hollinwood_pass

... and if you think that Byrne needs to be willing to budge too then I would agree.

I do not of course. I have no insight on what has happened whatsoever, But do you really think that the current impasse is really helping the club? Suggests to me they need to try an alternative approach to whatever they have done so far while they still have the opportunity.

I should add that the fact that Latics are so innovative and unpredictable in how they mess up both on and off the pitch is one of the reasons I enjoy supporting them. Like I expect most posters here I say “typical Latics” all the time when normally I mean what on Earth were they thinking?

One of the advantages of looking at what has happened in the past is to help avoid repeating the same mistakes. To be fair though Latic’s do not seem to have any difficulty in finding new ways to screw up. Getting back on topic this current fiasco around the club freezing Byrne, potentially the best player in the squad, out of the team is a good example of the club’s creativity when it comes to messing up. Why can’t they just grow up, eat a bit of humble pie - after giving it 15 mins to cool down of course - & see if they can get him back into the team. If it still does not work out then at least they will have tried rather than just giving up on him.

This prediction - here is the direct link to where the latest table can be found https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/league-one/league-table/predicted - gives a good view of the impact of yesterday's result. The Latics draw, as with the Walsall result, matched the prediction on this site. The forecast for their remaining five matches - one win (Southend); one loss (Dale) and three draws - has not changed. The points total is still therefore 52. What has altered is the projected final position - from 20th at the time of the above post and 19th after the Walsall match to 21st and relegated now. Wimbledon and Dale both outperformed their forecasts yesterday and hence have moved up. As yesterday illutrated however the forecasts of individual results are far from reliable. I think the real lesson is that who gets relegated is currently just too close to call. The main point from the Latics perspective is that currently it is still in their hands. I am just hoping that this is still the case this time next week.

was in the away end for wimbledon v northampton today - I have a couple of friends from college that support both teams. the good news is that neither team look as good as the Latics side that I saw beat bradford last weekend. Bad news is that both teams remain above Latics. One of the visiting supporters exclaimed his surprise halfway though the first half that Latics were 2 up. I explained that there was still plenty of time left for them to screw it up and sure enough ... Most popular chant amongst the visiting support: you're going down with the Franchise, down with Franchise....

blimey, Latics' website still having y2k issues 18 years after the turn of the century ...

I really do hope that the Mickey Mouse cup rules didn't influence today's team selection at all. anyway Latics' remaining two matches in it are both away from home so for them why not pick as many first team players as possible, sub three of them after the opening minute and have the rest that are not in need of a run out feign injury a few minutes later to get them off the pitch too? Now there is no chance of them qualifying why not just treat the competition with the respect that it deserves? was down South today so couldn't make BP. attended the Oxford v the mighty Dale match instead. on today's evidence they are two teams that Latics should be confident of finishing above. Still Dale have a good 'keeper and Vincenti was impressive for them when he came on for the last 20mins. Dale also suffered directly from the decisions of a poor referee, seems to be a common theme ...

does dropping two points tonight matter? probably not but ... the late goals for both coventry and gillingham meant that Latics slipped from a clear 13th back into 14th place. if last season is anything to go by then I believe it is the top 13 in the third division that are seeded in the first round draw of next season's league cup .... although it will be the top 14 if Reading win the FA cup and hence qualify for Europe. could be helpful for the club to improve its chances of making the second round of the league cup and the chance of a draw against one of the bigger top flight clubs that fail to qualify for Europe ... Spurs, Everton, Newcastle maybe?

well that was sweet, ending my run of attending consecutive Latics defeats with a very comfortable win and against Dale of all teams. my Dale supporting friends are not best pleased, to the point where they did not wait to meet up with me after the match. ? I cannot remember the last time I saw Latics play when they had the game so comfortably won towards the end. still it was fortunate that Noble-Lazarus missed that sitter as the match entered its final stage. i would have been fearing Dale coming back from the dead had that one gone in. hmm right change but it was made 15 mins after he was booked at 2-0 up and more than 10 mins after Latics had gone three up. why take the risk in that time? but let us not criticise Holden in the aftermath of a performance like that.

