IceStationLatic

Guess the 1 of 4 line is just a cover in case Scholes drops out at 11th hour. To keep in the frame those who’ve been interviewed but not yet rejected. 

11 hours ago, sjk2008 said:

Yes, and it can be filed under ‘complete bollocks’.

Yes, I think the rumour source can be filed under ‘player’s agent’. 

Sorry if already on here but anyone heard anything about the rumour that we’re after Grimsby striker Wes Thomas...?

I’m dreadfully sorry but a Clarke and Wild double act does hold appeal to me....

... after one game. 

They care. 

5 hours ago, OneSizeFitz said:

 

Just to fact-check this assertion...

 

2017-18

Coventry - 6th (P)

Swindon - 9th

Port Vale - 20th

Chesterfield - 24th (R)

 

2016-17

Doncaster - 3rd (P)

Blackpool - 7th (P)

Colchester - 8th

Crewe - 17th

 

2015-16

Leyton Orient - 8th

Notts County - 17th

Yeovil - 19th

Crawley - 20th

 

2014-15

Shrewsbury - 2nd (P)

Stevenage - 6th

Carlisle - 20th

Tranmere - 24th (R)

 

2013-14

Scunthorpe - 2nd (P)

Bury - 12th

Portsmouth - 13th

Hartlepool - 19th

 

 

So over the last five seasons,  only 6/20 (30%) of relegated teams reached either the playoffs or were automatically promoted in their first season. 9/20 (45%) finished 17th or lower...

 

How many points closer to the playoffs do you think we should be?

 

My view, for what it's worth, is that we're about where we should be. On average attendances, we're 13th, and by all accounts we cut our wage bill fairly sharply over the summer. We tend to beat teams below us in the league, and not beat teams above us. At the start of the season, some pundits were tipping us for relegation (FourFourTwo had us 24th; Guardian as relegation candidates) - largely because of our off-the-field issues - whilst others thought we'd fare slightly better.

 

We're a mid-table team, with mid-table players, mid-table attendances, and up until Boxing Day a steady if unspectacular manager. That's not to say we shouldn't aim higher than that, but to "expect" us to be further up the league than we are seems a little ill-founded.

 

 

Fair play with the research. I was assuming across the leagues. But I don’t think we’ve played 12 teams better than us. 

On expectations...

My fear, as we hurtled down the table..., was we’d be another Chesterfield. 

My expectation, given the performance of the majority of relegates clubs in L2, was play-off contention.

I accept budget talk and impact etc. 

But how how would you assess the quality of teams we have faced.....?

And with the players we have, should we be doing better?

They say the table never lies. But should be closer to the play-offs for me. 

We’ve got the players. We appointed a manager who evidently needed to learn with regards substitutions (still appeared to be a weakness there) and tactics (although it seems our good run was based on the manager being bullied into playing two up top...!).

Patience must have run out, after a near-miss with the FA Cup late show. Our league position could be, or could have been, key to attracting good loan signings?

We desperately need a good run early this year; otherwise, if we lose at Fulham, a dangerous ‘season over’ mentality could take over. I assume AL is desperate for us to stay in the play-off picture to avoid attendances spiralling off. 

I don’t comment on here much but a few thoughts on AL and ‘interference’. Just to put a few points out there...

1. It’s his club. It’s his money. Ultimately in this day and age, he has his say how his money is spent... not us. 

2. He was evidently unsatisfied and took swift action when we were we heading for the lower reaches of the table. Do we disagree with that?

3. He gave Bunn a strict points targets (judging by Bunn’s referees cost people their jobs comments) because his ambition for the season is promotion. Do we disagree?

4. He intervened on tactics and selection because we were playing one up top and the style was dull. Did we not agree? Was AL not proved right when results improved on the back of this intervention...?

5. Midtable. Acceptable? If we believe the story about high wages flying around (end of Wellens era)..., is that good enough? We’ve all commented on how poor most of the opposition teams we’ve seen are... Is it wrong to be viewing that as a failure, not a building block?

