oafc-latics

First half wasn't working so I can understand a change in formation, but it was the wrong one. Danny Wilson's come out and said they forced us to play narrow, which is fair, and probably why we never had a winger wanting the ball when the fullbacks had it. I'd have put Poleon and Forte on the wings for 10-15 mins and either Philliskirk or Wilkinson upfront and seen how that worked, rather than just lumping it up for M'Voto to head wherever he liked. Might not have worked, but the alternative definitely didn't.

The highlight was when the tannoy instructed the stewards to assemble, and tell them to go back to what they were doing five minutes later. Oh, and 'Super Reds'? There was nothing super about that evening. Should have known after walking around Barnsley town centre before the game looking for a Chinese or Curry House, and finding nothing.

I thought it was closer to £600k? Either way, that amount of money is impressive for a player who was a full back last season. They sold Craig Dawson for £1m too, and got decent fees for Le Fondre, O'Grady and Lambert over the last few years I think.

4/1 on top six is tempting.

If you'd told me during the Evans week that we'd be happy at the end of the window, I'd have been very surprised. But fair play to the club, mainly for keeping the key players. I can see us keeping up with the play-offs now, and even if we don't get them we should be in a good position to strengthen over the summer and have a proper go next year. Can't wait for tomorrow night now.

Don't get the Forte rumour. He's missed about half our games through injury, and people are saying he might have to retire at the end of the season, so why would anyone sign him? And if we knew we were selling him, why would we bring him on as a sub on Saturday and risk injury? Not saying it won't happen, but can't see it.

Well said. 13 clean sheets isn't a bad return for a 'mediocre' keeper. I'm surprised though, I thought he wanted to go into coaching? Didn't he want to retire last season but LJ persuaded him to carry on?

Oh dear, I'd forgotten about Plummer. Down there with Jon Worthington as one of the worst players I've seen for Latics.

Agree he isnt worth that much, but Trotman went for £500k.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying we can't get the play-offs, but we'd have to do very well to get there. A strong second-half of the season, and we'd have a real chance next season.

If we were that good, we'd be in those places already. I think we can have a go at the play-offs, but if you offered me a top ten finish now I'd take it for sure. Especially after the last five or six years below 15th.

Paul Black's left Cheltenham to go to the MLS

Apparently they're deciding today whether the game will be on, and the surrounding areas are a problem.

Better than Wellens at Bradford?

Is he the one that turned down a loan move to Sheffield United because of their involvement with Ched Evans?

He was still a director who was there to help commercially though. Surely if he was opposed then that should have been the end of it.

So the Commercial Director who's also a life-long Latics fan resigns, and they still didn't anticipate sponsors pulling out and fans being annoyed? The more I hear, the more I think they just wanted to sign him because they could, it was nothing to do with morals or even football.

Their first had to be a foul. Chubs had two hands on the ball. There were two free kicks given to the keepers on MOTD that were less contact. Brian Wilson was shocking on the line though. I thought their second was good skills at the time, but he's got past 3 or 4 players so easily. Decent finish, but given far too much space considering it was the last minute of injury time.

Ref didn't make any big decision all game. Linesman gave Elokobi's goal, linesman gave the red, and the ref obviously didn't want to give a foul for their first. God knows where the 5 added minutes came from too, and they scored in the 5th. Agree that LJ should have made a sub though, Dieng for Philliskirk would have seen us with 3 points.

It's a sequel to 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'... ...called 'How to Lose Sponsors and Alienate Fans'.

It's only the Chron saying it so far, and even then the focus of the article was about Evans.. Nobody else is saying anything?

Barry Owen to take over??

wonder if that was a condition of signing with us? would have backed up Latics' argument that he should be rehabilitated.

It's taken five days longer than it needed, but at least the right decision has finally been made. Hopefully the club can rebuild the reputation we've lost and get on with it out of the media. If he had signed, then we'd have taken years to get over it. The board need to come out and defend themselves though. They've been embarrassing to OAFC with delayed statements, saying they consulted fans, saying they were surprised, reportedly taking £2m off the father-in-law etc. Threats to their family is not on, but it's ironic that they're quick to react when it's close to home. Lost a lot of respect for them.

This is how I see it all. Forgetting the morals, and even the 'footballing decision' argument, the negatives outweigh any positives. I'd argue it wouldn't even be a good footballing decision to sign an unfit player who hasn't played in 3 years and will probably move on in the summer.