So near, yet so far

So near, yet so far.

Latics have finally roared to life but for all intents and purposes it’s about a fortnight too late.

Back to back wins for the first time under Shaun Maloney and some fabulous performances all over the pitch against Millwall made our impending relegation even more frustrating.

On our day we can play, and we can play well.

There are two decisions that will see us relegated this year and I know I’m labouring the point but they are decisions that need acknowledging, so the powers that be don’t make the same mistakes ever again.

Decision one was the ludicrous decision to go after a manager with zero experience, actually pay compensation for him and wait over a fortnight to appoint him due to said compensation discussions.

The second was to not pay salaries on time, leading to an automatic three point deduction. Probably influenced by the financial decisions made in the point referenced above.

Examine these and you can see exactly why we’re hurtling back to League One.

Still, cest la vie.

No matter how many times I go over it in my head it won’t change anything. We are where we deserve to be, even if that’s down to self inflicted mistakes.

As galling as our situation is, it’s doubly so when you see that in four of the last five seasons our current points total would have kept us up.

Turn that frustration up another notch when you see that Burnley who have spent the season sweeping everything in their wake to one side (like some huge East Lancashire mutant winning machine) seemed to forget how to win and indeed even draw against Reading and QPR last week.

Don’t worry though, they managed to remember in time for Tuesday’s match against Blackburn.

So the situation is now well out of our hands and even if we manage to turn our two match winning run in to a four match winning run we’re reliant on Huddersfield not winning any of their last three matches and indeed failing to pick up more than a point.

Mathematically not impossible but realistically? Yeah realistically we know where we’re heading.

Still – let’s end on a positive note. I’ve seen a lot of criticism to Shaun Maloney in recent weeks. Which is like blaming Keir Starmer for the state of Britain over the last thirteen years.

Maloney’s record is infinitely better than Toure’s and indeed is looking good alongside Leam Richardson’s championship tenure.

We’ve tightened up at the back hugely (sixth best defensive team in the division now) and although we still look far too toothless going forward Callum Lang, Will Keane and Josh Magennis have battled magnificently over the last three games.

All three are important players for this side and in particular Will Keane, of “he only ever scores goals” fame has done fantastically well for this club over the last three seasons.

His goal record is approaching the best in the club’s history and with 50 league goals to his name he surely must be one for Maloney to build around next season.

This season has been a disaster but coming away on Saturday I felt pride, I felt pride in the way that wee magician who set Wembley alight ten years ago has put some pride back in to our shirt.

If we do go down on Saturday this relegation isn’t on Shaun Maloney. He deserves the tools and the backing (both financially and from the Terraces) to show what he can do next season.

I’ve got faith that he’ll give us a season to be proud of.

Sean Livesey

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