Worcester Owl

I refer you to my Cheltenham-supporting mate's assessment in the Playing Squad - Summer 23 thread!

You don't think our board/owners have been working in a shit show, given what they inherited from the Chuckle Brothers? They got the Unsworth appointment wrong, for which we can probably blame the Royles. They have now gone for an experienced manager, who has so far had just 28 league games - hardly more than half a season with no proper transfer window and a legacy squad that is clearly not one he would have wanted - to show what he can do. We were 22nd in the league when Unsworth left, and plenty on here said Thompson and Redfearn weren't the answer after three poor draws in a row. MM at least threatened to get us into the play-offs, and may still do. But fine, sack him and let's start all over again next season. I sometimes wonder if as fans we get the performances we deserve.

They had a full bench when they played Rochdale the other day.

His post certainly is. Even by his standards, it's as nonsensical as it is doom-ridden.

I played golf this morning and one of my regular playing mates seemed a bit agitated, odd as he's normally a very chilled out kind of guy. Turns out he was at Cheltenham last night as they lost 0-1 to Carlisle (already down) in a crucial relegation match for them. He was apoplectic about Nuttall, who apparently missed a sitter early on. Honestly, I've never heard him swear so much . Among his more repeatable comments about Nuttall were "can't bloody jump", "fucking useless", "sodding donkey", and he said if we don't take Nuttall back at the end of the season if not before, he might just stick my 7 iron where the sun doesn't shine!!

If we're going to quote win % the only one that matters is league wins. DU in his first season was 35.14% as you say, 13 from 37. By the time he left it was 14 from 46, or 30.43%. MM has 11 wins from 28 or 39.29%. Until the current poor run of 8 without a win he was consistently > 50%, which is a high threshold. He is demonstrably a better manager than DU. I hope he is still up for the challenge - if so, he should be given a summer transfer window and the whole of next season (barring catastrophe, obviously) to show what he can do.

That, sir, is a gem. Take a bow. Would double upvote it if I could!

I never understand why some people get so worked up about the word “soccer”. It’s used by the Yanks a lot, yes, but sensibly in their case to differentiate it from American Football. It’s been used over here since the game was codified, and is simply an abbreviation/corruption of Association Football.

Hope springs eternal

That’s very fair of you. TBH I’m the same, I don’t think I’ve ever booed Latics off, just fled as soon as the whistle goes and got as far away as possible. It’s fine to say that fans pay their money so have the right to boo, I get it, but it’s not like complaining about a product or service in the real world. This is football, and it’s our club, that we love in spite of everything. I just walk away, always have, or, worse, don’t go to the game.

I agree with your second sentence, the team showed fight and passion albeit we didn’t create many clear cut chances. On your first sentence, again, of course we could win all 4 but how many times this season have we played well 2 games running, never mind 4?

Yes Sutton too, bad of me to overlook him. Apart from the disaster for the goal, I thought he played ok against Altrincham.

I don’t feel overwhelmingly impressed by Darren Royle’s tenure as CEO so far, as opposed to the magnificent support given by the Rothwells. Just on the subject of the youth team though, pathways into the first team and the fact that only Vaughan has come through recently, and then with only a few games in the first XI at that: I don’t see that Darren Royle is in any way to blame, unless we are suddenly going to start saying that the non-football guys should have influence over who is selected for the first team - in which case we’re back to the bad old days of the Chuckle Brothers. If Unsworth and Mellon don’t think youth team players are good enough for the first team, then by all means disagree but it’s their right to take that view and nobody on the board has any right to influence that. As for whether we got enough money for selling Vaughan, again, we’re a small club and in the end have to accept what another club is willing to pay.

I’ve put my forecasts in your post above! That gives Aldershot finishing on 70 points. Ignoring our match v Halifax, they have 69 points from 45, we have 67 from 45. So we have to win at Halifax and given current GDs, we would then scrape into 7th ahead of Aldershot on 70 points. Knowing us, we will probably beat Halifax but lose at home to Wealdstone in the final game to screw it all up. Or make the play offs and then make a swift exit!

Yep, to be honest we’ve rarely finished a season strongly in the last few years.

I will admit my 72 point prediction is looking dodgy. We just need to win all four remaining games, and it would be typical Latics if we did. It’s certainly possible, whether it will be enough even then is now out of our hands.

I still think MM should have a summer transfer window and then a decent spell of games next season to see what he can do, but that is an excellent post and I can’t disagree with any of it.

There used to be a couple of dangerously good Belgian bars in Altrincham town centre, but I’m going back a few years. Strong stuff but you may need it!

That’s definitely April Fool material. Not even the Great Red Fleece himself would put CCTV in the men’s toilets, surely

I don’t think anyone reasonable expects the owners to continue to cough up. Most of us, ST holders and POTD alike, are just grateful to have such a beneficial owner, long may it continue.

Maybe you should offer to get involved and volunteer to help the Foundation, attend meetings, etc. Then again, you wouldn’t be able to snipe from the sidelines, would you?

I find that an outrageous view, and I speak as somebody who often wishes that critics of the club/team would “keep quiet”! Everybody who attends a match contributes to the running of the club, and the POTD supporter’s money is as good as the season ticket holder’s.

But are you saying that Reid must be included in the match day squad because of his wage, and to hell with MM’s commendable desire to enforce discipline? What’s the alternative?

Yes I thought the Belgium game was highly entertaining. Some of England’s attacking play was as good as I’ve seen in a long time. Mainoo is such a prospect, unbelievable maturity at 18. As for Bellingham, you run out of superlatives, though he did miss a couple of sitters (for him) before he rescued the draw. Bowen and Foden were also excellent. Defence will probably be our Achilles heel at the Euros, but if we can stop the silly mistakes we have an excellent chance of winning the tournament.

Completely agree, I was thinking the same only the other day.