roycole

Playerform's Stockport County Ratings Stockport County's Highest Rated Players 7.60 PFR Owain Fon Williams 7.59 PFR Johnny Mullins 7.55 PFR Carl Baker 7.54 PFR Matty McNeil 7.53 PFR Josh Thompson (?) Full Stockport Squad Oldham's Highest Rated Players 7.67 PFR Dean Furman 7.63 PFR Chris Taylor 7.60 PFR Sean Gregan, Pawel Abbott 7.53 PFR Reuben Hazell Full Oldham Squad

Oldham to beat Tranmere (Evens Stan James & Coral, 10/11 VC Bet, 5/6 Bet 365) Oldham to beat Southend (5/6 Totesport) After the wheels came off their promotion challenge last season, amidst dressing room unrest, Oldham Athletic acted quickly to install former Darlington manager Dave Penney as 2008/2009 drew to a close. Had the Quakers not fallen foul of the administrators there is every likelihood they would have been in League One this season so the Oldham board should be applauded for securing the services of a shrewd lower league manager rather than taking the backward step of appointing Joe Royle who struggled during his spell as caretaker. Penney has used his knowledge of the lower leagues to make some quality additions to the Oldham squad, most notably Pawel Abbott and Rob Purdie from his former club and last year’s joint highest rated League Two player Dean Furman from Glasgow Rangers via Bradford City. With the nucleus of a strong side already in place when he arrived, Penney’s reinforcements have turned Oldham into genuine play off contenders. This year’s race for promotion looks far more competitive that it did twelve months ago so Oldham may have to settle for establishing the foundations for a concerted effort in 2010/2011 and in doing so they should finish comfortably clear of both Tranmere Rovers and Southend United. Tranmere Rovers came agonisingly close to reaching the play-offs last season, just missing out after drawing a final day decider against Scunthorpe United who pipped them for sixth spot. This cost manager Ronnie Moore his job and since then most of last year’s key players have moved onto fresh challenges including Ben Chorley, Steven Jennings, Antony Kay, Danny Coyne and Andy Taylor. Consequently, new boss John Barnes has a huge rebuilding job on his hands as he attempts to prove his managerial credentials following his previously unsuccessful spell in charge at Celtic in 1999/2000 and Tranmere are far more likely to finish nearer the foot of the table than the promotion places. Another facing a similar challenge to Barnes is Steve Tilson at Southend United who has already proven he is one of the most effective managers at utilising the loan market to bring in players to strengthen his side. Twice last season, Tilson built sides capable of challenging for promotion but the interim period, while the likes of Lee Sawyer and Dan Harding swapped places with Dorian Dervite and Theo Robinson, exposed the lack of quality in the players under permanent contracts. ‘Losing’ Peter Clarke and Theo Robinson to Huddersfield Town has further weakened the Shrimpers and the lack of activity at Roots Hall, bar the acquisition of Lee Sawyer, over the summer gives a strong indication that they lack the financial resources to compete with the main promotion contenders. Playerform's Full League One Betting Preview

The announcement of Playerform’s Squads of the Season has created much debate amongst football fans. Whenever ‘representative’ sides like this are selected there will be players who are ‘unlucky’ and just miss out. Unfortunately there has to be a cut off point and not every player who has played well this season can be included. Matty Fryatt and Rickie Lambert are the notable omissions from the League One Squad. There is no doubt that they have had impressive seasons in front of goal and in a ‘normal year’ one or both are sure to have been included in the squad. 2008/09 has been far from a normal year with no fewer than seven players scoring more than twenty league goals therefore there were plenty of contenders to spearhead the attack. We deemed that the overall contribution and influence of Jermaine Beckford, Gary Hooper and Simon Cox for their respective teams gave them a slight edge over Fryatt and Lambert who have both not been as effective in the second half of the season after flying starts to the campaign. Fryatt’s strike partner Steve Howard was selected as the squads targetman as, along with Millwall’s Gary Alexander, he been the best leader of the line in the division. Theo Robinson was our ‘Theo Walcott wild card’ selection judged on the potential he has shown since moving to Roots Hall in January. Before Robinson and Dorian Dervite arrived in January, Southend having lost all their loan stars were in freefall and Playerform were predicting they could potentially get dragged into a relegation battle. Consequently they have done remarkably well to reach the outer fringes of the plays offs and there is little doubt that Robinson and Dervite have provided the catalyst for the Shrimpers impressive form in the second half of the season. Sean Thornton was another ‘controversial’ selection but without their revitalised enigma providing much needed creativity in midfield the O’s would almost certainly be planning for life in the basement division of English football next season. Finally the lack of Peterborough players in the squad is no reflection on their season they have been very well organised by Darren Ferguson who timed his promotion challenge to perfection as other teams failed to last the pace. Peterborough have proven to be a very resilient side which is emphasised by the amount of games they managed to win by the odd goal in the closing months of the season. Their star performers this season have been George Boyd and Craig Mackail-Smith while Charlie Lee has become increasingly influential since the turn of the year. Like Fryatt and Lambert, Mackail-Smith would have usually been an automatic selection in a normal year while utility man Lee also faced stiff competition in the positions (centre back and left back) where he has featured most during his good run of form. One thing is for sure if the Squad of the Season is as difficult to select this time next year, League One fans are in for a treat in 2009/10.

The Playerform League One Squad of the Season has been selected and though there are no Oldham players included it may still be of interest as it is an alternative to the PFA Team of the Year announced on Sunday. Goalkeepers David Martin (Leicester City), Willy Gueret (MK Dons), Owain Fon Williams (Stockport County) Full Backs Andrew Whing (Brighton and Hove Albion), Marc Tierney (Colchester United), Dean Lewington (MK Dons), Johnny Mullins (Stockport County) Centre Backs Richard Naylor (Leeds United), Aleksandar Tunchev (Leicester City), Tamika Mkandawire (Leyton Orient), Zak Whitbread (Millwall), Dorian Dervite (Southend United) Central Midfielders Stuart Campbell (Bristol Rovers), Fabian Delph (Leeds United), Sean Thornton (Leyton Orient), Stephen Gleeson (MK Dons), Peter Leven (MK Dons) Wide Midfielders Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United), Anthony Pilkington (Huddersfield Town), Luke Chadwick (MK Dons), George Boyd (Peterborough United) Forwards Jermaine Beckford (Leeds United), Steve Howard (Leicester City), Gary Hooper (Scunthorpe United), Theo Robinson (Southend United), Simon Cox (Swindon Town) Analysis has been released to accompany the Squad of the Season selections and which players just missed out. www.playerform.co.uk/analysis/sos-review Source: www.playerform.co.uk

Hi All, It is that time of the year where fans across the country are debating who have been the Players of the Season. Throughout the 2008/09 campaign Playerform have rated the performances of every player in every League game to find out who have been the top performers at each of the 92 League clubs. Every team has been analysed in exactly the same way so the results generated are as accurate for a Premier League giant like Manchester United as they are for a lower league minnow like Accrington Stanley. You can check out the ratings for your club and the other 91 in the League by visiting www.playerform.co.uk We realise the valuable service that fans forums / websites provide to allow football fans to debate what is going on at their clubs and to help promote your website we have included a free link on our club guides section. http://www.playerform.co.uk/team-profiles/club-guide Good luck for the rest of the season. Playerform