Blue79

Hear hear - people have short memories. Who else is going to buy the club as it currently stands? I for one can't fault him for the effort he's put in - most others would have buggered off as a result of the staduim fiasco. Time to show him a bit of support rather than getting on his back. And yes, it would be nice to hear about the managers position, but i for one would prefer him to take his time and get somebody who's right for the club rather than make a quick decision and end up with penny Mark II.

Wigan - absolutely cannot stand them. Only in the Premier League because of Uncle Dave and the majority of the town couldn't give a s**t. Have hated them since we beat them 1-0 at the JJB on a Friday night (when Dux scored - can't remember the year) and they are by far my most disliked team. Tranmere - stemming back to playing them in the cup at Boundary Park in the early-mid nineties when Aldridge stamped on Craig Flemming and got sent off. Of course it didn't help that they always ended up beating us, and everytime you watched Granada Soccer Night Elton W***er was being so smug about them. Man City - only doing well because of oil money - need i add any more... Cardiff - since i watched them beat us 1-0 in a cup game at Ninian Park - the treatment their fans were allowed to get away with in intimidating the away fans and the referee (who gave the most one sided refereeing performance i have ever seen), plus the 7-1 drubbing at Boundary Park. Despise them. And it says it all when the rugby fans in Cardiff think the football supporters are animals, and won't have anything to do with them. Leeds - To be honest i probably enjoy the rivalry, but their constant whinging about being a big club is boring. And i work in Leeds so get it every day. They are my main five - i would also add that i'm not keen on Chelsea (bunch of primadonnas), Liverpool (too much harking on about the 'golden days')and Blackburn (miserable place to watch football).

He was on our books as a kid - got released for being too small. Another one that got away...

Thought Feeney put a decent shift in today - more than Reid did anyway. But agree he's been poor all season and would get rid if possible. Not convinced by Reid at all - he looks at least a stone overweight and is prone to be lazy.

I don't like to bash players, and i was happy to give Brill a fresh start (and thought he'd been doing well) - but i thought two/possibly three of their goals today could have been prevented if he had left his line and punched the crosses away. The balls came right across his six yard box - to me that's his territory and he should have taken some pressure off the defence by dealing with them. Just an opinion like...

Season ticket holder for 5+ years. but i won't be renewing if Penny is still the manager. This is the first season i can remember where i've had to force myself to attend matches as i've had absolutely no hope that i would end up watching anything resembling entertainment. I'll attend the first few matches next season to see how things go and keep my options open. I've never been so depressed watching latics as i have been this season. Every year there has always been some kind of optimism even if we were playing poorly, this year every last ounce seems to have evaporated, and i just can't see any light at the end of the tunnel with the current management team.

To be fair to Chris he's been injured for a large part of the season and has come back into a team very low on confidence as opposed to a team playing well. In addition Penny's system clearly doesn't suit him - he's having to beat two players every time he has the ball just to create enough space for a cross etc - last season he had a full back overlapping him taking a defender away, and giving him a bit more space to exploit. This seaon, it's rare to see either fullback past the halfway line. Nonetheless, he still isn't playing anywhere near last seasons standard, and you do have to wonder if all is well off the pitch with him.

There was no movement up front today at all, and hardly any in midfield. None of the back four had anybody to aim for - hence the aimless hoofs up the pitch. No need to the jump down my throat mate!

We aren't even going to make the play offs if we play like today. I had deja vu from when Ronnie 'hoofball' Moore was managing us - no ideas, no creativity, no (obvious) desire from the players, no motivation from the management team (who stood with their arms folded all thorugh the second half)...need i go on? Could someone just answer a few questions for me.. 1) Why, when it is plainly obvious, have we signed two full backs (Jones & Goldbourne) and a centre half (Hines), a winger (who has seemingly disappeared), a fat, old and lazy striker who appears to be so full of his own self importance that he can't even be arsed to try when he's on the pitch (Windass) and another striker (Kabba who appears to better than what we already have) instead a playmaker for the midfield. If we'd have but all these salaraies together (with the exception of maybe Jones who is an improvement to the squad) surely we could have found a better midfielder than what we have a present? There are 40-odd teams in the leagues above us - is Sheridan saying that not one of them have a midfielder available who could have improved the team? 2) Or maybe, strangely enough we could try the two young lads we signed as 'playmakers' in the summer (Lee and Stephens) - what have we got to lose? How about this for a 'radical' idea - Allott or Maher win the ball, they give it to Lee or Stephens and they pass it FORWARD. Simple. 3) WTF does Lewis Allessandra have to do to get a game? 4) Why was Eardley getting so much stick? Yes he wasn't at his best but frequently was left trying to mark two players, had nobody making any runs for him and at the end of the day he didn't miss two guilt edge chances or make the mistake that cost us a goal. If someone knows the answer to this could they please have a word with the idiots that sit around me who seem to have decided he is satan dressed in a latics shirt. Leave the poor lad alone - pick on one of the so called 'experienced pros' (with the exception of Gregan) that all when missing when we needed them to get a grip.

Agreed - Jones is not a defender - what Lomax did wrong at left back is anybody's guess - but i don't think he's a left winger either - when he played there against Stockport he looked really uncomfortable. For me, i'd go back to Lomax at left back, and give serious consideration to Smalley on the right, certainly for home matches when the onus is on us to attack. Unfortunately Liddell does not have the pace the beat his man anymore which results in crosses coming from deep from Eardley (not his fault particularly). I have wondered whether it's worth us playing 3-5-2 away from home, with Taylor playing RWB and Jones LWB (mainly because there isn't anybody else) - at least we'd get a foot in in midfield as we could play Maher and Allott in holding roles with Whitaker and the wing backs able to push forward when we have the ball, drop back when we don't. At least it would some sort of plan B, instead of just taking off a striker for a striker and Liddell for Smalley and not changing formation.

