Paul Dickov is surprised at the amount of enquiries from agents with out of work players at their disposal. He said, "You would not believe the number of telephone calls, faxes and e-mails I receive daily from agents of players who are without a club. Some of the players we wanted to bring in we never got to meet them because salary wise we could not get near to what they were asking. We also asked to bring in players on trial - I will not sign a player without having seen him at first hand - and the answer was a blanket no. It is now mid-September and I am receiving calls from the agents of the same players asking if they can come on trial."
"When I speak to other managers after games or during the week, 99-per-cent of them are in the same boat as ourselves due to the economy. Quite simply the money is not there. There are not many players with an attitude like that. It is difficult as they have to earn a living but sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward."
The Latics currently have three players, Rodrigue Dikaba, Jean-Francois Christophe and Julian Cherel, who are all playing non-contract in the hope of securing permanent deals. Dickov added, "They are training every day and are desperate to stay and play for us. They are prepared to do it for nothing simply because they want to play football and that shows a fantastic attitude."