JoeP

I don't think we're going to get any better than Ritchie, Sturrock or Simpson. Unfortunately, the TTA seem to over-react when the fans decide they don't like a manager and this is where Ritchie would be preferable to the other two as he's likely to get more patience from the fans and therefore more time from TTA. Living in the past, it maybe, but Ritchie could be the only one who will bring a bit of stability to the club with the current set-up.

Ha! Our new kit's one step away from a mankini! Very Channel 4.........

Now that's bad PR.......

I don't think it's just Ritchie, I think it's the partnership of him and Bunn people want. Bunn seems to be fairly highly rated as a coach (it seems to me, in a similar way to Dowie was before he came here with Wadsworth) and Ritchie has had some success at this level plus will sell more season tickets. Seems like a fairly sensible choice to me. I'm also coming round to the idea that was raised on the phone-in that if we want attacking football, maybe someone who plied their trade scoring goals would know most about how to get a team to do it!

Think "the other bloke" might just have convinced me into knowing who I want as the next boss.

Please not Duxbury or Gregan. If we can only afford to appoint internally - Gray has 90 minutes on Saturday to show what he can do or Philiskirk. Ritchie or Gannon the only external options for me.

Parents - Latics Mrs - Liverpool Cousins - City, United, Everton and Norwich Bro in Law - Wolves Father in Law - Middlesborough

Lets hope so - think more of our fans would turn out to see a big team on a weekend, though.

Looked like Clint Hill swung a few punches at some of the Wednesday fans....... Ah well, onto next year - I think ideally we should put a request in to the FA to play Wednesday at home the first day of the season. Big crowd, will need the cash after the break, etc. or at least put in a request NOT to play them at home on a weeknight, a weekend that might clash with a cup match or over the winter, when it might get called off!

Leon Clarke scored AND injured! Poor guy - looked in a lot of pain.

Well then does the couple of decent results we've had recently outweight the months of dire football leading up to the improvement in form? I'm not sure how the upturn in form can be seen as Penney getting it right anyway - the games in which we've taken points were more scraped than convincing, largely down to Gregan and Flahaven desperately defending, rather than the team dominating play. Yeah, the players might be tired, etc, but yesterday's performance wasn't a one-off. Anyone who was at Norwich, pretty much saw the same performance.

Yesterday was truely dire. My opinion of Penney changes from one week to the next - while I don't think we should be looking to change managers on a yearly basis, performances like yesterday just show how bad Penney can be. Admittedly results have improved recently, but I don't really think performances have that much. I geniuenly don't know what would be the best thing to do with regards to Penney. I think we actually have a half-decent squad, but they're just not being played with the right tactics. I thought Whits played OK yesterday - reckon he should be given another year's contract.

Bit late, I know, but is anybody else on the train that gets into Yeovil Pen Mill at 13.16 tomorrow? Could share a cab to the ground, if so.......

Meh, I don't know. - He's told it like it is, so it's bad PR, pulling at heart-strings, etc. - He oversells the club, he must think we're all stupid, would probably be the reation. - He says nothing, he's not addressing the issue and there's no transparency of how things really are. It just seems the club can't really do much right in the fans eyes at the moment.....

Is Hardy stating the bleeding obvious really going to make that much of a difference, though? I don't think it will, to be honest - I think it's more likely to be the umpteen thousand other faults that a lot of our fans seem to find with the club. If he’d come out and said: “Right, we’ve got a massive budget, we’re going to sign Paul Scholes and we’re going to win the league”, everyone would moan that they were being taken for mugs. And why is it bad PR, anyway? Just because some people see it as guilt-tripping, emotional blackmail, etc some might actually respond positively for the cry for help. I think things like this can be read into a little too much.

Here, Here! I really don’t know what people expect TTA to do. Plough more of their own money in with no sign of a return? Seek non-existent outside investment and compromise even further any profit they are likely to make out of the club? How ridiculous..... Of course we’re going to have to make cuts next season – we’re one of the worst supported teams in the division in very unsteady economic times. I don’t get why Penney was such a bad choice, either? He was available, wanted to come to us, knows the lower divisions and has won a couple of promotions. There was no chance of Gannon ever coming here – so who should we have appointed? Some unknown ex-player who could have taken us either way? Why do so many Latics fans desire for the cloud from the silver lining? We’ve survived and we’re stringing a few results together which could be a sign we’ll be better next season.

It was one of the newspaper photographers that night! Big Joe didn't take to kindly to having his photo taken during the game, so threw our physio's bucket of water over the him! Happy days.....

Without wanting to be pedantic - it was 1-1 the year we went up. I was mascot!

Mind you, I don't think our record at Hillsborough is much better!

I think Selhurst Park is probably my most visited away ground as a Latics fan, as I used to live up the road from the ground. In my 20 years of following Latics, we've never won at Selhurst, despite playing Wimbledon, Charlton and Palace there!

Lee - Keep. Versatile and starting to play well. Whittaker - Keep, for another year. Creative and not afraid to shoot - didn't have the best start to the season, but has improved with the team. Lomax - Keep. Can be reserve for both left and right back - why sign a reserve right back AND a reserve left-back, when he can rpovide cover for both positions? Don't get why everyone's got such a downer on him as I think he's quite a good player. Time we let the Hereford match go, I think.... Parker - Release, no more needs to be said. Aljofree - Release. No real point in him being here, IMO. Brooke - Not really bothered either way. If we can afford to keep him then great, but he's been overtaken by Eaves and Millar in the pecking order since he crashed onto the scene last season, so maybe he's better playing his trade elsewhere.

On an Eastenders night?? No chance......

I think he was having a bit of a bad night....I don't even think he was even refering to the majority of our fans, just the five of us who kept standing up at the back.

Indeed they were! And while we're on Saints-knocking, their head steward was the most obnoxious mini-hitler I've ever come across. Appapently our fans we're, and I quote; "worst than Pompey's!", in terms of causing the stewards hassle.

Yeah, he's signed some shockers, but he's also made some good signings, just like Sheridan did. Any manager has to be given a chance to build a squad - admittedly it's taken Penney a bit longer than the fans would like, but I think we're starting to reap the rewards of not getting rid of Penney earlier. I think he's earned the opportunity to be given the early part of next season to show these recent performances have not just been a flash in the pan. I hope the TTA have learnt from the Moore saga that they shouldn't just make decisions based on fans throwing toys out of their pram. To get rid of a manger when the team is playing well is stupid. A new manager could also mean as bad team performances, which could mean even more fans stop coming - then what? Sack another manager just because the fans are unhappy?? Too much of a risk I reckon.....