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Latics and England

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Everything posted by Latics and England

  1. I presume you mean me Tracy. The independent supporters club ran in the mid 90s. It was founded and run by John Stanley who is sadly no longer with us. It primarily ran away travel and social events. John had his run-ins with the club (well Alan Hardy) but it didn't actively get involved in club politics. Stop the Rot, and latterly SAFE (Save Athletic's Future Existence) were the groups who actively protested to get rid of JW Lees and got involved when things were falling apart under Chris Moore. When the Trust first formed, it was really a follow on from SAFE. There are still quite a few from STR and SAFE who still go to games on a regular basis but plenty more who don't. For what it is worth I think there is an opening at the moment for an independent group but I think there is a lack of consensus amongst fans as to what the right way forward is. This makes it very difficult to form a cohesive group. The Trust is currently in a very difficult position with a director on the club's board and another director working with the FLG. It can very easily get ripped apart and I am not clear whether Darren speaks for himself or the Trust when he engages on Social media. As a director of the club I understand his positivity towards what is going on but as a director of the Trust, that worries me. It is right that the Trust uses its position to try and effect change from the inside and that to be challenging the ownders publicly makes that difficult. This is where a new organisation working in parallel with the Trust could be very powerful.
  2. He wasn’t shite. He was pretty average though from a natural talent perspective. The thing was that his desire and work rate made up for his lack of natural talent. It doesn’t come as a big surprise that some people will look for those capable of moments of brilliance when identifying their favourite players whilst others will be attracted to those who gave their all for the club. Both views are perfectly reasonable. The story that surrounds Ernie will undoubtedly help keep him further forward in some fans’ thoughts than other players but those memories are still based upon what he did for the club at a time when things looked pretty grim (differently grim to now). There are other players who have been taken away too soon or been through very tough times after leaving the club. Their names are not filling these lists so maybe Ernie was a bit different.
  3. Not necessarily the best but three players who made Saturday's exciting: Beckett Baxter (1st time round) Wijnhard
  4. Hopefully this training camp means that we will pull a squad together over the next couple of weeks. 10 days in Morocco isn't going to come cheap and the only point of doing it is if we are taking most of the players who will be playing this coming season. This should be about team building and getting the players ready for the season ahead. That's not going to work with half a dozen first teamers and a load of trialists.
  5. Not a prayer we would take 20k to a league 2 play-off final. We get so excited when we take 4k to a game, where are the other 16k coming from? We would probably make five figures.
  6. A list of questions were sent with the letter. This doesn't include answers to any of those questions. Those questions were clearly produced to try and acquire evidence to back up a number of statements that the chairman has made in recent months that have been contradicted by statements from others. In other words, they were designed to see if his word can be believed. It may be that the Trust have now received answers to these questions which can't be shared. If that is the case I would like them to confirm this (I don't have any issue with the evidence not being widely shared). I think it is a positive that the Trust will be allowed to review accounts. I presume this means detailed management accounts and not just the abbreviated account that will be publicly available anyway.
  7. Interesting but I think there may be a flaw in the data. I presume the records only go down to Conference level because Darlington, for example were promoted in 2013, 2015 and 2016 yet this shows them as not being promoted. What at is the criteria used for being on the list? Most Premier League clubs aren’t there but some are and we include some clubs from outside the league but not all down to a specific level. It it would be interesting to see cup wins too and date of last ‘success’. I think that barring us and Ipswich there is nobody who has waited more than a decade for something positive but that might be outdated. I am am not criticising what is an interesting data set, just trying to understand it.
  8. We'll go into pre-season with half a squad as usual, loads of our fans will decree that we'll walk the lead when we turn over Chadderton 3-0 and anyone who questions the situation will be hounded for being negative.
  9. There has been nothing since early March. A very strange lack of marketing. If the deadline isn't extended there will be very few sold after today so you would think we'd have been being blitzed with reminders for at least the last week.
  10. Only 4 days left to get a season ticket before adult prices increase by 33%. I suspect that the recent upturn in form will increase the number of people who will renew but there are clearly some very difficult decisions for people to make. Reports suggest that numbers are down materially on last year so it must be the case that there are many hundreds of us who either haven't decided whether to renew or are purposefully leaving it to the wire before doing so. I can see both sides of the argument. I strongly disagree with a lot of what is going on at the club and see buying a ST as accepting such things. On the other hand, if sales are low that would legitimize reducing the playing budget.
  11. A lot of the football was poor but we mustn't forget that he was, as has become our trait, brought in late in the summer without the opportunity to build a team. His position reminded me of that of Steve Robinson where he tried to build from the back because he didn't have the attacking players he trusted. He might have gone on to be shite but we will never know.
  12. The initial letter contained a number of very specific questions, the answers to which would be commercially sensitive. It would be very helpful to know which questions he has answered and the Trust's view on the answers that have been given. Assuming some or all of the questions have been answered, I think the Trust is right not to share the actual answers given. Some of the things in the response such as a change to our recruitment policy indicate that Abdallah does have a plan. Whether it is the right or wrong plan, this feels like a small step forward. The right thing for him to do would be to share that plan with the fans so that we can see what he is trying to achieve. You would have to imagine that he believes that what he is doing is the right thing for the club and so I would expect that he would want to share the plan to put our minds at ease. The respinse, as it has been reported, leads to more questions than it provides answers. As has been mentioned, the comment about his life savings has to be a massive concern. From what I led to believe about his level of wealth when he took over I suspect this is closer to the truth than many may believe. I am sure he still has plenty to live on but I think his "play fund" might be pretty empty right now.
  13. It was always going to be the case that the best opportunity to go back up would be at the first attempt before the playing budget was slashed even further (we make losses so logic says the budget reduces year on year). From the moment we set up to play for a draw in the opening game it was clear that there was no ambition to go up this year which told me everything I needed to know. Bunn clearly believed he didn't have a squad capable of taking on this dreadful league. We have had a few decent runs but overall I think he was right. The squad is bang average.
  14. It seems to me that the Trust have tried to engage with Abdallah for some time and have now made a formal attempt following a meeting of fans (not just Trust members) which has once again been ignored. I think this was the right approach. In ignoring the deadline set on the letter Abdallah shows contempt for the concerns of the fans. It seems most people expected no response, personally I thought there would be a short reply which answered none of the questions set. That would have ticked a box for Abdallah that he was engaging with the supporter base. A refusal to even do that is a clear sign that he doesn't have any desire to engage. The upturn of form means that even those with strong views against the owner will be somewhat torn and I don't see a boycotting as being the answer right now. I am pleased to hear that the Trust has been speaking with Supporters Direct and has a plan of action. I would like to think that this will be shared imminently. The next step is very important. There are only a handful of games left and there will be little opportunity to be heard by those in charge once the season ends. I think those who believe that our position is a long way from that of Bolton, Bury, Coventry, Birmingham etc. are kidding themselves. We need to bring attention to the situation now before it is too late.
  15. I'm a bit confused by the comments regarding the crowd. There was no organised boycott today, just some individuals who decided that they would boycott. I suspect the home gate was down 15 - 20% on what it probably would have been expected to be. That is a pretty dramatic drop considering the lack of an organised protest.
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