Oldham boss Paul Dickov spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Boundary Park tomorrow, Dickov hoping for some final day excitement after the Latics played out a drab 0-0 draw at Bury last Saturday :
“Carlisle are going to be up for it, it possibly won’t be like Bury was last week where both teams had nothing to play for. They are coming down here knowing that they have to win the game and they are going to have a big crowd behind them and it means it is going to be a really good atmosphere. As much as I like Greg (Abbott) and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) and their staff there is no way I want to see them coming here and celebrating at our place on the last game of the season.
“I want to finish the season, I wouldn’t go as far as saying on a high, but I want to finish the season with a win, especially in front of our own fans. But, it will be a team playing for us with next season in mind definitely, the ones that are going to be here and are hopefully going to be here next season will be the ones that will play on Saturday.
“Since Christmas it has been a long blip, too long for my liking, but there have been different factors to come into it and I can sit here and the one thing I will try to do is be as honest as I can and not make excuses. But, whatever I say is going to be taken as excuses anyway, but whether it is injuries, whether it is the age of the team or anything else it has not been good enough and I know that.
“I know as well that if the team has not been good enough then it means I have not been good enough. So, first and foremost before I start pointing the finger at anybody else, I will look at myself as I always do. Win, lose or draw the first person I ask questions to is me and I will be doing that over the summer. I know how I want to go about next season, I know how I am going to change the things that I do, and that will be changes for the better.
“There was a point where we had seven players out injured who would have started, and within that time it was probably four or five weeks where we started hitting the bad run. Then once you are in the bad run it is hard to get out of it, and then when these players do come back fit, as in fit enough to play, it takes them time to get back into the swing of it again when they have had long-term injuries. That really has affected us, but as I said, I don’t want to make excuses."
“The last three or four months haven’t been good enough but the fans have been fantastic home and away. I completely understand when they get a little bit disgruntled because they want to see us winning games and they want to see us winning games in the right way, and we have not done that. So, Saturday gives us a chance and the boys are determined to go out with a victory as well, we have not had one for a while, we have stopped the rot a little bit in the last three games with the draws. But, football is about winning football matches and it is something I desperately want to do just as a thank you to the fans for the support they have given us all season.
“Everybody knows that the budget is going to get cut next season, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a good go. It doesn’t mean anything behind the scenes about bringing players in, we have spoken to a number of players already, and because the budget is being cut it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t get good players in.
“My mandate has got to change slightly, this year I have probably tried to get more talented players in to try to play the right way, and that has not worked. So, that is where I will be changing my outlook on bringing players in, I want players out there that are going to run through a brick wall for the football club, but there are talented players that can do that as well. I want to improve all over, we have not been good enough all over the pitch this year, defensively we have leaked goals and as a team going forward we have created chances and not scored goals. But, we are looking at every position possible to get better players in than we have had this year.
“Chris (Taylor) knows that we want him to stay, and I have gone on record to say that it might come back and bite me on the bum but I think if Chris stays in League One it will be with us. But, there are Championship clubs looking at him and there are Championship clubs that have been talking to his agent, and I don’t think anybody could begrudge Chris the chance to go and play at a higher level. Chris knows that we have made an offer to him, but that offer will be on the table like every other player, I can’t make exceptions for one.
“The players will be getting told on Monday if they are getting offered a contract and there will be a timescale on it to give us the answer, and if they have not made up their mind by then, then the contract offer will be withdrawn. We have put an offer to Kieran Lee as well, we are waiting on Kieran and his agent getting back and it is similar to Chris, it is no secret that since I have been at the club Kieran has been consistently our best player. There are clubs looking at him, but Kieran really enjoys being here and he enjoys having his football here. So, he has got a bit of time to think over the offer, and hopefully he will get back to us sooner rather than later.”