Latics and England

I agree with you that staying in league one is not failure but the problem is that nobody supports a football club hoping that they won't fail. You support a club with a hope/belief (no matter how forlorn) that they will achieve something. At the moment, that belief just isn't there because there is no sign of the club having a plan of any sort.

By the sounds of it, if we paid the players late last month, it was almost inevitable that we were going to do so again this month. I am not sure what the terms are for receiving payments from the football league/Sky (In the back of my mind I think it might be every 6 months), but unless there is a payment on the horizon you would have to imagine that we will miss the December payment too. This is concerning and does back up the general consensus surrounding the delays to the new stand. It also shows that we are not being told the whole truth (not that we actually have any devine right to be told the truth). As Prozac points out, the delays to the stand are stopping us generating any cash, especially in the run up to Christmas. I don't know how many events have been cancelled so far but there must be a significant cost to date with additional lost revenue on a daily basis. This is very concerning and goes to show how close to the edge this football club is at the moment.

I was critical before the game of our decision to to extend the £5 offer to away fans but I don't understand their beef when it comes to comps. Why should people get into games free? If your mate/brother/husband is playing and you fancy going to watch them play then you pay to get in just like everyone else. For years there has been a ridiculous situation whereby people go and stand by the players entrance hoping they can blag a freebie just because they happen to semi-know one of the players or even because they can look desperate enough to get given one.

Dunn has been put under ridiculous pressure by the Board because of their treatment of Kelly. Under normal circumstances I don't think many fans would be seriously questioning a manager after a handful of games. When we canned the previous manager after a couple of months, however, it becomes logical that fans will say "he's not doing a better job than Kelly so why don't we treat him the same?" So far I have seen nothing to suggest that Dunn is the man but we have to give him time. Our board have decided that he's the man and they have to back him. At present a change in manager would be unlikely to change anything anyway as the problems are much deeper.

Of course it should have been extended to away fans. Whether we have to do so by the rules or not is hardly the point. If they bring 100 tomorrow night that will be more than I would have expected. The cost to the club of extending the deal to them would have been under £2k. In the grand scheme of things, why wouldn't you?

I don't think you needed the word "Struggling". I would be surprised if there is any club where you wouldn't hear criticism from the stands if the home side isn't in front 20 minutes into the game. As at Latics it will come from the minority but it will be there. Just recently the press have emphasised the frustration at Old Trafford and earlier in the campaign at the Emirates. The only game I have been to in recent years where I have been sat with Premier League fans was last season at City v Barcelona. The grief City were getting as they desperately chased the ball was much worse than I have heard at BP. That's 3 of the current top 4 teams in the country. I bet the Leicester fans were getting stuck in when they were trailing to West Brom a couple of weeks back too. Like it or not, it is all part and parcel of the game.

It is ridiculous to talk about changing the manager after a handful of games. The problem is that the Board have put Dunn under ridiculous pressure because of the way they handled the Kelly situation. Under normal circumstances our fans tend to show reasonable patience (not all granted but on the whole). Unfortunately this season a precident was set that seems to have changed a few people's mindset. I can see a logic to people saying that we haven't seen an improvement since Dunn came in so he should be treated the same way as his predicedsor. The reality is that presumably there were more fundamental issues with Kelly and we now have someone the board believe in and he needs to be given time. Furthermore the fact the club has had 4 managers in the last year will inevitably lead to there being a number of players who are on the payroll who Dunn won't fancy. The instability makes it impossible to organically improve the squad hence the crazy number of loaned we are seeing. Whilst I don't hold Dunn responsible for any of this it doesn't stop me being frustrated and indeed angry at what's happening. As manager, he will sometimes get the brunt of that frustration.

Bit harsh on Southampton that Prozac. Far and away the best team I have seen in this division in the last 19 seasons.

I wish the kid the best of luck here. Hopefully he can add something to the team and make us better. I am, however, totally fed up with the revolving door at the club for players. At the start of the season, the big positive I was taking was that we had kept the nuceus of the squad together. We can argue until we are blue in the face whether those players were good enough but if this club is going to move forward we have to get a squad of players together who are allowed to develop together. I genuinely don't know who half our players are. I couldn't come close to naming the team I would like to see playing tomorrow off the top of my head. Players coming in for a couple of games before being shipped out again really adds to the apathy I am starting to feel. This is worrying as there must be plenty of others who feel the same way.

No contest here. McMahon will be Labour candidate and will win comfortably. When you consider that the decline Oldham saw over Meacher's 40 odd year tenure didn't stop him romping home every election, there is no chance that we will see a power shift in the near future now he is no longer with us. Not a fan of McMahon personally but I do look forward to there being a new approach to representing the borough.

