Oldham caretaker boss Pete Wild effectively rules himself out of full-time job

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2019 by PA

Oldham caretaker boss Pete Wild effectively ruled himself out of the full-time management job at Boundary Park despite guiding his team to a 2-0 home win against 10-man Notts County.

The result made it six points out of six for Wild, who has also overseen an emphatic victory at Port Vale since replacing the sacked Frankie Bunn.

Oldham took a 40th-minute lead against rock-bottom County when Tom Hamer delivered a right-wing cross which flew over the goalkeeper and went straight into the net.

Peter Clarke struck just after the break, exploiting poor defending to convert a free-kick from Johan Branger.

Wild said: “I will be sitting down with the chairman, but I have a job in the academy here and that’s my role first and foremost.

“Whoever comes in will get my support. It isn’t for me to say what the chairman will do, but it has to be the right decision for the club and also the right decision for me at the current time.

“I was asked to keep it ticking over. I was happy to do that and I will be a better coach as a result of what I have learnt.

“This is already a good League Two team and I’m sure the chairman and manager will be looking to add to the squad in January.

“I will have a plan for the next game at Fulham (in the FA Cup third round), so we will have to wait and see whether I’m still in charge of the team for that one.”

The visitors’ problems were compounded by an 83rd-minute red card for substitute Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain after he received two bookings in quick succession.

Notts County manager Neal Ardley admitted: “The first goal was a fluke, which is how it’s going at the moment, but the response after that disappointed me.

“We tried to get more bodies forward and we did have some chances in the second half, but it wasn’t good enough.

“The second goal was the kind you shouldn’t concede and I’m getting fed up of clapping our fantastic support when I’m not happy with what I’ve seen.

“I’ve been hard on the players in the dressing room and we do have to move forward, but I’m sick of apologising to the fans.

“The league position and the performance tell you it isn’t good enough. We are trying to be more solid and harder to beat, but we need to get two or three good performances together.

“We need more bodies in the squad and we are working hard to do that. We don’t have fortunes to throw away, but it needs to be freshened up as soon as possible.”