rudemedic

Plays at right back or centre mid Eardley, Eardley He comes from Wales but isn't a red, Eardley, Eardley. Got caught speeding down the A55, now he has to hitch a ride. Eardley, Eardley, Neal Eardley Since Lee hughes already has a good chant

of an investigation

Using the loan system well is vitally important for clubs at our level and with the success of Man City's kids and Man U's famous youth team I would think we have some ideal opportunities to give some of their youngsters a bit more competitive football. Since we are playing at a decent standard, have a good opportunity and reputation for cup runs (meaning that they might well play against some bigger clubs) and they don't have to move from thier current location and can be easily recalled if the other club seem appropriate. We get a decent player that could play first-team football regularly and if not is a good player to have in the squad. It worked quite well for us last year with Kilkenny and Bertrand (who was improving by the game and could have been a contender for an award if he had stayed until the end of the season) and although the way they both left was a bit poor they did contribute a lot whilst they were here.

I think this is a terrible idea as no only will it favour the likes of Leeds, it will mean that at the moment with our squad size and a few injuries we would be naming youngsters (not even necessarily reserves) who would only play if someone else gets injured. These youngsters won't be able to play for the reserves if the reserve game is on a sat (or realistically a fri/sun too) or for mid-week clashes too. Therefore these players will miss out on gaining the necessary experience in the reserves and not progress as well. Seven subs is alright for the Premier League and possibly the Championship but I don't think it does League 1 or 2 teams any favours and can't see what's wrong with sticking to 5 (or even reducing it to 4/3)

dodgy latin american

As to the Friday night games that's a no for me as I'd see less home games than usual in the year as its very hard to get from the North East to Oldham that quickly.

I hear they have a university there too begins with a D i think. Oh and Diego I'd think you'd get on with some of the people up here who still don't recognise the former county of Cleveland and insist it was either Yorkshire or Durham depending on which side of the River Tees you are. Less people under 30 know about the various counites and what they originally were than know about the location of the likes of Rochdale and Oldham.

Actually I don't doubt it how many fans did we take to Wembley the first time, 35,000 wasn't it. We had gates of around 11-12k at that time if i remember rightly the extra 200% of our gate had to come from somewhere and i wouldn't mind betting that some of them were fans who support Rochdale more than Oldham. We took 5k to Everton for christ sake how many of those were fans who go to other teams on a saturday? We only average around 4k fans at home and I'll bet some of those didn't go. Plus I'm fairly certain that a lot of the Oldham fans who are going to Wembley are going because its Rochdale and Stockport not just Rochdale.

You see Diego you've made an assumption that the 'questioner' actually has a grasp of English Geography (something I think is lacking these days especially amongst those under 30). I was once asked what part of Manchester I'm from and when i said 'Rochdale' the person didn't have clue where that was and she was from Wigan, (but she was bright enough to be doing psycology at a red-brick uni). I always say I'm from Manchester when asked by people in the North-east I don't say I'm from Lancashire as where people assume that is more Preston-Burnley way, you can always go into specifics later and as demonstrated above people don't necessarily know where the likes of Rochdale, Oldham are. I'm a proud Mancunian (apart from when foreigners assume you support Manchester United) and a proud Lancastrian. Getting back to the original post if I had been to the new Wemberly before I might have gone to watch the Dale but since I've not I'd rather wait and go when Latics get there. Plus England happen to be playing the fourth day of the 2nd test at Old Trafford which i think i might go to instead.

