JoeP

I don't know how these rumours start, but I'd like to think that the TTA "being skint" translates as the TTA are not giving Penny another, well, penny to waste in the transfer market in January. If this is the case, I would support them completely.

No worries - was good to meet you. I think the Mrs was really just trying to get out of her round at half-time.

My solicitor can expect an e-mail first thing tomorrow........

No, neither did Penny, either: http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,1...5751715,00.html What exactly were we hanging on for? Another two nil defeat?? I didn't expect a result, and I didn't expect a fight for one - and I don't think I'm going to while Penny is in charge. Next time, I think he might aswell tell the team not to turn up, give the other team the points then moan about how many injuries he's got and save us all the time and money. I'm always willing to give managers time but the situation is irresolvable with the current management set-up. That said, it was a terrific atmosphere yesterday from out hardy bunch - well done all.

I’d like to see this tried once this season: GK –Flahaven FB – Lomax CB – Hazell CG – Gregan FB – :censored: RW – Colebeck CM – Stephens CM – Worthington LW – Taylor ST – Abbott ST – Heffernan GK/CB – Told to do what they do best. Get the ball clear or supply it to the CMs. Wingers – Told to use their pace and attack their full-backs and whip the ball in from the by-line. FB – As GK/CB, but provide back-up for wingers if they get stuck in a corner, and get crosses in. CM – Break opposition moves down (“yard-dogs”, if you like), help defend, be available for the ball when we have possession in defence and be quick to the second-ball when our moves break-down just outside the opposition’s box. Also supply wingers, so they can do their job. ST – Wait for the crosses and score!

Smalley amd Lomax are established first-teamers. Black played because we had no other option as :censored: is the only other player in the squad who can play at centre-back, so effectively Penny's hand was forced. It's hard to imagine Dowie allowing the ineffective displays the likes of Whittaker has been coming up with lately, without giving the likes of Stephens a chance. With regards the injuries - with the execption of Abbott, none of them are going to make a difference. With regards the "halfpennys he's had to rub together" - he had money to spend, but decided to spend it on an average third division player in Joe Colebeck. He's also been allowed to bring a lot of players in on frees, but has decided to look to the division below us or Huddersfield Reserves for them. I don't actually buy into the fact that this was all we could afford - if that's the case he should have saved TTA's money and worked with the players Shez left.

Or maybe the central midfielders arn't winning the ball in the centre of the park to lay-off to the wide men??

And players with pride and passion like Ernie, Eyresey and John Eyre. Dowie also wasn't afriad to let the kids have a go to show what they can do. Dowie also would also never let his team give up, like Penny did at Wallsall, for example.

I geniunely think Penny only has one plan of how to score a goal. When Abbott was fit the plan off attack was whacking it up to him and expecting him to do the business - when he's not fit, the best we can hope for is a 0-0. Heffernan's probably come in as an attempt to replace our one and only goal source. When we went down to 10 men v Wallsall, we played like we were happy to keep the score down - I would imagine it was the same tonight once we went one down. Penny probably thinks that was a good result tonight.

..and a Linton's travel tavern that's equidistant between London and Norwich - that's the genius of it's location.

My problem with Penny so far is that there hasn't really been any sign of what he's aiming towards. We entered a transition period when we appointed Shez as manager, with a long-term goal of Shez forming a good team, etc like we have with Penny. With Shez, though, the players he brought in seemed to be a lot closer to the finished product than what Penny has done so far. Our current transitional period looks like it's going to be a very long one, with even a relegation thrown in between. To be fair, last night it actually looked like Penny had realised that 4-5-1 wasn't working and the 4-4-2 we started with worked well for the first 10 minutes and we came close to scoring a couple of times, but when we went one down and had a man sent off, we went back to one up front. Now obviously being down to 10 men is a massive disadvantage, but we didn't even have a go. We were basically playing for damange limitation, which was really depressing. I don't blame TTA. They seem to have made solid appointments and I'm not sure I'd trust Penny with much more investment with the players he's brought in so far.

I agree with you here - I went last night. Wallsall were dire, but miles better than us in all areas. We can't just have a revolving door for managers, but the current tactics reminds me of the team Graeme Sharp "built" which eventually got us relegated from the division above. With regards injuries, Abbott aside, I can't see any player coming in and making a difference. With regards the budget - yes it's tight, but I'm sure we could have done better than a load of 2nd division players and Huddersfield reserves. If we have precious finances to spend in the transfer market, was Joe Colebeck really the best we could have paid for?? Everyone had a go at some of Sheridan's signings, but at least you can see why some of them were made - for example Kalala had played a vital role in getting Yeovil to the play-off final in the previous season. The best players in the team at the moment are those left behind by Sheridan - a spine maybe for someone else to build on. Penny, it appears at the moment, has taken us backwards. Willing to give Penny some time, but changes need to be made to the team quickley and I only hope his theory that we don't need another striker was a badly articulated way of saying we actually don't the budget to bring in a striker.

If there's anything behind this "commentator's curse" thoery, we now won't win.........

City fans are talking about us? Brilliant! Hopefull they'll spread the word that a local team up the road will soon be selling cheaper season tickets for a brand new stadium, to see a team that isn't full of of money-grabbing swines!

