The situation at Boundary Park has really hit rock bottom after the team lost their final friendly match of the season 0-1 at home to Halifax Town on Tuesday night. The team have played three pre-season matches against non-league opposition and have still to win a match! Stockport County won 0-2 last Saturday in a dire performance where the Latics had just one shot on target. The previous match was a 2-2 draw at Ashton United, a team that sit two divisions below the Latics. The other friendly match was against local rivals Rochdale who won 2-3 at Boundary Park. Fans were rightfully disillusioned with things and booed the team off after the Halifax defeat.
The results reinforce the negative atmosphere which sees the Latics at their lowest ebb since relegation from the Premier League over 20 years ago. Even long time fans, including myself, are looking forward to a season where anything other than relegation will be deemed a success. The Latics begin their 'Fourth Division' campaign at Forest Green on Saturday. It really is that depressing with a team full of mainly foreign imported players being 'coached' by ther first ever foreign manager of OAFC. Successive managers have complained that they have not been able to 'manage' the team and have been forced to sit back and allow the owners to 'pick the team' for them. It really is a sad state of affairs.