nzlatic

Last year: 6th Peterborough: 74pts +14 7th Sheff United: 67pts +2

It's hard to tell, he must have had an impact but then there's also Gerrard coming in to the defence and a more settled side in general, plus Sadler, Woodland getting more game time under their belts. If he goes unbeaten til the end of the season playing a decent standard of football then I think he'd have earned a proper crack at it. I'm not sure what his contacts are mind, but with the right experienced assistant it could work. Presuming TP goes back to the youths as he normally does.

Looking at their run in I'd say Peterborough should get the last spot. We'll struggle to pick up 2 more points than them before the last day. Still think we're in with a good shout of 7th/8th but would take a very impressive run in.

From this point on last year we got 14 points. Same again might get us close if other teams keep dropping points like has been happening all season. I'm not dreaming yet, but a win at Bradford would raise hopes again!

Latics 1-1 Rochdale (HT 1-1) Turner 4581

Largely the same set of players? I'd guess our back 4 when we were doing well rarely changed from Wilson, Elokobi, Wilson and Mills with Kelly in front of them. How many other teams around us could maintain a play off push after losing most of their back 5 outfield players for large parts of the season? And then there's the manager :censored:ing off.

Christ you'd think we got thrashed reading that!

Crewe 0-2 (HT 0-1) Turner 4105

On the pitch this has obviously been an issue mainly going off commentary and reports and also from the odd game I've seen. But the shocking injury list probably accounts for a lot of the problems in that area. I've got a bit of an issue with the club on this front though. With Corney often overseas it feels like there is a real lack of direction when he's not there. Having listened to his interview on GMR I was quite confident about how the post-Johnson situation was being handled, but since then the lack of communication has seen that disappear. Leadership starts from the top down, so when the fans aren't seeing any leadership or direction in dealings with them, it's no surprise that isn't filtering down to peformance on the pitch. For example, when Holden was appointed the club could have been much more open about it. Instead, a short statement released on the website that is seemingly having a dig at someone about the destabilising speculation. It felt like a plan B. And even if it was it could have been handled as if it was plan A. Maybe we could have had Neil Joy sitting in front of a camera with Holden and Philliskirk and explaining the situation which is then put on youtube for all fans to see. This didn't need to reveal any details about the process or potential candidates obviously, but a stronger delivery of the message rather than the wishy-washy statement with throw away talk of the Championship etc. EG we will be conducting talks and interviews with the shortlisted candidates and if Dean wants the job his interview is what happens on and off the pitch between now and the end of the season. The way that the club deals with statements and news is pretty weak. What is Neil Joy's role exactly? I don't remember seeing an interview with him on Latics Player. If Corney is out of the business so much and Joy is his eyes and ears as he's said, then he should be fronting up to the fans occasionally on important matters. This has been a really demoralising time for everyone involved, just when there was a bit of belief that we were in a realistic play off push everything has gone tits up. I'm fine with Holden till the end of the season IF I had confidence rather than hope that we were working toward a full time appointment in the summer. And I accept that the injury list has probably scuppered the play off dream along with Johnson jumping ship at the first sniff of a better offer. What I'm not happy with now is the lack of strength and leadership from the top of the club which the fans definitely need to see, and maybe Holden and the players need to see too. Also, this lack of a strong relationship with the fans is a shocking legacy of the former Trust Chairman's role and fixing this should be job no.1 of the new chairperson.

We were 5th not that long ago. This squad doesn't need a wholesale clear out again in the summer just because we're on a bad run. It needs a bit of tweaking, but more experience and quality and the right manager to gel them together.

Latics 1-1 mk Dons (HT 1-1) Wilkinson 3105

If I was to give the club the benefit of the doubt he might have meant the speculation by players was destabilising. Still, doesn't sound great and recent history doesn't help them when it comes to statements. Or statements about statements.

Still keen to know why he "sold the manager" after rejecting offers for players a couple of weeks before and spending money on Murphy.

I see this as a positive thing. I have to believe that the board don't feel that the right man is available currently so instead of either appointing someone they aren't 100% happy with, or leaving everyone guessing, they've brought some stability back with an appointment til the end of the season. And bringing in TP to give Dean some backing and help is also a positive. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the toy chuckers think we should bring in Gattuso "for a laff" but to be fair to Dean, he's had a shocker dealt to him in terms of injuries and suspensions. Not many could have coped with that and for me that's a massive reason why the playoffs look like they are gone now. But the key is the summer appointment, and like has already been said if you combine it with progress on the stand and a good season ticket marketing campaign, then the right man coming in as soon as possible at the end of the season could lead to some momentum for next season.

Collected. Cheers for the heads up when he was 10/1! I was a bit confused by the market still being open.

Anyone know how the betting market works here? 10 games and they pay out supposedly. But what happens with this where he's appointed past those 10 games but not officially permanent? The market is seemingly still open.

It's a meaningless soundbite.

Do quite a bit of football betting and palmer sums it up for me. I know more about what's going on with us than any other club so if I see decent value in backing the opposition I do it. Doesn't mean I'm any less gutted when we lose, just my balance is a bit healthier. And I'll soon piss that away elsewhere.

A hollow victory given the depressing circumstances but I'll take it. I'd love a bit of a turn in form so I can't start predicting wins again.

The Corney pushing him out to take the money theory doesn't stack up for me. If he wanted/needed money why did we reject offers for players a couple of weeks before? Not only that, why did we spend money on players too?

Comical goals to concede. But a completely destroyed defence with all the players missing. And now Lockwood goes too. For me its a 2nd yellow looking at the vid. He knows where the guy is and deliberately puts his shoulder into it. Very stupid seeing as he was on a yellow already.

My main issue with Johnson leaving is the probable negative effect it's had on the players. He would have spent the season building their confidence and getting them to believe they're good enough to win promotion. Then he leaves to join a rival team pretty much because he believes they've got a better chance of going up. Players and managers move for more money and better prospects all the time, that's how it works. But leaving that group of players who he made out he was their friend/therapist and all that mid season when we were so close to the play offs is pretty :censored:ty. We need someone in and fast if we're going to pick them up. We've got some decent players on good contracts so we need to try and finish the season on a positive to take some momentum into next year.

What about picking us to lose in the OWTB prediction comp? Presumably that's not on either?

Mills Wilson B Wilson J Elokobi Kelly As much as I wanted them to make a quick appointment you can hardly blame the board for that list of absences. We were always going to be in contention as long as we didn't suffer too much with injuries and suspensions.

Latics 1-3 Barnsley (HT 1-1) Wilkinson 5890