6. A 6-0 drubbing at Carlisle. Acceptable? Is it so wrong to treat that as more of a blip..., and instead a failure of the manager to motivate his players?

7. A number of ‘his signings’... But have they been that bad...? 

8. Giving manager’s time. Being patient doesn’t automatically create the next Joe Royle or Alex Ferguson. Vast majority of the time it doesn’t. He was patient with Wellens. We got relegated and Wellens and the players let us down. He wasn’t willing to risk the same thing happening again; he won’t tolerate mediocrity or low standards. That so bad...

9. ‘Bunn would have won 4-1 today as well...’ Really, would he? Of course we’ll never know. But at Notts County I saw a team that played the name and the ground and accepted a 0-0 in the closing stages... I wonder if we’d have settled for a ‘solid point’ at a ‘difficult place to go’ after Carlisle. Yes I’m stretching to harshly diss FB here but today it seems the team selection had better balance (full backs in particular), tactics, and the half-time team talk obviously worked well - and it was a youth coach and Clarke probably doing it... Just one game... but I, like many, thought the players might down tools today given their celebrations had suggested they backed Bunn so strongly and with both the transfer window coming up and the shop window (Fulham) coming up. 

Just putting throwing it out there...

DG our sole creative outlet last night. Some excellent passes and angles. Only passes that weren’t telegraphed. He’s not Pirlo; of course he’s going to be wide of the mark with some. But without him all we’d have is long balls. He has to play. We need to strengthen around him so he was space to distribute - most teams will be much better than that atrocious Notts side was at applying pressure in midfield. 

Would imagine he’s going after what will increase season ticket sales.

Been the theme of his signings and PR.

And amid Lampard and Gerrard etc....

My guess is his going all in to tempt Scholes, saying there’ll be money etc. 

Heard today that he’s won his case against Notts C.

Tell Wellens he won’t get the job because he lacks experience. 

Appoint a manager with no experience. 

Typical Latics. 

If us fans want Wellens, we have to email the club and give our reasons.

Corney and Moisley will want RW, but the new owners have Correa lined up.

It’s almost a certainty that it’s going to be Correa. 

But it it’s not definite, yet, as it’s not happened. 

Actual, presentable, and personalised evidence (emails) from fans as well as social media noise and pundits’ comments, may make a difference. 

It may buy an extra game or few, and then if Wellens keeps getting wins...

This is going to be the one time we should go for the ‘cheap option’ isn’t it...!

The players are all playing for him. Dummingham, for example, is starting to look a player again after previously being destroyed confidence wise. 

Interview-wise, he sounds convincing and you can imagine that he holds respect in the dressing room; he’s not talking in cliches, he doesn’t sound dull, and he doesn’t say ‘erm’ every two five seconds....!

Only two games.... but in both, tactically, in tough fixtures on paper, he’s got it spot on whereas his predecessor openly admitted to getting it wrong in games this season - and did on a few ocassions. 

Best of all..., his in-game management. Quick reaction to 10 men against Peterborough and the right changes to see the game out against all the odds.

And yesterday, how often have we seen those games turn against us?! 1-0 up and on top but don’t get the second; they nick an equaliser after the break and then run out 2-1 winners...!

He didn’t just say “more of the same” and then we have to react but it’s too late. 

He second-guessed the bollocking in the home dressing room and knew they’d come out pressing higher from the whistle; he prepped the clever high ball and a potential 2 on 2 situation.., bang, 2-0. 

Very impressive. 

Be extremely silly not to give him more games, or to react decisively if we, say, have one defeat under RW later this month. 

I fear it’s already a done deal. Perhaps Correa could be a Director of Football as a way to leave RW in place...

But at least the statement about a forthcoming statement implied the good signs under RW are being noted. They didn’t have to put that paragraph in. Of course Corney would be happy to give RW a shot..., he’s done it before (!) and it would free up more money if TP was happy to remain in an assistant-type position. 

