Playing squad, summer 2020

[BP1960]

9 hours ago, JoeP said:

 

No blame for the managers from me - as I say no manager can succeed under this ownership.

 

Wellens or Bunn I'd have back tomorrow, under a competent ownership.  Scholes, I wouldn't - there was no evidence to suggest he was capable (in fact more the opposite).

 

9 hours ago, latics22 said:

Was roy Keane a good manager? He did very well when still young using his contacts for sunderland. I'm sure Scholes would have been similar. 

 

The Roy Keane who commented Liverpool looked great in the warm up and were up for it ....then went on to lose 4-0.

[SweeperKeeper]

16 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

He was a rookie, would have been more surprising if he had all the answers.

He sat there and shrugged his shoulders for quarter of a season whilst we sank.

 

I'd have been more impressed had we gone down with him throwing the kitchen sink at it.  But he just carried on with plan A, regardless of opponent or the situation.

 

As I said, not the worst we've had. But a promotion with a strong support doesn't mean he's got all the answers now either.  

[jsslatic]

We had some rotten sides that stayed up in League One. Wellens should have had that side comfortably clear (talk of promotion in the Love Actually video) and regardless of the absolute shitshow off the field it was inexcusable he couldn't get enough of a tune out of them to keep us up.

 

He certainly does well when Eoin Doyle is in form.

[deyres42]

7 minutes ago, SweeperKeeper said:

He sat there and shrugged his shoulders for quarter of a season whilst we sank.

 

I'd have been more impressed had we gone down with him throwing the kitchen sink at it.  But he just carried on with plan A, regardless of opponent or the situation.

 

As I said, not the worst we've had. But a promotion with a strong support doesn't mean he's got all the answers now either.  

It doesn't no. I would think their budget was more of a top 10 rather than a top 3 one though.

[deyres42]

4 minutes ago, jsslatic said:

We had some rotten sides that stayed up in League One. Wellens should have had that side comfortably clear (talk of promotion in the Love Actually video) and regardless of the absolute shitshow off the field it was inexcusable he couldn't get enough of a tune out of them to keep us up.

 

He certainly does well when Eoin Doyle is in form.

Think people tend to focus on the last few games and forget where we were when he started.

[oafc 123]

41 minutes ago, SweeperKeeper said:

He sat there and shrugged his shoulders for quarter of a season whilst we sank.

 

I'd have been more impressed had we gone down with him throwing the kitchen sink at it.  But he just carried on with plan A, regardless of opponent or the situation.

 

As I said, not the worst we've had. But a promotion with a strong support doesn't mean he's got all the answers now either.  

The last minute equalizer at MK Dons changed our season.  We played the best football I had seen in years in that first half.  And the Craig Davis's opening goal was poetry in motion with flowing passing football. 

 

Fuck knows how that same team finished the season the way it did.

[deyres42]

7 minutes ago, oafc 123 said:

The last minute equalizer at MK Dons changed our season.  We played the best football I had seen in years in that first half.  And the Craig Davis's opening goal was poetry in motion with flowing passing football. 

 

Fuck knows how that same team finished the season the way it did.

We know why, some players who were doing the playing weren't being payed on time whilst others who weren't playing were.

[Worcester Owl]

3 hours ago, oafc 123 said:

The last minute equalizer at MK Dons changed our season.  We played the best football I had seen in years in that first half.  And the Craig Davis's opening goal was poetry in motion with flowing passing football. 

 

Fuck knows how that same team finished the season the way it did.

No, it really didn't. After the 4-4 at MK we were 20th in L1. We subsequently never got higher than 15th. You'd think Wellens was some kind of miracle worker from some comments on here, but we were always relegation candidates. Given the way the club was being run, it was a tough gig for a young manager in his first job, to be fair. As for "same team", we weren't, not once Clarke had gone out on loan, a massive loss.

[Clubfootkilkenny]

Wellens was a top manager for me. Had us playing some lovely stuff with some very good players for that level. In hindsight though, him and AL were always going clash. No surprise to see how well he’s done at Swindon.

 

Next season is a tricky one for me, on one hand it’s the same old building from scratch and relying on loans and players from the scrap heap. 
 

The glass half full view is that, the 5-6 players we do have now are a slight improvement on what were retained last year, plus every other team will be in the same boat...and we have a nice kit. 

