Opposing views: Oldham Athletic
In our regular look at the opposition, REP chats to a supporter of our next opponents, Oldham, to get their views on the next match.
The Mighty Bosh posts on the Oldham fans forum owtb.co.uk. He’s exiled in Gloucestershire but has been a fan for twenty years.
On paper we are a club with few fans, a relatively low budget, young squad and an inexperienced young manager so the bottom-half isn’t entirely unexpected…
How are your team doing?
OK, we’re still too close to the drop for our liking but on paper we are a club with few fans, a relatively low budget, young squad and an inexperienced young manager so the bottom-half isn’t entirely unexpected.
The difference this year is that there are many more signs of promise than previous years when a second half of the season collapse was inevitable.
Who should we watch out for?
We have no obvious danger players but we have a fair few good players from front to back. James Tarkowski at the back, Korey Smith in the middle of the park and Danny Philliskirk in attack stand out.
Jonson Clarke-Harris is the rough diamond who has the potential to tear a defence apart.
Oh wait, what I meant to say was that Mark Oxley is our tricky left winger who scores for fun…
(Editor’s note: Oxley is a keeper by trade but this appears to be an in-joke on owtb.co.uk)
What are your thoughts on your manager?
Pretty positive, results might not be going his way just yet but there are a lot of positive little things that he has done on the pitch or around the club and he isn’t afraid to change things around if needed. He’s hopefully a manager that we can keep for a year or two more.
What are your thoughts on your board and off-field club activities?
If there’s an obvious candidate to really take the club forward off the pitch then they haven’t come out of the woodwork yet and given any serious commitment, so until then Simon Corney is good enough, he has done a fairly solid job without being spectacular.
Work has finally begun to replace the old Lookers stand (the big hole on the side of the pitch!) and he has backed his managers without spending beyond our means.
Any views on Port Vale?
From the outside, Vale seem to have done better than expected this season…
Now that Hughes has gone no-one really stands out. Jennison Myrie-Williams usually seems to be a handful and Tom Pope has a reputation for getting goals so I suppose those two. From the outside, Vale seem to have done better than expected this season.
(Editor’s note: During further conversation a number of posters on owtb.co.uk talked fondly of Darren Beckford who they christened as ‘Bear’. Although he never had the same scoring record for Oldham as he did the Vale he did appear to pop up with some important goals for Athletic)
A score prediction?
Hard to call, Vale are probably slight favourites but I wouldn’t be surprised if we can get some joy hitting Vale on the break.
So, a score draw, probably 1-1.
Thanks to The Mighty Bosh for answering our questions.