al_bro
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Posts posted by al_bro
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2 hours ago, deyres42 said:
Clearly they've liked what they've seen in the past two weeks. Or someone is chatting bollocks....
We have to remember that only a very small percentage of Latics fans are on this board. I can go to a game and talk to people who have no idea of who has left the club, and have not much idea of who the new players are.
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10 minutes ago, Fanny Adams said:
I think it's good to see he has pride where he is playing. Probably the complete opposite to the likes of Chris Eagles who l can imagine would look down his nose at us.
Good luck to the lad.
Pity the stand opposite will stay empty.
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Signing for Fleetwood would be great for Clarke, I believe he lives out that way and it will be a much shorter drive for him.
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Sorry. I hadn't read the transfer thread and thought it had just been announced. I won't bother again.
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4 hours ago, Lags said:
I am not apportioning blame to anyone Clifford. It was a question asking what the board members thought regarding making money or not for the club and should the club use the stand if it doesn't make any money from it. Where it would should those fans sit in other stands?. The FLG currently are looking after the OEC running so it requires them amd the club to strike a deal everyone accepts.
Exactly, but AL allegedly won't negotiate. The FLG are still waiting for a response from the letter containing the SLA from him. Nothing can be done until both sides talk to each other, and come to an agreement.
And yes L2 players do want more than 1k pm. I should have said 1k pw. Sorry.
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7 hours ago, tGWB said:
Article is on the current plight of Englands oldest football league club Notts County but the writers thoughts on lower league club owners struck a chord
I guess 5 million without the debts would be about right. They own the land and hospitality areas. It just shows that all L1 and L2 clubs, and a lot of clubs in the Championship and some in the Prem., are spending money way above their income. The cause of this is obviously players wages. Because of a few clubs at the very top paying silly money to their players (eg. City and Utd.), it filters down so that even the below average L2 player wants over 1k a month. The gates they get, and all round income just can't support it. Eventually, if this carries on there will only be two professional leagues, and L1 and L2 will have to go amateur.
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17 hours ago, kowenicki said:
So AL owns the ad screens?
I remember an interview (may have been on Radio Manc.) with I think BO. He said AL had to pay the Chinese company 80k which they were chasing the club for. Apparently Corney had struck a deal where we got the ad. boards for free, if he sold three more to other clubs. He didn't sell any, so we had to pay up.
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Wasn't there anyone to operate the perimeter advertising today, or don't they have any ads. to put on them any more.
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2 hours ago, mcfluff1985 said:
I was all for giving Vera a chance but Jesus wept, what a fucking cart horse
He was practising his diving as well. Embarrassing.
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5 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:
Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.
The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.
Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.
My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.
Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).
During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.
Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.
Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.
Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.
How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”
Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.
The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.
This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!
How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!
However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.
What are everybody else’s thoughts?
Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.
Well written, that must have taken ages.
The question is, would AL sell to the FLG, or would he throw his toys out and relocate elsewhere. I think, the way he has behaved so far, he would opt for the latter, and do everything possible to stop the FLG getting their hands on his team.
What can be done to stop him I don't know, other than someone else coming along who he would be willing to sell to in order to cut his losses.
It could get to the stage where BP is going to get very ugly this season if the results go against us, and AL will have to pay for added police cover.
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14 minutes ago, owdumer said:
AL had no right to take season ticket money off supporters for the JR stand if he did not have an agreement in place. If he closes the stand for the beginning of the season then, surely, he will need to offer refunds to everyone affected.
True.
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If AL decides to close the JR stand (not his to close) for the coming season. What's to stop the FLG opening it themselves free of charge, or say 5 quid a game, AL can't erect a screen to stop people watching the game, as he would need permission from the land owners to do that. If it's policed properly with stewards, there shouldn't be a problem. Or am I being simplistic in my thinking, and there is some way AL can stop people watching his team?
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4 minutes ago, HarryBosch said:
My understanding is they want to buy the whole ground & it's land lock, stock and barrell. I think Blitz has agreed to this, possibly agreed a price. I'm not sure if they've now got all the money in place or are still working towards that.
Once they own it (or to secure the remainder of the money needed?) it's been mentioned that people/fans can invest.
In the meantime they've struck a deal to run the OEC day to day.