I’m still hoping AL’s a secret billionaire but deep down, I know this lot will fuck up the recruitment again this season! When does it stop tho. Thirty years (almost) of shite, that’s not all down to AL is it. 
 

[oafc 123]

8 hours ago, Worcester Owl said:

No, it really didn't. After the 4-4 at MK we were 20th in L1. We subsequently never got higher than 15th. You'd think Wellens was some kind of miracle worker from some comments on here, but we were always relegation candidates. Given the way the club was being run, it was a tough gig for a young manager in his first job, to be fair. As for "same team", we weren't, not once Clarke had gone out on loan, a massive loss.

We had lost 7 out of the first 9 matches until Sheridan got sacked, so to point out our league position in October is unfair. 

 

But yeah you're right about Clarke.  It was a combination of him leaving, Doyle getting injured and then only winning 1 match after the 3rd March that got us relegated. 

[JoeP]

There's a rumour doing the rounds that Abdallah medals with team affairs. 

 

If he did that when Wellens was here, it's Abdallah's fault we went down. Not Wellens. 

 

Leave Wellens to it and we'd have stayed up, I reckon. 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

15 hours ago, SweeperKeeper said:

 

Wellens is getting the benefit of some hazy memories here.

 

Seven points from 24 at the back end of our relegation season.

 

True, and it always sticks in my craw, that. He made huge mistakes; and by all accounts the unsettling of the dressing room was rife, with Abdallah personally intruding into these areas and his men on the inside feeding back info to him. It was more akin to a season of Line of Duty. The first half of his tenure we witnessed some stunning football; which pushed us into mid-table. The attacking flair changed to containing football and with an unsettled squad bloated with Mohammed's half-arsed recruits, I'm not particularly surprised we went down.

 

He's proved he's learned massively since then, and his overwhelming success with Swindon felt like a dagger in the heart to me. He was backed by his board there and the results are palpable. He was interfered with here and forced to play players he didn't want to and we all saw the morale drop with devastating circumstances.

 

 

[oafc 123]

3 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

True, and it always sticks in my craw, that. He made huge mistakes; and by all accounts the unsettling of the dressing room was rife, with Abdallah personally intruding into these areas and his men on the inside feeding back info to him. It was more akin to a season of Line of Duty. The first half of his tenure we witnessed some stunning football; which pushed us into mid-table. The attacking flair changed to containing football and with an unsettled squad bloated with Mohammed's half-arsed recruits, I'm not particularly surprised we went down.

 

He's proved he's learned massively since then, and his overwhelming success with Swindon felt like a dagger in the heart to me. He was backed by his board there and the results are palpable. He was interfered with here and forced to play players he didn't want to and we all saw the morale drop with devastating circumstances.

 

 

The thing was, Abdallah should of learnt from John Sheridan's departure that his intruding had a negative impact.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

27 minutes ago, oafc 123 said:

The thing was, Abdallah should of learnt from John Sheridan's departure that his intruding had a negative impact.

 

It all compounds the worrying aspect of it all. He's had several managers since and the impact has entirely negative. He decided to bring in a patsy and that had a disastrous effect too.

 

Invest and back a manager just isn't part of his make-up. That much is obvious. It's not going to lead us anywhere particularly pleasant, is it?

[oafc 123]

5 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

It all compounds the worrying aspect of it all. He's had several managers since and the impact has entirely negative. He decided to bring in a patsy and that had a disastrous effect too.

 

Invest and back a manager just isn't part of his make-up. That much is obvious. It's not going to lead us anywhere particularly pleasant, is it?

The biggest worry at the moment is where has he borrowed the money from to pay this debt.

[Dave_Og]

1 hour ago, oafc 123 said:

The thing was, Abdallah should of learnt from John Sheridan's departure that his intruding had a negative impact.

I wish he'd learned that 'should of' makes no sense. 

[Jimbooth]

6 hours ago, oafc 123 said:

The biggest worry at the moment is where has he borrowed the money from to pay this debt.

He cashed in the final Edmundson payment early so it was a reduced amount and sold that kid to Brighton. 

[singe]

8 hours ago, JoeP said:

There's a rumour doing the rounds that Abdallah medals with team affairs. 

