IceStationLatic

I've formed that judgment from three minutes out of 90+ stoppages, but I couldn't help myself...

Just watched the highlights... Very short highlights.... But still... Prepare yourselves for this..... It looked like Philliskirk had a decent game. Involved in the build up for two of the goals. Passing from midfield and regularly advancing forward to support the strikers - making us a 4-3-1-2 of sorts... Keep it up! There I've said it. I'm so sorry.

Not the fans' fault when a player misbehaves off the pitch, and is disciplined, either. Not that the above isn't true though... :-)

Just confirming they made a balls-up by taking a huge, huge gamble by appointing Kelly. Would you have rather they did nothing and made a panic appointment when they sacked Kelly? Or had Holden in charge in charge for a couple of months..! But the previous gamble or two, related to other clubs etc, has worked - and a new stand, albeit late, has gone up. Dickov made us valuable cup dosh, kept us up, and then we got rid at right time. Johnson proved to be an excellent appointment. We also made money off him. Corney probably just wanted to see an X-factor in Kelly so much that he convinced himself a very positive and ambitious interpretation of him. Relative to the way some other clubs are run, however, criticism of our board is still a bit harsh. Whilst I have my concerns about the similarities between Dunn and Holden's approach, albeit after very little time, hopefully we are just trying to build from the back - and Dunn will have the contacts to get a quality player or two that will make things click. We aren't being run into ground the way some of our fans are making out. If our current owner and officials walked, we would be - or we'd be playing in red at a rugby league ground somewhere...

I can't believe ppl still don't believe it...or are slagging off ppl 'with sources' and then making unsubstantiated comments themselves. I'm surprised this is the case even after the stories got in the nationals pre-Walsall and the journalist who frequently contacts Corney publicly said "for now" when Dunn signed as a player. It's obvious. It's like with Poleon. Are there still ppl who don't know why he was dropped for a while yet? I'm referring to the ppl who are reacting like he's proved a point by sorting himself out, training and actually doing his job responsibly and what he's told now? On Kelly, the board realised they'd dropped a bollock in the summer. The board made signings, including Dunn, when Kelly's contacts didn't appear. Why the hell would Dunn have come here, 'just to play'. It was to play... 'For now'. The board acted and got their replacement ready. Some have slagged the board off for not ditching the manager before the season started. They may well have been same people who, if that had happened, would have been calling for Corney's head for not even giving Kelly a chance, and bemoaning why we'd have been in every national paper and TV debates talking about shortest managerial tenures and young coaches not been given a chance. Also, perhaps they would not have had enough legally to get rid straight away.

I did appreciate when he lept up, did a double windmill with his arms, and sat straight back down... There wasn't much to enjoy on Saturday. Apart from donny's double crossbar challenge antics. The game's highlight.

I agree with this completely except for the bit about the channels (he was playing as a holding midfielder and clearly told to sit, just like Jones) and the last sentence, which is complete bollocks. Although I admit on Saturday's evidence alone, he just didn't want the ball. But he wasn't alone in looking uncomfortable with the system and tactics. It smacked of uncertainty when at times we dominated possession and weren't supposed to be - we were 'supposed' to be defending doggedly for the whole game and playing on the break. There was no freedom. No-one took on a player. Creativity looked coached out of a lot of them - not just Winchester. I hope, really hope, it was just the 5-1 still in the system a little bit. And the effects of upheaval and knowing new players are coming in... I fear it was Holden-esque, unnecessarily negative tactics that at this level we will get punished for, will frustrate players and anger fans, and we won't win enough games.

Nzlatic is bang on. And when we did have two players in the box for a cross, they just cantered. No intelligence, no-one bursting to the near post or one checking his run for the pull-back... Twice Croft crossed to nothing - but both deliveries were actually okay. It's Forte, and hopefully a new striker, who will have that intelligence. But we were quite flat in general today. We only played with a bit of zip for the first few minutes and briefly at the end. Negatives are that the same lack of hunger was in defence. We lost a lot of 50-50s and looked vulnerable from crosses and set-pieces. Yes they were off target, and yes they didn't go in, but Donny won a lot of headers in our box and should have scored from one or two of them.

I think the change of pace from the flicked header (the guy who walked into the box that no-one marked) completely caught out Burn and the guy got the step on him inside. But his reaction, amid the head injury, suggested he knew he'd buggered up.

