Summerdeep

I notice that Maidenhead are just a couple of places behind Latics. Weren't they firmly embedded in the relegation zone only a few weeks ago, or does my memory deceive me?

2 minutes ago, mcfluff1985 said:

Can't wait for 30 minutes into next game when you're all slating Sheron again

As someone whose observations are at present confined to YouTube clips and reading of this message board, I'd have to say I'm impressed by his finishing capability from around the edge of the penalty area. As for his more general midfield skills, not qualified to comment.

The side seems to have got stuck in tenth place for quite a few weeks now. A run of home wins essential if any real progress is to be made!

4 minutes ago, AlanGrovesFanClub said:

I was thinking of his sister Sharon Sheron. Hotter than a third successive away win! 

Or 'Sharon Stones' even?

3 minutes ago, AlanGrovesFanClub said:

Quite right. We’ll never create anything with fucking Sheron in midfield. 

Nice edit - I wondered whether you meant the former Israeli Prime Minister for a second, or maybe a Persimmon fruit!

This is going to be Solihull's fourth consecutive defeat. Have they shot their bolt? Wondering the same about Gateshead.

4 minutes ago, True Tic said:

He’s like a modern day zico 

Was it another of his inside of the foot curlers?

Edit: Sorry, mixing him up with Hope, lol.

1 minute ago, deyres42 said:

They don't call him Five Promotions Micky for nothing.

Hoping he'll soon be 'Five Home Wins' Micky, lol.

Just now, BP1960 said:

Its a funny old game.

I agree, Saint.

1 minute ago, Littlemoor Lad said:

Hope Mellon gives them a rocket at half time

Need to move it faster or we're going away with nowt here

I wonder just how inspiring or effective a 'rocket' from Mellon would be. He strikes me as Tommy Docherty without any of the charisma or humour.

I think the poster's last sentence was ironic, BP.

4 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

Why do you support the club ?
 

Like I have called you out on previously. If you are the ginger haired bloke, shouting as you were walking out the Maidenhead ground last season, then you really are a strange character and should give supporting Oldham up. 

Nothing wrong with having all sorts of people in the fan base - 'diversity' and all that, y'know?

There aren't enough nutcases around in football grounds these days in my opinion.

3 minutes ago, Roger Ritchie said:

 

Is a retractable roof an American-style gimmick? You sure you aren't thinking of cheerleaders?

Retractable roofs, names on shirts, mascots, all-seater stadia, obsession with stats ('assists'), it's all of a piece for me, quite honestly...

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/these-are-the-10-nfl-stadiums-with-domes-retractable-roofs/258550/

Retractable roof? The last thing the game in this country needs is another American-style gimmick.

5 hours ago, Dave_Og said:

What is there to think about? We've been crap and getting worse for 30 years. It would be a bit odd if we hadn't lost loads of games in that time 

It's the thing about the home record that gets me, not the number of defeats in general. An average of nearly nine defeats at BP per season, and no suggestion throughout the entire period that the place was ever close to becoming a 'fortress'. The side struggled for three seasons (1974-77) just above the relegation zone when first promoted to the old Division 2, but was still very difficult to beat at home throughout that period (average of three defeats per season).

There've been 218 home league defeats since Royle left in 1994-95, and at least 250 home defeats in league and cup matches since that time. I find this both horrifying and fascinating, and have expressed some views on the subject in other threads which have not exactly been warmly welcomed, lol. Still, definitely worth thinking about IMHO.

Never thought of that. Many thanks.

Home form used to be the factor that saved the Latics' bacon. If you look back to the mid-1970s, we had a pretty poor side that came very close to relegation from the old Div 2 in 1974/5 and 1975/6. The side was so poor in the last two or three months of 75/76 that they only won one of their final 16 fixtures. We failed to win a single away game in the former season, and lost 15 away matches out of 21 in the latter season, but only lost four times at home in 74/5 and twice at home in 75/76. 

Such a contrast to the last 30 years (250+ defeats at home in league and cup games).

This is a massive issue, and has been for many years. Never properly analyzed and I don't think any of the conventional explanations really get to the bottom of it. Most people here know what I think, so I won't elaborate further, just to say that I think that statistics such as these are absolutely staggering, and should not be dismissed.

1 hour ago, disjointed said:

You could look at all clubs that installed seating and then the following seasons conclusion. I would wager that 1 or 2 may have won their league or achieved promotion. 

Yes, that's an obvious objection, but I'd maintain that for a club like Latics with limited resources at the top level, a factor such as the one I have highlighted could be crucial. I always felt that the old Chaddy End was often a decisive factor for us, a bit like having a '12th player' on the pitch (or a 5th Beatle, lol). 

I'm not so deluded as to be unaware that there were significant other factors in Latics' demise since the mid-1990s, namely Royle's ineptitude in the transfer market (Kilcline for Warhurst, WTF?) or the ludicrous grandstanding and showboating of Iain Stott when he got on the Football League Management Committee (or whatever it was called) instead of devoting 110% of his energy to establishing the club in the top flight.

And don't get me started on G. Sharp.....

Or M. Hughes, obviously.

Yep, fair enough, there's probably no entirely satisfactory solution here, but I still maintain that the whole seating nonsense is the root of the problem. In conclusion please note:

1978-79 Lever End at Bolton made all-seater

1979-80 Wanderers relegated

1992-93 Chaddy End at Oldham made all-seater

1993-94 Latics relegated

At least 250 home matches at Boundary Park lost since 1992, one of the worst records in English football.

"I think you may be onto something there, Holmes..."

^ Interesting perspective, but I still think that leaving an end completely empty gives an impression of dereliction, which can associate itself with the ground as a whole and not just one section.

I believe that the demise of the Chaddy probably started with the installation of seating in 1992-93 or whenever, though I suppose this was inevitable for legal reasons. Pretty much destroyed the atmosphere there though. They made the Lever End at Bolton all-seater in 1978-79: was it entirely a coincidence that Wanderers were heading for relegation less than a year later? I remember attending a couple of matches at Burnden Park in 1979-80, and much of the atmosphere in the ground was gone. The experience of watching a home side attacking an end packed with thousands of standing spectators was unbeatable in my view.

Closing an end could give the impression that a club, or at least its ground, is on the way out. Just as putting a supermarket in the Railway Embankment End at Bolton indicated that Burnden Park was on borrowed time in the 1990s.

I wouldn't want to go there either at £20 a pop, or whatever it is these days!

^ I was thinking more steel toecaps!

As you probably gather, the post was at least half tongue-in-cheek, but still, I bet if someone did a survey of all the goals Latics ever scored at the Chaddy End when it was the home end, regardless of any slope on the pitch, it would probably be closer to a 60-40 ratio than 50-50 vis a vis the Rochdale End. From my own recollections of attending matches at Boundary Park, the ratio of goals might well have been over 60-40.

As I pointed out in a recent post, yesterday's defeat was our 218th at BP since Royle left as manager in the mid-1990s, a disgraceful record.

Food for thought, or maybe ought to be!

Here's my formula for getting the team winning their home games:

Rip out all the seats in the Chaddy End and reintroduce terracing. Make admission cheap for home fans - no more than £5, payable at the turnstile, no tickets nonsense - this should generate a decent atmosphere. Rebuild the pitch, reintroducing the 6ft slope towards the Chaddy End. In the past, whenever we had a half-decent side, we'd bury the opposition when playing down the slope in the second half at least 80% of the time.

I'm only half kidding, folks.