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Ok seems pretty much everyone on here wants most of our players gone by the start of next season. For me though I'm more than happy to leave it to LJ, the same set of players that have been abysmal for the majority of the season are now showing the type of form that gets teams promoted. Bournemouth were in the relegation players until Eddie Howe returned. I don't see much difference between teams at the top and teams near the bottom, it seems the crucial difference is the manager and if he's good or not. Unfortunately for us Dickov was one of the worst. Hopefully we have a gem in LJ and next season we'll be pushing at the right end of the table, and I trust his judgement on this set of players entirely.

Even if the club was called Oldham athletic, played within the borough of Oldham and had 3 kits consisting of blue, white and tangerine. Oh and having an owl on the badge, I don't know something like a scarf under a ball, with an owl on top.

I would probably support a merger. However being the highest ranked team out of the 3 I would insist that the name of club is Oldham athletic and the badge contains an owl, I would allow Rochdale to bring blue as the home kit while Bury could have their white as the 3rd kit and our Tangerine shall be the away kit. I'd want to make sure the team still plays within the borough of Oldham though.

........ But he was such a lovely fella. I blame our entire predicament at the feet of Dickov, wolf in sheep's clothing should have been sacked ages ago.

Yeah like a Wolf in sheep's clothing, his charisma kept him in the job far longer than he should have, which was the total opposite of Ronnie Moore. If Dickov gets another job I pity the team that employs him.

I'm probably one of the few that doesn't have a love in with Dickov. He turned a half decent team into relegation fodder, was tactically inept and even basic things like fitness he got badly wrong. He couldn't see our problems in over 2 years, yet it took LJ a matter of just a few games watching us.

My wife is Bangladeshi so I have a fair amount of contact with her side of the family, even taken a few of the kids to latics games on occasions. They all support Utd or Liverpool though. The main reason us they'd sooner support a top club then their local one. I just don't think they have the same connection to the town that they live in. They look upon themselves as Bangladeshi's rather than Oldhamers, for example if a Bangladeshi team came over to play a match I think you would find quite a few that would attend. This is just my impression I get when speaking to my wife's family members on the subject. I also usually get met with surprise when I say I support Oldham, comments such as "why do u support them, they're rubbish" kind of sums it up for me.

I put the entire blame at the feet of Dickov. Think we have some big egos in that dressing room, and I got the impression that Dickov was to nice to kick some ass. Tactically he was naive that could be forgiven, but a lack of fitness at this stage of the season is criminal. Could you see Dowie or any other decent manager being so lax on fitness, and I know Dickov wasn't the fitness coach but he oversees things and should have been on the ball . Not to mention he turned a decent league 1 team into relegation fodder.

Not sure LJ's dad would swap a promotion battle for a relegation battle in the same league.

It's early days, but i see no reason why LJ can't be a "proper manager". I was surprised like everyone on the appointment, but after hearing his ideas I've grown far more optimistic over the last couple of days then I have been in years, supporting latics. I was like many others on here wanting Dowie to get the job, it didn't happen for various reasons, so we couldn't get Dowie I'm pleased the we appointed a young hungry manager who was fast tracked by the FA rather than an old has been with a sting of relegations to to their name. It's early days but you could see last night we had a clear plan and it's been a long time in the league I'd witnessed us playing attractive entertaining football. Give the man a chance, he's already identified our problem areas in a matter of days in which Dickov didn't seem to have a clue about in over 2 years.

I thought this also, for me it shows just how unprofessional Dickov and the other coaches were. Now I can see why SC put them on gardeners leave. Just so refreshing to hear a manager with a clear strategy and someone who's already identified our weaknesses. Long may it continue.

So that puts the debate about a local manager to rest then.

Was he any good?

I just don't get this! Ok he wasn't the name on everyone's lips, but after the shower we've had to endure over the last few seasons you're choosing to walk away now rather than give the guy a chance. I'm actually quite optimistic he has higher coaching badges than our previous appointments, been fast tracked by the FA, seems to have a clear plan, and has already identified our weaknesses. He also seems to have many contacts in the game and by all accounts comes highly recommended.

The more I hear the more I get excited by this guy. I just hope SC gives him the right environment to succeed.

Let's show our support for him tomorrow, regardless of who got the managers job it was and is a tough job, so it's a real baptism of fire for the guy in his 1st managerial position. We can make it a bit easier for him and the team if we show we're 100% behind him. Lee Johnson's blue and white army let's get that chant going tomorrow night

Ooooh 2 or 3 goals a game, I hope he can deliver. It's been years since we've witnessed attacking football, at the moment if we go a goal down, the best we can hope for is a draw

I'd rather have this appointment rather than a so called experienced journey man who goes from one failure to the next. If someone like Brown would have got the job I'd nail us down for relegation, as it is with LJ I look at it as 50/50.

At first was a bit worried about this appointment, but now I'm feeling more optimistic. The guy seems to have his head screwed on, and giving him a 2 year contract is the correct move, it could be hard enough being a young manager to get the respect of the dressing room, and it would be a lot harder if he was only contracted till the end of the season. Any player we have that may want to extend his contract at the end if the season can't afford to sulk and LJ will get to decide hopefully on who he wants to keep or move on. Looking forward to tomorrow's game, let's get behind him and the team.

Wasn't overly impressed when I heard who the new manager was going to be, and if it is Lee, I'll give him a chance. Part of me though hopes it isn't a short term appointment till the end of the season. He's young inexperienced and wasn't a well known player, my worry is if it's only short term will the players get behind him, support him and buy into whatever philosophy he has.

If he failed badly with Preston in our league after taking them down, with far better resources then we have I very much doubt he could turn this shower around. Oh and as already been stated he's a dick.

Hi Sara, has been a very long time, hope you're keeping well, as for the team we currently sit in the relegation places without a manager so we've seen better days.

Was getting slightly optimistic last night when I heard Dowie may return, but when I read club officials were talking with Dowie's family I knew it was BS. This isn't a 14.year old kid signing his first youth contract we're talking about, discussions with Dowie and his agent I could understand, sitting down with his family I don't know but I'm sure ID would make his own decision and then chat it overcwith his family himself

Can't say I'm really to bothered, surprised really as I thought I would be. League 1 and League 2 all the same rubbish to me. I used to harbour ambitions of getting into the championship, used to think that was our level now I look upon teams such as Yeovil with envy. The club just seems to have a total lack of professionalism from top to bottom. If SC buggers off if we get relegated then you'd have to say he's been a big failure, when he came to the club we had a 4 sided decent enough stadium at this level, oh were the days when we could sing ":censored: ground no fans"

Don't understand this delay in appointing a new manager also, TP has said he doesn't want the job. So with players contracts coming to an end surely it would be better to get the new man in and give him some games to try and rescue the situation, as well as looking at which players he wants to try and keep etc.