Swindon Appoint Wellens: The view of an Oldham fan

As of the 13th November, Richie Wellens has been appointed Swindon Town manager.

The former Oldham and Leicester midfielder took the plunge into management last season, following the dismissal of John Sheridan at Oldham Athletic. Despite an impressive start to his tenure, in which his exciting style of football brought about 4 wins in 5 (in all competitions), he couldn’t stop the Latics dropping into League Two. With just one win in Oldham’s final 12 games he is met with mixed opinions from Oldham fans and has created some concern amongst Swindon fans – I will set about to address the concerns and give my opinion on why he’s the right choice for The Robins

It is first pertinent to address why he struggled at Oldham, despite a good start. This, to some extent, goes back to Lemsagam’s takeover of the Lancashire club in January (and his involvement with the club since September). Wellens was dealt a difficult hand as wages went unpaid, players returned to their parent clubs for the entirety of Janurary (the club was under a transfer embargo), before Ousmane Fane was suspended by Lemsagam at the end of the season.

It would be unfair to blame the financial issues entirely on Lemsagam. Much of it dates to the previous owner Simon Corney, under whom HMRC investigations and unpaid wages were a regular occurrence. However, many players have spoken out about Mr Lemsagam since departing the club – most notably Craig Davies released a scathing statement on twitter, in which he referred to him as a “circus owner” who “humiliated” players and was inconsistent in which players he paid and when.

It is fair to say, these are possibly some of the harshest conditions a rookie manager could work under. In an article for Coaches Voice, Wellens said:

“At the beginning, it was working. We were playing well and winning games. I started to think that maybe we could focus on what was above us, instead of worrying about what was below us all the time.

By the end of the year, things had changed.

On the pitch, we had injuries to key players, our loan players went back to their parent clubs, and the pitch itself began to deteriorate.

Off it, the club had a new owner. We had transfer embargoes and issues with wages. A lot of things came to me at once”

Recruitment

Wellens had an active transfer window as manager, signing 9 players that fit the bill of what was needed by the club:

  • Wilfried Moimbe (short term deal) – The left back looked an adequate signing, filling the left back role that had looked weak previously.
  • Jack Byrne (2 ½ year deal) – following an impressive half season on loan, Byrne returned on a permanent deal in January. It is well known Byrne went on to clash with the owner and left in the summer following a breach of discipline rules.
  • Eoin Doyle (loan extension) – missed much of the second half of the season through injury but finished top scorer at the club.
  • Kean Bryan (loan extension) – Bryan looked an excellent ball playing defender and went on to join Sheffield United in the summer.
  • Patrick McEleney (2 ½ year deal) – a poor signing, he rarely played for the club and looked underwhelming when he did play. He returned to Dundalk in the summer.
  • Zeus de la Paz (18 month deal) – an adequate second choice goalkeeper.
  • Duckens Nazon (loan) – an exciting and deadly striker, he’ll be remembered for his 2 excellent goals away at Blackburn Rovers.
  • Ben Pringle (loan) – this seemed a good signing on paper, but the winger didn’t really excite too much during his time at Boundary Park
  • Kundai Benyu (loan) – touted as Celtic’s next best thing, the young winger ended up returning to his parent club after clashing with Wellens when he demanded more game time.

Judgement

The relegation of Oldham last season was more down to a financial rot at the club that has been 10 years in the making – it would be unfair to put the blame on Wellens. It is true that he made some tactical errors as manager, but I challenge anyone who says there’s a manager out there that is flawless tactically. Any managerial mistakes by Wellens were exacerbated by negative morale brought about from above his head.

Wellens first 5 games in charge, as noted above, brought about excellent style of football that delivered results. He’s a young manager at just 38, by all accounts he is driven and determined – he was keen to stay on at Oldham and set things right, despite relegation. It is understandable that Swindon fans are wary of this appointment, but they shouldn’t be – he will get them playing stylish football if given time and resources. In my books, he’s the right guy for the job – for the sake of Swindon fans, let’s hope I’m right.

words Chris Stringer, D3D4 Oldham Athletic correspondent