last few months. The tone is very positive and that is just what we want to hear.

 

The comments about cleaning up the mess that has been left behind by the former owner stacks up and explains Abdallah' s urgency in getting Corney completely out of the club.

 

No more HMRC debts is fantastic news.

 

My fear that he has already blown the money that he had available for developing the club have not been allayed by this statement and it would still be lovely to hear about the plan he has for the club. Whilst the statement has high level hopes there is nothing which tells us what we should expect in specific time periods. I will want to know what we are hoping to achieve this season. If it is about consolidating and that is going to lead to a realistic chance of challenging for promotion next season then tell us. That might take a bit of pressure off the manager from the fans. It would, however, mean that we would have to challenge next year.

 

I also don't like the inference that when we sack Byrne (and that now feels inevitable) it will have been Frankie's decision. That doesn't feel consistent with what was said last night in the post-match interview.

 

Overall it is a step forward but there are still plenty of unanswered questions, many of which will actually need actions rather than words.

I’m not sure ‘a plan’ would ease anything. If he says I want to consolidate and then push for promotion, but finds he can’t afford it- he’s not stuck to his plan. If he says let’s see how we go- it’s wishy washy- and doesn’t say anything. He can’t win.

 

It all depends on what you expect of him?? Personally I’d prefer him to under promise and over deliver, than over promise and under deliver. 

 

 

It’s abundantly clear he’s not very wealthy in owner terms. He’s invested 3 mill, but really that’s not a lot in this context.

 

It’s clear to me that’s it’s going to be a slow build. Thats ok if it means we pay staff on time, we don’t sign not rights, we aren’t fighting winding up orders. We aren’t taking out scouse loans, and having one PR disaster after another. Or blaming the fans, and having an them and us attitude. 

 

Give me a together club any day of the week, and success will come in time. 

[oldhamoafc]

Still don’t get how/why he’s bought a club that

1. He can’t afford to push on.

2. He had no idea what he was buying. 

[Midsblue]

Nice statement but what about Byrne?

 

Also this FFP is a smokescreen. When you spend 5x the average wage on Menig, don’t come bleating about FFP as an excuse of dumping Davies and Holloway for O’Grady and Miller.  Load of bollocks I’m afraid and smacks of a carefully worded “I’ve realised relegation is a sack of shite so I’m now penalising us via cutting budget, which translates to picking up my ball and fucking off home”.

 

If you’re that passionate about our success then allow Byrne to play.  This petty stand off is harming only us fans and one club.  In answer to those questioning Byrne last season; let him play this season and if he’s still whinging then we’ll agree to bin him.  However I’d rather test that out first!

[mcfluff1985]

8 minutes ago, Midsblue said:

Nice statement but what about Byrne?

 

Also this FFP is a smokescreen. When you spend 5x the average wage on Menig, don’t come bleating about FFP as an excuse of dumping Davies and Holloway for O’Grady and Miller.  Load of bollocks I’m afraid and smacks of a carefully worded “I’ve realised relegation is a sack of shite so I’m now penalising us via cutting budget, which translates to picking up my ball and fucking off home”.

 

If you’re that passionate about our success then allow Byrne to play.  This petty stand off is harming only us fans and one club.  In answer to those questioning Byrne last season; let him play this season and if he’s still whinging then we’ll agree to bin him.  However I’d rather test that out first!

Says the man who wanted us to throw a game of football. Can't take any comment seriously after that suggestion 

[LaticMark]

3 hours ago, underdog said:

Alledgedly, Blitz was at the club yesterday and he has been looking for him too, so a fan posted on social media

 

3 hours ago, underdog said:

Blitz is looking for Corney...a fan has quoted saying on face ache.

 

"Bob Oafc Isaacs

Simon blitz was at latics yesterday i asked him if he waz going to sell the joe royle stand ,he said for the right money yes he would sell and he not seen or spoken to corney for a long time"

[ChrisRichard]

AL has come out and has effectively offered an explanation to what had been going on and has defended himself against a barrage of accusations that he's not up to and cannot afford to run the football club. The fact is, he has spent £3m to clear debts, debts that appear to have been crippling us. With out that, there is no Oldham Athletic.

He's cut back on the buget, presumably to keep us with in our means, an indication that he has learned that splashing silly money on silly players doesn't quite work the way he thought it would. 

