ROKERITE

It is highly unlikely Cowley will get the Wednesday job. I certainly hope he doesn't as I fear it would be managerial career suicide. I think the Cowleys would be a perfect choice for Bradford City. If not there Gillingham is another good opportunity. But my fear is a month from now all those vacancies will have been filled and the Cowleys will still be sitting at home, nine months plus since they left Pompey. Oldham Athletic sitting mid-table in the fifth tier is a great situation to take over. I could see the Cowleys being very interested in building something at Boundary Park as they did at Sincil Bank.

Oldham Athletic could surely have done better than Micky Mellon, Gary Bowyer or Steve Thompson. It would have been interesting to know who applied or the club approached. I wonder if the Cowleys or David Artell were interested.

I'd be very surprised if Artell hasn't applied. He's been out of work for eighteen months and Oldham Athletic is a very good opportunity. I think he'd be a good appointment and I'd certainly take him over Mellon or Bunn. But I still think it's possible the Cowleys might be interested if they miss out on both the Bradford City and Gillingham jobs.

The vacancies at Bradford City and Gillingham are clouding the situation. Unemployed managers who are hoping to get one of those jobs might well be very interested in the Oldham position if they miss out on both the League Two posts.

Artell has been most unfortunate not to have been given another opportunity eighteen months after he left Crewe. He's been linked to a few jobs but hasn't got them. I agree with you that he did very well at Alexandra with few resources over a period of more than five years. He got them promoted but in the end as he put it he just "ran out of puff". He did take a while to build his promotion winning side but I'd certainly see him as a more deserving candidate than Micky Mellon.

I think most Bradford City supporters hope it is. I certainly do. It's in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus today.

The Cowley brothers would be a fantastic appointment. I could see them repeating what they did at Lincoln.

Danny is the manager and Nicky his assistant. I seem to remember hearing Danny say they share the manager/assistant manager salaries equally.

There is no certainty when choosing a manager that's true. There are managers who've never been any good. There are managers who have been good in the past but have lost that special something e.g. Nigel Adkins, Then there are those who have a chequered career, being good at some clubs and bad at others e.g. Steve Evans. One of the biggest mistakes owners and supporters can make is not realising when a once good manager has become a busted flush. There are virtually no managers who have twenty-five years and more without ever losing "it". Unfortunately Alex Ferguson has that category almost to himself. So it is pot luck to a large extent. I remember when you sacked Frizzell and appointed Royle thinking it a crazy decision but what did I know?. I assume Oldham supporters regard Joe as your greatest ever manager. A club can strike it lucky with a first time manager. But I'd have thought in your current situation an experienced and successful manager was the wise option. If you could get the Cowleys or perhaps David Artell then success is more likely than with Stephen Clemence. Anyway here's hoping Steve Thompson can deliver three points for you tonight!

If the Cowleys failed at Oldham they wouldn't be deserving of a job in The EFL nor could they expect one. I think taking over at a club at its lowest point is a good move; I'm sure you're all hoping this is your lowest point. Mark Hughes is a perfect example of the wrong man for the wrong club. Bradford City and its supporters were bedazzled at the prospect of such a big name being interested in becoming their manager. But Hughes has no experience of League Two football and there is much dissatisfaction amongst the team's supporters at the job he's doing. Bradford City should be a great opportunity for someone as it is a team well below where it might expect to be. It would be a perfect club for the Cowleys perhaps. But dare they wait for a possibility. I have no inside knowledge but I think they probably feel they can't afford to wait much longer to climb aboard the managerial merry-go-round again. Not on financial grounds; I think they quite rightly ensured they had a good contract at Huddersfield before leaving Lincoln. But it is easy to be forgotten and overlooked if you're out of the game too long. I believe they were close to getting the Charlton job but missed out to Appleton. I think that was a stroke of luck as they'd be better off rebuilding their careers and reputations at somewhere like Oldham Athletic.

I think he might well be interested. The brothers have been out of work for eight and a half months and they can only coach their daughters' football teams for so long. Between Huddersfield and Pompey a fifth-tier club wouldn't have interested them, even one as big as Oldham. But they might well be attracted by the prospect of turning the tide of your fortunes and restoring you to not only league status but League One as well. Their reputations have taken a hit from their "failure" at Portsmouth whom they left in tenth place in League One. Boundary Park could be an attractive proposition to get their careers back on track.

I'm a betting man but one market I would never touch is "next manager". As you say they won't take a large amount anyway. But it is a great market from the bookmakers' point of view. As often as not there'll be four or five odds-on favourites before a name no-one had mentioned gets the job. Anyway there are two or three decent managers on the list but some inexplicable ones. Danny Cowley is the stand-out name for me. I could see the brothers repeating at Boundary Park what they did at Sincil Bank.

Absolutely, the season can end in glory but only if the right management team is appointed.

They've been out of work since 2nd January and have been unsuccessful in more than one application, most recently losing out to Appleton for the Charlton job. So they must be chomping at the bit. Oldham Athletic is a very big job for the fifth tier. You're a club who could realistically achieve two promotions in three seasons, just as the brothers managed at Lincoln. I think they could well be interested but the one thing that might count against you is geography. They moved their whole families down to Portsmouth when they were appointed there. I believe they are reluctant to disrupt their children's education again at present. Of course the brothers might be happy to live away from their families again; plenty do. But there is a vacancy at another club at your level right now. Not comparable in size of club but almost on the doorstep in Hampshire. Stewart Donald seems to be investing some of the money he sucked out of my club into Eastleigh. But I can think of no better replacement for Unsworth than the Cowley brothers.

David Artell and Leam Richardson are two. But I am a great admirer of the Cowley brothers.

There are some good managers currently out of work and presumably becoming more and more desperate to climb aboard the merry-go-round before they are forgotten. Several who would have seemed out of reach not long ago will be tempted by the Oldham job if it comes up. It will be a great opportunity for someone and there's no better time to take over at a club than when it is at its lowest point.