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Judging him based on YouTube clips is a bit harsh. It’s made the likes of Julius Agahowa look like world beaters. He only seemed at fault for the first one there, when the striker bullied his way through. The other was a great strike and for the third there was a terrible bright sun in his face. Welcome back, Lee. You didn’t let us down in the Championship (unlike three quarters of the team), and you’re surely good enough to fill in for Jossy and O’Donnell.
By the heck, are you feeling altright, Donny lad?
Most positive post ever. Presumably because it was a JP Trophy game, and you were confident that none of the JCLs would see fit to comment on it.
Definitely a good result and a decent, batling performance by the sounds of it. Was glad that Hwula got his goals bcause his head could have been down after being subbed at half time on Saturday. Also good to see Holty back; Cowie too could be valuable if McCann’s injury lingers. Wildschut looks like another good ‘un.
Get our two first-choice centre-halves and two first-choice strikers fit and, with all those in reserve plus good young lads such as Chow, Jennings, Flores, Ianson and Robles coming through, we could have a decent crack at the league.
I’m surprised and disappointed that they haven’t retained Kwist and Kim, unless neither wanted to stay, of course. Will be amazed to see Pennant, Holt, Riera and Delort lining up on the first day of the season.
To answer the original question: neither really saw much of the ball. Flores made a couple of good touches but I’m not sure Robles touched it at at all. He showed his speed, though, and is a big lad for his age. Great to see them come on, but – if they are to form the backbone of next season’s team – I think we should have done it weeks ago instead of bringing in those disinterested starlets on loan from Liverpoool.
If there is any truth in that £20,000 a week, it makes me worry how much we’re paying Grant Holt to sit on his arse. He was signed at the same time by the same manager, wasn’t he? And a bigger name at the time, too.
I’m pleased we can have a grown-up conversation about this and, though I obviously didn’t pay enough attention to the accounts over the years, I was there too throughout Whelan and Gage, and Heathcoate and Freddie Pye, for that matter.
So the holding companies are set up to protect the club, are they? Does that mean that the club has representation on their boards to prevent them from acting against their interests?
Club assets being held by assorted mysterious companies has been the undoing of a few clubs, most notably Saturday’s opponents Leeds, owned – or were they? – by ex-Latics director Ken Bates. What I’d like is some transparency, then we could judge Whelan’s record and the club’s long-term sustainability for ourselves.
Thanks to both of you for trying to shed light on this.
It would be interesting to know just how bad the club’s debts were when Whelan took over. Because, although large at the time, they’re probably only comparable to the “small” debt he left us with after writing off his loans.
The difference, though, being that we owned our own ground then.
I’ve loved the whole ride into the Premier League. But it’s beginning to look like one family’s reckless adventure, with all the risk loaded on the club’s side.
Glad to see that this thread finally gained momentum.
Last night’s win at least gives us some hope.
But the fact that three directors have left and the board now consists of the PR man and a 23-year-old lad suggests that there are more questions than I would expect to see answered in the Wgan Observer.
Donny’s point is a good one. If Whelan has gifted the club its stadium, training ground and academy site then he can justifiably be said to have put real money in, and we will be an asset-rich football club.
If somehow they actually sit on the balance sheet of one of his companies, then we are susceptible to rent, mortgage and market fluctuations in perpetuity. What if those companies go bust, get taken over, or change our terms?
Maybe, as people are saying, the TV money, transfer receipts and parachute payments did all go on paying Premier League wages. If so – and the club doesn’t actually turn out to own anything – that seems reckless and short-sighted to me.
But that boils down to mismanagement again. We know for a fact that Burnley have refused to dish out those sorts of contracts. Yet they’ve got a fighting chance of winning next year’s telly windfall. I suspect also that Crystal Palace and Hull are paying out smaller wages these days, having been relegated relatively recently.
The cost-cutting started when Martinez took over from Bruce: by the time he left I’d be surprised if we had anyone left on over 20K a week, when Heskey, N’Zogbia and others were on much more than that years before.
Now the players have gone, the money’s been squandered, the extra support has been lost, and we still haven’t got the academy off the ground.
Whelan talks a lot about putting the club on a safe financial footing. Looks like he’s just putting us back where he found us.
Yeah, you’re right: it was a bad choice of word. Best of luck trying to keep it together. It’s a shame so many vital services are at the sharp end, especially when there’s £30billion a year in unpaid tax which could be going towards them. Football is completely trivial in comparison, but some good news on the field wouldn’t go amiss. Seems a long time since Wembkey and Europe already.
Well, Ramis is out for a month now so it looks like we’re stuck with Kiernan and may see a return for Barnett. Also, Maloney remains available for Sat so how about:
Carson
Boyce Barnett Kiernan
Perch Maloney McCann Forshaw Taylor
Waghorn McLeanIt doesn’t look so bad on paper but as things stand is even weaker than at the start of the season
Who are these pegs, though? We’ve just let Tavernier go, who was first-choice right wing back for a month. And that five-man midfield is losing some flair with Espinoza and Maloney departing. Are we going to see a return to Boyce at right wing back? Or at centre half, with Perch going out there? Could Barnett please replace Kiernan? Are Wastson, McCann and Cowie too similar to play together? Will we ever see Huws or Kwist again?
That celebrated strike duo Maloney and Maclean! Don’t get me wrong, Maclean’a our only chance of goals at the moment but we must be the first team in history to play two false No 9s.