Sir Alex’s advice was great... but biggest feat was getting my team to play when they hadn’t been paid
RICHIE WELLENS EXCLUSIVE
WHEN Richie Wellens took temporary charge of Oldham, the first thing he did was phone his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
He soon discovered, though, that there are some things that even Manchester United’s greatest-ever manager cannot give advice about.
Wellens, 37, said: “When you’re preparing the team for an away game at Portsmouth and the players haven’t been paid, you’re on your own.
“All you can do is be honest with the players you’re relying on to get a result in the hope it might give you a chance of landing the job permanently.
“So, I was. I told them that I’d been in the same position myself and I had seen how some of my team-mates used it as an excuse not to perform. I urged them to be professional footballers in the true sense of the word – that they had a duty to give it their best shot.
“I assured them they would get their wages.
“But I remembered the time when it happened to me, how, as soon as the chief executive walked out of the dressing room, some of the lads moaned.
“From that moment, we didn’t have a chance.
“So, before we travelled, I said, ‘If there is anyone here who doesn’t feel in the right frame of mind to play because of the wages situation, then tell me now’. No one said a word, we won the game and they were paid the next week.
“I had walked in their shoes as a player, so I was able to call on my own experience – and I believed it helped.”
Wellens signed a two-year deal at League One Oldham this week, after winning four and drawing one of his five games as caretaker boss, following John Sheridan’s sacking.
He had been brought in at the start of the season as first-team coach – and, when Sheridan was axed, chairman Simon Corney gave Clarence Seedorf a guided tour of Boundary Park in a bid to tempt the four-time Champions League winner to the club.
Ironically, Wellens had watched Seedorf excel in Michael Carrick’s testimonial in the summer and tweeted: “Seen the best individual performance of the season at OT today. Clarence Seedorf absolute class.” Paul Scholes, an Oldham fan who still lives in the town, was also in the frame – but the Manchester United legend told Corney that Wellens was his man. Wellens, who grew up a United fan and played one game for the Reds as a midfielder at the start of a career that also took him to Oldham, Blackpool, Doncaster, Leicester, Shrewsbury, Salford City and Macclesfield, believes Scholes’ backing was crucial. He added: “The situation with Scholes was a bit different to Seedorf – because I knew that if Paul had wanted the job he would have got it.
“I was at United when he was there and he was a fantastic player.
“But, as well as being a big name in world football, he’s an Oldham fan.
“To be told he advised the chairman to give me the job was a big compliment.”
Wellens’ Latics remain unbeaten in their last five games after a 4-4 draw with MK Dons yesterday.
And, while he is sure to take up Fergie’s offer to keep in touch, he admits the biggest influence on his belief that passing football can bring success in the lower divisions is his former Leicester boss Nigel Pearson.
Wellens said: “Speaking to Sir Alex was great – especially as I was worried he wouldn’t even remember me! But Nigel’s advice has been invaluable because he has managed at every level.”