Just Can't Win...

[robboman]

From the Chron:

 

PAUL Dickov aims to shield his players away from what he sees as damaging, long-standing negativity surrounding Athletic.

 

While not directly answering chairman Simon Corney’s strong criticism of the players’ efforts against Bury in yesterday’s Chronicle, the manager expressed concern that his men sometimes don’t get the credit they deserve — yet are pilloried when they lose.

 

“When we win games here (at Boundary Park), it is because the other team is poor, or they had somebody missing,” said Dickov, who watched tomorrow’s opponents Tranmere see off Hartlepool 2-0 at Victoria Park on Wednesday night to move back to the top of npower League One.

 

“When we lose, regardless of what game it is, people always want to jump on the bandwagon and say how poor we are.

 

“It would be nice when we win to get a bit of credit — because when we lose, I am the first one to take it on the chin.

 

“There is a negativity that surrounds the club and it is not something that has been around only in the two years I have been here. It has been here for a while.

 

“This isn’t me having a dig at anybody. But it is easy when you have a defeat to pile on the bandwagon.

 

“When we win games, it is not always because the other team is poor.

 

“It is a negativity we try to keep away from the players. But it is hard, very hard.

 

“Sergio Aguero stole my thunder at Manchester City (last season). But they still talk about my goal from 13 years ago — when it is not about what happened 13 years ago, five years ago, or last season. It is about what is happening now.

 

“We believe we are trying to build something here, but it is hard to do that when there is negativity.”

 

Dickov does not expect tomorrow’s high-flying opponents from the Wirral to approach the game going for anything other than a victory.

 

Star striker Jose Baxter, who was on loan at Tranmere when an Everton player last season, is still a doubt for tomorrow’s game.

 

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/10/oldham-athletic-news/75131/just-cant-win

[opinions4u]

I think they got full credit for the wins over Crewe and Preston.

 

They were praised for performances against Orient (when I don't think we were on fire) and at Kiddie.

 

And they got slated, deservedly, for the Bury performance.

 

All seems fair to me.

[maddog]

Well said Dickov.

 

My thoughts and feelings exactly about the negative fans (not all!). And this is not a recent thing, although it has got worse. It seems it's much easier to whinge than praise. Sad, really. And it does feel at times that people are masochistically pleased when we cock up.

[bossrocks]

You can't blame PD for taking a defensive stance. I thought we were poor against Bury but "gutless tripe" was a bit over the top from Corney.

[jsslatic]

I think they got full credit for the wins over Crewe and Preston.

 

They were praised for performances against Orient (when I don't think we were on fire) and at Kiddie.

 

And they got slated, deservedly, for the Bury performance.

 

All seems fair to me.

 

I'd imagine he's targeting those comments at the boardroom more than anything though, I didn't see Corney in the papers purring over Crewe, Preston or any of the other recent wins.

[steveoafc]

If he got the side further up the table where we should be ( this squad is not a 17th place squad ) and gathered more wins than sporadic ones, then we wouldn't have to focus on the regular no shows and defeats.

[opinions4u]

I'd imagine he's targeting those comments at the boardroom more than anything though, I didn't see Corney in the papers purring over Crewe, Preston or any of the other recent wins.

 

In other words, the end is nigh.

 

Or will be after the next extended winless run.

[Guest Scratch2000uk]

I didn't see Corney in the papers purring over Crewe, Preston or any of the other recent wins.

He probably knew what was going to happen, before it did. We're pretty used to it by now.

[Monty Burns]

Appears to have stopped just short of 'some of our fans still think were in the premier league.'

[jsslatic]

In other words, the end is nigh.

 

Or will be after the next extended winless run.

 

In fairness, not the first time it's been said and probably won't be the last. If SC wanted to sack him he'd have done it by now. However, it's easy(ish) to protect players from fans complaining on OWTB. It's a helluva lot harder to shield them from the comments of their employer when it's in black and white in the paper. PD evidently works hard to create a positive vibe and atmosphere in the camp and he's rightly aggrieved that that work is possibly undermined following a poor performance given there was silence when they were playing well.

