rudemedic

This maybe my Welsh heritage showing through but as far as I'm concerned Cardiff are an English club which just happens to be in Wales. They are in our league, they play in our cup (and they don't play in the Welsh one). If it was say Llanelli who were in the final of the FA cup then I'd say no they shouldn't be allowed into Europe but Cardiff don't play in any FAW competetions as far as I'm aware so should be classed as an English club which just happens to be in Wales. Kind of like how Berwick are a Scottish club which just happens to be in England (for the moment). But honestly I can't see it mattering as i think Pompey will beat them but stranger things have happened in this year's competition

Only against Wrexham. For me it would have to be Gunnar Halle (who I think was one of the original 13 foreign players in the Premiership) and a lot of the other good ones were 'Irish'. I thought Pedersen was possibly a better player on his day but he had his career ruined by Burnden Park. Gary Kelly deserves an honorable mention (since he hasn't been mentioned yet) and like Shez he was technically foreign as does Mike Milligan and Denis Irwin. Didn't Wegerle win goal of the season one year with some sort of crazy overhead kick and wasn't he the first Yank to play top level football in England.

The Big Four aren't destroying English football but they aren't making it great either and i think they are preventing it from developing. Take a look at how many up and coming English (or British - as i think they are having an effect on Welsh, Irish and to a lesser extent Scottish football too) players they have . There's Walcott and Ben Foster (plus Rooney- but he is no longer really up and coming) and that's about it. (If there are any more I stand corrected). Ben Foster is currently second or third choice behind Edwin Van Der Sar who will play almost every game when fit (and the games he won't play won't be very taxing for a ManUre goalie) and Walcott has only started to get games because Thierry Henry left. Steve Sidwell was incontention for Engalnd places and would feature in squads but since he left Reading he's got no-where but richer. I can understand players moving to clubs for even more ridiculous wages than they were getting before but most of the time this is at the expense of their careers as the big four have the money to buy in established talent or proven youngsters from elsewhere and aren't willing to take gambles on paying out big transfer fees for players who might not make the grade. This is beacuse British players are generally over-priced compared to their foreign counter-parts as the money in the English game is ridiculous. This in essence means that top quality English youngsters have to go to mid level premier clubs to get games and therefore improve as a player but they don't get the experience of playing Champions League football regularly and are lucky if they get to play in Europe so can only improve so far which would help the development of the national teams. A prime example of this is David Bentley who could well be languishing on Arsenal's bench but since moving to Blackburn he has gone on to earn England recognition. The big four also recruit youngsters from abroad and develop these in their youth team or reserves as opposed to having British talent. Fabregas is a prime example of this as he probably wouldn't be the player he is now if Arsenal hadn't half stolen him from Barca. Quality will always rise to the top but the only two 'world-class' players that are English which have been developed solely by the big four are Gerrard and Terry (who incidentally made his debut as a left-back in the pie-game at Boundary Park). As a result England is really struggling to find the up and coming youngsters who have the ability to progress and be of sufficent quality to play in world cups in 10 years time. Finally the money of the Premier League is appalling and i think it is this which is destroying English football in the main. This will only get worse unless Sky, the BBC, ITV, Setanta and anyone else interested say we will only pay this much money for the TV rights like it or lump it. Either that or the FA realise what the money they accept for the games is doing to the clubs outside of the upper end of the Premier League and the national team and stop asking for ridiculous sums of money. But these are highly unlikely. So in summary the 'Big Four' are certainly not helping the English game as much as say the other big clubs are for their respective countries but the money in the Premier League which is mainly generated as a result of the big four is making the situation worse.

Maybe the papers have finally realised that aside from the two big Glasgow clubs the SPL is dire and most of the players are at our level (see the success of one C. Killen). As such if someone becomes availible they get linked with a club at our level. Actually I'd fancy our chances against a lot of teams that have played in Europe this season (look what Everton did to that Norweigen team in the UEFA cup). There is a reason the Championship is the 5th best supported league in Europe.

That's poor on to then post it on You Tube is even poorer. Yet, I just love the Everton fan's quote on there after their singing peformance on January 5th which would have had even Simon Cowell struggling for superlatives to describe how bad it was. Not to mention the result

But with your driving style only about 45 mins away eh IC?