 

If he did that when Wellens was here, it's Abdallah's fault we went down. Not Wellens. 

 

Leave Wellens to it and we'd have stayed up, I reckon. 

I don' think it's rumours, it's established facts that AL meddles with team affairs.

Wellens said himself he came into the dressing room, and we know players were disciplined before keys games.

 

That said, Wellens should have been able to get enough of a grip to get us over the line.

We'll never know, but kudos to Wellens learning so quickly and turning it around.

 

It remains to be seen if Dino can learn to , but he doesn't seem to have the skills, nous or ability to keep the owner and his cronies at arms length on all the evidence so far.

 

[League one forever]

On 7/4/2020 at 5:27 AM, deyres42 said:

Wellens was and clearly still is a talent, twas a very short sighted decision to remove him.

 

Scholes was the golden egg in terms of raising profile and attracting players.

 
 

What any manager or player does previously or after being with us is completely irrelevant to judging their time with us. In addition if you’re attributing his success at Swindon to him then he must also own his failures. Wellens took us down - with relatively huge backing of the players he wanted. Nothing will ever change that. AL hasn’t got many things right, but sacking Wellens was spot on. 
 

 

[JoeP]

18 minutes ago, singe said:

I don' think it's rumours, it's established facts that AL meddles with team affairs.

Wellens said himself he came into the dressing room, and we know players were disciplined before keys games.

 

That said, Wellens should have been able to get enough of a grip to get us over the line.

We'll never know, but kudos to Wellens learning so quickly and turning it around.

 

It remains to be seen if Dino can learn to , but he doesn't seem to have the skills, nous or ability to keep the owner and his cronies at arms length on all the evidence so far.

 

 

I was being sarcastic - it's obviously nailed on that he interferes, even though he denies it. 

 

Forcing Wellens to play players effected the quality of the team we put out, the formation we played and, ultimately, the outcome of games. It's Abdallah's fault we went down. I reserved judgement on any manager that has had to work under him, to an extent (although, I don't have Scholes down as someone who's cut out for management..).

 

As for the effect Abdallah's bizarre wage structure had on morale..

[lookersstandandy]

On 7/3/2020 at 9:18 PM, oafcmetty said:

whittles left foot = party or MIKE halliwell. Nailed on.

ffs

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

1 hour ago, League one forever said:

 AL hasn’t got many things right, but sacking Wellens was spot on. 

 

Think that's debatable myself. It's all hypothetical of course but Swindon proved that if you give Wellens the key to his castle you will reap your reward.

 

In an ideal world, AL that summer would have recognised his own mistakes and allowed Wellens to rebuild the side around a key poacher like Doyle and agreed not to micro-manage team matters or pressuring for his substandard European imports to be automatically selected.

 

The above might not have panned out as described but I'm sure it would've been a damned sight more successful than what did trasnpire.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

On 7/3/2020 at 9:18 PM, oafcmetty said:

whittles left foot = party or halliwell. Nailed on.

 

Who's party by the way?

[GlossopLatic]

37 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Who's party by the way?

 

Stephen Partington who runs the Oldham Athletic Realistic Fans Group on Facebook which I along with many other have been kicked out of for daring to question the owner. So all it is, is an echo chamber of Abdullah cronies.

[League one forever]

58 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

Think that's debatable myself. It's all hypothetical of course but Swindon proved that if you give Wellens the key to his castle you will reap your reward.

 

In an ideal world, AL that summer would have recognised his own mistakes and allowed Wellens to rebuild the side around a key poacher like Doyle and agreed not to micro-manage team matters or pressuring for his substandard European imports to be automatically selected.

 

The above might not have panned out as described but I'm sure it would've been a damned sight more successful than what did trasnpire.

All hypothetical as you say. 
 

He rightly gets huge credit for what he’s done at Swindon. However It doesn’t change the fact he failed with us. He was given 6 of his own signings in January in the one season AL threw relatively good money at the squad. He took next to no points in the final 8 games- a run which on its own has seen managers sacked. When that run culminates in relegation he has to own that. Plus he didn’t come in blind- he’d seen first hand what happened to shez and still took it- good on him. But then don’t blame the dodgy owner you knew you would be working for when things don’t go well.
 

Look at yourself before blaming everybody else.