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Problems mount for Latics
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date online: 11 March 2013
WORRIES are mounting for Athletic as the side continues to count the cost of rotten recent luck.
Matt Smith’s knee injury is likely to keep him out of tomorrow night’s crunch home game with Hartlepool, and James Wesolowski’s deep head wound also makes him doubtful.
Such injury problems wouldn’t bite quite so hard if the team had picked up at least a point at Tranmere.
Though other results favoured Athletic, caretaker boss Tony Philliskirk was cursing another poor call by officials as they failed to spot a blatant handball in the first half at Prenton Park.
“I thought it was a blatant penalty and even Tranmere’s staff agreed,” said Philliskirk.
“He admitted that as it bounced up he flicked it with his arm. The linesman was 15 or 20 yards away.
“I am not making excuses, but in the last two games we have had the short end of the stick with decisions against us.”
Athletic are 21stin the league, two points behind Scunthorpe and three adrift of Colchester with games in hand over both.
The conditions of Smith and Wesolowski were being assessed this morning.
Meanwhile there is a new joint-favourite for the role of permanent Athletic manager.
Former striker Shefki Kuqi, currently playing with Hibs, is now level as a 9-4 shot with Philliskirk, with Phil Brown third at 7-2.
Comments
Kuqi ? you have got to be kidding !
how can the bookies make a man 2nd favourite for the job when he isnt going for the job. madness. do they not listen.
why kuqi dont understand we might as go for big chris if kuqi is in the frame
come on simon stop dithering and get an experienced manager in not shefki. If dowie wont come phil brown could be the answer
AAGH! Headless chicken Kuqi? Please no! I'm haunted by exactly 12 months ago against Yeovil! He trod on the ball ON THEIR GOALLINE! Still PD insisted it would all come good! Still PD wouldn't give Matt S a run and followed by sending the latter to Macc on loan. Completely lost count of the number of posts I made about this! At least give Phil B an interview. Seemed to be good vibes between him and TP-and he's got a positive attitude.
Hopefully the Kuqi thing is some random idea plucked out of thin air.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Corney. If he can't see anything isn't broken at the club, he needs to make an appointment with an optician pronto. It's a very risky strategy to save our season without appointing a permanent manager or a full complement of coaching staff. He's a man of inaction who blames the fans, the players, the council...anybody but himself.
Cant agree more with the anti Kuqi supporters. A Joe Royle only comes along once in a lifetime and it even took him quite some time to settle in to job, a thing the new manager hasn't got. Phil Brown is a proven winner in this league even allowing for the Preston blip. It is not the risk some people seem to think!
There is nothing normal or regular about anything that has happened at OAFC since Corney jettisoned JT & LD. In the midst of the staffing upheaval, planning has been submitted for the new stand? The planning application does not suggest we are going to be bumped. Most likely, stuff is going on behind the scenes that is sensitive to publicity, IMO. Kuqi, as manager is a bookies interest injection or he is buying the club. Either way, if it happened that WOULD be something to worry about.
emidsexile: It took Royle 4 years to become a decent manager tho... Which is why any appointment of a rookie requires patience. Like most on here, given our predicament I a man with experience is needed next.
Mikey: I'm not sure I follow your thread... I find the suggestion Kuqi buying the club to be highly unlikely. I think SC will keep TP to the end of the season, hoping to stay up, to attract someone with a fresh start. If Phil Brown is interested, I'd give him a go...!
Kuqi!!!
Have the bookies eaten some magic mushrooms?
Lookers; sorry, My meaning being that the only way I could see Kuqi as manager would be if he appointed himself. Manager: Brown, Dowie, Lee, etc. All have some fan support and all have suffered failure. There are simply not enough reliably successful managers to go round, by a very considerable margin. I can’t relate to a more difficult managerial appointment (definable skill and ability) than a football manager. I will wait philosophically for Corney or his successor to get a lucky break.
Mikey; I see. I concur... and could forsee this very issue when fans were calling for PD to step aside. It remains to be seen whether PD will make a good manager elsewhere. Results apart, I liked much of what I saw & heard. Maybe it is the case that a rookie cannot put into practice what they learn on the job [in their first job] for they carry the baggge of the errors they make. As you say, any appointment will be met with some support, some derision. Whoever it may be will get my support.
lsandy - In Joe Royle's FIRST season as manager Latics finished 7th in Division Two, the club's highest league position for 52 YEARS and it's a position that no manager since him has come even close to. Repeat, Joe Royle's FIRST season was more successful than any other Latics manager from 1930 to the present day.
Dear Ammy,
In 2006-07, John Sheridan took Latics to 6th place in his first full season in charge. Yes, it is a division lower, but until a new manager takes over if/when we are in the Championship, your argument appears skewed.
Instead of picking at peoples' opinions, why not put forward some of your own solutions?
P.S. Still waiting for your response on the 'Blatant Penalty' thread :-)
Ammy; Joe Royle 1982: when international players filtered down the leagues, as they also did into management – when kids still kicked a ball about every chance they got, turning them into fans. How lucky we were to get JR and keep him for 12yrs. ‘Now’ doesn’t relate to 1983 when Luton were in the 1st Division. Just as 1983 doesn’t relate to 1906 – 1914, the time of our most successful manager and when league clubs were predominantly northern. You really do need a reality check, and funding.
Have Your Say
why give someone the job with no experience?
By DARTH @ 11/03/2013 12:42:13