Shocking? That couldn't be further from the truth. He had no service. One idiot behind me said he wasn't fit to wear the shirt when he lost a header from a 40ft pass against a defender a foot taller than him. He worked hard and we looked a lot weaker when he went off - no outlet for pace. He isn't a striker, so doesn't make runs as clever as Forte. But he's fast. All he needed was some balls in the channels to chase or a quicker through-ball, the sort Dunn and Winchester (when his head is right) can pick out. But the balls were all high and long on to the head of a centre-half, or straight through to the keeper. We were fairly slow and laboured as a team. Too much backward-passing. Players took the simple option a lot and the ball was a bit of a hot potatoe. Winchester for some reason just didn't carry the ball forward like we know he can. I guess the 5-1 and upheaval took a lot out the players.

Maybe Paul Dickov is coming to play up top for us ;-)

Just to clarify, I meant in support - not booing :-)

Indeed...!

Let's make some flipping noise on Saturday

Like football is fair... Like you'd be applauding us trying and failing to get Dunn from, say, Wigan or Sheff Utd - with Holden charge. You'd all be slagging off Corney for not acting despite having reservations as early as pre-season.

Oldham Athletic AFC are now a risk to our national security, our economic security and your family's security

Lol And for Jenny too...? Apologies.

Yep. With no money, and look at their squad compared to ours. Why do you think we were his first choice? But anyway the point was that any appointment is a gamble... Both Yates and Kelly had their logic to the respective types of gambles - but the latter was much riskier than the former at the time.

Kelly Dunn up like a kipper

This pleases me a lot. Yeah someone posted on Twitter that a 'fan' called him a donkey to his face as he took to the field. I'm sure he's a big boy and all.., but he shouldn't have to take something like that. Embarrassing 'support'.

Think it's pretty obvious SC has the final decision. But he'd have been backed by the Board fully when he made it. Remember how when he appointed LJ, he got him in for a few one-to-one interviews with other officials (without sharing his opinion) to see if they were as impressed as he was... It's not just a cheap option with our appointments. They've been trying to do good business - which they did with LJ, and Dickov to a point in terms of his Cup run. Any experienced guy out there - that is within our range - will have most likely had experience of a huge failure and split the fans. Some of the expectations on here were to be frank, laughable. It's not that Dowie, for example, wasn't a cheap option; he was a very expensive option and too much of a gamble I imagine. The guy that went to Crawley (Mark Yates?) was a good fit on paper, had strong experience of doing well on low budgets, conjuring cup runs, and lower-league player knowledge for signings..., but he was was slagged off aplenty on here... But that was the quality of candidate we were dealing with... going for an 'experienced' manager. His agent, on Twitter, gave our fans some stick with regards our expectations. That probably indicates the criticism put the club off appointing him. There was lots of criticism...but who else was out there?!!! No names much better - only Holden, Dowie who we couldn't afford, Scholes who turned it down.... Yes there must have been better than Kelly - but how much £ were they demanding. And many of those ppl criticising the likes of Yates werre saying names like Adkins?!!!!!! ...and then someone on here was calling for Dean 'relegation' Saunders!!! And you look at some of names of our experienced options via the Latics Facebook page...Christ! So you've got the choice between an underwhelming, expensive 'has-been' who will split fans from the off - or an up-and-coming coach who will get criticism at first but then, like with LJ, could win ppl over with one press conference and one victory...and like we have to do with players, we could make money off him if he turns out to be half decent and eventually moves on. Appointing one of the mixed-bag, experienced guys on paper....low chance of making money off him and highly likely to end up with a significant sum to pay him off - as that type of manager will demand a longer contract. Yates probably should have been appointed - unless he had some demands that were unworkable. But Corney and the Board saw something in Kelly and went with their gut instinct, like they did with LJ. However, it seems they wanted to see something, an x-factor of sorts, so much in Kelly that they may have convinced themselves there was something there when there wasn't. They read between the lines of his CV very, very positively!! Let's hope their impression of Dunn was and is more accurate. Like others on here, I heard he was a Board signing, not Kelly's - and questioned why he'd choose us, if there wasn't a managerial 'carrot' as part of the bargain. Kelly must have known this. Feel sorry for the guy. But it was just the wrong appointment and a gamble too far - based on gut instinct and coaching badge due diligence.

The Board basically... It appears as though it quickly became apparent that the gloss of Kelly's CV and interview was covering over someone that was out of their depth. The transfer market dealings... 'So where are these contacts..?!'

"Sportsmail understands senior figures at Oldham harboured serious concerns that they had made an error in appointing Kelly within weeks of his arrival in May."

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