[opinions4u]

In fairness, not the first time it's been said and probably won't be the last. If SC wanted to sack him he'd have done it by now. However, it's easy(ish) to protect players from fans complaining on OWTB. It's a helluva lot harder to shield them from the comments of their employer when it's in black and white in the paper. PD evidently works hard to create a positive vibe and atmosphere in the camp and he's rightly aggrieved that that work is possibly undermined following a poor performance given there was silence when they were playing well.

 

If there's a hint of a falling out and they choose to slug it out in the local press it's not good.

[Tommy_Fent]

my take is that at our club the patience amongst supporters is very thin because of the failings of previous regimes. So in some ways the current players and management have the failings of their predecessors as an additional weight onto their shoulders. It's the same with England

[HarryBosch]

Well said Dickov.

 

My thoughts and feelings exactly about the negative fans (not all!). And this is not a recent thing, although it has got worse. It seems it's much easier to whinge than praise. Sad, really. And it does feel at times that people are masochistically pleased when we cock up.

 

i don't get why he says "it seems when we win it's because the other team were poor"

 

who said that & where?

 

to me, most of us were full of praise, even over the top with it for the good performances.

 

i don't recall even the biggest serial moaners on here saying it was because the opposition were poor?

[rudemedic]

Wasn't Corney away for a decent chunk of our good run? He certainly wasn't at the Orient game.

 

Did Corney's comments make the MEN? As if it was just the Chron it is very easy to stop our players from reading it- most of them don't live within the Chron's circulation area.

 

I think also that a few people did say we beat poor teams in our good run and some of the biggest moaners were very quiet but came out of the woodwork after Tuesday's display.

[oafcprozac]

Dickov's being a bit precious if you ask me, 5 wins in 24 league games since March. I'd wind my :censored:ing neck in if I were him, especially if my win percentage was still below 30%….

 

No lover of Corney but 100% agree, that people shouldn't be creaming themselves with 17th place and 5 wins in 18 competitive games this season

[oafcprozac]

my take is that at our club the patience amongst supporters is very thin because of the failings of previous regimes. So in some ways the current players and management have the failings of their predecessors as an additional weight onto their shoulders. It's the same with England

 

Agree to a certain extent, but Dickov's record is woeful permeated with the odd little run like we have seen over the last month. One more Dickovesque bad run will do for him imo. I agree with Corney, we are in a relegation battle, but shouldn't be. To get out of the position we are in we need to go on a very good win. At present we are on target to nick around 51 points this season, but when you bear in mind that whilst we've been better with Baxter, Wabara and Derbyshire in the team, what the hell are we going to do when they inevitably leave or go back to their host clubs?

[oafcprozac]

Wasn't Corney away for a decent chunk of our good run? He certainly wasn't at the Orient game.

 

Did Corney's comments make the MEN? As if it was just the Chron it is very easy to stop our players from reading it- most of them don't live within the Chron's circulation area.

 

I think also that a few people did say we beat poor teams in our good run and some of the biggest moaners were very quiet but came out of the woodwork after Tuesday's display.

 

Crewe were poor but on the other hand we were terrific. PNE was a battle for 20 minutes then we simply blew them away. Orient was your usual League One game, one we have lost many, many times so that was probably the most pleasing. Sheff Utd we fully deserved the point, same at Crawley. Last week we were workmanlike and at Carlisle and v Bury we were :censored:e.

Edited November 9, 2012 by oafcprozac

[chris_ktf]

I just can't be arsed going into 'what he is building' anymore.

 

All i would ask, is that he asks himself why a chairman ( who has backing him as much as he can. Again.) feels the need to lambast his players twice in a few short weeks?

 

Could it be that when dickov 'blasts' his mates (sorry the players) they either don't care or have heard the same rheotric time and again.

 

Do us a favour paul, put your handbag away, and you and your players grow a pair. You got a bollocking for a :censored:e performance.