No I know it wasn't the clubs doing but my point about functions related to the club and their marketing is still valid and this was related to the club (even if not organised by it). I'd guess OASA stands for Oldham Athletic Supporters Association (which sounds very official and has a hint of being sanctioned by the club about it). They obviously have enough clout with the club to get the people involved to turn up to this function (doesn't Eardley still live in Wales?) I'd guess they get some other benefits too but none of them can use the internet? I'm sorry but what with all the other supporters groups we have maybe its time they learnt how to use the internet (which is hardly brain surgery) or they disbanded and merged in with something else. If the meeting was that important then they'd have promoted it more (especially on here which is now the official club message board) which makes Mr. Owen's comments worse. (A point which has already been made)

The comments made by Mr. Owen could be construed as being overly aggressive or patronising but from what I've read on this post a few more people might have turned up if they had known about it. When will anyone learn that if they want to advertise something to do with the club to not just limit themselves to Oldham based media (the Chron, the Advertsier- which i hardly know exists- and local supermarkets). Its fine to concentrate the majority of your adverts in Oldham but does anyone know how hard it is to get a copy of the Chron outside of Oldham (and I'm not just talking from the perspective of an exile either). I know newsagents where its easier to get a foreign language paper than it is to get the Chron. As for the local supermarkets its not like there isn't a Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's in other local areas, oh wait there is. I can only speculate as to the location of Oldham fans but i'd wager that around half of the people who go regularly live outside the borough of Oldham. Just look at the location of the mods from here only 2 live in the borough of Oldham and the most active poster (Diego) lives in Burton. I don't know if there is some sort of agreement that the club (or a club based function) won't advertise in Rochdale or Bury, and Bury and Rochdale won't advertise in Oldham but to advertise in any of the local papers based outside of Oldham can't be that expensive and quite often the readers find it quicker to get to Boundary Park than Spotland or Gigg Lane (I know i would from my parents house in Heywood). Or why not advertise in the MEN which is probably the best read regional paper outside of London (and is free to buy). It seems to me that the marketing department at Latics think their job is 3/4 done when they sell out all the sponsership. Marketing is not rocket science but our club seem to be relatively poor at it. Plus, did I see that the organisers of this forum don't have access to the internet? In that case don't you think its about time we got some people who do. I know its a case of finding people with the time but this reflects badly on the club, as although it wasn't an official club function it was based about it and some senior people were the main guests.

You should always play the strongest team you can in this league until you can neither go down nor up (even via the playoffs). This could well mean that only the last few games are suitable for playing more kids than necessary, but I hope none are. Even if our season is over we should only play the kids that have been regulars on the bench this season to give them some much needed first team experience (Josh Bell and Paul Black spring to mind). Plus we could well have some people returning from injury and it would be good if they could get some games under their belt before the season finishes as i'd think pre-season is much harder if you haven't played in the last few weeks (or months) of the season. Plus at least one player who is injured deserves a send-off as i don't think we should renew his contract next year.

Having only recently got back from the game (i've family that live in Dunstable so stayed overnight with them) i thought i'd add my two penneth worth. For me the best player on the park for either side was Deane Smalley and i don't think Chris Perry was injured i think Smalley outplayed him and the Luton manager realised his centre-half was in trouble and brought on Don Hutchinson (who isn't a centre half) to at least give Deano some competition. Since Deano had the beating of him in the air and was very much quicker than him, a player who kept Dirk Kuyt quiet was played off the park by Deane Smalley. The Ref was a joke, not because he gave the penalty (which it definately was) not because he sent Reuben off (I don't agree with sending someone off for a professional foul in the penalty area, but those are the rules) but because he didn't book both Luton's left back and Left midfielder who cynically brought down one of our players from behind when they were going through for a cross on more than one occassion. If i had been referreeing I'd have sent off Luton's number 25 (the left midfielder who was by far the worst culprit for dirty play in the game). A lot of fuss has been made about the keeper but he played alright the first goal was a good bit of skill, the second a penalty (which he went to wrong way for and i think a lot of Oldham fans would have gone the right way), the third was a bad bit of play by Eardley. However, for Sheridan to trust a Sheff Wed youngster over one of our own is poor. For him to rely on a Sheff Wed youngster is even poorer when Pogliacomi has had injury problems all year, Crossley has had trouble and neither have been great consistently. When Pogliacomi's injury was fully diagnosed he should have been contacting clubs to see if he could get a goalie in (if necessary get someone better than Crossley and say they'll play- for example City have three goalies we could quite easily have given one of them some first team football, ditto Ben Foster or Kusack, and if either club had an injury they could go back). To have only 4 players on a bench in professional football is a disgrace (why not register a kid and give him some first-team pre match experience). To play a very poor player from a rival team in the division giving him much needed match practice is bad too, I'm sure Glenn Murray might have preferred a move across the M62 as opposed to a move down south, same with Dicov and a whole bunch of other players who went elsewhere in the window. Ian Moore who acted very unprofessionally by not signing with us didn't look that much better than our kids when he played against us but he would have been better than Leon Constantine. The team was very poor (they are a bad side and its obvious why they are in trouble- even without the 10 point penalty) but they weren't helped by Shez's poor managerial skills and a bad ref.

