Take one player, ideally, plucked from the youth system; allow to mature in a first team environment before adding in a few U21 caps. When sufficiently developed expose to tournament football whilst sprinkling with rumours. Finish with a coating of a new contract offer before garnishing with an old chestnut like ‘every player has his […]

Latics’ links with Michael Brown can be traced right back to his days as a young prospect with Manchester City. The bustling midfielder, ready to leave the Sky Blues amid rumours of attitude problems and lifestyle issues, declined the offer of a spell at the JJB back then and eventually left to join Sheffield United. […]

I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s little point on mulling over every rotation of the rumour mill.  When it comes down to it, there’s only about 5% truth in what you read or hear anyway.  The rest is either hope or mischief, either from the press, players, their representatives or the clubs.  It’s a […]

So we’ve brought you up to date with the incoming traffic and the next logical step is to look at those who have waved goodbye to us over the last few weeks.  As things stand, the count stands at two from the playing staff, but there are also a couple of moves, from the back […]

You’ve probably not noticed but it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything on the site.  It would be nice to say that I’ve had a nice couple of weeks, sitting back and watching the world go by, but why lie?  No, the lack of ‘Not a patch on…’ related activity is […]

Today’s news that Mike Pollitt has signed the one year extension offered to him by Latics is good news for the club.  With John Filan off to warmer climes and a, temporary, new career as Bruce the Builder the loss of Pollitt would have been a blow to the plans of Chris Hutchings.  In a […]

The first three signings of the summer haven’t really marked Chris Hutchings out as his own man.  Any one of Bramble, Sibierski or Melchiot could just as easily have been picked up under Paul Jewell, in fact they were probably identified as targets before if announced his decision to resign and at least one of […]

Or not as the case may be. For all I know, there may never have been a time where top flight managers were left alone for a couple of months to hunt down and court their chosen signings for the coming season but I’m certain that the Latics managers of my youth didn’t have to […]

The departures of De Zeeuw, Jackson and Unsworth may have left a big hole in the experience levels of Chris Hutchings’ squad, but it’s a hole he’s looking to fill and the signs are that he’s looking at a different level of experience to do that.  Today’s signing of Mario Melchiot may not be earth […]

Goals, that’s what this game is supposedly all about and yet so many clubs in this division survive without the mythical 20-goal a season man that can make all the difference.  However when your defence is shipping them in like nobody’s business all eyes turn to the strikers to redress the balance and if the […]