A lot of this 'oh it wasn't our fault' or 'it was just a small minority' or 'Manchester wasn't prepared' stuff is nonsense. When you have 100,000 people (some might say that's a conservative estimate) descend on one small place (the area of Manchester they were in isn't exactly huge) combine that with alcohol being drunk in excessive quantities you are always going to have trouble as the fans know full well it isn't them paying for the clean up operation. A small minority, say 1% for arguments sake, of 100,000 is still 1,000 people all drunk and out for causing trouble. When England have played in Manchester in the past there wasn't this sort of problem and i'm sure some of the fans without tickets were just as drunk as those Glaswegians (if they were indeed from Glasgow). Apparently all the trains south from Scotland on Wednesday were being searched and no booze was allowed. This wouldn't have been too hard to do in town after a certain time on Wednesday but someone (presumably Mr Sainsbury and Mr Tesco) persuaded the coppers from making that decision and the local shops selling booze at 7.30 in the morning wasn't the smartest idea anyway. A lot of office staff went home early on Wednesday because of the situation (and bear in mind this is at lunchtime which was 5-6 hours before the game was due to start), I know my Mum sent all her staff home about 2.30 pm on Wednesday due to the sheer numbers of drunk Scots and her office is round the corner from Picadilly Gardens, how much did all those half days cost the economy of Manchester. Its quite simple really if you didn't have a ticket why were there so many Rangers fans in Manchester after all watching it on TV is the same whereever the TV happens to be and I'm sure they all have alcohol in their local pubs and homes. As for Manchester itself being unprepared why were loads of people locked out of Ibrox on Wednesday if you were prepared yourself. I can understand some people from Galsgow travelling without a ticket as due to silly prawn sandwich UEFA you always find neutrals making a quick buck on their often freebie ticket but not 100,000. Glasgow should have hosted a party not Manchester for all those fans without tickets and I hope Manchester city council sends Rangers a bill for their share of the costs. Even if it was fans of other teams disguised as Rangers fans causing the trouble why did you associate your-selves with those angelic fans of teams like Millwall, Chelsea and Stoke you associate yourselves with those that cause trouble its your own fault if they cause trouble in your name. Having said that, it wouldn't have been too hard to close Picadilly Gardens (and the other areas) to obvious football fans earlier when there were less people in them. (When i say close I mean close no booze- not even if it was in milk bottles which judging by the amount of milk that was apparently availible on Wednesday that was what was happening). Any excess Rangers fans should have then been directed to an area easily controlled such as Heaton Park or even the Velodrome (which i think they were trying to get the fans to go to when the screen broke but some of them were too drunk to follow instructions). Or even use the big 70,000+ capacity stadium called Old Trafford (after all if that gets smashed up Man U will know where to send the bill) Oh and in case your wondering unlike some of the posters on here who are anti-Rangers because they are Celtic 'fans' I actually would choose Rangers over Celtic if I had too. Its just a pity that a not very good football match is still in the news because of the actions of those fans a good mile away from where the game kicked off.

My money's on Cannon but its a very close run thing. No doubt any major populace between Scotland and Manchester will have Rangers 'fans' in strangley larger numbers than usual tonight.

Aye Diego that was the excuse he gave. Admittedly despite there being a legal precedent Claridge didn't escape his fine maybe this is because he only had to go to the toilet for the other main bodily function and Mr. Loophole was busy with Freddie.

So the drum will be in the Rocky next season (although being in Rocky would be a better idea). I presume this means that some of the best seats for those that want to sing will now be availible in the Chaddy. Given that the club are using him as publicity maybe they could give him some drumming lessons (or at least lessons on how to not ruin chants or be less of an annoying ). Did anyone else find it funny how the club referred to what is very poor drumming in faux-hip language trying to 'big up' one of the most annoying things about following Oldham.

Assuming there are no extra passengers on the bus (which given the amount of room the 7 girls are taking up with the backpacks and cats is quite likely) and that all the cats have 4 legs. Plus that we aren't to count the two legs of the bus driver. I think the answer is 10990