yes having myself been caught up in the queue for the main stand Gents at half-time it did not surprise me when he did not make it back onto the pitch before the full time whistle was blown.

my apologies but I did warn you that I was attending yesterday's match. my own personal run of witnessed results now stands at 11 successive defeats F5 A29. you may be happy to learn that I will be missing at least the next three matches. I treated my Uncle to today's match, a lifelong supporter in his 70s but, for a variety of reasons, this was his first match at BP since the (original) Royle era. he was, to say the least, unimpressed and it may prove difficult to get him to go again. but I will endeavour to persuade him to see at least one more match before the season is over in the hope that it will provide him with a better lasting memory of the club that he has followed for so long - before the game he had shown me a picture of him stood on a packed BP terrace that dated back to the early 1950s when he was 15. I thought that they were in disarray after that shot on target from Philly at the 92' mark, they were very fortunate that the final whilste was blown so soon afterwards

my comment about BO being a factor wasn't meant to be taken seriously, if only I could think that was true about BO's comments to the Chron!

these questions will be tougher at Barnsley because they are likely to be less forgiving if he continues to struggle to find the answer whilst he continues to learn the trade. that for me is what has changed in the sport, Frizzell and Royle both had the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them, provided they avoided relegation in their early seasons. many of the comments here suggest that Johnson second full season in charge will have been a failure if he fails to get the club into the play-offs, which seems ridiculous to me. but now the suggestion is that he is unlikely to see this second season out so maybe it is my expectations that are misguided.

yes and even if he soon finds work elsewhere his reputation will be severely damaged by having a sacking on his CV.

just looked on the Chron website. does anyone else think that Owen's comments in today's paper might just have proven to have been the final straw for Johnson?

yes it would give that impression to us simple folk but would it create a positive impression on that odd collection of human beings that are in the position to appoint him as manager at even a second tier club, let alone the top flight? I expect it is more likely to scare them away ...

it is an intriguing choice for Johnson. but I am less certain that it is the necessarily the prospect of better money that will be the primary influence on his decision. presumably his long term ambition as a young manager is to get a chance to manage in the top flight but english football is notoriously unforgiving, one poor outcome, not even one poor season, and the opportunities to keep progressing onwards and upwards start to dry up. if he has a failure or two then he risks ending up as a lower league journey man like Sheridan, Peter Taylor, Phil Brown etc appear to be now and it looks like his father has now become. the same fate now appears likely to have befallen Dickov after his relegation at Doncaster last season, even if he still currently in the job. the only way I can see Dickov avoiding that fate is if he gets Doncaster into the play-offs this season, which is possible if unlikely. for me the question now has to be for LJ does it make the likelihood of harming or improving his reputation if he was now to leave Latics for Barnsley? I would say at the moment the risk currently outweighs the potential benefits because currently relegation looks far more likely for Barnsley than Latics, and that is the event that would do johnson's reputation severe harm, but to be fair the most likely outcome is for both clubs to stay in the third tier for next season and if that happens then let us be honest it is Barnsley where the prospect of a promotion push in 2015-16 looks the better bet as things currently stand, given the financial situation and prospects at both clubs, unless their is something dodgy happening at Barnsley. but if he does go to Barnsley then they will be far less forgiving if he does not deliver a successful start to the new season ... and a sacking would again be just what Johnson does not want at this stage in his career. so for me that is the judgement call that Johnson faces at the moment and I think it is a very tough call. one final point in Barnsley's favour is that if they if do make Johnson a firm offer and he turns it down then it may give the impression that he lacks ambition, which can also damage his reputation and prospects ...

