nzlatic

Our loan options especially up front have been absolutely shocking and it is there where we have made the biggest errors. I don't know who our main scouts are but it's an area that want's a good coat of looking at!!!

To be fair Windass and Kabba had great debuts according to a lot of those that went, Omerod had a proven record at this level and many were pleased with his signing. So what happened after they settled in? They all seemed to go to . Or was it the service? On paper, most of the loan strikers would have been welcome signings but none of them have fired. In fact the only strikers that do fire in our games are ones we've let go scoring against us.

World's worst haiku.

Probably the funniest post I've read on here. Well played that man!

When did the question of fitness first come about? Obviously I don't get to see the games but I read this board regularly and can't remember it being an issue much this season. It only seems to have come about in the last few weeks, almost as another rod for Shez's back.

Apart from valid grumbles about a lack of reserve team meaning squad players aren't match fit.

Some of my favourite away games have been down south as it's a weekend away. But I know I would have gone to more away games over the course of a season if there had been more local games. It's a time cost as well as the match ticket. And I would say that there would be a big increase on the away gate if you replace Brighton/Yeovil with Rochdale/Bury etc

As for quality, granted there would be a big gap at first, but would this even out over the course of a few years?

For me the biggest problem would be the promotion/relegation. How about increasing the Championship to 26 teams then having top 2 from league 1 north and south going up automatically and a play off in each league 1 div to find a 5th team. They could even play off against 5th bottom in the champ to decide that final team.

There would be complaints from Championship teams over any suggestion that rocks their boat, but the FL is the FL and the bottom 3 leagues come under it so surely if something is good for the majority of those clubs it'd get some traction.

There are 2 major problems that are going to finish off a few teams unless they are addressed - reducing costs and increasing revenue. Having a N/S league could help with both. But I agree, wages need to be addressed. And this has to happen from the top, which means it probably never will.

I mentioned this on the end of another thread but thought it'd be interesting to give it it's own topic to hear opinion on it... Having a League 1 North and South.

We've had Bristol Rovers home and away midweek and now we're off to Cheltenham. There are plenty of other examples of lengthy trips throughout the lower leagues and in this day and age, with plenty of clubs are struggling moneywise, would this be a way of reducing costs and generating bigger crowds and more money?

So is there any merit in returning to a similar set up to that of years ago?

Another suggestion I'd put out there is a percentage of the premier league money being given out in grants to lower league clubs solely for set up and/or running of youth academies.

Before anyone asks I am not a plant from the FL looking to gauge opinion and I definitely do live in NZ! I'm happy to provide a picture of me playing rugby and eating a kiwi (the fruit that is, not the endangered flightless national bird).

The next division up from this one would be start.

 

It does matter if we stay in this division, though, as football at this level has been running on empty for some time, and this will only get worse as a deepening economic crisis takes it toll on attendances and makes everything more expensive. Things don't stay the same forever. Sooner or later, clubs at the lower level are going to start to crumble; many are likely to go part-time. If TTA decide that they can no longer cover the losses, the chances of equally generous owners coming in seem slim, especially given the past record of local business with regard to the club. If they stay on they might well decide to cut expenses in line with falling income. Either way, further decline is inevitable. That's why we have to get out of this division as soon as possible and stay out of it.

I wonder if we'll see a return to the 3rd div north/south again? How many of these Tuesday night games are against teams at the other end of the country? Guaranteed a maximum of about 150/200 away fans. Although it will disappoint OASIS, would having all your opponents closer by lead to a bit more money sloshing around? Just a thought...

I think we need to see a photocopy of the passport to sort this out. Same goes for the visitors from Tranmere. A copy of your ASBO will do.

Well done on being so far away from the horror, lid!

 

Nice one lid.

That was the edited version? I'm not sure how the original could have made less sense but thanks for your input.

Think we have a winner!

 

Can't see anyone beating that.

Was listening to the game in Auckland, about 11500 miles away? Set my alarm for the 4am kick off but was so excited I didn't sleep beforehand. So gutted I probably won't sleep much now either.

George Hardwick for both mum and dad. I have heard loads of tales about him.

Snap! My dad always talks about the George Hardwick days, took 'em up on a shoe string, board didn't back him etc.

I'd just like to add my thanks on here too for what it's worth. Shez showed loyalty and commitment rarely seen these days and provided us with plenty of great times over the years.

Lets hope Big Joe comes in and sorts out some of those bigheaded, idle tossers in the dressing room who's lack of those qualities mentioned above probably cost Shez his job.