Cheap tickets (but not as cheap as season tickets) for say 10 or 12 games (half the season at home) is a great idea and I'd be very interested in that given that I will probably attend 10 games next season but won't make enough for a season ticket to be worthwhile. (I didn't this year and next year i'll be busier). Coaches/minibuses from certain local areas is another good idea (as public transport from the likes of Heywood and Bury is a nightmare to Oldham). One thing that seems to be a consenus is to advertise more outside the Oldham metropolian district and this is something I've been harping on about for ages as getting the Chron is a pain in the proverbial outside of Oldham but this seems to be the only paper ever used to promote Latics. Adverts in key areas would be a good idea, (and I'd like to add Birch services to that as this would be more read by people who don't know about Oldham- adverts in th same area will have a reduced effect over time unless the football improves) but what about using the metro or the evening news as they are always full of ads for city or united. It might also be a good idea to do any schools promotions in the schools within a certain distance of Boundary Park not just those in Oldham as I'm sure you might get some extra fans from those schools technically part of Rochdale or Tameside. When i was in the States and Canada a couple of years ago i went to a few sporting events and they had some ideas. At one Baseball and one Canadian football game they allowed the fans to come on to pitch (in a much more organised manner than our last pitch invasion) and let them meet the players and cheerleaders and get autographs for free. You could quite easily do this with Latics and even charge a bit (possibly adding players significant others as well- I'm sure quite a few of us would have paid extra to meet one M. Marsh) and with some adverts get more people into the ground. Getting some new dancers might be a good idea as I'm sorry and no disrespect to the Blues Crew but a bunch of pre-pubertal girls dancing around a bit is not likely to make me want to stay and watch I'd be much happier in the lounge (even if I don't get served). The Chicago bears also got me to spend my money to watch a training session before the pre-season friendlies started (along with about 20,00 others) and during this 2 hour long practice people spent money elsewhere where i'm sure the Bears got a cut. This might only be doable for clubs a lot bigger than ours and it would be hard to stop scouts from coming in and gaining any extra info but it could be worth a go. How about an over 21 area where you can drink beer (not saying stop serving elsewhere), sing slightly ruder songs and if possible have a lounge with certain added entertainment. This may mean that those people who get an intermediate ticket because they can (but could still afford to pay for a full season ticket) won't be allowed in (as their ticket clearly states they are under 21- would also stop people paying for concessions despite not being eligible). I did mention this elsewhere but you are not going to get City and United 'fans' going to watch Oldham if City and United are availible live on a TV somewhere (this is why no legal live TV games ever kick-off to clash with the 3pm kick-offs on a saturday) and it wouldn't take to much to stop this. Friday night games might do this but how many people on here are exiles and would find it difficult to get to a game kicking off at 7.45 on a friday compared to 3pm on a Saturday (although getting extra fans would be good for the club it would be a shame to do it at the expense of some of Oldham's die-hards). Another thing I did mention elsewhere was to sign someone who might help us sell shirts in another country or area and get the name of Oldham Athletic known a bit more outside of the north-west of England. A lot of countries have players good enough to play for Oldham playing in inferior leagues around the world. For example having seen Malawi play- and they are probably ranked below 100 in the world rankings- they had a couple of players playing in South African league football who could have easily played for Oldham (especially as squad players). Due to our colonialism some players may even be eligible to enter the country (which might be the biggest hurdle) as they have relatives who are British nationals.

Thanks for poining out the baddness of my eyesight for the Cheltenham game (although in my defence i had recently had my pupils dilated so focusing was a problem). I hadn't noticed the extra fans from the asian community but some of my other points still stand

Fans singing those songs are hard to police as unless some people actively complain about it and the police get involved nothing would happen, but this would have a negative effect as it would be bad publicity having a load of Oldham fans arrested for racila chanting. However any 'Oldham fan' shouldn't post that sort of thing on You Tube as it gives the club a bad name. Oldham does have some Asian fans but for a town of Oldham's size with an asian population as large as it is it should have more. Its interesting to see that when we give tickets away to schools no obviously extra asian school children turn up. This could be because they aren't interested, didn't get a ticket, or could it be that we don't do the scheme in those schools which have a larger asian population than most (I hope against hope it is not the last one). One of my friends at school set up some form of after-school club for the asians near where he lived (not to far from Gigg Lane) to play football I'm 90% certain he did this so it would look good on his CV for medical school and not because he was interested in football as he never really got involved in any school yard kick abouts in the 8 years i knew him (he was on the local news as well). The club could do something similar in Oldham without too much effort. However, the big problem with trying to attract fans from the asian community is the cost benefit as not matter how hard we try we may only attract a few dozen and sadly this is because they don't like the club and a big part of that is down to fear. Oldham needs to clean up its image of its fans as although I got laughed at last time i suggested we had a hooligan problem we've not done much to combat it. (In fact recently its been the opposite due to the significant number of banning orders that have elapsed). Posting videos of Oldham fans singing racist songs on You Tube will not help this image and the only good thing i could see coming from it is if the club used it as evidence to at minimum warn fans about their future conduct. The other thing we could do is look not to attract the asians but also any other recent immigrants as I would imagine that there are a few Eastern European citizens (and those from elsewhere) in and around the Oldham area who are exactly the sort of demographic we are looking for (young men in their 20s and 30s who might start taking their families in the future) and might well want to see English football but can't afford (or get) tickets to some of our more illustrious neighbours. Another idea which could well be very cynical is Old Trafford plc signed the Chinese centre forward and judging by the number of league games he's played in this was mainly in an attempt to sell extra merchandise in a country with a population of 1.2 billion. We could try something similar with any number of countries (we could even try and get said Chinese centre forward on loan) or areas such as sections of Africa, and maybe just maybe some of these players will be good enough to get us out of this divison, plus i think they could be cheaper to pay than some of the wages demanded by the sort of players we need from England.