Jurgen Kloop? wears a nice line in spectacles that would be good sellers in the club shop ... if we still had one

I am afraid that it is looking very likely that I shall be attending the match on Saturday so with my current run of results it looks like another defeat is nailed on. I did do my best for the lads last Saturday by failing to make the Orient game due to events conspiring against me but to no avail ... maybe i now just have to consider attending matches for defeat to be a certainty. an interesting statistic from looking at the current table, although it is all very close from sixth place down Latics are one of only eight teams that currently hold a winning record - number of wins > number of losses. of the team's above them all have a winning record apart from Fleetwood who are level, whilst all the 13 teams below Latics currently have a losing record. of course it is just another case of lies, damned lies and statistics but these things do intrigue me

ok that is a good point, does the club even get any more money if more food and drink is sold? and why have they outsourced the catering to a firm that does not appear to do a good job? is it because they paid the most up front for the contract? or is there another factor involved? when you consider all the attention that the bigger clubs pay towards their catering facilities plus the fact that spectators under the age of 30 or so seem incapable of watching a 45 minute half without buying at least one item of food or drink then this is something that maybe merits more attention.

cannot say that I was too surprised by today's result, especially after hearing that they had conceded early. has anyone on here that was not at least half expecting it not heard the phrase "typical Latics" before? would it perhaps register better if I wrote it as #typicalLatics ? so a question, given the squad and given that they went 1-0 down in the second minute what should plan B have been after they had not looked like scoring an hour or so into the match? swap one of the centre backs or defensive midfielders for a forward? push the full backs further forward to provide some width? maybe even bring on Kusunga as a target man? I am genuinely intrigued as to what options we think Johnson had to turn it around. can good coaching create extra options with the available players or are the players better focusing on what they are good at ... and on not conceding early goals? was it perhaps today where the lack of options up front in the squad really showed? Forte, Philliskirk, Poleon, Winchester and now Murphy all seem very similar to me, all with pace but lacking in physical presence and preferring to receive the ball to feet and whilst facing the goal. do we need to recruit someone like Ibehre on loan to provide a true alternative option? anyway at least Orient's 101st minute winner means that they won't be bottom when we visit Brisbane Rd next so there is at least a chance that Latics will avoid defeat. now if they can just beat Bradford and climb out of the bottom four beforehand ...

it does always seem to catch them a little off guard that a crowd turns when a game is being played at BP. I can understand when some of the pies etc run out on match days, these items have - I think (hope!) - a limited shelf life so you do not want to risk having to throw too much excess stock away, just make the alternatives appetising enough that people will still buy something if their first choice is sold out. but I guess that does not help if you sell out of everything... what is less excusable is when they run out of items like coffee and tea or the chocolate bars where you would expect (hope!) the sell by date to be sometime off in the future and yet I have seen this happen nearly every time that I have attended matches at BP where the crowd is slightly higher than average e.g. Boxing Day, last season's cup matches.

slightly different set of highlights posted by the opposition includes the save from Murphy mentioned above and a couple more of Kean's saves. the pitch seems to be looking a bit rough. perhaps I'm being unfair in comparing it to the high standards achieved last season when there was much less snow to deal with. this passing the ball into the net seems to be catching on, long may it continue ... awesome!

on a more serious note, lots of comments here that Murphy isn't match fit but what is the best cure for that? - give him time on the pitch in matches like this. it was therefore a correct, wise and brave decision by Johnson to bring him on when wilkinson had to leave early albeit helped of course by already being two up. how did Mellis perform? and Philliskirk when he came on, did he fulfil the role of a sub coming on with 35 minutes left and the team ahead? only disappointment from looking at the bbc website report is the crowd figure, only 3,451 to see what sounds like one the best league matches at BP for some time. of course I was one of those missing so cannot complain. let us hope this result and Saturday's cut price offer encourages a decent crowd to turn up for the Colchester game ... and that the team provide a performance that encourages them to keep coming at full price in the future. I will have to miss this one too but will have returned to the UK in time to attend the Orient match, which I now cannot wait for. awesome!