No1VillaFan:Thank you very much for the kind words.

RD17:I hope so too as going up against a Premiership side would be great for the club.

Neal:Two appalling results which brought us back down to Earth with a bump!

It is the turn of the year and as you can see from the results, we have experienced both cup success and disappointment. First came a brave performance against Fulham who are back in the Premier League on this save with players in their ranks such as James Tomkins, Jordan Ibe, Mauro Zarate and Josh McEachran. They do possess some quality players so it was always going to be a tough tie but I do think that we put in a very strong performance and this was recognised by the fans and media. I do honestly believe that if the game had been at our ground, the result would have been different. They did have a lot more shots than us but nothing that particularly worried us. I am disappointed to admit that cup goalkeeper Daniel Ward was left out and this is the second time I have done this to him. However, he was the man in goal during the 5-2 win against Barnsley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final Leg 1.

This performance has got to be our best one so far despite having conceded two goals which I put down to Daniel Ward’s attributes being so poor. Unfortunately there has been no change in them since he joined the club due to him not getting any game time apart from a few cup games. Every other part of the game went according to plan; we were helped with Barnsley having two players sent off but as we all saw on TV, Manchester City struggled against ten men Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It is one thing have an advantage there, it is another thing taking it! Jerome Sinclair and Mohamed Coulibaly did the business by scoring a brace each with Sante Giacinti popping up with a solo effort. Just to note, we were four nil up before one of Barnsley’s players sent off so the game was already over. Is the tie over though? We played the second leg in front of our dedicated fans next month and if we play it right, the tie should be well and truly over.

I am quite disappointed with the lads’ efforts against Walsall as a win would have really put is on pole position for the league title. It was a close affair but Walsall would have felt very hard done by if they hadn’t got the three points. They simply deserved the win for coming back from two nil down to win the game 3-2. Their defence was atrocious and we didn’t make the most of that but instead seemed to sit back after the half time whistle. Will Keane (formerly of Manchester United) had a great game while Joe Edwards decided to score his first and second goal of the season against us. This lone result doesn’t suddenly mean that the first place is going to change hands any time soon but instead we will get back to a good run of form which will last until the end of the season. I am that confident; maybe over confident?

Player of the Month – Jerome Sinclair

Great month in league even with loss against Walsall. Keep up the good work and the result will come.

The standout result of this month has got to be the hard fought draw against Barnsley which has seen us progress to the clubs’ first Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final with a strong chance of winning. The game was a scrappy affair with it appearing to have been won in the first leg with our much more confident 5-2 win at Barnsley’s ground. I was pleased for Daniel Ward who was stuck with in goal in this competition and he will definitely have earned his spot in the final against Burton Albion who are flying high in League Two. I will be very confident heading into the game and I think the quality of Poleon and Sinclair will help us get the clubs’ first piece of silverware for many a year.

The best bit of news that I have received in the past couple of months is that my side can’t be relegated this season; it was as if I couldn’t work that out for myself. Instead we are very close to securing a play-off spot with the chance of automatic promotion still being a possibility. We have managed to maintain a seven point lead over Walsall for a long time and if anything, based on this months results, we are looking to extend that gap even further. If we play the rest of the season like we did against Gillingham this month, then the league title will be ours before the end of the season; this will take the pressure off the lads and help me give others some game time.

What was refreshing about the Gillingham is that we had four different goal scorers and neither Poleon nor Sinclair was one of them. Liam Kelly had been moaning about lack of game time due to Theo Wharton (another scorer in this game) and Duane Holmes keeping him out of the side, and he paid me back for giving him a chance by getting on the score sheet. The standout player for me, who I will be considering for my player of the season award, which is very sought after, is Nathaniel Oseni. The lads career started at Manchester City but he was sent on loan to Bury for two seasons before coming to us on a free transfer. I am glad he used his head and realised he wouldn’t break into the first team at City but instead would be the first name on the sheet here at Oldham. In his first season he got an average rating of 7.01 which isn’t too shabby and he is set to increase that statistic by the end of this season. If it wasn’t for the goal scoring form of Jerome Sinclair, he would be at the top of the list with Duane Holmes for the player of the season award. He puts 100% into every game and I am confident that we can shut out other teams when he is at the back, which is going to be important as the season begins to wind down.

Player of the Month – Duane Holmes

Making some brilliant progress. Think you'll be playing Championship football next season.

2014-12-21 21:09#204267 FM-LD : Making some brilliant progress. Think you'll be playing Championship football next season.

Thanks. I am over the moon with how the season is going so far and hope it continues like this until the very end.