Marketing Oldham when City have had a great season, Rochdale have done well and United are in a close race for the title and are in the final of the European Cup is not easy. Plus FC united still get a fair few through their gates and have loads of schemes to get more. I'm not saying to do this but what would those fans of City and United do on a saturday at 3 o'clock if they weren't watching their team illegally on TV in various pubs and clubs around Greater Manchester (it wouldn't take much to get this stopped). Some might go watch Oldham if it was cheap enough. Selling cheap season tickets might work but only if you have enough fans that buy the extra and bear in mind our home capacity next season will be at most 9,500 ('have' to leave 1,500 for the away fans and we don't have the Lookers stand) if you were to half the season ticket prices you'd have to get twice as many people to buy them to make more money. Realistically due to our reduced capacity we can't reduce prices for season tickets, however, if say both United and City were not playing at home when we were we might tempt in a few with some cheaper seats and some decent promotion. I've said this before that if we want to promote ourselves seriously we need to do more than post some adverts than in the Chron as a lot of people who live close enough to be tempted to go watch Oldham don't read the Chron (its very hard to get outside Oldham) and they wouldn't go and read our website either. What the club needs is for Leeds and Rochdale to both be in our divison next season as I can't see us getting big away crowds with the other teams (now that Forest and Swansea have both left). Our average gate was down this year compared to last but with a big gate for Leeds and a cup game against Hudders with a full ground this is down primarily to the fact that realisitcally our season was over way before it should have been and we were never really in a shout for automatic promotion only an outside chance of the play-offs. Oldham playing well at home scoring goals and playing entertaining football doing well in the league does wonders for the attendance (see Rochdale this season as I'm sure a lot of floating fans starting watching them instead of us). If it was a case of us or Leeds for something next season we might not even need a gimic as I'd wager we'd get a few 'united fans' coming to support Oldham because they don't like Leeds that much.

This may sound a bit weird but if Paul Dickov (yes the very same ex City player) hadn't scored twice on his debut (or in his first few games anyhow) Crystal Palace would have got a draw they needed and we'd have gone down no matter what the result was against Southampton. Our cup run the year after would have been the same teams (the original number would have been the same) but we'd have been a high flying Championship (Div 1 I think in those days) team and we could well have been on the verge of promotion (as if memory serves me when we did get relegated the teams coming up weren't exactly stellar). That meant that the season after instead of having a indifferent year in a tough Div 1 (and seeing Joe Royle go to Everton in the process) we would have been in the Premiership and with some sound investment could well still be there. Hughes's volley is always talked about but I think that in the long run we may have been better off going down the year before, but at least that goal was legitimate and wasn't incorrectly ruled out unlike in 90. Otherwise what if the Man U supporting official hadn't ruled out a valid goal by Nick Henry, Man U would have lost the semi in 90 we would have had another final against Palace (where we might have been favourites given our cup record that year). Fergie would have got fired. Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Paul Scoles, the two Nevilles and more might well have played for the Latics (didn't a whole bunch of that United Youth team play at Boundary Park Juniors). We would have gone on to win the cup qualify for Europe where we would have beaten a lot of the teams (Christ United played Wrexham on their way to winning it) become a stellar force in English football just as the Premiership was being formed, Boundary Park would be renamed the Bovis Arena and be 50,000 all seater and dominated worldwide football with fans from Wiltshire to Singapore. But then again we'd have the bad karma of being the equivalent of United.

