"The amount of hard work that's going on here is important to point out, because if I thought people were not working hard here I wouldn't bother. You can tolerate things going wrong, that happens, but you can't tolerate a lack of effort and here at the club you can see everyone is putting in maximum effort, both on and off the pitch. It's possible we can make the playoffs, that's for sure. I feel confident in the manager and the staff who are creating a culture of hard work here at Latics and I think the professionalism is showing on the pitch now. The reality is we don't have more money to spend on players like other teams and we have to work hard to get to where we want to be. The hard work that Athletic put in is matched with a sense of community which runs right through the club, epitomised by a Staff -vs- Players game earlier this week. Those old guys have shown how to do it as the Staff ran out 9-8 winners in the game in no small part due to the finishing of boss Penney and youth boss Philliskirk.
Simon Corney (pictured) added, "We're sensitive to the resistance to change. But as custodians of the club we think it's what's needed, it will be to the benefit of the club when it happens and we're happy to prove people wrong. There's so much positivity that comes direct to us, but the way of the world and the press is that you only hear bad news. I'm pleased for the team that the mood is up and to watch the team this year they're working so unbelievably hard and the camaraderie is better than anything else I've seen in the six years I've been here. You get greedy as you start to get points together - but there's a lot of teams with big money in and around us and we have to be sensible. It'll be tough, we're realistic, but you have to wait and see. We've had a game of 7-aside today involvingTony Philliskirk, Dave Penney, Martin Gray, Lee Duxbury and a few others. The small pitch allowed the older guys to show how it's done, that you don't lose it.