Iain Dowie has accepted that his wonder team has been decimated but promises that ‘Oldham Pride’ is not for sale and this priceless commodity will be in abundance when/if his squad of youngsters do kick off the 2003-04 season. Dowie has instilled the ‘never say die attitude’ into his young team and the spirit of survival will prevail if he has anything to do with it. Oldham pride not for sale
Iain Dowie has accepted that his wonder team has been decimated but promises that ‘Oldham Pride’ is not for sale and this priceless commodity will be in abundance when/if his squad of youngsters do kick off the 2003-04 season. Dowie has instilled the ‘never say die attitude’ into his young team and the spirit of survival will prevail if he has anything to do with it. Dowie said, “I was with the fans last week and I told them that whatever team we put out - and it looks as though it won't be anywhere near the quality of last season - they will be watching lads who work very hard for them. All anyone wants to do is to keep this side together, but I have a moral responsibility to these players to try and get them deals and try to make sure this club's future is secured. I'm not one who walks away from adversity. I'm one who confronts it head on. It is a humbling experience for me as a manager to see people who are prepared to go through all this. Some of the players have been paid but even they are upset. It's not a case of 'I'm all right Jack' as they are part of a team and when you see people every day on the training field working their eye strings out it really is a humbling experience in the light of what has gone on.”
The pre-season Ireland trip is going ahead and Dowie went on, “It's fantastic to be going and it is an important trip as we are going to have to field young lads who are going to have to play with the senior players and get used to the 24-seven mindset of being a professional footballer. We had a game last week and eight of the 22 we put out were under 18. Those boys are very much part of my team at the moment. That's the way we have got to go. We have to work hard and can't make excuses. I've never known anything like it at all. I have never been in a situation like this, but I just have to concentrate on what I do and that's the football side.”