 

Maybe we didn't start hugging and kissing after a few good results, due to mixture of relief and cautious optomism -that doesn't mean i wasn't chuffed with the wins. Just that i expected a few more before we started saying how great we are

 

We hear the same stuff every other week from him and the players, 'we're devastated' 'we should be further up the league', but we're not Paul we are where we are.

 

In the interests of fairness, i think dickov's heart generally is in the right place, but therein lies a problem as a manager , you can't be liked by everybody.

 

He needs stop being so sensitive and always protecting his players, when two days earlier after the bury game he said 'i just can't explain the lack of enthusiasm in the first half.'

 

When Corney reinforces that (albeit more strongly worded) it's negative. You can't have it both ways

[BP1960]

It's a managers job to manage and the owner to run the club in a business like manner.

If the business is struggling the owner is fully entitled to say and do what he thinks fit and proper.

[Tommy_Fent]

It's a managers job to manage and the owner to run the club in a business like manner.

If the business is struggling the owner is fully entitled to say and do what he thinks fit and proper.

 

I don't think Gerald Ratner would agree

[Zorrro]

If my manager gave me a bollocking for under-performing I'd buck my ideas up. If the MD then decided to weigh in and broadcast a similar, if slightly less professional, bollocking to the entire business I'd feel more than a little cheesed off. And there are far, far fewer variables and intangible aspects in my job than that of a professional footballer.

[ajjovek]

I’ve been fully behind Dickov from day one, never faltered despite some dismal results and even more dismal showings. Because I have seen that he’s been ‘building towards something’ and frankly, I think his personality has brought us some players that I don’t think we would’ve seen at the club otherwise. I even accept that he is a young manager and (even with 2 full seasons’ experience) will continue to make naïve decisions with tactics.

 

But this statement has taken the edge off all that.

 

Constant negativity around the club? Yes, when you lose games you that you shouldn’t lose, fans don’t like it - welcome to football

 

Don’t get credit when we win? I think the adulation/singing/clapping from fans and lovey bollocks in the papers after the few wins we’ve had this year, tell a different story

 

Want fans to still be talking about an important goal 13 years later like they do at our successful neighbours Man City? Time to start motivating your players to do the basics a lot better, like closing down properly (it worked at Crewe when you were about to lose your job) and getting your centre-backs to pass the ball short rather than trying to spray 50 yard passes around.

 

And while we’re talking about the negativity around the club, I think you should look at the way you represent the club on the touchline every game. If you spent half of the time you spend spouting aggressive negativity to the 4^th official, giving players advice and support during the game, they might have a chance of implementing some of the aforementioned basics much easier.

 

Carry on.

[NewBlue]

Next year Dickov can assemble a group of players who are utter :censored:e and if we lose then we won't complain because we know that they aren't able to compete at this level.

 

However, the individual level of the players is far superior to our position in the league so deservedly, him and his players warrant the criticism that they get and while we are losing dull, souless home games that we are expected to win, there will always be a negativity surronded the club.

 

Whether you're a glass half full or a glass half empty type of person we must all acknowledge that the displays we have got are far too inconsistent and too many have been poor. Our expectations of this team are high for a reason, because we have likes of Derbyshire, Croft, Baxter and Montano yet we can't break out of our relegation strugglers mould.

 

There is an air of negativity for a reason and before he looks at the fans natural reaction to what is being served, he must look at himself and how he can improve us. When we do get results I've heard and seen nothing but praise from the fans.

 

Just another one on the list of his lame excuses.

[oafc-latics]

Good Cop, Bad Cop... one of the two will have to have an effect on the players and if Corney's rant didn't spur them on, then Dickov's backing should have done!

 

Both SC and PD want us to win and be successful, up to the player now to respond.

[Stevie_J]

If Dickov doesn't think he been afforded enough patience he's :censored:ing deluded. He's well into his third season and has done pretty much :censored: all, other than keep us up. Yes, there'll always be one or two who overreact to a defeat but he's been given plenty of credit when it's been due and, let's face it, he hasn't given that much to shout about.