With all the interest around our latest match up with HMRC at the winders court on Wednesday and the fallout afterwards, I’d almost forgotten that we have a game of football to play this weekend.
Let’s hope the eyes of the players and management team have been focussed on the trip up north to the outskirts of Manchester to see if we can keep our 2023 unbeaten run going.
Oldham Athletic came down to the National League at the end of last season and in doing so made history as the first former premier league side to drop down to the 5th tier of English football.
The Latics’ fall from grace has been even more spectacular than our own - League Cup finalists in 1990 and twice FA Cup semi-finalists - most recently in 1994 in the same year they were relegated from the top tier of English Football.
They were taken over by local businessman Frank Rothwell for £12million in July 2022 and fans thought this would herald the start of a new era and their rise back up through the leagues. However, like us, they found the National League to be far from easy and endured a torrid start under manager John Sheridan who was eventually sacked in September and replaced by former Everton defender David Unsworth. They have fared little better under him and the fans have been restless once again - particularly after their 4-1 drubbing at Notts County on Boxing Day. They did however get a 2-2 draw in the return fixture on New Year’s Day which was their last home fixture due to postponements. Since that game they’ve had only two away games - smashing Dorking 5-1 in the league (their first away win of the season) but losing 3-1 to Gateshead in the FA Trophy last weekend (technically an away game but played at Boundary Park due at Gateshead's request). They currently sit in 20th place in the league, just outside the relegation zone.
Their squad includes a former Southend favourite, Peter Clarke, who is still eking out a career as a professional footballer at the ripe old age of 41 and is at Oldham on loan from Walsall (presumably there’s a bit of an Everton connection with Unsworth). However he may not be available for selection on Saturday having been sent off in their last FA Trophy game (struggling to get clarification on whether FAT cards only apply in that competition - Chris Phillips' article seems to suggest he is available for selection - however his tweet to that article has since been deleted and I guess he may have spoken to Clarke before their postponed game on Tuesday night). Mike Fondup is their main attacking threat - he scored a hat-trick against Dorking and signed a new contract last week.
We have kept a settled side for our last two victories and it seems unlikely that Kev will tinker with things too much, unless there are injuries that we don’t know about. The return of Rhys Murphy and Jake Hyde mean that we have options up front and Shaun Hobson must also be in line for a recall if/when one of the centre backs has a poor game. Each week that passes by also sees us closer to the return to full fitness of our goalkeeping pair of Steve Arnold and Collin Andeng-Ndi - hopefully one of them will be available before Blondy’s loan expires.
If you can tear yourself away from debating what is going to happen to the club off the field between now and 1st March, why not have some debate about the starting XI and result of Saturday’s game?
You know the drill by now!
Let’s hope the eyes of the players and management team have been focussed on the trip up north to the outskirts of Manchester to see if we can keep our 2023 unbeaten run going.
Oldham Athletic came down to the National League at the end of last season and in doing so made history as the first former premier league side to drop down to the 5th tier of English football.
The Latics’ fall from grace has been even more spectacular than our own - League Cup finalists in 1990 and twice FA Cup semi-finalists - most recently in 1994 in the same year they were relegated from the top tier of English Football.
They were taken over by local businessman Frank Rothwell for £12million in July 2022 and fans thought this would herald the start of a new era and their rise back up through the leagues. However, like us, they found the National League to be far from easy and endured a torrid start under manager John Sheridan who was eventually sacked in September and replaced by former Everton defender David Unsworth. They have fared little better under him and the fans have been restless once again - particularly after their 4-1 drubbing at Notts County on Boxing Day. They did however get a 2-2 draw in the return fixture on New Year’s Day which was their last home fixture due to postponements. Since that game they’ve had only two away games - smashing Dorking 5-1 in the league (their first away win of the season) but losing 3-1 to Gateshead in the FA Trophy last weekend (technically an away game but played at Boundary Park due at Gateshead's request). They currently sit in 20th place in the league, just outside the relegation zone.
Their squad includes a former Southend favourite, Peter Clarke, who is still eking out a career as a professional footballer at the ripe old age of 41 and is at Oldham on loan from Walsall (presumably there’s a bit of an Everton connection with Unsworth). However he may not be available for selection on Saturday having been sent off in their last FA Trophy game (struggling to get clarification on whether FAT cards only apply in that competition - Chris Phillips' article seems to suggest he is available for selection - however his tweet to that article has since been deleted and I guess he may have spoken to Clarke before their postponed game on Tuesday night). Mike Fondup is their main attacking threat - he scored a hat-trick against Dorking and signed a new contract last week.
We have kept a settled side for our last two victories and it seems unlikely that Kev will tinker with things too much, unless there are injuries that we don’t know about. The return of Rhys Murphy and Jake Hyde mean that we have options up front and Shaun Hobson must also be in line for a recall if/when one of the centre backs has a poor game. Each week that passes by also sees us closer to the return to full fitness of our goalkeeping pair of Steve Arnold and Collin Andeng-Ndi - hopefully one of them will be available before Blondy’s loan expires.
If you can tear yourself away from debating what is going to happen to the club off the field between now and 1st March, why not have some debate about the starting XI and result of Saturday’s game?
You know the drill by now!
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