12th September 2000   

Latics Mad-house-ski 5

ANDY RITCHIE will face some difficult decisions tonight when Athletic aim to bounce back to form at fifth-placed Reading. The Boundary Park boss took an 18-man squad to the Madejski Stadium — a hint that changes could be on the way. Athletic have taken only one point from five league games and, after the weekend defeat at Wrexham, Ritchie admitted he was worried about their slide down the table. He said: “We have had a couple of days since then to look at the game and mull things over. It’s very important we start picking up points.” 

Athletic’s plans could revolve around Scott McNiven, who has looked solid in midfield for the last two matches. Ritchie would like to keep him there, but McNiven is also one of the club’s most reliable defenders. It is at the back that Athletic are struggling most, so the 22-year-old — still on the transfer list and playing on a weekly contract — might revert to centre-half. There is also a chance that Irishman Barry Prenderville will be handed his league debut only six days after signing a full-time contract. 

Ritchie has no new injury worries, but he has added Steve Whitehall and Danny Boshell to the players who went down 3-1 at Wrexham. Whitehall has fallen out of favour and is now available on a free transfer, while teenager Boshell could be involved if McNiven is switched from midfield. 

ATHLETIC (from): Kelly, Jones, Garnett, Hotte, Adams, Holt, McNiven, Duxbury, Rickers, Allott, Corazzin, Prenderville, Innes, Dudley, Tipton, Boshell, Whitehall, Miskelly. 

Reading are unbeaten at home and one of the favourites for promotion after signing five players since last season. Injuries deprive them of striker Tony Rougier, who recently cost £340,000 from Port Vale, midfielder Keith Jones and long-term absentee Nicky Forster. 

READING (from): Whitehead, Newman, Hunter, Viveash, Gurney, Igoe, Caskey, Parkinson, Hodges, Butler, Cureton, Mackie, Haddow, McIntyre, Robinson, Gamble, Ashdown.

DEFENDER Stuart Thom left Athletic with only one regret — that he never showed the club his true colours. Thom, whose spell at Boundary Park was badly disrupted by injuries, signed yesterday for Scunthorpe United, ending an Athletic career which spanned 23 months. The fee was undisclosed but is likely to be around £20,000, half of what he cost when Andy Ritchie plucked him out of Nottingham Forest’s reserves. Yet Thom is simply relieved to be back in league football. He enjoyed his one-month loan spell at Glanford Park and, when Scunthorpe offered the chance of a permanent move, had no hesitation in dropping into division three.

Thom said: “It’s good to be playing in the first team again. I had injury problems which put me back a lot last season, so it can be hard to get up to speed when you first come back. “But I feel good, somewhere around the fitness level I had when I first joined Oldham. “I’m not disappointed with my time there — it just didn’t work out as we would have hoped — but the pity is that I couldn’t show more of my best form to everyone.” Thom arrived at Boundary Park as a 21-year-old whose only league experience had come in a loan period at Mansfield.

He was a regular in the squad and, before the start of last season, Andy Ritchie was classing him among the club’s brightest young prospects. “We are not looking to sell people like Andrew Holt, Mark Innes or Stuart Thom,” the manager said at the time. But the quietly-spoken Yorkshireman broke his toe at Stockport in the second match of the campaign — and set off a downward spiral from which he didn’t recover. He was back a month later and played four times as Athletic began their desperately-needed revival. Then came the most savage of setbacks. Thom and goalkeeper Gary Kelly chased the same ball against Luton, Kelly failed to stop, and his team-mate was left stricken on the turf with a fractured collarbone. Thom was carried off and taken straight to hospital, where he remained for a few days as doctors made sure he hadn’t also suffered damage to his shoulder.

