wiseowl

Because, with some exceptions obviously, we have one of the most apathetic fan bases in the country (in my opinion). We used to have some fire in our belly and, before the 3 amigos came in, there was a small hardcore of fans who put in a lot of work to try and ensure our survival. All those people are a lot older now (and weary of it all) and some are sadly no longer with us. Appreciate there is a FLG doing something (hopefully very good) behind the scenes but, with regard to anything else, we have been found very sadly lacking (despite the new owner taking us down after all the glee at Corney going). Since relegation, it's fair to say things have gone from bad to worse - but a complete lack of direct action from any of us .

Agreed............ but dormant football clubs....!

Testicles - we're still a sick joke of a club though

Yep - we are, unfortunately, a sick joke of a club.

To be fair to shuck, what I think he is getting at is, one of the Trust attendees could have simply said at that point, "Just for clarification AL/DS, when you say 100% better - do you mean literally a doubling of our budget or is the 100% just a figure of speech?" End of any ambiguity.

... or there are just a considerable number of mediocre managers jumping on and off the football management carousel?

Agree with that comment, as it's somewhat of a tradition to attend the first game of the season (be it home or away). The crowd trend will come afterwards. IF we get off to a flying start, the attendance will be maintained to a degree. However, another season like this (or worse) and I`m of the opinion we'll be looking at a hardcore home attendance below 3,000. I wish it was different; I am Latics through and through but it's been a downward spiral for a long time now and the current set-up may well result in our nadir.

Agree with you (except for the fickle bit ) - I`ve always said that IF something dramatic changed for the better (with or without this owner) then I will pay on the day at every home game next season, and it will cost me considerably more. I`ve been consistent on this one simply - I`m not willing to give money up front to the owner in the present circumstances. My way of protesting (in view of the fact the other protests initially mentioned - and one endorsed by the Trust - simply evaporated into thin air). Now, that's fickle.

Most talented player we've seen at BP for some time. Wellens often played him wrongly and it did appear that he had an attitude problem. However, my view is that a manager is there to manage and, managed correctly, we would have had a £1m plus player on our hands. We'll never know and it's all ended very sadly.

Have to agree. The core support has eroded badly over the years - and many people have found something "less boring instead" to do on a Saturday. Let's say, we'd just sneaked into the play-offs this season. Couldn't see us having mustered over 10k personally.

Bury did - terrific to watch - fast paced and entertaining.

You're quite right shuck. Notes produced should be an accurate reflection of what was said (and any obvious ambiguity cleared up prior to publishing). When reading the Trust notes, it was ambiguous - and it would have helped if they had qualified what they meant by "100 % better".

Erm.... it means they feel very little affinity with the club anymore. Fans being treated like mugs. I never claimed it was representative. Looks like we'll be around 1,000 down on season ticket holders compared to last season. A 33% reduction is pretty alarming. If that is also reflected via POTD customers, our average "home" support will be the lowest for many, many years. It's sad but a reflection on my response to Harry above.

Correct! That was the start of the end of the friendship between normal fans. The 2 "firms" however did team up a numnber of times thereafter. There was a huge pitched battle arranged once when we played Everton away. The Hibs casuals were on their way down for a "tear up" (headed for Warrington train station) but were stopped by the police and turned back. Pretty much petered out after that.

Jim - the time to get excited (possibly) is a) when it happens and b) when we know the detail behind it. We are in the basement division, you know, having been taken there by our much heralded new owner who was greeted with plenty of glowing positivity. Personally, I detest this silly era we live in where a certain % of people (who've usually been on some management course run by some tinpot consultant who read a book) think you have to be positive about everything. Another shite import from the USA. Balance has always been the best approach - be positive when it deserves it - but be negative when it deserves it too. On balance, I think it's pretty reasonable to have a lot of negativity around Latics at the moment.

There used to be a really close connection with Latics and Hibs. Goes back to the pre-season tournament on the Isle of Man under Big Joe. There was us, Hibs, Bury, Stoke and a few others from memory. Hibs and us had by far the largest contingent of fans on the island and we developed a great rapport. Tony Henry was on the ale with us the night before one game - and surprisingly had a shocker the next day! Me and my mate had a drinking/pool competition with a few Hibs lads - one of them ended up in hospital for a few days with liver problems (!), another in A/E because he walked straight into a lampost and we waltzed off back to our hotel chatting about "hard drinking scotsmen!". All very childish I know but great memories. (by the way - the pool competition ended England 10 - Scotland 0).

I was at a gathering on Friday - a booze up actually. Amongst the gathering were 6 long-time season ticket holders (including me). Only 2 said they had renewed, with the rest (like me) saying they are going to pick and choose games next season and "see how it goes". All had a very dim view of the current state of the club and unanimously said they had never felt more distanced from the club as fans. The final numbers will be interesting.

losesome - I have a nice, 5 bedroomed country property for sale for £1M - it's called "Woodlands". Now, you will be buying the "name" of the property, together with 3 rescue cats that live in the garden and a rabbit (complete with hutch). I`ll retain good title to the bricks and mortar and surrounding freehold land and will only charge you a peppercorn rent for the first 12 months. We'll then have a chat next year about the subsequent rent you can pay to me for the privilege of residing at Woodlands and feeding my pets. Of course, get your solicitor (Bodgit & Scarper) to check things through first and then wire me the money next week. Nice doing business with you.

Sorry but, in view of some of the optimism on this thread, am I missing something dramatic that other people have read in the statement? Personally, I find it very difficult to look beyond the above 2 points contained within the statement. It's as though he's saying he didn't know about the land/stand separate ownership issues !!! I find that almost impossible to comprehend and, if true, raises huge credibility issues. The rest is just standard stuff we've heard before at various times and may partly have been produced to answer the Trust's previous question around a SWOT analysis etc. As for possibly 3 years to get back to where we were when he bought us - thanks a million - really, thanks.

Good update from the Trust - thank you. Just a pity about the glaring ambiguity regarding the "100% better" budget. Reads to me like it's layman's terms for "much better" rather than an actual doubling of the budget. Clarification (in due course) would be welcome.

Agree Harry but therein lies the problem. Your second post immediately cancels your first i.e. Brown would not fit into the latter category. In fact, not many would. You are, by default, limiting your "talent pool" to select from.

Spot On. Would be a waste of time appointing a manager in a "normal sense". Most have quite inflated egos and would clash very quickly. The carousel would just carry on turning ever faster. There needs to be complete honesty from the owner with whoever he is going to appoint e.g. "you must expect owner/others involvement in team affairs" That said, it still might not work - I`ve said it before and I`ll say it again; don't underestimate the "culture clash" too - we may well struggle to pin any of the usual applicants down for any length of time before clashes, and departures, occur again.

lol - forgot all about that sort of stuff - honest !

Jeez - shows how low we've gone doesn't it, when people think Sol Campbell would be ok as our manager!

Talking of french connections, would we be happy to see a former Latics french player, Julien Baudet, return as manager? (I think he's got some management experience now from memory). I liked him as a player and, from distant memory, he was adored at Crewe, where he developed really well under Dario Gradi.