That's my understanding to. They will be offering shares to us fans, so that we all have a chance to own a sliver of the land and stands.
AL saying the FLG are holding the club to ransom is obviously a lie. He is frightened what they may do once they own the whole shebang.
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22 hours ago, LaticsPete said:
I’m a big traditionalist, and strongly dislike the trend to switch kick offs for tv purposes but wonder if Latics consistently starting at 2pm on a Saturday would have either a positive or negative impact
Great idea.
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2 hours ago, Bristolatic said:
Done that. Same result.
Right clicking the video does nothing at all.
Checked through all of that and can't find anything that may cause the problem.
Thing is, it has never been a problem before, it works on my phone and on all other videos from anywhere else. I'm starting to think it's something in the OAFC site settings that may be the issue, but can't think why. Appreciate your input gents, and I'm still open to more suggestions.
Works ok on Microsoft Edge.
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4 hours ago, LaticsPete said:
Re kick off times, I've got a 1952/3 Season Ticket that has the following info in it:
Aug 23 to Oct 4 3.0 ko
Oct 11 - Nov 1 2.45
Nov 8 - Nov 22 2.30
Nov 29 - Dec 27 2.15
Jan 3 - Jan 17 2.30
Jan 24 - Jan 31 2.45
Feb 7 - May 2 3.0
I wonder how many people turned up late (or early).
If AL sees this he will want to implement it again to save on the leckie bill.
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9 minutes ago, lookersstandandy said:
.....that's what I thought.... but read this.... formal notification not received, yet!
https://trustoldham.co.uk/may-review/
That is the May review four or five weeks ago. Maybe things have moved on since then.
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15 minutes ago, kowenicki said:
They own nothing and haven’t made an attempt to buy anything yet. We know this because the Trust hasn’t been legally notified of an intention to buy and given their six months to counter/agree.
That's not correct. The FLG have stated the following;-
As previously outlined, the purchase has been agreed and once this is complete we will be able to release further details on the next stage.
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I don't think it's the rain (unless we play on it when it chucks it down and the turf gets ripped up). It's when the temperature stays below zero and the covers are left on for days that ruins the pitch. Last winter was fairly mild compared with the 17/18 season.
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3 hours ago, TheBigDog said:
Agree but the general point I made still stands; namely that after one game it’s far too early to judge. This was no more than a run out that was designed to ease players back into match play. At times it resembled a bunch of lads having a kick about down the local park.
Your comments did not address any of the trialists and merely criticised three of the squad. I was just surprised that so many piled in to have a pop...but then again this is OWTB so maybe it should be expected.
The trialist with white hair had better improve. He stands out like a sore thumb, and if he makes a mistake it will be much more noticeable to us. If his intention is to stand out, then he'd better be good or he will be slated. He's no Aguero.
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11 minutes ago, Kusunga_Is_God said:
Those highlights are something else. Playing for a 0-0 in a friendly. You love to see it.
Sideways and backwards from the kick off. Total possession at the start, but hardly crossed the half way line. When they got the ball they ran straight at us. I know its very early days, but it doesn't look good.
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35 minutes ago, Kusunga_Is_God said:
The planning has been incredibly amateurish. This side is going to be woefully unfit going into the season. Bunn’s sides always kept going until the very last minutes, we’ll fade at 60 at this rate.
Pre season work needed for the youth set up at Monaco, and teams in Kuwait etc. are totally different from preparing for a long hard season in the English 4th. division.
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One or two things are bothering me about this pre season compared to last year. Bunn had them training really hard and made us into a very fit team, fitter than most oppositions. I don't know what was done the week before they went to Morocco, or what's been done when the video wasn't on, but they don't seem to have been doing much stamina work. In fact, in that kind of heat it would be difficult. I'm no expert, but maybe some on here know more about this kind of thing than me.
Secondly. Any players signing for us before the season starts, who were released from their previous club at the end of June, have already missed two weeks of pre season (three when they get back from Morocco). This surely has to be a worry, unless they have been trialing with other clubs. Loanees will be fine, as they are training with their clubs.
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in The opinions4u Terraces - Latics Forum
Posted
Was it. I sat in the paddock next to the Rochdale players last Saturday for the first time. The echo on the PA system made it impossible to decipher a single word.