Signings, squad make-up and social media were some of the topics up for discussion at Oldham Athletic's fans' forum on Tuesday night.

Manager Micky Mellon was joined by his assistant, Gary Brabin, chief executive Darren Royle and director Luke Rothwell to answer fans' questions in the club's fan bar.

Questions were submitted in advance and there was also the opportunity to put questions to the panel on the night. Royle and Rothwell discussed plans for the club off the field, while Mellon and Brabin gave their thoughts on last season and their plans to build a team that can challenge for promotion back to the Football League.

Here are some of the highlights from the evening:

Q: In the interview following the Wealdstone game you alluded to 'bigger things that you haven't brought up' but this wasn't expanded on. Can you expand?

Micky Mellon: When we came in we recognised parts of the first game definitely the second game there was a definite need for a certain type of player and person we were going to need if we were going to be successful. They were the only weapons we had so we couldn't talk about that at the time.

We can't speak about that until the last game of the season because we've still got a lot of those players with us. That was me saying we've known for a long time in certain positions and areas of the football club, certain characters, our culture we expect to achieve, the type of player we expect, the attitude we want to make us successful has been missing. We've had quite a long battle in order to try to move it closer to the culture or level of player to make Oldham successful. It's been tough, one of the toughest experiences that I've had as a manager in 17 years. We have a big expectant football club and we've got to deal with that, but also you know the stuff that's going on behind the scenes and you have to keep that to yourself.

We're not satisfied with the way things have gone, we are still way off the challenge and we know the types of players... I know what good looks like. I know what I want to see standing in the technical area.

We're trying to bring in ones who can get to that level or make ones we've got here that, because we have got some good players here. You have to make sacrifices to be that player that will make Oldham successful. We're still in the battle.

Q: Can we have a bit more info on the development of Little Wembley?

Luke Rothwell: We've got planning permission for Little Wembley. We're hoping to get that through in the next couple of weeks because we want to get things ready for the first team and it starts to unlock the plans that we've got for the land and this stand. Unfortunately we can't announce what we want to announce because of local elections. The council are incredible in their support, they see us as a good news story, we've got incredible plans and we've been working incredibly hard in getting some amazing plans in place. I think sometimes we're so focused on the now we keep forgetting to stand back and look at what we've achieved since we took over. We said we would get the ground and the club under common ownership and for as long as we own the club that will be the case, we will never split the bond between the two.

We aim to make this club self sustaining, and if we can do that in this league we can do that in any league we're in. We're only a business that employs 40 people. We are successful but we're not massive. We are pumping in 6-figure sums into this place every month and we will continue to do that until we turn things around.

Q: What will be the preferred style next season or will it be dependent on playing squad. Will we see a specialist right back and are any academy players able to step up?

MM: We want to try to get a right back. The type of football we want to play, we want to get forward and be comfortable on the ball, I want to overlap and underlap and get high up the pitch. To do that we have to get centre backs who want to play. I want midfield players demanding they want the football. I want them to show off to you. I want front men holding it and attack the balls into the box like their life depends on it and score some goals.

Q: What really happened at Christmas training?

MM: If you do not want to do the things that are necessary in order to be a proper footballer and the sacrifices that are necessary in order to try and get what you (the fans) deserve and the family deserves and Darren (Royle) deserves... I don't think it's difficult to come in and do 45 minutes on Christmas morning for a Boxing Day game.

We've got families, it's about making sure that you do things properly because the teams that do things properly get success. If you can't do the things we want to do you won't play for us.

That day was a wee look in to a lot of the stuff that went on. But there were many more. We're fixing it, we're sorting it out.

Q: When you guys arrived you spoke about giving players a chance; you added players to squad and didn't attain a play-off place. We signed players in the summer who were brilliant at other clubs. Why have these players regressed at Oldham?

Gary Brabin: We gave it a good go, it was three or four months before we signed any players. We assessed the whole squad. We were crying out for wingers, right backs, so many positions but we wanted the right characters. We wanted quality but it had to be attached to the right character.

Josh Stones was a breath of fresh air and we were gutted he got injured. He was the first one in training, last one to get off. That's what we want.

The recruitment process was looking for that type of character.

Tom Conlon is a top player, he had missed a big chunk of the season so wasn't fully fit so we knew we had to get him up to speed. He was outstanding in the first game and it's always the next game that's the hardest. Tom had an injury pretty early which he managed but we knew he was struggling, but he didn't want to not play. We decided to leave him out for one game and he flipped and we went 'Get in!'. That's what we want. So we played him the next game. That's what we want right through the squad.

Not everyone's bad but we have got a lot of meek characters. We want strong characters. Joe Garner is brilliant around the training ground and sets standards. He's 35 and gives everything. They're the type of attitudes we want at the club.

Josh Lundstram has got loads of ability but no disrespect there's a different atmosphere and expectation playing in front of 7-8,000 Oldham fans than 1,000 or so at Altrincham. He's a confidence player and the more strong players we get round him he will flourish.

Q: My family of season ticket holders have been split up with an announcement at short notice. Why was that?

Darren Royle: It was decision that was time pressured. There were no easy decisions to make - around the safety of the stand, functionality of the stand and the fact we've got to be getting towards sustainability. We needed approval from the Safety Assessment Group around an emergency exit. We can't dictate when they meet, it involves the council, the fire service, police, public health getting together all at once.

I've got friends who have been displaced with their families that sit there as well and I know how tough it is and I'm sorry for that. We've had to make decisions for the club. We can only make these decisions and projects in the off season. We either did it now or wait another year. It was done with the best interests of the club at heart.