I don't get this debate over Lomax and Eardley - whilst Lomax has never let us down, he is simply not as good a player as Eardley. My working life takes me into contact with a few professional clubs via their Football in the Community schemes and most of the ex-pro's who run those scheme's are full of praise for Eardley (and Taylor too). One acts as a scout for a current Championship team (ex premier team) and has been sent to watch Eardley (and last season Trotman too) a number of times. He thinks he is a cracking player and only a matter of time before a bigger club buys him. Can't see the same thing happening for Lomax unfortunately. We may all think we 'know football' but this is from somebody who does know the game and has been involved in it for over 30 years. Lastly, do people not think that the balls Eardley plays down the wings (those that people claim as 'aimless') are part of a game plan to turn the opposition defence for either Davies or Allessandra (whichever is playing) to run on to? I can't see a professional player continuously playing the same pass unless he has been instructed to do it?

I reckon Shez will go with 4-5-1 with Hughes up front on his own - Taylor left wing if Lomax is fit, Liddell on the right, with a centre midfield of Whitaker, Allot and Mahr. Any thoughts?

Half of the 'old codgers' that go and watch the match have probably been going for forty plus years - to say that they are not true fans because they don't sing is complete bull. Everyone pays their money - if you want to go to matches and spend the entire match watching and baiting opposition fans instead of the game, then that's your choice, if don't want to sing thats also your choice. Surely the biggest encouragement to the team is that the fans are there in numbers when they come out of the tunnel? For what it's worth i think our away support is excellent.

Mr Bishop lives across the road from me (fortunately i didn't go to St Cuthberts so didn't have to put up with him at school too) - none-the-less one of the most miserable blokes you could ever hope to meet. Never seen him smile - and he used to purposely park his car in the middle of our 'football pitch' on the street to stop us playing when we were kids.

It is just me or was Craig's performance on Saturday a little lacking in enthusiasm? I recognise that he didn't get the best of service, but at times he didn't seem to know where to make his runs or make himself available for a pass. On form he looks like a world beater but seemed to go missing on Saturday - once Hughsie came on the forward line looked twice as dangerous. He must be a candidate for the most frustrating player at the club - so much talent but must drive Shez crazy at times. Be interesting to see whether he plays against Rochdale and what sort of performance he delivers now he's got other players wanting his place in the team.

Completely agree. Think we need to be realistic. We've got a squad made up of senior pros (two of which are out with long term injuries), some average pros, a couple of above average players (Hughes, Stam when he's playing well) and a load of kids who at the moment are the nucleus of the team. Despite this, we're still in with a realistic shout of the play offs if we can get a couple of players in before the end of January. I'd like to see any other manager get more out of what Shez has to choose from at the moment. Although i will conceed that playing Rubes at left back wasn't the smartest decision he's ever made...

Don't think you were the only one who was disappointed to see Scotty leave. Apparently Tony Philiskirk and Shez were fuming too - saw it as Ronnie Moore stripping the team of its best young assets. Not surprised that Shez is interested in signing him back - he knows what he's going to get, knows his personality and probably is more willing to spend money on a known quantity than risk what little money we have on a gamble.

Why everyone seems so keen to see the back of Neil Eardley. Last season he played consistently well, and although his form may have dropped off slightly this year, he hasn't all of a sudden lost that potential. I know for a fact that last season he was watched by a number of premier league clubs and speaking to a scout for one of those (who i know through my work) he recommended that this club sign him as he really rated him. I think it would be shortsighted for the club to offload on the basis of a drop in form, when he's only 19 years old and is yet to reach him full potential! Seems he's becoming a bit of target for the boo boys at the club same as Smalley. Everyone is raving about Trotman - i'll judge him when he's played a full season instead of the 15 or some games he's played so far. For me if someone offers 500k for him, i'd sell him as we have amble cover at centre back, and i'd keep Eardley. Just an opinion....

Think there's a song for macca there...!

I think the problem with Davies is his body language - at times he does give off an impression that he can't be arsed. I know he did well towards the end of the match holding the ball up in the corner, and the whole team were dead on their feet, yet somehow out of them all he still managed to look the least interested (although i'm sure that's not the case) - i think that's what winds some of the fans up. Perhaps his mind wanders on occassion and he looses concentration? He definately is frustrating to watch at times, because it's obvious how good he could be!

David Eyres!!! Tony Carss

Name? Blue79 Location? Milnrow How Long Supporting the Tics? 21 years (since i was 7 and saw my first game at home versus Plymouth Argyle) Best away match you've been to? Its a toss-up between away at Wigan under Ritchie after being completely written off before the game began and then winning, or away at Scrunthorpe last season for the utter jubilation of equalising in the last minute and then having to un-bury my mum (who aged 56 was still celebrating) from under a pile of huge blokes who'd fallen forwards over our row of seats! All Time Greatest Player? David Eyres Biggest Rivals (in your eyes)? Tranmere, not because of Ronnie Moore, but from way back when we played them in the cup and Aldridge got sent off for stamping on Craig Fleming - i always associate them with getting janny results against us and matches full of niggle.