I was a Sheridan inner, I usually am with most managers. I'm all for giving people time. But there's a new feeling coming across from a lot of people that wasn't around during previous manager witch hunts.... The apathy for all things latics. People just don't seem to care any more and die hard fans are simply fed up and ready to give up.

The only answer I can see is to get a new manager in and a new philosophy for the club. That is to develop our one main asset - TP and the youth set up. Become a club who focus solely on blooding youngsters and scouring non-league football for unearthed talent. Much like Crewe in a way.

We probably wouldn't be chasing promotion straight away and I'm not sure who the right manager would be for that set up but the fans need a team they can get behind - local youngsters and players from non-league living the dream and giving their all every game rather than investing large sums of money on journeymen pros who don't inspire the fans to get behind the team.

It seems all I read on this site is various threads/polls that all degenerate into the same thing - name calling and petty squabbling over the same issue.

What no one seems to be asking is, can the fans do anything to help?

Several people have alluded on here to not going to BP anymore because they aren't being entertained enough. So instead of whinging about it and waiting for the team to deliver attacking successful football how about some ideas to give the fans a boost, to get everyone up for match day, to sing, shout and encourage the team rather than the moans and groans that usually follow after the first mistake of the match.

Maybe an organised march to the ground, combine it with a bucket collection for ernie's charity. Get the club involved and play classic matches on tv in the ground, or over the PA before ko and at half time.

Any other suggestions? Or is this just piddling into the wind and we should just accept there's a negative atmosphere and nothing will change?

p.s i sat with a blackpool fan today at boundary park for the 12th time in 2 seasons, and in his opinion we are are very good side with the worst fans he has ever had the displeasure to sit with......what did we say? ...."its like this every week"

Funnily enough I've had similar comments whenever I've gone with neutrals to a Latics game. Even when I went with a couple of mates to Leeds away last new years they weren't overly impressed. Their impression was that the only songs sung were anti Leeds/Yorkshire and rarely one backing the team.

Without a drawn-out period of being both, our fan base is only likely to get smaller, as we are seeing.

Which is what I have a problem with. Following a team like the latics should not be dependent on them being consistently successful. Has there ever even been a period of that in the club's history?

It's a society problem - instant reward and entertainment for frig all effort... "I've paid my 20 quid so you'd better win stylishly or else I'm going to take my money and time elsewhere"

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

 

If you can deliver against the top teams it automatically follows that you SHOULD be able to beat the lesser sides too.

 

I don't see what the fan base has got to do with the results on the pitch this season. If TTA pulled the financial plug, I would.

When going from a big buzzing crowd, underdog, '6 pointer' atmosphere against a top team to a freezing midweek game in front of 4000 quiet hardcore fans mostly expecting a comfortable win, then fan base does affect results on the pitch. It's not a surprise that the team is more motivated for the big games.

Of course if you beat the top teams you "SHOULD" beat the lower teams, but for how many teams in the country does that actually happen? We've got a good squad, but not one that should be walking the league.

...a) the sort of team that wins away at Leeds, Tranmere and Millwall but loses to Hereford, Yeovil and Swindon

or

the sort of team that puts away the teams at the bottom but struggles against rivals at the top?

And lets face it, with our current fan base we aint gonna be both.

I know what I enjoy more and maybe that kind of team would do better in a higher league where just about every game is a big one.

Thats a great example but do you honestly believe we'd get 10,000 in by just knocking a fiver off the price. I think the change in attendance would be very small and would result in a lower income. Its sad to admit but its true

Quite. What offer has ever doubled attendance other than letting people in for free? There's a reason prices are the way they are - it's the best balance the owners can get. Knocking a few quid off will not get the thousands of floating fans back. Only being top of the league and playing like Brazil 1970 will do that.

Because it takes away the hope of clubs like ours ever getting promotion -

If i was a millionaire why shouldn't i be allowed to plough my money into Latics and pay some top class players to get us into a higher league.

Salary caps will stop that happening.

Bring back Chris Moore?

Been reading a lot of Shez in/out over the last few days, understandably. One point that comes up a lot is our form compared to those around us and how we're apparently dropping like a stone. So I thought I'd look at the last 10 games of all the top 10 and extrapolate the points they've got to give an end of season position....

1. Leicester 73....................1. Leicester 102

2. MK Dons 61....................2. MK Dons 88

----------------

3. Peterboro 60..................3. Peterboro 82

4. Millwall 55......................4. Scunthorpe 76

5. Oldham 54.....................5. Leeds 76

6. Scunthorpe 53................6. Millwall 73

----------------

7. Leeds 51........................7. Oldham 71

8. Stockport 51..................8. Tranmere 70

9. Tranmere 49..................9. Stockport 69

10. Hudders 47..................10. Huddersfield 68

What does this show? Not much. Yep, our form isn't great but it's not exactly all over bar the shouting is it?