He said it himself that he's playing for sustainability. Personally, I'd be happy in the first instance to get our house in order this season, even if it means mid table this year and then come back swinging next year. I think this season was always going to be a season for overhaul and regeneration. Just think, if AL can spend the sort of money he has reputedly spent on straightening out debts, what could he do if we have been running debt free for a year? 

[TheBigDog]

6 hours ago, Midsblue said:

If you’re that passionate about our success then allow Byrne to play.

“Ultimately, who plays in the team is down to the manager and his staff. If a player is not loyal, shows no discipline or shows a total lack of professionalism towards the club or any of their colleagues then I am 100% behind our manager to make the correct decision on them.”

 

[JoeP]

8 hours ago, mikejh45 said:

 

No problem with your HMRC comment but you have ignored AL referring to the companies that have issued winding up orders which he has had to deal with along with other debts that Corney avoided paying at the end of his tenure.

 

As for interference in the team.....yes, he brought in players but it was Wellens choice to play or ignore them. If AL wanted to play Menig, he would have over-ruled Wellens and played Menig far more than he did . Relegation was purely down to Wellens's poor tactical nous, poor team selection and lack of man-management.

 

 

It's been done to death, but it's entirely feasible that AL's actions in bringing in players that contributed little on inflated wages lead to a fractured changing room which meant a lot of players' mind wasn't entirely on the job.  Wellens takes some of the blame, but it might have been an impossible scenario to manage...

 

As for the debts, you're making it sound as if Corney hid pretty much every single debt we had from AL.  If so, he should be taking appropriate action and I guess he'll hope to recoup a lot of the money he's spent to invest in the team at some point in the future.

[deyres42]

13 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

It's been done to death, but it's entirely feasible that AL's actions in bringing in players that contributed little on inflated wages lead to a fractured changing room which meant a lot of players' mind wasn't entirely on the job.  Wellens takes some of the blame, but it might have been an impossible scenario to manage...

 

As for the debts, you're making it sound as if Corney hid pretty much every single debt we had from AL.  If so, he should be taking appropriate action and I guess he'll hope to recoup a lot of the money he's spent to invest in the team at some point in the future.

Also worth pointing out that Lemsagam was heavily involved in his appointment...

[laticsmarra]

My only thought on this statement is,actions speak louder than words,so let's wait and see.

[lookersstandandy]

8 hours ago, League one forever said:

I’m not sure ‘a plan’ would ease anything. If he says I want to consolidate and then push for promotion, but finds he can’t afford it- he’s not stuck to his plan.

 

Talking about league position, promotion, consolidating and so on..... are not plans. They are ambitions. Plans are initiatives that lead to ambitions being realised. What does he intend to do with the youth set up? How is he going to maximise income on matchday’s from use of the Joe  Royle stand? How is he going to ensure the pitch doesn’t resemble the Somme by mid winter? These are initiatives that constitute a plan.

Edited August 16, 2018 by lookersstandandy

[deyres42]

17 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:

 

Talking about league position, promotion, consolidating and so on..... are not plans. They are ambitions. Plans are initiatives that lead to ambitions being realised. What does he intend to do with the youth set up? How is he going to maximise income on matchday’s from use of the Joe  Royle stand? How is he going to ensure the pitch doesn’t resemble the Somme by mid winter? These are initiatives that constitute a plan.

Has a club of our stature ever set out such a grand plan for public consumption?

[ghostofcecere]

12 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Has a club of our stature ever set out such a grand plan for public consumption?

TTA did when they promised us Championship football... it went well

[ChaddySmoker]

9 hours ago, kowenicki said:

 

Where did I say we had 3m debts? 

See now that is better.

I have picked you up on this before; You quote the other persons arguments and take it to the nth degree. Then when challenged you back track on some point that YOU made.

He spunked loads of money on foreigners that he brought into the club who were never good enough, divided the squad and forced out Shez.

If you want me to carry on I can list at least half a dozen decisions on players that he made before the end of last season which contributed towards relegation.

Now he is pleading poverty. And O'Grady will be leading our attack on Saturday. Good grief.

[ChaddySmoker]

13 hours ago, kowenicki said:

Honest statement. He’s chucked 3m and people will still give him shit. 

