alangroves

No I'm not - and never have! I worked for a firm once where the 'right hand man' resigned - and the place went to pot for a while. The 'boss' still had influence but the 'right hand man' was clearly the one who had kept things on an even keel. A change of personnel can have a great effect - particularly if that person is held in high esteem with the players - it's only a theory - no need to get upset about it - and I`m still convinced it's playing a major part. If you're not - that's fine.

On the basis that a coach has influence over ALL the players - I would have to reply - yes.

If we lose this one, that will be 5 straight defeats in December, having shipped a shed full of goals to boot. Not often I advocate playing for a draw but I just feel we cannot afford to lose this one - we have to address the very rapid slide, particularly as we don't have another game then until 10/1/15. The psychological effect of 5 straight defeats in one month would be very hard to recover from so, for me, batten down the hatches in South Yorkshire and bore everyone to death for all I care - just at least come away with a point (if we snatch it with a breakaway - fantastic). Thoughts?

"not seeing what's in front of you" - Jeez, we've just lost at home to the bottom club who were down to 10 men - are our expectations now that low that we celebrate this fact? Can't believe some of this stuff - think you've all been on one of those American 'positive mental attitude' courses - the ones that caused the financial crash because everyone always had to be ever so positive and ignore the blindingly obvious.

I cannot accept that one player makes a team - sorry. I do accept that there could be a few reasons combined to cause our catastrophic collapse - I`m still finding it hard to see why people think it's a couple of bad performances - we've not been 'on song' for about the past 10 games or so.

We were building up a nice head of steam - and have blown it in spectacular style. The hardcore will always be there but we desperately need to attract the 'floaters' and the signs were there that that was starting to happen. After Rochdale and IF we'd have had a decent December, we would have been in great spirits and probably starting (at long last) to attract some new support. With the greatest respect, it was LJ who was quoted in the Sunday papers after Rochdale saying the teams above us had better take us seriously now because we 'were coming for them'. Looks like one of the most awful quotes in football history now. The pessimism is due to poor form for a while now - NOT just a couple of games - as I have said elsewhere -we have lost 6 of the last 10 competitive games.

sorry to disappoint you -I am new on here - completely - and sorry for expressing my opinion

:titanic:No we won't Harry !

I'm sorry but the world has gone mad. I`m reading adjectives like fantastic and superb from our manager when we have just been beaten for the 4th consecutive game - and by a team bottom of the table and down to 10 men - please don't take the Mickey. It might have been an improvement from MK Dons but, in reality, could anything have been worse. It's like saying "My house fell down a hole on Monday - bad day" "Only my garage fell down a hole Tuesday - fantastic superb!" Doesn't wash with me I`m afraid.

and please stop going on about 3points off play-offs !!! That's simply on points banked - where are the next points coming from ??

Sorry - have to agree with Stargazer on this one - blind optimism is plain silly and gets you nowhere in reality. A home loss today to Crewe was just as bad as the previous 3 consecutive defeats to Dons, Yeovil and Doncaster - it's 4 straight defeats now with 14 conceded and 1 scored - a cause for optimism ????

Hard work this - the one probably having a lot of influence now in day to day training is Dean Holden - will certainly have 'had a grip' since December having joined mid November - and we've lost every game in December - hope it's a co-incidence

" and we lost at home to a side bottom of the league who were down to ten men"

and please someone just answer this then - if my theory for Latics' remarkable deterioration (i.e. Paul Murray leaving) is wrong - then what is the reason for the sudden downturn then please?

No it doesn't but, on a day to day basis, the first team coach will work with the players most, so has a great deal of influence. It's all about 'backroom dynamics' too - surely you've all worked in a place with a 'boss' knowing full well it's the backroom team that actually make the place tick? Each person has a different role to play in the team but, granted, it's hard to work out why Latics need 3 people for one first team

We need a decent goalie - really do - LJ identified it but hasn't found the right one - look at Crewe's website - their manager says he saw our keeper was way off his line so willed their fella to 'go for it' - which he did, with aplomb. Keeper's fault no matter how good the striker's execution - would have been a simple save if on his line.

regarding my OP - can anyone recommend a good divorce lawyer please?

I`ve addressed this before - Tommy Wright is assistant manager - Dean Holden is 1st team coach (replaced Murray on 14/11 - Murray departed just prior to Bristol away).

The change in Latics' fortunes has been so dramatic, there simply has to be a fundamental reason - and Murray's departure is all I can put my finger on - it is some remarkable co-incidence if it isn't the reason for our decline because the decline certainly co-incides with the date of his departure

For what it's worth, I don't think we'll finish in top half now. I will watch them all the way as I always have but I`m convinced the whole ethos has been upset with Murray's departure (he and LJ got on famously well). Every good manager has a good 'right hand man' and I think Murray was LJ's. I think there will be some cost cutting now, with players being shipped out (some deservedly so) but with precious little incoming. Can't blame SC - he's backed Latics to the hilt - we simply had to have a good run in December to pull in the floating supporters and build a head of steam for next year. Instead, December has been an unmitigated disaster with 4 defeats on the bounce. We'll be back to absolute square one i.e. hard-core support, no money, loan players and ultimately struggling. It's a vicious circle and hard to see how it's going to be broken.

Can't be bothered arguing - happy Easter - I think my general point is still valid - this is NO blip

Who mentioned rankings ? We LOST the game - accept it

The Bristol fans always commented on his mental fragility - any criticism and he folds they said - maybe the rollicking after Yeovil 'killed him' ?

and we are not 1 point off the play-offs ???

How am I counting a draw? We LOST on penalties. If England lose on penalties in a world cup - they go out - it doesn't count as a draw in the stats - thank you