If Shez doesn't think Josh Bell is good enough for first team footie why has he been on the bench so much, it was obvious that Crossley wasn't fit for the last 30 mins or so but he stayed on the pitch. He should have got a goalie in the moment we knew how serious Pogs's injury was. As to the number of groin and thigh injuries we have i think its a warm up issue and that players don't warm up their legs in all six planes of movement (up and down, front to back and side to side) enough.

Quality I wonder if i can do that after all I've seen more births than most people on here (none of which were my child) and I've got more to see. Shame i can't wear Oldham scrubs, just have to make do with my Oldham key ring on my stethescope. Admittedly all it will do is give some Geordies/Mackems some soft spot for Oldham.

I didn't get asked on Saturday because i turned up with about 5 minutes to go as I picked my dad up at Piccadilly. I'd like to go in the RRE end as the Chaddy has no bar, the bars in the main stand are appalling (admittedly the last time i was in there you could smoke), the seats aren't the greatest in the Main Stand especially with its season ticket holders having already got most of the good ones (some with fringe benefits eh IC?) and i think we need to use the Rocky road end more especially to prevent teams using the whole end as generally our record when this happens is not good. However realistically its not my decision and i will probably go where my dad and the people from my local (in heywood) go.

I'd put all the professional clubs in the North East and some of the non-professional clubs (Durham City anyone?) in a hat and choose. I might be tempted to add some women's teams as well. Either that or watch some of the good egg chasing teams up here.

Our average gate is about 4500 last year it was possibly 1000 more. (I don't know the figures but its not far off). Regional lower leagues would do some good to this and we would never be affected to have to move south, but spare a thought for the likes of Notts county, Walsall, Lincoln etc. who wouldn't know what league they'd be in from one season to the next. Plus what about fairness as its not beyond the realms of possibility to have the twelve best teams at this level all being in the north (or south) yet if someone from the other would have to be promoted. A new stadium might help matters especially if it was better covered from the elements (we are notorious for being very cold). Strippers instead of cheerleaders (or even cheerleaders who aren't ridiculously under aged and therefore attractive) could help. Signing Paul Scholes or even a female player (Kelly Smith et al. might be good enough) might put a bit on for the first few games but not in the long term. Cheaper season tickets or game tickets might work too but not for long (how many did we get when it was a quid- and how many stayed). Plus Blackburn and Bolton (two local premier teams) both reduced their ticket prices to level similar to ours (if not cheaper) because they got a whole bunch extra from Sky (yet neither were founder members of the premier league unlike us). If i was just a general football fan (as opposed to supporting Oldham) I know where I'd spend my money and it isn't watching the sort of performance like we had a Brighton (or the first half against Swindon). The sooner TV companies work out that paying ridiculously over the odds to watch 22 men (plus a few subs) kick a ball around a pitch isn't worth their money the better. After all the Beeb is still funded (for a large part) by the license fee payer and I for one would much rather see them spend money on programmes other than football (despite being a football fan). The only realistic way to survive as a football club at this level is to have someone willing to loose money to fund you after all we by all estimates loose roughly 750k a year yet we aren't a small club at this level. Leeds are in administration for a reason as are Bournemouth and Luton. Soon it won't be who has the best team on the pitch that gets promoted but who has enough money to stay out of administration. Having nifty crowd enhancing schemes won't work (don't you think that if we or anyone else could make significantly more money per year as a football club with a scheme it'd have been tried by now). Professional football in this country has turned into a multi-billion pound a year industry and in any industry if 60% of your competitors are better than you then you are going to loose money. Rio Ferdinand was paid 90k a week when he was inelligible to play for 8 months that £3.15 million could keep Oldham going for over 4 years. We wouldn't need to have a larger gate if we weren't spending as much money on wages and the only reason we are spending as much money on wages is beacuse players the likes of Rio Ferdinand et al are being paid so much. Yet as we proved on the 5th of january this year 11 players being paid about 11 times as much money aren't necessarily better for 90 minutes. But the only reason the likes of Rio Ferdinand are being paid in a week what a senior doctor makes in a year is because the TV companies have paid the Premier League a ridiculous amount of money to show about 90 hours of live football a year and the players are taking their 'rightful' cut. However, the best way to boost attendances is for us to get promoted as I'd think its only Leeds and Swansea that bring more to us than we take to them we have an attendance record like our position but yet we still take quite a few fans away. This could well be because there are a lot of Oldham fans who grew up watching Latics at a higher level than we are at the moment and those that remain are much more die hard but for the likes of Yeovil this is the best division they've ever got to so they have fairweather fans.