 

I also am happy he has has defended himself against the shit that was thrown by the likes of Davies. Just an entitled footballer trying to leave mid/contract for higher wages who then downed tools in a sulk.  

I have lost count of the number of times that posters on here have said that once a player decides to leave, let him go!

Not that I necessarily agree with those posters on certain occasions the initial point does stand.

Was it Coventry that wanted him now that is a good move for him and werent they willing to give us very decent money!

If that was the case it was a stupid decision to keep an unhappy player as we all realise now!

[yarddog73]

3 minutes ago, ChaddySmoker said:

See now that is better.

I have picked you up on this before; You quote the other persons arguments and take it to the nth degree. Then when challenged you back track on some point that YOU made.

He spunked loads of money on foreigners that he brought into the club who were never good enough, divided the squad and forced out Shez.

If you want me to carry on I can list at least half a dozen decisions on players that he made before the end of last season which contributed towards relegation.

Now he is pleading poverty. And O'Grady will be leading our attack on Saturday. Good grief.

I have to agree, question is why isn't he trying to force the likes of Maouche off the books who would be a waste of £400 a week never mind £4000+.

 

We are sowing the seeds for not only Corneys clusterfucks but also this guys and yet again it's the fans who pay by having to watch the shite rolled out on Saturday. Until we manage to get a chairman whose main focus is the team and not their own agenda we will continue to suffer the same problems. 

 

Let's hope he's learnt his lesson and can cobble enough money together to bring in the couple of quality players we need to become competitive. 

[deyres42]

9 minutes ago, ChaddySmoker said:

I have lost count of the number of times that posters on here have said that once a player decides to leave, let him go!

Not that I necessarily agree with those posters on certain occasions the initial point does stand.

Was it Coventry that wanted him now that is a good move for him and werent they willing to give us very decent money!

If that was the case it was a stupid decision to keep an unhappy player as we all realise now!

Interesting that Coventry didn't come back in for him. Perhaps they, like Charlton and Portsmouth, didn't like what they saw from January onwards.

[Horlicks]

Nice bit of spin from AL which seems to have placated a lot of the fans but he must have been aware of the creditors if not it is gross incompetence.

1. You agree a price for the “business” - say £1m for Latics
2. You work out what the usual level of your ‘current’ assets and debts based on say the average of the last 12 months. This would include all creditors, HMRC debts for things like VAT, PAYE, National insurance etc.
3. If at the point of the sale the debts are higher than normal, you adjust the sale price by that amount... so if there’s an extra £500,000 of HMRC debts the sale price would reduce by £500,000. It’s to avoid exactly this type of problem.
4. If there were genuinely debts (HMRC or otherwise) that Corney has hidden from AL, he would have legal recourse under the sale agreement to get that money back from Corney. It would be extremely clear and simple that that is the case.
5. If the above hasn’t been done in this case, then it would lead me to believe the debts were genuine and AL is commercially very poor.

 

This is before you look at issues like signing foreign players on financially crippling salaries, suspending the only player who can tackle for the last two games of the season etc

[AlanGrovesFanClub]

13 hours ago, archiecat said:

What about paying Jack Byrne a wage to be tied to a radiator in the cellar, is that rational ?

 

Maybe it's a cheaper option than paying the wages of all the players who would get their ankles snapped in training if he were unchained? Just a thought. My point is that I don't think we actually know what happened, so there's no use speculating further or making assumptions. 

[lookersstandandy]

5 hours ago, deyres42 said:

Has a club of our stature ever set out such a grand plan for public consumption?

 

a) It doesn’t have to be - in its entirety - for public consumption. Basic tenets communicated to the fan base would suffice. Details to the shareholders - which includes the Trust, which represent us.

 

b) I don’t consider initiatives such as facility/infrastructure renovation, improved scouting / youth development, to yield more Tarky’s - then not selling them cheaply - particularly Grand. Grand would be a new £20m stadium.

 

c) Whether details of the Plans for any of the following clubs were made public or not, they clearly had them; and their supporters Trusts approved of them;

 

Matthew Benham, Brentford 2009.

Adam Pearson & Assem Allam, Hull City 2001 & 2010 respectively.

Adam Murray & Maxim Demin, Bournemouth 2009 & 2011 respectively.

Edited August 16, 2018 by lookersstandandy