It is a fantastic feeling to have won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the first time in my career and Oldham Athletics’ history. What was most pleasing was that the game was played at a high profile stadium, being Wembley. I had been disappointed when my Boston United side didn’t get chance to visit Wembley for the first time in the play-off final, however, this time did not disappoint. Despite us walking away with the trophy, I will be brutally honest and say that we were very fortunate and if Liam Slade for Burton hadn’t been sent off, the result could have been a lot different and not in favour. Burton totally out played us from the start up until the dismissal in terms of possession and shots on target. Regardless of them finishing on top of the possessions statistics etc, they didn’t finish on top on the most important one, the score line. Jerome Sinclair popped up in the sixty-second minute with a good finish to win the trophy for the first time in the clubs’ history. I discussed in my last update about Nathaniel Oseni being a contender for the player of the season award but surely it has to be Jerome Sinclair. He is the league’s leading goal scorer and has already broken the clubs’ record for most number of goals scored in a season; if we didn’t sign him on loan this season then we would have found things a lot more difficult and we certainly wouldn’t have won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

As a result of winning the trophy, securing a play-off spot and extending the lead at the top of the league to nine points, the board of directors have offered me the chance to extend my contract. This is certainly going to be something that I will be considering as I would love to take this Oldham side into the Championship and test ourselves against bigger and better clubs. I am however going to delay my decision until either we win in the play-offs or secure the league title. I want to breed a winning club and if we fail to do either of those things then I will have something to think about. I am not lacking confidence in my ability in achieving in either of those things but I would like to take either one of them into the contract discussions with me as a bit of a bargaining chip to hopefully get some backing in the transfer and wage budget. I also would like the club to support me in completing of the National B license course which Boston United were not willing to do. It is about time I focused on my own abilities as well as a clubs’ as I cannot see my future solely at Oldham Athletic if previous “Unemployment Challenges” are anything to go on.

Player of the Month – Jerome Sinclair

Congrats on the cup win. Would be great to see Oldham in the championship but also would be good to see you at a bigger club in the near future, keep it up

You're doing really well - great story so far.

2014-12-28 00:09#204666 wellsy1498 : Congrats on the cup win. Would be great to see Oldham in the championship but also would be good to see you at a bigger club in the near future, keep it up

Thank you very much. I would like to move onto a new club in the near future but I want to see how I fair in the Championship with Oldham first.

2014-12-28 02:11#204683 TButcher1 : You're doing really well - great story so far.

Thank you, I am glad you're enjoying it.

As you can see from the title, we stuck it out until the very end and have been crowned the champions of Sky Bet League 1 and have completed a double in terms of silverware for the season! On reflection, this months’ results sums up our season and how dominate we have been for the majority of it and how we have gone into many a game and simply outscored opponents while keeping out opposition attacks. Heck! in this last month we only conceded four goals in seven games while helping ourselves to fifteen! It is this kind of efficiency which meant that we did in fact win the league after the 2-1 win against Portsmouth, I think (I haven’t played the game for a month so writing this update is extremely difficult right now!) This meant that the rest of the month could be used to ensure that we finished the season in style while giving other players who hadn’t featured much in the season so far.

A lot of what we achieved this season has got to be down to the goal scoring prowess of Jerome Sinclair who has got his hands on my Player of the Season award, which of course everyone wants to be considered for, never mind win! Other contenders would have all been worthy winners but Sinclair’s goal return to say he missed a chunk of the season was just brilliant and helped us nearly finished on a century of goals for the season. He finished on twenty-three goals in thirty-six appearances while contributing nine assists; his end of season rating was a respectable 7.19. Without those goals the end of season result could have been so much different. Like I mentioned, there were other contenders such as Rolando Aarons who came in on loan from Newcastle United. He contributed seventeen assists and came up with a couple of important goals at different points of the season. Both he and Sinclair are going to be the first two players I am going to look at signing on loan again next season as a minimum; a permanent deal would be the ideal. Theo Wharton and Duane Holmes deserve a mention after a number of great performances and they really have developed a immense partnership in the middle of the park; you can’t complain about them having been signed on free transfers!

With me having signed a new contract in April, I will be in charge of the club for the foreseeable future and will be taking the club into the Championship. How will we do in what is seen as one of the most difficult leagues? Time to find out...

Player of the Season – Jerome Sinclair

well done man hopefully the board back you, if not you may be onto to bigger and better things

Congratulations on the promotion and as champions! Well done.

Congrats on the title

Corngrats on the promotion!