The player finally made his comeback in April — a full six months later — but couldn’t force his way into defence and was instead asked to play up front. The writing looked on the wall for a dispirited Thom when he didn’t figure in any of this year’s pre-season friendlies. He was borrowed by newly-relegated Scunthorpe and hopes his signing of a two-year contract will herald the start of happier times. “It was time to move on,” he reflected. “And I’m enjoying myself at Scunthorpe. It’s a nice ground, a good set-up and they are very professional behind the scenes. “We have already shown we are capable of being at the top of the league, so we just need to find more consistency. “Going down a division doesn’t bother me. Every single player wants to be at the highest level they can, but at the moment I just want to play a full season. “It’s not for me to say what level I can play at. I’ll let my football do the talking and just see if another move comes along. “It was a shame things went a bit wrong at Oldham, but if you sign someone you want them to play about 40 games a season. “If that doesn’t happen, the manager isn’t getting value for the money he paid. And that means everyone is disappointed, from the manager and the player to the fans.”

When Ritchie allowed Thom to leave, one of his reasons was the need to go on trimming the wage bill. It was a similar scenario with striker Paul Beavers, who moved to Darlington on a free transfer last week. The manager is still seeking to strengthen other areas of his squad and, into the bargain, has just signed a defensive replacement in Barry Prenderville. Ritchie said: “Stuart played quite a few games in his time here, but his chances were becoming limited. “We had a chat about it and, although I wasn’t actively looking to sell him, this could give us scope for signing other people. “Stuart is still a young lad with lots to learn. He needs to be playing first-team football. “The move probably came along at the right time for the clubs concerned, as well as for Stuart himself.”

TALES of Chaddy Owl and his fluffy mascot friends are getting more outlandish by the week . . . The latest twist comes from Football League headquarters, where the game’s top brass apparently have nothing better to do than pick on Chaddy, Cyril The Swansea Swan and The Deepdale Duck. Call it quackers, but the League is to impose a code of conduct to ensure club mascots behave themselves during matches. A draft document is being drawn up, ordering Chaddy and Co. to stay off the pitch and avoid any sort of provocative behaviour.

Spokesman John Nagle said: “Mascots add a sense of fun and attract youngsters to games, but there have been a few negative incidents.” Those include Chaddy getting his marching orders after a confused linesman flagged him offside. The popular owl — who now runs out to huge applause and chants of his name — was the first Athletic representative to be “sent off” this season, beating Shaun Garnett and Mark Hotte by a couple of weeks. The code of conduct will prevent mascots joining in with goal celebrations, a habit which has already seen Cyril the Swan confined to a seat in the stands.

GLYN SNODIN, the full-back who was part of Athletic’s return to the big time 10 years ago, has landed a new job with a Premiership club. Snodin benefited from an injury to Andy Barlow when Athletic took him on loan from Leeds on the eve of the 1990/91 campaign. He quickly became a crowd favourite and, since retiring, the 40-year-old has made a name for himself with no fewer than nine clubs. Snodin’s latest post is at Charlton Athletic, where he has taken control of the reserve team.

Manchester Evening News

OLDHAM boss Andy Ritchie is planning to shuffle his squad at Reading tonight to try to find a formation that will take them back to winning ways. The Latics haven’t tasted victory since the opening day of the season and have taken just one point from the last 15. Ritchie admitted: ‘‘The lads are a bit down and there is some battered pride. ‘‘But we know we can play a lot better and we proved that at Huddersfield last week. ‘‘We just don’t seem to be able to defend at the moment with too many players having collective off days.’’

The Latics have slumped to just outside the relegation while Reading, who have the second division's top scorer in six-goal Jamie Cureton, are riding high fifth from top. Ritchie added: ‘‘I have a few options to change things around and I will be giving them plenty of thought. ‘‘We haven’t got a squad which is coming out of our ears, so it will be down to the same squad.’’ It could be debut time for new signing Barry Prenderville. The 23-year-old Irishman had a solid game for the reserves at the heart of defence last week and the struggling Paul Jones could be pulled out of the firing line. Ritchie, who was aiming to bring back all three points, explained: ‘‘There is no point in us going there and trying to play for a point. ‘‘Reading are a very strong side who have signed a lot of players and it is going to be very difficult - but we will be going for it.’’