Dave_Og

12 minutes ago, basilrobbie said:

Obviously I have little (no) insight to offer on this. However, I would be interested in your answers to two questions :

 

a) how ready do you think the club is for a return to the EFL?

 

b) linked to the above, to what extent is this season's "failure" a potential blessing in disguise?

I'm very confident that if we'd somehow scraped up this season we'd have found a way of finishing no lower than third bottom in L2

2 hours ago, oafcmetty said:

He's 6ft1

Plus perm

I'm trying to understand how now it ever managers regularly watch(ed) players they were interested in signing with any degree of frequency. We've played Tuesday/Saturday almost weekly since Mellon arrived and Tuesdays and Saturdays are when most players we might have been interested in were probably playing 

What were the circumstances of him leaving his last position? He gives every indication that he's had enough of the whole caboodle.

37 minutes ago, AndyB2 said:

I have always had my concerns about Kitching. He appears to optimise this team. Too casual and relaxed in everything he does. No fire or energy in his play 

He appears to optimise this team? That's a bad thing?

17 minutes ago, LaticMark said:

 

Ah, a retained and released list for fans as well as players!

 

Dear Season Ticket Holder

 

Oldham Athletic would like to thank you for your 30 years of service to the club. However, when your season ticket expires at the end of May you will be released as a supporter of Oldham Athletic . . . 

 

 

Get out of jail free card

2 hours ago, JoeP said:

 

Do you not want to give our heroes a rousing send-off on Saturday??

A rousing something off

48 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

Ah, Sharpy..I wonder if he still thinks he should get the Everton manager's job? 

 

Yes, it was Leeds. It was "Only" 30 years ago - you're ageing us all, Dave!

 

 

I think we watched it in a pub Blackfriars Station.  As I recall it barely reached the goalkeeper.

It's taken over 40 years but Graeme Sharp's penalty against Leeds (?) is no longer the worst effort from the spot that I've ever seen. Thank you Bernardo Silva for erasing that from the record book.

29 minutes ago, daniel said:

There are lots of clubs who are transitioning back to safe standing, which you can often see watching match highlights, with the barriers they use etc. I’d say it’s not common at our level or in the lower leagues of EFL though, as presumably it’s rather expensive. 

in England?

2 hours ago, Monty Burns said:

needs to be returned to standing (like all the other clubs have done) to have any chance..

Who has done that?

Couto is nearer 21 than 19.  I recall him being linked with much higher clubs when he first appeared but presumably he was well scouted and nothing came of that.  I've no idea if he's good enough but it's entirely feasible that the chaos at management level when he first got into the first team may have stunted his progress,

10 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

He’s had it for a while but he needs to show improvement to stay

And he's not a teenager 

2 minutes ago, AndyB2 said:

What’s your point? 

That we may recruit players that are seen as an upgrade but until they get out on the pitch and prove it the jury will be out.  There was very little criticism of any of the signings over the last 20 months, until they played...

1 minute ago, GlossopLatic said:

So there are 10 players out of contract let's also say that we get 4 players who are contracted out the door too we won't sell them but enough to get them out on loan or go to another club where we don't fully pay up their contract but we have to give them something to get them out the door but it reduces the wage bill enough that we are allowed to bring in another player (4 out 1 in) Dallas Sachdev abd Walker all go back then you have cleared enough space their easily to bring in an entirely new team. Aslong as we don't slash the wage bill which I don't think they will the Rothwells are going knowhere. Its going to be a busy summer but their is still no reason we can't start next season with a far better side than we have now.

In theory.  I'll still bear in mind that the arrival of most of this group was broadly welcomed

7 minutes ago, Bobledgersheart said:

One of the Lemmy's biggest blunders from a monumental list !!  

Although if they hadn't sacked twelvety managers he'd never have had the chance 

26 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Absolutely it needs the right personalities I'm not advocating signing players purely off stats, for stats and data to be effective they need to be interpretated properly anyway. Their is still very much room for scouting. Thomas Frank at Brentford said that while they use data analysis they still very much use scouting by the eyes as he put it to identify talent.

 

As for can this work in the national league and the examples of ourselves and York being the only clubs using it suggest it doesn't. My arguement would be here is that aslong as you can collect the same amount of accurate data then their is no reason why it can't be a useful tool to help us find value for money signings. While only 2 clubs use it now its more likely than not that more and more clubs will use it going forwards as it becomes more accessible and more sophisticated. Its important to look at the future possibilities and not just the current results.

Isn't it just that only two clubs use Statsbomb rather than only two clubs use stats.  Other brands are available...

6 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

Yes, fair points there - the world's changing and we've got to change with it.  And we've got to review why things haven't worked out so far.

 

But how beneficial is the new way of working for lower league clubs?  We can't afford all the data scientists, fitness and recruitment people, etc.  Arsenal say, can however afford to hoover up dozens of players based on stats with the possibility of just one turning out to be a world-class player.  We can't.  We need to sign players that aren't risks (I know every player is a risk, etc..) yet have less resources to do it.

 

It's a different game down here - if we're in a position to evolve to the next level at some point, then I'm all for all the different departments and personnel, etc but we are where we are and I think it needs to be fairly streamlined.  It'd be interesting to see how the smaller clubs currently sat above us in the National League work when it comes to transfers - given it's only us and York that seem to be using Statbomb, for example.

 

While the world is changing, etc the human psyche hasn't changed beyond that for a team to work, it doesn't just need good participants, it needs good personalities too...

 

Arssnal's scouting might be shown up to be hilariously inept this summer.  They are rumoured to be buying out Viktor Gyokeres' for €100m.  The same player who moved from Coventry last summer for a fifth of that.

Just now, yarddog73 said:

Surely with the better weather Halifax pitch will be just fine on Thursday?.

 

It's almost as if both clubs dont want any fans there which is shocking really.

They can't really take the chance though given the stage of the season

From a relatively cursory examination of league rules the only possible sanction for Halifax if they hadn't been able to fulfil the fixture at all is a fine of between £2,500 and £10,000.  They do have an obligation to have a pitch that is fit for purpose but there is no specific sanction for not doing so.  The rules in that section are more about the pitch  itself rather than its condition at any particular time.

16 minutes ago, oafc1955 said:

Even if something has happened and they have downed tools, they still need fucking off for being unprofessional. There is no excuse for not giving of their best for their employers and the supporters!!

That's not up for debate

I don't believe for a single second that the last couple of months is all down to the quality of the squad, not for one second. If that was the case no way would they have gone in the run that took us 5th and looking nailed on for the play offs. Something happened.

2 hours ago, yarddog73 said:

Defence is the weakest aspect for me, it really needs an overhaul and I'd only keep a couple of them.

Defence is weaker than midfield?

8 minutes ago, sjk2008 said:

I’m still willing to give Mellon this summer. I appreciate it’s a risk, but the released list will be an interesting one.

 

Mellon isn’t innocent here, by no means, but for me, and I’ve said it before, this is a squad full of lazy, uninterested bastards and bottle merchants.

 

Royle needs questioning as he set back Franks plans a whole lot by bringing his inept mate in. We can’t really criticise him for bringing Mellon in as a lot of us fans wanted him, myself included.

 

But these players man, fuck them.

Will it?  Is there anyone out of contract that we'd want to keep?

2 minutes ago, Wardie said:

It did but don't you think the marked downturn began with the Kidderminster defeat and Norwood returning to the team when the Garner/Fondop partnership was working quite well?

Yep, maybe - but can't see a Reid connection?  That's a whole season for me without seeing a win