nzlatic

Fair enough. Charlie Mac didn't work out maybe because he was far from his family and having a few injuries didn't help. But he did miss a few good chances too so I'm not convinced he had 20 goals in him. I definitely agree about Rooney, his record suggested he should have done much better. Not sure what happened there really and maybe if we'd stuck with him he'd be benefitting now. But the consensus at the time seemed to be that it was good news we got rid of him. Until he started scoring for Aberdeen then it was a terrible decision!

I find it hard to hold on to hate these days, can't be bothered really. But there have been 2 great footballing crimes recently: MK Dons allowed to steal a club's history and place in the football league and Man Utd being allowed to sack off the FA Cup for some pointless world club thing that did nothing but boost their marketing overseas. MK Dons top the list for me. Horrible.

Doncaster 2-1 Latics (HT 1-1) Forte 6582

Especially not if he's the fitness coach too.

I don't really get your point. Are you saying that a better striker than what we have wouldn't do those things I said and wouldn't have converted any of those 4 decent chances at Preston? Or wouldn't create any openings for themselves or make better runs that create more chances? Or just that we've had good strikers and they didn't score so it must be Johnson's fault? Personally I would have kept Rooney but sometimes players and clubs don't click for whatever reason. It's happened with plenty of others - O'Grady, Davies etc have had better form elsewhere. But Beckett, Hughes and Porter have all had great spells with us. Bit of luck and timing needed.

There are hundreds of pubs in town but the Tut'n'Shive just outside the Frenchgate centre (about 5 min walk from the station) is always a winner for me. 20 years ago it was brilliant - small, smokey and full of other 17/18 year olds playing a jukebox rammed with early 90s indie. Now it's full of people in their late 30s playing a jukebox rammed with early 90s indie so still gets my vote. If your bag is dancing to one direction and having a fight then I recommend Silver Street after the game. Hang around long enough and you'll feel like you're in Kavos with promo girls handing out free shot vouchers to entice you in to the million (empty) bars. Went in one of these last time I was back and saw a bloke and girl having a full on rap/dance battle to Let's Get Ready to Rumble. Stunning. The Castle near the market used to be good for real ale drinkers but last time I was in there they were advertising bottles of wine for £3 so I guess that's not quite the same place it used to be. It's a classy town!

Supporters can buy tickets from Doncaster but are recommended to buy in advance to avoid queuing on the day. What's misleading about that? Cheers for the info Fergie, but I think I'll give the Brewers Fayre a miss and stick to the decent pubs in town that I know and take a risk on the queue.

Has anyone got any experience of the away ticket booths there? ie how long the queues can be before kick off? Grew up in Doncaster (lucky me) so will be going with some Rovers supporting mates. I know there's not much around the ground when it comes to boozers so I'd rather stay at a decent pub in town for as long as possible. Then again, I don't want to miss the first 10 mins queuing for my ticket. Phone/online pre match purchase not doable so will have to buy on the day.

Having watched the highlights only, a quality striker would have made a big difference to that game. If only 1 out of those 4 good chances we wasted in the box was converted then we'd have a different outlook on the game completely. It seems like Johnson has gambled on JCH having a break through season and it's not worked yet. Tactics are always going to be tinkered with early on in the season, something that may have worked well in pre season might not work in reality. Just see Manchester United for a good example of that. 3 of our back 4 are different as are both central midfielders. It was always going to take a few games for those areas to settle down. But yet again, there's no room for patience, we demand instant entertaining, winning football. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong or nothing needs changing. He's a young manager learning the trade so I'd be shocked if he wasn't making mistakes. However, bring in a goalscorer and we could see a massive difference. Whether we have the money or there's someone out there that fits the bill is another thing entirely.

I don't buy this at all. A good striker isn't one that just finishes chances that are created for him, it's one that moves better than others and gets into positions that demand the ball being played to him, making runs that cry out for a through ball and getting in front of defenders to turn an average cross into a goal. If you put a better striker in the team not only will the chances created be converted more often but there'll be more chances in the first place irrespective of tactics. Which brings me on to tactics... So hang on, if the tactics are so bad what happened for the last 20 minutes? Let me guess, Tommy Wright changed it? Or the players ignored the tactics imposed on them? Or maybe they finally started playing as instructed? I have no idea, but you're contradicting yourself. I'm as frustrated as anyone and I'm sick of this league but this constant sniping at players/tactics this early in the season is ridiculous. Especially when you look at the opposition we've had so far.

Donny will be my first game of the season and I can't wait.

So are you saying that johnson's main plan is to get his mates contracts and appearance fees rather than to try and win games for Oldham?

Except that "fact" isn't true.

PNE 2-0 Latics (0-0) No scorer 13255

I'm dangerous when I remember to predict!

Agree with a lot of what you're saying there and it's a fair point about attendances going up massively across the board. But those clubs you've mentioned either have success in their history or decent catchment area or both. We have neither. So even if we did start reaching those heights I think we'd struggle to get anywhere near them in terms of attendances.

"Willie's out" would have made a nice thread title. Subject to passing the strict censorship rules obviously.

I remember going to a premier league game against Wimbledon where I think the attendance was under 10000. That was before the sky brainwashing really took hold. When was the last time before that we were in the top flight? We should have been selling out every week but weren't. How big can our crowds realistically be even if we go up?

Would £5000/wk buy us a decent striker? No clue really. Or £2500/wk plus big goal/win bonuses? Dunno, it's years since I've played football manager so don't know how far out I am!! Would still leave £750,000 for the stand if Richards sold for £1m.

Expect that anything we get would go on sensible things like the stand, running costs etc. Would like us to roll the dice and spunk some of it on getting in a goal scorer on a bumper 1 year contract. To be honest, I think Corney would need to do this to try and give the fans a boost.

Showing my naivety in my first outing on the big stage - first time I even thought about it was half way through the second half. Vale done already, calendar reminders set. I need to up my game.

Latics 1-1 port vale (ht 1-0) Forte 3870

Reading this board after a defeat is like watching that one born every minute programme. I know I really shouldn't, but then I can't help myself and instantly regret it.

In his LP interview he said he was still on the lookout for a number 9 and would bring one in quality/budget allowing. But I wouldn't have thought there was much left at all in the budget so would seem strange to bring in a new keeper when it wasn't really an obvious position that needed strengthening. Especially one that would be on decent wages, if true.

Likewise. I don't particularly like the slogan/motto/hashtag whatever, but then again I don't care if we have one or not. But social media is important for marketing these days so I can see why it's done. Not having a pop at anyone complaining about the quality/validity of slogans. My gripe is the suggestion that he should just get on with the football side of things. As if spending a few minutes thinking about it or a few seconds answering a question is somehow detracting from him managing the team!