INSIDE FOOTBALL WITH: Dean Holden - Gutted to be sacked by Oldham, but results had been poor

Dean Holden was sacked as assistant manager of Oldham Athletic last week and in his latest column reveals just how he learned of his fate along with manager David Dunn and coach Keith Brown.

I was sacked as Oldham Athletic’s assistant manager last week. Results have not been good and no matter how hard we tried, no matter how many hours we worked, they did not pick up.

The Latics are 22nd in League One with only three wins from 22 games. Only one of those wins was at home, so I understand why fans have not been happy and why the pressure has been building, with talk of the manager David Dunn and myself being dismissed.

When bookmakers start tweeting odds on us getting sacked, we knew we needed to get results because we were only one point off the bottom of the league.

We were working on one of the smaller budgets in League One and crowds were slipping below 4,000, but no fans want to hear excuses and I’m not one for them anyway. I’m certain we’d have got it right with time, but clubs don’t have time.

Oldham’s chairman Simon Corney, a man who saved the club when I was a player, is proud that he’s kept them in League One. That may not sound like the biggest boast in the world, especially to fans who remember the glory days at the start of the 90s, but the chairman rightly pointed out the demise of Stockport County, Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham, who’ve all slipped into non-league.

No club wants to go down, especially in the Premier League where a massive TV contract will start in August. I can understand why Garry Monk was sacked at Swansea, but I find it harder to understand the speed at which managers are dismissed lower down,

Oldham’s chairman has made no secret of his wish to sell the club, but until then he continues to support a loss making operation. He’s a good man and it was he who delivered the news last week on a trip from America.

Dunny thought he was going to see him about bringing players during the transfer window. We’ve been speaking to a lot of agents and players. Instead, he came back five minutes later to say three of us had been sacked.

I was gutted. I care about the club. I was upset for Dunny’s first job to end like this after 20 games. I was floored for myself, Dunny and Keith Brown, the coach after the work we’d put in. And I was gutted that it had to end this way with the fans too, but I appreciate there wouldn’t have been too many tears of sadness shed at our dismissal after the poor results.

In a surreal few minutes, we received texts from the local newspaper asking to confirm the news. I wanted to ring my wife and family first. Two minutes later, I saw our names on the yellow ticker on Sky Sports. The club wanted to get the news out there as quickly as possible.

The chairman came to see us ten minutes later. He was thoroughly professional and said he wanted the new manager – in this case John Sheridan, who has a good record – to have time in the January transfer window.

I get that. I also see the appeal of Sheridan. He’d been Oldham manager before; he’d also played for the club for six years. He’s a Manchester lad so working at Oldham is far better than at Newport or Plymouth, his two previous jobs. I wish him well and hope he can keep Oldham up.

I also understand that we’re in a cut throat business. John had good and bad results when he was Oldham boss, then he went to have success at other clubs. That’s the way it goes.

I said goodbye to people at the club. That’s a sad part and you don’t know if your paths will cross again. When I got home, my wife gave me a peck on the cheek and said: “If you can’t take the hits, go and get a 9 to 5 job.” She’s right.

The next day I was able to take the kids to school. I always tried to do that once a week anyway, but I don’t want to be taking them five days a week for too long, so I’ll make myself busy.

I also realise that my phone won’t be ringing off the hook with offers. It was the same when I was a player, but I still had a decent career. I’ll graft to stay in football. I’ve seen friends fall out of the game and I don’t want to be one of them.

I also think I’m well qualified. In the last two years since hanging up my boots, I’ve been Walsall’s under 21 manager, Oldham Athletic’s first-team boss, assistant and coach. I’m comfortable in any of those roles.

I’m about to finish my UEFA pro-licence too so I’ll be better qualified and better too for what we learned at Boundary Park.

I’ve had set-backs in my life before, both in my professional and personal life. And while I wish things could have worked out better at Oldham, I still cherish some of the memories.

Like when I was caretaker manager last season and we beat Crewe away. I went back to Crewe station to take a train to Glasgow where I was doing one of my UEFA licences.

The platform was full of Oldham fans and they saw me and started singing: ‘Dean Holden’s blue and white army!’ The other passengers were looking at me. At that moment, I was the proudest man in the world to be Oldham boss - so thanks for the opportunity.