Not a criticism Tracey. Some positive feedback on here. I look forward to reading the write-up

How did it go? There didn't seem to be any updates on Facebook

We didn't play until the day after according to this http://www.oldhamathletic-mad.co.uk/results_fixtures/1987_1988/oldham_athletic/index.shtml

In the last 10 years, I would say that our best and/or most popular players have been: Jose Baxter (arguably most talented player we've had) Chris Taylor (not universally popular but gave a hell of a lot to this club) Gary McDonald (all about two moments... the goals at Everton and Scunthorpe) Gary Harkins (a short stay here but provided more entertainment in half a season than many did in years at BP) Carl Winchester (after a slow start there's definitely a current 'love in')

Tomorrow sees the first big test for the club and police of having away fans in the Chaddy End. It has always been a concern for me that the new arrangements leads to opposing fans walking against each other after the game. So far we haven't really had a big, hostile away following. That may well change tomorrow. Hopefully my fears will be unfounded but I hope this is being managed. It wouldn't surprise me if the Yorkies have to exit the stand via the car park exit to ease the problem.

Bit gutted Stan hasn't got a full call up. Don't think I've ever seen a Latics player play an international live before. Oh, and it would be decent news for England too.

I know that it doesn't help the pitch but it is about time the two clubs worked together. Roughyeds got royally screwed by the council. We know what that feels like but they got it much worse than we did. An agreement needs to be reached that is financially beneficial to both clubs. If we can make some money out of it, great, but not if that's going to cripple the rugby.

I did not read it as Barry or the board not wanting to go up but it did make it clear that they do not see promotion as the solution or even a stepping stone to finding a solution to the club's problems. Whatever your views about what constitutes success for our club nobody can argue that we have not stagnated in the past decade. Something needs to be done to end that stagnation and I would have hoped the plan would be to find a way of winning a promotion and then building on it. If the view of the board is that we wouldn't be able to build on the opportunity a season in the Championship would give us then I am worried. I haven't heard any alternative from them about how we get out of this rut. For what it is worth I agree with a lot of what Barry said (for a change). Championship wages would be a blocker to Latics on the kind of crowds we can attract but it would give us a platform from which we could increase attendances to partially combat this issue. If we were a Championship club we would also have the huge advantage financially that our players would be worth more. It's completely illogical but it is true. Liam Kelly is currently worth probably £350k. If we were a championship club with nothing else changing he would command over a million. I guess that all boils down to other clubs knowing how desperate Lge 1 clubs are for cash. Obviously I don't know whether what Barry says is reflective of the views of the wider board but when speaking in an official capacity we have to assume they are. If not, I would expect Simon to have spoken up by now and made it clear.

I went to am alehouse I used to frequent And I told the landlady my money was spent I asked her for credit, she answered me nay Said custom like yours I can get any day And it's no nay never... I went to a brothel I used to frequent And I told the big mama my weapon was bent I asked her for credit, she answered me nay Said weapons like yours I can suck any day And it's no nay never... I went to a toilet I used to frequent And I told the read tenant my last penny I'd spent I asked him for credit, he answered me nay So I sh*t in the corner and just walked away And it's no nay never... I go home to my parents, confess what I've done And I ask them to pardon their prodigal son And, when they've caressed me as oft times before I never will play the B*****d Rovers no more And it's no nay never...

It is quite possibly he's happy here but thought that Barnsley were going to offer him a contract beyond the end of the season. In his current situation he would be daft to pass up on a longer term contract. If when he spoke to them it became apparent that they would only give him a year he may have turned round and said "I like it at Oldham I'll stay there if I'm gaining nothing by moving". This would fit in with not agreeing personal terms and would in no way suggest he's not happy here. Or he might have just failed the medical

If you are a member of the travel club it is pretty easy to get tickets for 90% of away games. Joining will set you back £75 though so only worth it if you are planning on doing a few games and if you have any kind of criminal record relating to football or violence you will have membership refused. As a non-members you have no chance of getting tickets through the FA for qualifiers or friendlies. You can, however, usually get tickets off a local for not much over face value and more often than not can find an away end ticket up for sale in the pub. The FA do make that more difficult though by making everyone who gets a ticket prove that they travelled. For the Germany game you will have no problem if you are happy to go in the home end. You can probably simply buy one through their version of ticketmaster.

That may well be the one. Any ideas on a score?

I think that is the game at Northwich rather than the game away at Falkirk. The game I am referring to was in the mid 90s

Can anyone help me? I am looking for the date and scoreline for 4 games. Firstly Latics away in a pre-season game at Falkirk. Not sure if it was 1995 or 96 Another friendly at Newcastle Town. Prozac has previously mentioned that this was 2004 but beyond that I can't find anything. The next one I am much more vague about. I remember watching us at Droylsden in either the late 90s or early 2000s. Not sure if it was the 1st team or reserves but it was definitely a midweek friendly. The last one is even more of a long shot. I used to watch Latics ladies a bit in the mid 90s at the Whitebank whilst they were still called Oldham Athletic Ladies. I am 99% certain they played Liverpool in the FA Cup. There was a pretty decent crowd there that day. We lost but only fairly narrowly I think. Thanks in advance if anyone can help my failing memory on any of these.

It is usually the same people although if none of us are going to a game someone else sometimes takes it. I had it in Kazakshan along with Neil and Mark. You weren't the Stockport fan I was talking to at the U21 game the day after the England match were you?