mikeleylandoafc

We rarely seem to do well when they lower the prices though!! This is Latics - inconsistency is our middle name. It could go any way today (and Orient seem to be no mugs this season). However, a win means the players might just prove to themselves that they can go on a decent run and mount a play-off challenge. They've shown they can mix it with the big boys but it's against the lower teams, especially at home, that we flatter to deceive. I don't want to hear things after the final whistle like "they thought they could just turn up today" as we've heard in the past. The attitude has to be right from the off and the ability will shine through.

There was an interesting tweet this morning from MENOAFC (presumably also Mike Keegan): ‏@MENOAFC According to @OptaJoe #oafc have scored 73% of their goals this season in the 2nd half which is the highest percentage on League 1.#fitness When we have struggled, last season and this, it seemed some of the players were dead on their feet. There was the comparison with the Morais Stevenage model v the Morais Latics model and how much trimmer he looked. So now that we are finishing games stronger and performing better generally, is this down to an improvement in fitness, or was "they don't look fit" just an easy gripe when we were performing badly? I'm not including Lee Croft in any of this by the way, the man is a glorious exception.

Just hope the balls they use are neither chocolate or indeed salty...

Sorry, you're right. I seem to recall a few of the MK players (and, no doubt, their manager) still having a Croft-esque reaction though!

To be fair, there was an incident with one of our ballboys vs MK Dons last season that assisted us somewhat. But the Sheffield United antics (team + ball boys) felt like a whole new level.

As mentioned in another thread the ballboy seems to have confirmed on Twitter that there was no racist abuse from Croft (assuming of course it is his account) and to give him a little bit of benefit of the doubt he was obviously playing along to the tactics of the ballboys and team as a whole and got a bit of a shock whatever Croft said to him. Doesn't excuse their awful tactics - a team at home towards the top of the league doing that against a team in the lower half too, just ridiculous and it was so pleasing to stick it up em. So if the ballboy confirms it wasn't racist - who actually alleged that?

He likes a good text too: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/584743-/61746210 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2169972/Graham-Westley-texts-players-turn-Preston-training.html

A little premature this thread - this is Latics remember! However the final whistle has just gone Only downside tonight it seems is M'voto's injury. If serious, a big miss against a physical side like PNE, who will be confident after winning tonight.

I can only apologise for today's lack of output in the second half. Roy and myself were totally unaware. Roy heard from someone after the game too and unfortunately Bob I hadn't checked your tweets during the second period, it was difficult to do that when there was so much going on on the pitch. However that's not an excuse - there should be a better system to advise us that the broadcast is not going out. As you probably realise, I'm the monkey not the organ grinder, but Roy and I are going to try to ensure this doesn't happen again and will be doing regular checks on Tuesday. In the spirit of responding to "customer" feedback, I take the point about not having much at half-time. I'll see what we can do. If there's anything else that anyone can think of to improve the commentary at home games please suggest it. Finally, nobody is more gutted than me that there was no output today - one of the most dramatic games we've had for a while and nobody heard us try to describe it....

I'm listening Mr BP, and although I suspect you'll be at BP, I'll speak to Roy and we'll get on air at 2.50 tomorrow to at least check that it's working. Hopefully our regulars such as Bob, Bristol and Singe will be able to confirm.

To whet the appetite - sort of: Although there is one shocking miss in there - presumably indicative of what the Forest fans think of him. If used effectively and given the service, could hopefully score a few poacher's goals.

Mike Keegan tweeted a picture of him shaking hands with Dickov but seems to have since been removed. Jumping the gun slightly but it must be happening today.

It seems like the likes of Darren Anderton, who happily carried on in the lower leagues for presumably a very small percentage of what he used to earn, are the exception. It feels as if the likes of Heskey and until recently Owen would rather retire than work their way down the ladder. I do wonder when the love of playing football above all else disappears from a professional's mindset, but guess this happens quite early in their careers. Just reading The Secret Footballer's book at the moment. Danny Murphy is the strong favourite as to who it is in my opinion. It's quite insightful about players wages but the specific question above hasn't been covered yet.

I haven't seen the Sky thing yet, but I assumed it was prompted by Baxter's agent trying to keep him in the shop window?

Let's hope Jose's learned his lesson where Kenny clearly never did. We could have a punt at Michael Johnson from City if we're going down this route again(!) He got banned from driving last week. I wonder if the club would have made the announcement had the BBC article not been written. I would expect they would have wanted to keep it quiet.

If he does sign, at least would also show there is a wee bit more cash in the pot when all hope seemed lost in that respect. A rough diamond, and a gamble, but we need another dimension.

Great, wonder who he'll score his first goal against in a couple of weeks?

Warren Feeney must be due another call surely? Millar and M'Changama are two other candidates.

Stephens heading for the premier league and Shez sacked in the same day - didn't see that coming either!

Is Taiwo a free agent? I believe Carlisle are making excessive transfer demands to Bradford hence the stalemate status. Because he's under 23/24? aren't Carlisle entitled to a fee? Didn't see Stephens moving to the Prem so quickly but really hope he makes it. I think we missed his creativity and ability to find the killer pass massively when he left.

Add David Mellor to the list too. The Portsmouth situation is ridiculous and feels totally unjust given their complete instability.

He made two mistakes last night in my opinion, apart from the horror backpass, there was a shanked cross. Thought apart from that he had a decent game. And hopefully he'll never ever make a blind backpass like that again.

I tend to agree with this, but our goal was from a goalkeeping error and it could have been a case of 0-0 and we can't even score against a poor Walsall side. In terms of other "what ifs", Simpson getting his studs to that excellent ball in from Grounds in the 2nd half would have made it 2-0, and every time we broke in the 2nd half the wrong option was chosen - final ball lacking. I agree with Prozac though, we need someone up top who can hold some ball up. In midfield I think Wes and Furman will be ok if (big if) they get a consistent run of games together. A veteran on a short-term contract to plug the gap might be an idea though...

It is - I decided to coordinate my twitter and owtb profiles, and ditch the ladder since I haven't been up there since before they demolished the Lookers!

Thanks to the powers that be, we have Iain Williamson in charge of our first league game on Saturday. - The dodgy penalty v Orient - The dodgy decisions v Peterborough - The non-foul on Morais at Notts County last season which led to Sheehan scoring I wonder if Peter Beagrie has picked the officials or someone is just having a laugh, but surely our luck with Williamson has to change. http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/Appointments/0,,10794~2778742,00.html