Bonus points for anyone that can have a bit of the gantry. Why do they need a demolishion company the paddock army with some booze in them (to do the paddock) and some matches to do the main section (its all wood). I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a major fire at Boundary Park over the season break. Not sure if i want my seat mind as its only been mine for the last year and half and its not the most comfortable in the world. Of course in no way am i endorsing vandalism or pyromania or arson.

Pogliacomi was on his day the best Australian keeper (at one point he was their official third choice) but alas his consistency was that great. He did deserve to play at a higher level and if it wasn't for Adrain Littlejohn I think he would have (his injury not only cost us but i think it stopped some of the clubs who came poaching from making an offer). He came over here before the A-league really got going but its now quite popular and they get crowds larger than the average at our level and getting games there will be a step-up to sitting on our bench. Its a pity that he'll more than likely never pull on an Oldham shirt again. His performance against City was the true star that day as he made remarkable save after remarkable save against some good talent. Thanks very much Pogs and I hope the club can at least get him on the pitch for half-time so the fans can do it properly.

This is quite sad and as the Mental Health acts are very varied its quite hard to tell exactly what's going on. It wouldn't surprise me if Gazza had an element of bi-polar disorder. As far as I'm concerned we were denied Gazza's true swansong by Glenn Hoddell due to a clash of whatever and I'll always remember how him and Ince beat the Italians at their own game in their own back yard with some of the best midfield performances for England in my memory. If only we'd have had Gazza on the pitch for the penalties for WC98 or if he was an inch taller when he couldn't quite connect at Wembley against the Germans. It always amazes me how confidential health information gets to the media as once it gets so far what you are allowed to say only confirms it. Unfortunately for Gazza he's in the system now and its not an easy system to get out of. I hope he gets well soon.

Sat behind him (there were only seven latics sitting) at Chelsea when we last played them and won. He'd been on some Granada sports quiz thing where you had a legend, a celeb and a fan for each granada team not long before and was s**t so he got a bit of stick for that. I'd wager he changed allegancies when we went down or when the Gallaghers made supporting thaskin town 'fashionable' as I've not seen him at any Oldham games since. Does Michelle Marsh still support us or does she support St. Mirren? I think the bloke who used to play Lee Hunter in Hollyoaks and then went to Emmerdale is an Oldham fan.

The thing with the achilles is that it has such a poor blood supply (think about where it is) and you need it for everything that you'd do on a football pitch (it basically powers the foot). Its not a case of Liddle not being able to run (which i don't think he did much of to begin with but he was still a good player) its more a case of being able to kick a football that regularly and move about a bit without ending up disabled as result. He might be able do a Shez (not do much running but still pick a pass and put the odd penalty away) but I'm not sure I'd want to pay him his wages to do that at our level but at a big league 2 club he'd be fine if he wanted to carry on playing. TBH I can see him hanging up his boots if we get to the play-offs and go to Wembley (go out on a high and all that).