I made this point sometime ago as I'm getting rather tired of getting in for a student discount at away games but not at home games. It was pointed out to me at Crewe that this way i'm depriving the opposition money but not Oldham. Frankly for a student to get to enought games to make a season ticket worthwhile means that they are living at home or are doing a relaxed degree and therefore get financial benefit that way. My username might be enough of a clue to suggest that i'm not doing a relaxed degree. As to FMS post on working part-time how many of you on here work two jobs? As my course requires me to be in my place of study from 9-5 minimum every weekday. Plus sometimes things run over, working weekends or in the evenings is expected of you now and then, I don't get sick leave (if I'm ill for more than two days at once i have to work extra to catch up) and then i have to read on top of that, and i no longer get ridiculous holidays. I simply don't have time to get a part-time job and although I understand people's complaints about tax-dodging students I hate it when ALL students get lumped in with those who are in further education for the life experience (believe me living in Durham there can be quite a lot of them) as opposed to those who are doing a degree to get a specific career. I'm not a big fan of the intermediate season ticket as it can mean that some of the people working everyday and therefore making a decent wage get in for less money than those who are studying. Having a student ticket is a slightly fairer option IMHO (but maybe it is a question of supply and demand as the club doesn't strike me as having a big fan base with those in further education compared with those between 16 and 19 who are working). I would think that the student ticket limited to those under 21 might only be as a guideline (as a lot of students are over 21 these days) to stop somepeople abusing the system. If you are over 21 it might be worthwhile emailing the club and seeing if they can relax their rules on a case by case basis. The absence of priority booking for important away games isn't as big a deal for me as I know of a couple of people that don't really go to away games and they've got season tickets (plus my Dad who probably will get a season ticket doesn't go to some of the away games I go to) and so I might well be able to use theirs. Yet if it was I might have been more tempted to get a season ticket, but the same could be said for those people who can't necessarily afford a season ticket in june but go to a lot of the games. Oh and in case you were wondering the student ticket scheme isn't automatic you have to pay £13 (however, you should get this back after paying reduced prices for a couple of games).

Liddell was a quality player in his day but that day has now passed. He still can be useful at this level in a number of positions (out wide, in the middle of midfield as a passer, just behind the front player(s) and as a striker as well). However I can't see him being a first team regular if everyone is fit as I can see Shez bringing in a central midfield player and a left sided player (technically Livermore fits both but i doubt it will be him on his own). He is however, an adept reserve and will be a useful player to have on the bench as due to his 'versatility' he can give you options and he could be a useful impact player for us. Liddell's injury problems strike me as being the result of playing too many games for his body and if he is not playing as regularly then he might not have the injury problems. Overall, this new deal strikes me a being a good thing on the big provision that we aren't over-paying him as I'd imagine that he was on one of the best wages at the club before and i just hope he isn't now and his wages fit more the amount of games we will get out of him.

For ages people on this board have been saying we need a new midfielder who is much more of a passer than what we currently have, plus a winger/wide player (preferably Left sided). That's two new players in a midfield where Gary Mac isn't necessarily a starter if everyone is fit. I'd guess since we signed him when other clubs were supposed to be after him he will be on a decent wage (not huge but not small) and him leaving has made that money availible. I think this could be a very good move for both parties as he will probably end up playing in Europe in his time there (something we could never offer him) and we take the wages of a squad player off the bill to allow us to bring in other people to give us what we need. Plus having seen a little bit of Chalmers now I think he is a very similar player to Gary Mac (someone that runs a lot and is quite good in the air) and he looks more than capable of playing more games in this divison to cover for some of the games we might have needed Gary Mac to have played in (if we DO sign the extra players mentioned) and a fraction of the cost. Good Luck to him and he will always be a legend at BP for that goal at Scunthorpe and that goal at Everton, plus he has left in a decent way and hasn't messed us around.