There's too much knee-jerking on here if you ask me. A manager should never be got rid of mid season unless relegation is on the cards and things are desperate. Especially not when the team is in the play offs! Bizarre.

Another thing that gets me a bit is that it comes across that some people support latics because they're on a journey to the premier league or something. I didn't go every week for that reason. I couldn't tell you why I did go, I just did. I loved it and other than family and friends it's the only thing I miss about England. After a defeat I was rock bottom, but after a win I was sky high. And not knowing what was going to happen one game to the next was part of the fun of it all. The premier league is the spawn of satan and watching latics prostitute themselves to get there and stay in it again would do nothing for me. So give me league one promotion/championship relegation battles any day.

Anyway, no one asked for my opinion so I'll wrap it up here. The result on Tuesday has got me motivated to be more active with the latics, hence the post. Also I'll be up at 4am to listen to LW tonight. It's been a while.

COME ON THE BLUES..............

It looks like I've found this discussion just as it's closing down! But, for what it's worth, I'd have to agree with Guernica when it comes to the NRL/ESL comparison. I watch a fair bit of NRL, especially the Warriors and the Kiwi side isn't all that great. Most of the players wouldn't rank in the top 5 in their positions in the NRL. How does that compare with the England team and ESL?

I was really looking forward to last night, and was very disappointed in the England team. In fact, the whole game was rubbish. 2 teams who could barely complete a set without dropping the ball.

Wellens looked like his mind was elsewhere, Gardner had a shocker, Calderwood did nothing again (where was Lee Smith?) and McGuire was frustrating - brilliant at times, then made a couple of simple errors.

With the exception of the 1st tackle kick that got a sneaky try, we don't seem to have a threatening attacking kicking game and the wingers are barely capable of getting off the ground to attack a bomb (in defence or attack). A complete contrast to the kicking of Thurston/Lockyear - grubbers to Inglis, bombs to Folau.

The English defence didn't even stack up to Nathan Fien, who's been told by the Warriors that he can look for another club and they're desperate for a quality no7!

The cream of the ESL had no answer to a bunch of average NRL players and that says it all to me. The Australians are a class apart and could field 3 teams that would finish ahead of NZ and England.

As for the World Club game, what part of the season does that take place in England? Because I'm pretty sure it comes about half way through pre season training for NRL sides.

I've had a night to sleep on it, and I'm still fuming. I've got to put up with another week of the kiwis giving it the large to their colonial overlords. Roll on next Saturday and the pasting they'll get from the convicts...

David Farrell. He was the bastard left winger who tore Hotte (I think) and then McNiven to shreds that day in one of the most outstanding performances (in the third division) I've seen from an opposition player.

That's the guy. Was he right footed and wore 7 but played on the left? We couldn't get near him.

Personally I don't understand leaving early unless you absolutely have to. There's always the possibility of missing a great goal, however remote. But each to their own.

The closest I got was standing by the exit when we were 4-1 down at home against Peterborough (I think). That bastard right winger, David someone was it(?), was running us ragged as he seemed to do every time he played against us. I legged it as soon as the whistle went as I had somewhere to be.

Colusso, Bury away, was an outstanding finish to a game!

The TV angle's not great but having seen it in slo-mo i'll admit it's nowhere near as bad as it looked at first. Still can't see it being rescinded though (not least cos Gregan's not the england captain). I'm more concerned about him having a go at a Hartlepool fan on the way down the tunnel - at least that's what it looks like on LW. If he has, then that's just stupid and unnecessary.

Agreed. It's not a red - too far out from goal, and to the side too for it to be considered denying a goalscoring opportunity. Studs weren't up, it was a slide on the floor so it's just a yellow. Zero chance of it being rescinded though as unless they have 20 angles in super slowmo like they do in the premiership, they'll stick with the decision of the ref. Lets face it, unless it's something totally blatant the ref has missed or got wrong, appeals this far down the food chain have sod all chance of winning.

Clearly a win would have been better, but a very decent point nonetheless.

 

The best thing about the draw though is it might mean Shez avoids the dreaded Manager of the Month award.

Very true!

It's great to see us coming back from behind. All too often in the past a 2-0 deficit at somewhere like Colchester was game over. Can this be our season at last?!

A draw better than a win? What a bizarre thing to say. We lost midweek, that should be all the grounding they need. We're going to need all the points we can get to get out of this division! Granted, in the context of the game a point is a great result, but to say it's better than a win is just weird.