Ahead of tonight's Papa John's Trophy tie with Oldham Althetic, we spoke to fans from supporters' group Push the Boundary to discuss the goings on at the club...
Oldham are second-bottom in League Two. What exactly is going on at Oldham, both on and off the pitch?
The whole club is struggling due to the current running of the club by its owner Abdallah Lemsagam and his brother and sporting director (with no experience) Mo Lemsagam. Late wages, interference with squad selection, bundles of cash allegedly arriving in bags, withdrawal of our consumer credit license, the owner bringing in his own players from the fourth and fifth division of French football and some have been on £12,000 and rumours of others being on £5,000 in League One! Since they took over just short of four years ago we have seen: 95 players brought in under the Lemsagams; 10 managerial changes; Numerous employment tribunals, and directors of the club accusing the fans of killing the club because they won’t sit back and watch the owner potentially destroy a family club. The list really does go on.
Who is in charge of the club now Keith Curle has left Oldham? It is now the owners friend Selim Benachour who is in charge Given Keith has left the club. He currently runs the youth team who have lost the last 6 games in the league and with no prior experience in England another strange move. What’s the team’s biggest strength? It has to be young Benny Couto who has been with the club for a number of years and was brought to the club by a former ex player Paul Murray. Wonderful left foot and a cracking long throw! One to watch for the future. What’s your biggest weakness? Our defence. Enough said! Which Sunderland player worries you the most? We would have to go with Aiden McGeady but luckily he is missing! We are obviously hoping to see our Winch play tonight. Will Benachour play a strong team tonight? Does he prioritise the cups? With Selim coming in on a temp basis I would expect him to go all out to win given he wants the job full time. No one is convinced that he is the man for the job though. What’s your score prediction for tonight? 2-1 loss, unfortunately.
Who will get the goals?
Carl Piergianni loves to win a header so I will go with him. Not sure who will score for Sunderland, as the first team will likely be heavily rotated.