Isn't it three with Swansea as well. As to Andy Liddle he was a quality player and if he didn't play at the highest league level then he was very unlucky (much like Mr. Eyres) but I'd wager with two operations on an achilles in as many years he's done as the achilles isn't something that fixes easily. It'd be nice to see him back in the squad and i'd think he'd give us options especially from the bench but I wouldn't give him a new contract (which i believe he's due for at the end of the season) he could do a job don't get me wrong but I wouldn't pay his kind of wages for someone that can only do a job and is now injury prone.

Taylor is a good player for this level and with some luck and improvement he could be a Premiership player. He has what only God can give you and that's some decent pace. His first touch isn't great and his crossing is a bit hit and miss but these are things which can be coached. It doesn't help that he's playing slightly out of position on the left without a genuine left back behind him. Ever since Ryan left he's looked poorer. I'd like to see him play on the right with another winger on the left (probably Smalley as I think Liddle may be done) or in a free role behind the front two where he could go on to either wing. It does seem that the wide players at Oldham come into a lot of stick and I don't think this is co-incidence. Taylor and Eardley are both genuine talents (as proven by the number of top clubs that have looked at either of them) and you don't become a bad player overnight but the abuse they get from the Lookers in particular would make you think otherwise. Taylor being an Oldhamite i think actually hinders him as he's getting a bit of a reputation for overly frequenting the local drinking establishments but he's only doing what most people his age do and doing it with people he's probably known for ages. If he was doing the same thing elsewhere I don't think he'd have the same reputation. As he's a local boy done good and an Latic to boot he is under some pressure to perform every time he plays and some of this is because he so obvioulsy wants to do well for the team he (and his family) supports. He's never going to be a tricky Ricky or an Eyresy but these were wingers who beat their man with skill and not pace (in Holden's case often more than once), if i was an opposition full back i'd know which i'd prefer to mark unless i was as quick as Taylor (which there's be at most 3). He's still young and is still learning and he could benefit from some constructive criticsm but no-one benefits from abuse.

I've developed quite a few superstitions recently. Everytime I've not worn a Latics shirt we've lost (Blackburn away 91, the 7-1 Cardiff game and the Huddersfield game this season) so I'm wearing a shirt for evermore (until we win and i forget it that is). Last season i got a new shirt for xmas but we went on a bad run then I wore both my previous shirt and my newer one and we starting winning again so I currently wear 2 shirts. Against Leeds I had an ear infection so wore my mum's beanie (i couldn't find my woolie hat) and my hoodie with the hood up. I was wearing both for the entire game apart from the first minute of the second half, did the same for the Everton game and as a result been doing the same ever since (until i'm at a game where we loose- and i've not forgot my shirt) so if you see an idiot in a beanie in the middle of roaring temperature you'll know its me.

I was In South Africa last summer (Cape town to be precise) and the impression I got of it was that it doesn't matter how much freedom the non-whites have they are still poor (with some exceptions) and some of them are very very poor (living in shanty towns and the like). Crime is in the main committed by the poor and the rich (mainly white) people have a lot of freedom to defend themselves by any means necessary most decent sized homes in the Cape Town have very strong security and there are a lot of guns/rifles about. Cape Town is not a nice city and a lot of it is a no go area around dark or if it is quiet. Its a city where its important to know exactly where you are at all times (as you don't want to end up in the wrong bit). Jo'burg and Durban are apparently worse and most people who go to Jo'burg don't venture out too much simply because its not safe. The people on the whole are friendly and its dirt cheap for food and drink. Apart from the big cities South Africa is a very rural country and its also quite big (took me over 2 hours to go from Jo'burg to Cape Town by plane) and as such it won't have good public transport even in the cities. But cabs are quite cheap (and i felt safer in them than i've felt in some cabs in england). Aside from the cities i've mentioned most areas are on the same scale as England when it comes to crime. One good thing though is I can't see England having problem with hooligans as if they have any sense (alas most don't) they won't go as they will get their asses handed to them by the locals.

As far as I'm aware when City asked for a minutes applause Man utd turned them down (a story that i think was leaked by Man United and actually shows more about Man United than a lot of people realise as it should have been kept private to the point that we wouldn't have realised the story ever existed). I've no problem with England doing it to honour England players the same way Man United doing it to honour Man United players but for football as a whole to do it to honour footballers is a bit wrong as far as I'm concerned. EDIT: Not sure the Man United leaking the story is right and I didn't mean a bit wrong i meant a bit too far considering it happened before a lot of people can even remember