No it was a home one (but i couldn't tell you which season but i'd guess fairly recent)

Having waded through all the responses to this post I thought I'd add my two penneth worth. A very good mate of mine went on to the pitch on Saturday when Lewis scored and after the final whistle and when i asked him why he said 'Cos it had to be done.' He also went on the pitch at Scunthorpe, which would have been interesting if he had got knicked as I don't think I'd have waited for him (I was giving him a lift home). BTW he's 21 not 11 (although the second is probably closer to his mental age as he isn't the sharpest knife in the draw). As to it having to be done or saying its tradition that's utter Bu**s*** when did this tradition start exactly as I can remember end of season games when almost no-one invaded the pitch because we had finished in the relegation zone or mid-table (without a late escape) and nothing illegal ever 'has to be done' otherwise it wouldn't be illeagal. Going on to the pitch at anytime without due cause (and when i say due cause i mean a proper reason such as escaping a fire and not because its the end of the season) is illegal and you could be punished for it. However, it is very hard to charge someone under the age of 10 with a crime as they aren't deemed old enough to understand such a thing is against the law. However, I do feel that some of the kids that went on the pitch were well aware that what they are doing was wrong but still did it and got away with it. When these children are older they could start committing more serious crimes because they think they can get away with it so now is the time to educate them about crime and that you don't get away with it. On that note I entirely agree with Chaddy if Oldham get fined I think its a great idea that he fines his child and then gives the money to charity as that teaches them that crime doesn't pay. Plus if someone gives him a few 'digs' because they think it is funny he is well within his rights to give them a few 'digs' back with reasonable force and I applaud him for doing so. As to the reaction of the Cheltenham fans I remember when the Chaddy seemed to empty after that penalty but I had a great view of what the Wendies were doing and they were definately trying to get on to the pitch presumably to get at the Oldham fans and it was only because of some good policing (note policing not stewarding) that they didn't. Plus remember at Wigan under Dowie when they were promoted after playing us and some of their fans spent a long time taunting us I actually found it quite funny as Oldham and Wigan don't get along and the ones taunting us seemed to be at most 16 and wouldn't have been taunting for too long if Oldham had got on to the pitch. Why didn't any Oldham fans not get on to the pitch because there were police in riot gear stopping us. Can you see something in common here? It was only because Oldham and Cheltenham don't have a problem with us and that Cheltenham fans probably thought we were a bit sad to go on to the pitch like that for a game that didn't matter to us that those 'children' didn't find themselves in a bit more bother. There are many ways to stop fans getting on to the pitch unless necessary but a lot of these revolve around stadium design which isn't a viable option for Latics at the moment (see Sporting Lisbon's stadium if you want a good idea what i mean). The best way for us is to have police instead of stewards as being a qualified steward I was taught if someone wants to get on the pitch you should mainly let them as you can detain them when they come off, send for the police, if you do stop them you could end up getting sued for whatever reason and it isn't worth your wages to look silly chasing some scally round a pitch. Police don't really have to worry about these things as much and if Latics were seriously worried about fines and or points deduction then they should probably employ police officers as opposed to extra jobsworth stewards for the last game of the season no matter how attractive they are. If 'fans' still want to go on to the pitch then they risk being arrested or if they had any sense would wait until after the players have completed their 'lap of honour' by which time the away fans will have probably left and they are less likely to get us into trouble plus i think the cops might be a bit more lenient about it then too. If they do insist on employing stewards to do what is much more of a copper's job than normal games and are seroius about stopping pitch invasions then they should employ them properly and have them in the stand as opposed to on the pitch stopping any would be pitch invaders from getting to the barriers or have enough that there is a wall of stewards round the pitch. If the club do get fined I say the club has quite a bit of blame for not implementing the necessary measures.

Aah I wondered if someone on here took a picture of her, I hope she comes back next year. Speaking of wearing a Chelsea shirt, is it wrong to wear a Barca shirt at a Latics game as I saw at least one on Saturday?