Dickov facing Oldham axe

The goodwill and magic generated by an FA Cup upset will not extend to Oldham, despite their stunning 3-2 victory over Liverpool last night, with their manager Paul Dickov widely expected to bedismissed by the League One club today.

In a bizarre post-match press conference, Oldham chairman Simon Corney, effectively admitted that he will be dispensing with the services of the former Manchester City forward despite his efforts in leading them into the last 16 of the FA Cup for the first time in 19 years.

A run of only one point from the last eight league games had already left Dickov’s job on a knife edge and there were rumours that the manager had been sacked even before kick-off.

That may not have been the case but the chances of the Scotsman lasting in charge long enough to see Oldham face Everton at home in the fifth round look non-existent.

“It’s very awkward. We will have to chat about it tomorrow,” said Corney. “Paul has his own decision to make. Days like this are great but the biggest thing is about staying in this division.

“There will be fans who say, ‘How can you get rid of him after this?’ Just like there were fans last week saying, ‘How can you keep him?’

“It’s a difficult question. Paul is the first one to say he is under pressure. He knows that, I know that, the fans know that. We have had one draw in our last eight games so there are a lot of things to think about.

“Much as I love my players, I don’t want to see that effort once every six months when we play a big team. I want to see that every game because if we did that, we would be top six.’’

Dickov saw his team score through two goals from Matt Smith, either side of a Luis Suarez equaliser, with Reece Wabara putting Oldham 3-1 ahead and Joe Allen setting up a dramatic finale with Liverpool’s second. While claiming he was in the dark about his future, Dickov did not sound like a man too optimistic about his job security.

“I’ve just been with Simon now and it has not been mentioned at all,” said Dickov. “If anything was happening, I am sure he would have told me.

“But yes, we are meeting each other on Monday. Lots of things have gone on that Simon and I need to talk about. I’ll just enjoy tonight. From the first day I walked in the place, I’ll carry on working as hard as I can to be a success until I am told otherwise. Possibly it could buy me more time. I hope it does. I’ll get on with it regardless. I’ve done that throughout my career.”

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers appeared stunned by what he had witnesses and admitted his players had failed to respond to the occasion.

“This is a different type of football to the Premier League and you have to stand up and be counted,” said Rodgers. “They did against Mansfield in the last round, but today we were slow out of the blocks and got punished. It was not until the last 40 minutes that we played with any intensity. This was a trophy that we put focus on to go far and now we are out.’’