wiseowl

This is the crux of the matter. I`m all for "blooding our own" and all that but a calm, experienced, strong central defender is needed to marshal and develop both Stott and Hamer IMO. In theory, they should be ok because they do have a fair bit of experience under their belt but, when you watch them closely, they tend to bottle it a bit when under pressure. I fear if we concede 1 or 2 pretty quickly against teams, the flood gates could open far too regularly. Let's hope Sefil really steps up to the plate.

Thank you - really terrific news! An excellent write-up on the link too. At last, something to be positive about and should get everyone's unequivocal support.

Agree with the sentiment Chris but, this time, there has been a sea change in attitude amongst many. A poor start will a) see the core support drop to its lowest for a very long time and b) result in a very toxic atmosphere pretty quickly.

Lol I get your point kow - but nowadays a lot of business people don't get the choice where to stay - their firms often contract out travel/accomm booking to an agency (who are told to keep cost down) - get on that agencies preferred list (i.e. via competitive rate) and bingo, chips, peas and gravy it is

Yes seems like a nice lad - his dad's always with him on the blogs - time for dad to pass on his wisdom. Stick to the impartial fan reporting - stay well clear of anything controversial because things are going to get pretty nasty me thinks.

£7m is a lot of money to raise. Can't see a fans' share issue raising too much in reality but I note it's been mentioned that money is being put in by other FLG investors. Even if borrowing, say, £5million over 20 years (at 4%), it gives principal/interest repayments of £364k per year, which takes some servicing. Let's hope it comes off and is really successful because any lender will, of course, have security in place against the lend.

He was watching us at the Rochdale friendly - sat in the directors box in Main Stand - you couldn't miss that chin anywhere!

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy"

BP - Manchester attracts an awful lot of visiting businessmen/women (and tourists). City centre hotel prices are often expensive (the cost of land is so much dearer). The people who do hotel bookings on behalf of businesses often look to the fringes of the city to save money. With our proximity to the motorway network, we are ideally located to appeal to such people, as access to the city is also relatively easy.

A hotel would make commercial sense. Manchester is booming and room occupancy rate at a "Latics' Hotel" in such close proximity to the city centre would be healthy. In addition, a quality hotel, with conference facilities, would attract other business clientele who would use the on-site facilities (i.e. as well as those using it as a base for conducting business in the city).

I am from the school that pre-season friendlies mean absolutely nothing. I do have to say, however, that the current squad looks woeful from all angles. For only the second time in my life, I am going to have a bet on us getting beaten at FGR. The last time I did that was against Barnsley at home (when Johnson had left to manage them) - I couldn't believe Barnsley were 3-1 for the win - and cashed in big time. Hate doing it but hey ho, it's starting not to feel like "my Latics" any more.

It's hard catching up on this board after a few days away, so apologies if covered elsewhere. Any person with even the teeny weeniest bit of footballing brain can see that the centre of our defence desperately needs re-inforcing (as we all know, a Peter Clarke type). If that's not done, we are doomed. Imagine an injury in there with the present numbers; double doomed. From those people in the know - is someone (preferably a couple) lined up ? If not, I agree with the de de de de de.... fu_kin shambles mantra

An intensive pre-season training stint, supervised by someone, and you'd have the best player in the league by a country mile. Probably needed a psychological boost too, which is not hard to achieve. He was worth that level of personal investment as he is class and loves Latics (or did). Play him behind the front players and would destroy most/all defences in this pub league with his vision and accuracy. Would also chip in with a few goals. Unbelievable that we did the initial hard work (that injury then set him back) and don't follow through. Things like this make me realise the club is clueless.

agreed - my original point though is how we have manged to sell 500 season tickets in around the last 2 weeks. That's very unusual - sales usually slow down dramatically after the early bird ends. Why the sudden surge in sales? Just interested as I`ve been away for a few days and thought I`d missed a couple of platignum signings.

So we've sold around 500 season tickets (at the increased price i.e. from the early bird offer) in the last 2 weeks? Have I missed something here??

If our "crowd" trend follows the season ticket trend (circa 19% down at last reckoning) then we would take 684 to FGR this season. However, as it would have also been a "first time visit" for the majority attending, a few might not fancy it again - so there will be 603 Latics fans there this time

Deffo not according to what I`ve been told - but who knows - like you say, the weekend will be interesting.

deyres - he was clearly injured! - as soon as he'd gone up for the header I said to the fella next to me, "look - he's done his hamstring" - he pulled up sharply straight away on the pitch. Shouldn't have carried on but he did so for about 10 mins. As it happens, I think it was his thigh rather than hamstring.

Yes - he pulled up quite sharply clutching his thigh after getting up well for an attacking header. Should have come off straight away to minimise damage - but carried on for 10 mins afterwards.

Mike Minay stating the Joe Royle stand could well be closed to fans at the start of the season (via AL) - what a bloody mess.

That new Blackpool owner is a fan - and a very astute (and rich!) business man. Think he will be very good for them.

Weirdos who want to put their full support (and money) behind the new fans' bar initiative - very weird people indeed

It's all very subjective - and people's different opinions have to be respected. Me, will I take the opportunity to save a few quid and pay just £2 a pint in the "club corner bar" today or support the new fans' bar in the JR. It's a no brainer - see you in the JR for a beer

You're confusing issues. I (and others) do back the sentiments of the Trust; we just think they'd achieve a lot more as an independent group. It's been done to death - and it's clear that the majority of Trust members are just too sensitive and resistant to change. Hey ho.... it happens but we're all Latics' fans at the end of the day.

Sad times, unsworth - we've been involved in conflict situations for far too long. Desperately need to be united as fans and concentrate on the football and getting us up the leagues. Still, it will be a bit cheaper to celebrate the "first" game tomorrow!