nzlatic

No they didn’t. 43% of votes went to the tories but they won a massive landslide thanks to our wonderful voting system. I’m not sure how pleased Mellon would be being compared to them either

They’ve left that ambiguous haven’t they! All released?!

Was wondering this myself. Ones that weren’t given a chance here but went on to play higher. I’m struggling to think of any.

Because different players flourish under different conditions.

McGahey can cover CB and CDM though so it’s like having 4.5 centre backs.

It’s probably both. You see it in all sports, you’ll get ones that win a title so their goal is achieved and they then fade away, mission accomplished. But you also get ones who are serial winners. They’ll keep going as winning is like a drug. Same with the workplace - you’ll have people trading off a success for years and coasting without the drive to build on it. Sorting one from the other is the tough part!

Agree. Most of our signings were well received by our fans. But maybe that’s where the naivety of Unsworth came in last summer - he was looking at it more superficially. Someone experienced like Mellon will hopefully look for more this summer.

Part of the issue and what makes it hard to understand is how many are affected in this way? It might not be that many but enough for it to spread. I wouldn’t have thought Conlon would fall under that bracket but he plays that way. So maybe it’s like an infection? And the answer I suppose is to either cut it out or introduce something to fight that infection. Or both. Im just guessing here by the way. But something is wrong when it comes to the mental side of our game clearly.

Irrespective of my opinion on the subject, I’d rather the NL represent the views of their member clubs than make unilateral decisions on stuff like this.

Yeah i agree. He doesn’t often look to go back, he sometimes tries to beat a man or try a forward pass. Doesn’t always come off which becomes frustrating but I can see his uses as a squad player.

If the rumours are true about McGahey getting a new deal then I’m guessing it would be because he sees in him a mental strength that others don’t have. So would rather have him as a back up for central defence or defensive midfield. Even if he is limited as a player.

I think playing for Oldham in the national league is comparable to playing for the top premier league teams. Relatively of course. You’re expected to perform and you’re expected to win the league. That’s a huge difference to playing for someone who would be delighted with a play off place so needs the right sort of player who can handle it. Added to that, there was an extra layer of pressure on Lundstram particularly because a lot of our issues early this season were partly blamed on him being out injured so by the time he came back we’re all expecting to see a world beater. Those side of things need work on too as well as physical attributes. I think he looked a lot better when he came back after Mellon gave him a break. So I’m hopeful he can kick on next season. That’s why recruitment is so crucial and probably so difficult this summer. We need more players who will keep moving forward when the pressure is on (metaphorically and literally!) and not ones that will shrink like too many of ours have done this season.

Is that stat referring to Premier league teams or any team where someone from a league or 2 below plays a higher club? A non league team playing Portsmouth in the first round for example would be pretty exciting for them.

I was going to say exactly the same. When we equalised against Everton at home if you’d have offered me a choice of a replay or extra time and penalties then I’d have taken the replay. It isn’t just about the best chance of progressing it’s watching our club play at a ground like that. The “magic” of the cup and all that.

Crowds went up in league 2 didn’t they? He didn’t do a single positive, proactive thing for the football club. His ownership was an unmitigated disaster. He assumed he knew it all and surrounded himself with people who blew smoke up his arse while they were busy feathering their own nests. He didn’t reverse the decline, he accelerated it. Yet you seem to be more critical of the way the club is being run now.

Wow.

I think out of all our signings, Conlon is the biggest mystery to me. He should be really key for us but either hasn’t shown it himself yet or hasn’t been used right. Will be interesting to see what happens to him over the summer. Just editing to say that the signing wasn’t a mystery, what has happened since he joined is the mystery!

I like Hammond, for the reasons you’ve listed. But he’s come in for a fair bit of stick seemingly for not being the finished product.

He knew who the manager was when he signed though? Mellon had already been here a couple of months.

I agree to an extent but the problem with that is if they don’t hit the ground running they get written off as shit… Hammond.

I think you’re slightly overstating Fondop’s abilities there! But he should 100% be getting a new deal. My question is over his record in delivering in big games, so personally I wouldn’t have him down as a constant starting striker. But as a sub or an occasional starter he is a really important player to have.

Cool.

They’ve got til a week on Sunday then! For all those waiting for it before they decide whether to buy or not.

I do think the club need to come out with something… a vision or an update on plans for the next period or something like that. But I’d prefer they take the time and produce something thorough rather than rush out something short.

I may just be a humble happy clapping, blind faith, Mellon loving, ultra positive fantasist, but I thought that interview was largely expectation management from Mellon. If he promised to sort it and say we’re going to have a great summer and we then drew the first 3 games next season everyone would lose their shit. Behind the scenes I reckon they’ll have had their plans in place for existing squad and target replacements for a while.