Listening on Latics World, it seems we played alright, but Colchester contained us reasonably enough, and it looked like same old story. The tunning point seemed the sending off, but also once we started playing 2 up front. Hopefully Penny noticed this.

Nope, 4-5-1 again.....FFS.

I think you've done the "smaller ground/no ambition" arguement to death, so I can't be @rsed going into that. If there's no potential new support base in Failsworth, then there's certainly no new potential support base where the club is now. Any potential new punter has had plenty of opportunity to show a snippet of interest, which just hasn't been taken up (unless we reduce entrance fee's to £2 or free). As you may have notice, I live in Cardiff. For the occassional home game I get to, after the 3 and a half hour train journey to Manchester Picc, I have to mess about with an infrequent and tedious bus journey to get to Boundary Park. To get back to Manchester after the match it's the same. Now, even if the football's good the extra hassle of the bus, just makes the journey seem that little bit longer. I think I would be tempted to go to more home matches if when I got to Manchester, I could get on a quick, reliable metrolink to the ground, sit in a stadium with decent facilities, have a couple of pints after the match and not have to worry about getting a bus back to Manchester, 3 hours before my train leaves, just in case the last bus decides not to turn up. And that's just a personal view - moving the ground to the new location makes the club more accessible to lots of new people. My cousin, a City season-ticket holder, has said if the Failsworth move goes ahead, because it's just up the road, he will also get a season-ticket for Latics. He can't be the only one who'll do this, especially as a lot of City fans apparently have Latics as their second team. Maybe a family who can't afford a season-ticket at Eastlands will save cash by getting a cheaper one at Latics instead. "Getting no thanks from people is just the way it goes in football" - as a rule, I don't think that's particularly true, but very true of a number of Latics fans.

I take your point about seeing more youth players given a chance - why the the likes of Stephens isn't playing is a bit of a mystery...but is that really TTA's fault? Picking the team is the managers job. They edged their bets on appointing managers with fairly solid names in lower league football in Talbot, Moore and Penny and (without wanting to predict Penny's downfall yet) it hasn't really worked. I think they've been a bit unlucky - I don't think many people moaned when these managers were first appointed. If this "experienced football person" had come in recommended, for example, some Rochdale scout as manager and it also didn't work, even more people would be up in arms (or past caring) than they are now. Besides, as has been mentioned elsewhere, Hardy should have enough experience to offer TTA comprehensive guidence. Yes, it's £20 to get in to watch us in this depressing period, but what are they supposed to do? They charge £20 and no one turns up, but then when they slash prices (e.g; family group tickets, etc) still no one turns up! History shows that slashing the prices isn't going to get bums on seats. The TTA have tried in lots of ways to move this club forward, but basically no one seems interested in helping them out. The move to Failsworth could bring a whole new support base, given it's accessibility from Manchester. Call it deperation if you want, but they're trying to do something here when all they've hit is dead ends at our currect location - but I think their refusal to give up is pretty commendable. Other people that might have come in when we were in administration might have bolted by now, but the TTA are still here bankrolling our club, still trying to take it forward, despite getting no thanks from a fairly significant group of fans that will never be pleased.

Of the major decisions they've had to make, you can see the reasoning behind them, though: Talbot's sacking - They had no choice, really. Moore's sacking - Did anyone really want to see hoofball? Sheridan's sacking - Harsh on Shez, but the Dog Racing incident had made Latics a bit of a laughing stock and part of me says good on them for making sure something like this doesn't happen again. Knocking down the Lookers - A small step, maybe, towards getting us nearer to a better ground? The new ground - regardless of what you think about the size and location, it's an attempt to try something new to try and boost interest in Oldham Athletic. The fact that journeymen play for us is, unfortunately what clubs of our level have to just get on with, ever since the Bosman ruling. The negative air around the club at the moment I think are generally due to matters on the pitch, out of TTA's control. We're all fed up of seeing seasons like this for the last 13 years, but I think some of the managerial appointments have let the TTA down. On paper, all promising from the sort of names we are likely to attract, but they just haven't seemed to click at Latics, which is hardly the TTA's fault.

I don't agree with this one - Moore historically had a reputation for playing bad football, and so it proved at Latics, so it was no wonder the crowds started falling. At least Penny has a history of playing decent football and maybe deserves a bit longer to get it right?

Reckon Gregan's been the only success story so far - we need some back up for him, though....and a striker....and a creative midfielder, etc.

Yeah, not happy about this. Have always been impressed by Millwall's ground for view and atmosphere. Millwall also try and make fans "stay for the day" by opening the bar at midday and after the match to try and get fans spending at the club - might be worth making the ground as accomodating as possible so fans do this.

Maybe stick more than just the one body up there then?

Well the current tactics arn't working and we have enough available players to give something else a go (e.g; 4-4-2 with two of Blackman, Brooke and Parker up front). Just on the injuries - Abbott aside, I can't really think of anyone who's out who's really going to make too much of a difference to the current team.

Banging the drum here, but does everyone really think that a striker is the answer to all our problems?? Watched the Leeds match and can't think of one significant cross that went into the box and, from the sounds of things, it was the same today and against Huddersfield. Instead of a striker, we need another midfielder (other than CT) that can create and we don't have that at the moment. No proven striker will want to come to us unless there is a team around him providing him with ammunition. I reckon Torres would have a job scoring for Latics at the moment.