‘Things will never improve’, ‘We don’t have a clue’ – These Oldham fans react as interesting revelations made

Former Oldham Athletic manager Dino Maamria has lifted the lid on the reasons behind his departure in an interview with The Sack Race.

The former Stevenage boss left the club a little under two weeks ago, following another tough season for them in League Two. The struggling Latics only appointed Maamria in December after Laurent Banide’s departure. Maamria guided them to 19th in the table, but only served in the role for ten months, still making him their longest-serving manager since the departure of Lee Johnson in February 2015.

However, he left the club at the beginning of the month, although he didn’t have a big fallout with controversial owner Abdallah Lemsagam, more of a disagreement over the club’s future direction.

“I think it comes to a point where the position of a head coach becomes untenable,” Maamria said in an interview with The Sack Race.

“For one reason or another when the head coach and owner see the club in a different way then something’s got to give in, and that was my position. I’ve got to respect the decision as it’s their football club at the end of the day, but I believed that the way I wanted to take the club was the right way to go forward.”

One of the main issues for the Tunisian, and something that will concern fans too, is the revelation he wasn’t going to have full control over transfers, a situation one would imagine is the same for new boss Harry Kewell.

“The big one for me was recruitment and how I was going to build a strong team for next season. I wanted clarity,” added Maamria.

“I made it clear to them that it’s their job to tell me what I can and can’t afford and it’s my job to make sure that I get the best value for money. So I’ll speak to the players that I want to bring in. I want to play a certain way, implement certain systems and a culture. The players I want to bring in have got to fit in with that.

“I’ve got to meet potential signings, spend time with them on the phone and face-to-face to make sure that I do my due diligence so that I bring the right characters to the club.  If I’m going to walk into the club and I find that we’ve signed someone that I’ve never met or heard of, that’s going to be a problem. I just wanted to make sure that I’ve got some control over recruitment, and that was probably the breaking point for both of us.”

Whilst Maamria spoke of a good relationship with the chairman, news that Kewell won’t be bringing in his own players has got to be a worry for Oldham fans, still reeling from their recent transition from League One staples to League Two strugglers. Some supporters have responded to the interview on Twitter, concerned for the future direction.


Have you tried our League Cup quiz yet?

1 of 10

Who was the last League Two club to make the EFL Trophy Final?


 

 

Podcasts

About Gary Hutchinson 545 Articles
Founder

3 Comments

  1. Why would Kewell take a job where he can`t sign players?
    It could be that the owner just wanted a change of Manager.
    The new players interviews say they joined after speaking with Harry.
    We need someone to speak with Harry about this to find out the truth.

    • The problem you would have is you’d get the usual whitewashed version. I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but you rarely get the truth at the time.

  2. The other strange thing is if it`s true what Maamria says,why did he join only last December if he had known he could`nt sign players? In January he or whoever brought in 4 or 5 players. We need to find out the truth from someone at the club or else it will affect season ticket sales badly.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.