Rovers old boys

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

A few vultures circling above Micky after a poor run of results at Oldham. He probably over achieved in his first month or two and got fans expectations up. He got a decent contract there but has a big game at home to Rochdale tomorrow as his home results since taking over haven’t been great. Hope he gets the time he needs to turn it round as he knows what he’s doing at that level

I am aware that the main job for this season was to stop the rot.
And if possible the play offs.
The summer rebuild will be interesting and part of the reason that Gary Brabin is there as a coach.
I do believe that the owner has the means to rebuild and have the resources to mount a more than effective push for promotion next season.

But then again I have been wrong before.

 

[Sparky]

I am aware that the main job for this season was to stop the rot.
And if possible the play offs.
The summer rebuild will be interesting and part of the reason that Gary Brabin is there as a coach.
I do believe that the owner has the means to rebuild and have the resources to mount a more than effective push for promotion next season.

But then again I have been wrong before.

Yes I’m sure he’ll be in charge next season but if this season ends poorly he’ll have to hit the ground running in 24/25

 

[Ian]

Just shows you how little time managers have these days. He's only been there for six months.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

The “Micky Mellon Sack Watch” thread on their forum is now up to 38 pages! Although, as usual on there, the bits I dipped into weren’t particularly informative or, at times, even relevant, so I didn’t linger long.

For me, the jury is still firmly out about whether MM without Jacko can be as effective as he was with him. Fact remains, Jacko is a respected EPL coach and MM is a non league manager, and Brabin isn’t a patch on either. I hope he succeeds at Oldham but I’d rate his chances no better than 50/50. We’ll see.

He’ll surely be given the summer to continue his rebuild but I agree the pressure will be on next season. And it might be a tough autumn for him, given his teams’ past tendencies not to start coming on strong until months into the season.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Mellon did not have Jackson with him when he won two promotions at Fleetwood and left them in the highest position in their history.

He probably did miss Jackson's support in his second spell here, and equally could have done without Dawes being foisted on him. However, I think Palios's interference in squad building and misguided implementation of the 'development policy' were more significant factors in the souring of the relationship between the two and his ultimate departure.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

I knew we’d soon hear from one juror who isn’t out!

Fleetwood was ancient history on the back of almost unprecedented silly money for their level. His successes in EFL have been with Jacko, and at two different clubs.

That success got him the gig at Dundee United but marked the end of the partnership, since when his star dipped significantly - Scottish Prem to L2 to VNL is not a good trajectory. Btw he chose to come back here knowing Dawes would be his no 2, and now he’s chosen Brabin to be his no 2. His choices.

Oldham does present a good opportunity but he’s off to a sluggish start, facing many of the same criticisms levelled at him at both Dundee and here about selections, tactics, style of play etc. Early days of course, but Micky’s had doubters for a few years now and needs to start silencing them. Let’s hope he does it, and sooner than later. But I’m sticking at 50/50 for now.

 

[Boz]

Too early to call at Oldham and they still could make the play-offs. Played quite well when I saw them early in Micky’s time there, but does seem to be a level of dissatisfaction building. Given the time Unsworth was given, would expect him to be there next season.

MM achieved the primary target of keeping Dundee Utd in the Scottish top flight without Jacko and when he joined Oldham they were more likely to do a Stockport and drop into NLN than make the play-offs.

 

[bigmart]

Oldham had managed to get in the play offs but aa bad run has seen them fall away and unlikely to make the play offs. They have a big playing budget and in Norwood have one of the highest paid players in the league.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

In light of events in the first three months of this season, I don't consider Mellon's second spell at Prenton Park to be a failure. I also think he did pretty well at Dundee United, keeping them up and giving them their best cup run in years.

His success at Fleetwood is as valid as any other, perhaps more impressive considering how inexperienced he was at that stage. Plenty of managers in the National League and below have had significant sums to spend, at clubs like Forest Green, Eastleigh and Fylde, but have failed to reach the Football League.

Oldham would be daft to get rid of Mellon without giving him a pre-season and a summer transfer window, and I am sure they won't. A lot of their supporters seem unconvinced by the quality of the squad which was largely put together by his predecessor.

 

[Sparky]

It’s a big game for Micky in the 12:30 kick off v Rochdale. Norwood and Hogan start for the hosts with Harvey Gilmour in the Rochdale side

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

Mellon did not have Jackson with him when he won two promotions at Fleetwood and left them in the highest position in their history.

He probably did miss Jackson's support in his second spell here, and equally could have done without Dawes being foisted on him. However, I think Palios's interference in squad building and misguided implementation of the 'development policy' were more significant factors in the souring of the relationship between the two and his ultimate departure.

I totally agree with all of this.
hit nail on head.

 

[bigmart]

It’s a big game for Micky in the 12:30 kick off v Rochdale. Norwood and Hogan start for the hosts with Harvey Gilmour in the Rochdale side

Drew 1 1 so won't make the play offs realistically

 

[drwhoman]

Draw for Oldham. Glatzel scores again. We should have taken a punt on that guy. Clearly no bigger a risk than some of the others (dross?) that we signed.

 

[Ian]

We should have taken a punt on that guy.

We did, twice.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We did, twice.

Yes, good luck to Glatzel but we could not afford to risk it.

 

[drwhoman]

Yes, good luck to Glatzel but we could not afford to risk it.

He had hamstring surgery after the second injury which I suspect has fixed the problem. Time will tell. He has been playing regularly for Swindon and has scored more goals than most of our so called strikers. Sorry to sound bad tempered but our squad is just so average. As others have observed, the Walsall result was so predictable!

 

[Ian]

He had hamstring surgery after the second injury which I suspect has fixed the problem.

Yes, hopefully that is the case and he can resume his career but hindsight is a great thing. His injury record at the time he was with us was poor and so I don't think there was much confidence in him for this reason alone. I don't think anyone doubted his ability.

 

[drwhoman]

Yes, hopefully that is the case and he can resume his career but hindsight is a great thing. His injury record at the time he was with us was poor and so I don't think there was much confidence in him for this reason alone. I don't think anyone doubted his ability.

I agree entirely Ian but, again with hindsight, we managed to sign some older crocks who do not have his level of ability. Wiki tells me that he is only 23. Anyway, all irrelevant now. What a frustrating end to the season it has been!

 

[Sparky]

After a mini drought Elliot Nevitt on the scoresheet for Crewe again

 

[bigmart]

Michael Ihiekwe scores for Sheff Wed from a Will Vaulks corner, Paul Mullin with 2 goals.