Because s soon as anyone talks about transfer activity, only for things (inevitably with us) to change, they are branded as BSers?

Club blames press for story it didn't want out there, regardless of truth. Shock. Cough - Ched Evans first time around.

It looked like a proper home end, not one having its own private function under a stupid dipping roof. Some are biased based on old glories, but if both stands sing, one end is miles louder.... it's obvious. It was obvious to the players on the pitch - that's why it was changed, not the result of a survey.

Winchester, despite his mistakes, makes himself available to receive the ball and has an ounce of creativity to excite the paying fan. He also has a shot, which earned us a point in our previous league game. How he was dropped from the squad whereas Banks and Green, the former in particular who goes hiding at the drop of a hat, was shocking. There's probably more to it behind the scenes.

Robinson is becoming increasingly like Dunn. Taking players backwards. Naive and negative tactics. We barely score. Despite Clarke and Ripley's heroics, we still concede almost every game.

To stay up, we'all have to what we did last season: play 20 yards further up, try to score goals by committing men forward, and become attacking and good at home.

I have no faith whatsoever we are capable of such a dramatic turnaround, just by just swapping four or five players (whilst abandoning the only genuine exciting and committed midfielder [turned every position you can pick him in apart from his best one] we have left)... in light of the tactics and team selections of recent matches.

in Jan, which great striker is going to want to join a L1 club languishing in the relegation zone that, from one look at the stats and from TV evidence the other night, knows we will barely create any chances; hence, what do they stand to benefit from coming to us...

We won't be able to get great players in any case.

But we need a manager capable of getting average players to know their jobs, be motivated, be positive, and be committed to win football matches - to become a good team.

We are going down if we continue with a manager who fails at the above and sticks every man behind the ball as much as possible, seemingly in the hope of nicking 1-0s and draws to stay up.

Our players are still strangers....

And Preston have two weeks' training advantage on us, and they're a league higher, and they have better players...etc.

These games against better opposition are good for getting the fitness up.

They need to balanced with when we're think we are going to win the league after beating, say, Stirling Albion something like 5-0 in a week or two...

If he isn't as much in the know then all the more likelihood it's true as it wouldn't reach him until nigh on certain.

I don't care if it's not on our website. They can get busy with our website when we sign some sodding players. Stop moaning about pointless things.

Whoever we appoint, I hope Shirtliff stays. Yes Gerrard was a massive leader and character, but a quite remarkable turnaround in our defence - crucial to us staying up with all the 1-0 wins - can be timed with when 'second-choice Shirtliff' arrived...

Our desperate situation may prompt a move for Dowie. He's a 'name', knows the club, and emulates Shez to an extent by lifting the atmosphere - to a point.

But why he'd take the job is one thing.

And whether he'd be good enough and the right man to handle this crisis situation is another...

Having said that though, who, that we could actually get, is?

The club went for the only one on the table who the vast majority believe would be capable, and who the vast majority never thought could be a serious contender and scoffed at the reports intimating so. But for Forest... He'd have been appointed today.

Given the speed of things at Latics though, Forest may have appointed Giggs, and ruled out Evans, before we have finished interviewing other contenders.. !

People who claim to have some info and choose to share it... Mocked and slagged off.

People who have no info yet spout negative BS as if they are 'in the know' too... Bang on.

Might be Sherringham? Or James Beattie,.. :-/

The former was sacked, I remember the statement said he was very unlucky with injuries - it was slightly strange.

What if it's.... SCHOLES!

For all the moaning, and amid the random sporadic shouts of "cheap option" - which means nothing given that we don't have enough money to make anyone a cheap option?!!, the shortlist actually looks quite promising...

A few on Twitter are starting to realise...

Still a long time for a manager, with contacts, to build a squad.

I think Dowie would be heart over head. How anyone could chose him over Adams is baffling.

Bunn and Dowie would be interesting though.

I just fear for our defence if Shirtliff goes, whoever we sign.