th2003

Rueben Hazell's kids have got 'Dad' and number 6 on their shirts. They were sat behind me at one game last season and kept asking Mrs Hazell "where's Daddy", and the only reply I could come up with was "that's what I was thinking when we conceded from a corner".

OK, OK. Tone down the sarcasm, I have only just got back from two weeks away and have not bothered to read the last 14 days worth of posts. For all I know Latics have made a 100% start to the league season and are sitting proudly atop the division, but thats just pipedreams!!.

Just read the Matt Scott column in the Guardian. Apparently our ex-director is lining up a bid for Port Vale! Link

Genuinely thought that we would be stuck with this one until his contract was up!

It just occurred to me that because Paul Dickov and Gerry Taggart are in charge of team strategy, they must be the............wait for it .............tac-tics.

Ricky Holden spending the advance from his autobiography? Bet its not Jon Hallworth!

Is an away fan at Boundary Park an Antarc-tic?

Would a Latics fan on the moon be a Lunar Tic?

Fantastic little article about Killen in Tuesday's Guardian. SUms him up perfectly. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/ju...len-new-zealand

He must have spent a small fortune on balls. Keeps leaving them in bins and walking off trying to look cool in a French way..

If you get a season ticket (even on the finance scheme) then your VAT is paid at the current rate.

Which school...and which teacher?

Rick 'beat the fullback, beat him again, then totally take the p**s by raping him a third time' Holden. 20 quality crosses per half.

We wore it at Upton Park against West Ham once.

Whatever happened to the good old days of apprentices? Cleaning boots and sweeping terracing. Thats how you learn about football, not ponsing about in Academies doing HND's in your spare time. When we won the World Cup in 66 the entire squad knew one end of a broom from another and were not shy of applying the dubbing because that what they were brought up with. They will learn nowt playing football on a Saturday morning. You mark my words. Discipline is what they need. Now, can we have a show of hands about who wants to bring back National Service?

Keep sending up your radio sonde balloons and plotting your tephigrams. Any chance of snow next week? Could do with work closing for a week again!!

is this the important 10am announcement? Link

Andy Rhodes and Ian Marshall sometimes had the ability to make the Keystone Cops look like they knew what they were doing. For every great save in front of the cameras (Arsenal and League Cup final), he would throw one in!!

Maybe kids do sod all in your office Pete, but I'm planning tests and coursework until lunchtime on Friday!!

I think the Disability Discrimination Act states that businesses have to make 'reasonable adjustments'. A removable ramp sounds reasonable to me.

Fixtures

I've said it before and I will say it again...not since Andy Goram have we been blessed with a goalie who is not prone to the odd 'dropsy' moment...and he threw a few in in his time (several against Cardiff second time round). 1. There was a season when Les Pogliacomi was the best thing since sliced bread...and then a season when he was as popular as a convict ready to be sent to Australia. Confidence is a massive thing as a goalie (I should know as I have worn the gauntlets for many a year) and any keeper, no matter what his ability is, can have a bad run. Goram, Rhodes, Hallworth, Gerrard, Kelly (repeat ad infinitum) have had bad spells...but we simply have to give the guy a chance and he will hopefully come through. 2. Rome was not built in a day (I went there recently and some of the older bits are falling down), and in the same way we cannot expect instant success. Goalies also feed off the confidence of their defence and, to be fair, Gregan and Hazell have been as good a double act as Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy recently. Goram was thrown in at the deep end, as was Gorton. Gerrard was more accident prone than...Massimo Taibi. 3. The boy is wearing the Athletic badge on his chest at the end of the day. I didn't agree with people booing Richard Butcher and I don't agree with booing someone who has made mistakes, but not been given the opportunity to fully prove himself. 4. From a keepers point of view your mistakes are often highlighted as they are the ones that are most likely to lead to a goal. 5. We are a third division team, who will attract youngsters, oldies or journeymen. Brill is young (for a keeper) and still developing. 6. No one works well with the crowd on their back!! Just because we pay money to get in does not give us a god given right to slag anyone off. 7. Has anyone remember the saves he made over the past few matches?? 8. Greg Fleming was not without mistakes...or red cards BRING BACK DEAN WINDASS - I HEAR HE OUT OF WORK AT THE MOMENT!!!!!!!!!

Andy Rhodes had his fair share of 'Gary Sprake' moments.

Perhaps he should have been at training yesterday and not on Radio 5 Live: Barnes comments on his job security Forward to 57 minutes, 55 seconds and remember that in the land of the blind it is the one eyed man who is king. Obviously didn't see the braille on the wall. My sides hurt!

Bugger. Oh well Better late than never