Barryowen

Just touching on a few points particularly from Midsblue. This is a totally low key affair for the 12 to meet the new manager to discuss his ideas and plans. You will all then have an informed view and draw your own conclusions accordingly. I am attended and I am hoping that the others may be around. I am sure your questions can be answered on a one to one basis in order that our new man can concentrate on the fottball matters with you. Asx I say I would hope that in the near future that we can arrange a forum for many of you to attend and raise issues of concern that you refer too In the meantime I am perfectly happy for one of the lounges to be open next week when I am happy to meet any fans to answer questions regarding you concerns. Let me know.!!!!!! Barry Barry

Sorry folks . Ibby has filled my box without me knowing. Otherwise E mail me Bowen97758@aol.com

The following names came out of the hat. Please PM me with your full names for security purposes : 1. Lukers 1 2. Wizzo 83 3. Prozac 4. oafctom 5. Opnion4u 6.Eyres_28 7. dish 8. carol 9. Doctor Worm 10. C.D's Orange Heel 11. Emcee 12 Parisian Done this has fairly as I could with time available. For the disappointed ones I will try and arrange a forum asap with all offficials in attendance. For the above 12 please report at Main Entrace and you will be show into the Board Room. See you then Barry

5 minutes.

SINGE. Whilst I cannot reply to everyone you should also be aware that my colleagues on the Board like myself have had vast experience at interviewing in this post and in other jobs. I have chaired interviews that have been carried over a 5 day process and can assure you that the process at Oldham is exhaustive. You are wrong to conclude as you do and can assure you that a number of applicant have been required to carry out a number of interviews during the process.Some of the journeymen I can assure you were not used to the process. Barry

For those with access to the Official Site you will see that a Press Conference has been called for 2.00pm tomorrow (18.3.2013) in respect of the appointment of a new manager. This follows a long painstaking interview process carried out by the Chairman and Board of Directors. The new manager has intimated a desire to meet a number of fans immediately and I also envisage that on a suitable date in the future he will want to attend a Fans Forum. I am making arrangements for approximately 10-12 fans to attend the club tomorrow at 4.00pm when they can meet the new manager and discuss with him anything they wish. I am sure that with any new appointment fans will want to ask many questions. The gathering will be in the Board Room and will be low key. Refreshment will be available (free of charge). The best way forward, is if you are interested, is to append your wish to attend to this thread. Once the names are in I will draw the first 12 names out of a hat and link a post later tonight. I think this is the fair way to do this at the last minute and no doubt those attending will report to other via this site to be more informed. Please get your names in by 10.00pm. I hope this helps. Thanks Barry

Thanks for all your efforts. Barry

There are security issues why this has been changed and also the fact that we have received numerous calls from season ticket holders that many fans may be able to get hold of more tickets than themselves. This is also a better way of ensuring that Everton fans do not abuse our tickets for the game. With the best will in the world that can occur. For those who have made special work and other arrangements for tomorrow my advice is to explain this on your arrival at the club. I do not anticipate any problems if you do this. We can never win in these situations but have done our best given the intelligence in our possession. Barry

Yeh but you always get larger commitment and bills for stewarding and policing with games such as this. Fortunately Everton meeet half of the cost. Barry

Hope you are all pleased with the arrangements and thank you all for your support and views in the matter. Barry

A completely different subject Alex but it will happen. You should let Simon worry about the small print. Just enjoy the facility when it happens.. For a minute I thought you were coming on to defend your old mate..

You have given me a though Lover with regard to the throwing. A net could alleviate the problem. Thanks for your views mate. Barry

Stupid really because that is one of the best ways to ensure you do not have trouble. Equally so I believe that having 1600 less Everton fans here is likely to create less trouble.

You have to be careful keeping fans in. There has been a court case to say it is unlawful. Dom't worry doing my best mate

I will be in trouble with many fans for rising to the bait Derek and some will say that I should know better than address you as I intend to do. Your attack on Simon Corney is unjust, malicious and damned right rude. I thought better of you. There again you have not been around for a long time but you do seem to have rather a large gathering of support that has followed you through thick and thin. This club is representative of thoughts on this board but not from the input of fans from the past. It survives mainly from those who stand by it through thick and thin. Unfortunately I cannot place you in the later category. You worked on the Trust for a while but more as a talker than a doer and that seems somewhat relevant when I read your opportunistic entries on this site. Right now the club appreciates those who stand by it through thick and thin and I am pleased to see that quite a number of people have attempted to put your nose out of place regarding your insults. I do not post my thought very often on this site any longer but you do have the ability to bring the worst out of me and I am sure I will be reminded that I should know better. Whatever your objectional views are about Simon Corney, unlike you he has stood by the club through thiick and thin. He has done so at his own personal expense and I know his life has been affected at times by the worry that is combined withy being in the position that Oldham is at the moment. It is about time that somebody stood up and told it as it is. Whilst I appreciate yourt right to hold an opinion please have the good grace and maturity not to be so rude to people and keeep up to date with events at the club. We all know and don't need reminding by you that we are currently having problems that we shall hopefiully resolve. And before you suggest it I am not Simon's puppet and diasgree with him on many things.

A number of fans have read too much into my post believing that I am resigned to Everton having the whole of the Rochdale Road End. That is not the case. I am strongly of the belief that we have sufficient grounds to state a case with the Police and the Local Authority to maintain the arrangement that we had for Liverpool. The Chairman has given me the authority to work on the matter and I will be doing my best to act in the interests of the fans I represent. Having said that, a great deal of improvement needs to occur with our own fans and there were many incidents that I cannot address on the board. In particular the coin throwing will have to be eradicated and such behaviour does make it more awkward when I am fighting a case on the clubs behalf. Please bear with me and keep your fingers crossed for a successful outcome. Barry

It would not be prudent for me to go into too much details at the present time but can assure you that everything is being looked at.. We are discussing this as a board and have to consider the police and local authority advice. After the Hilsborough disaster and the subsequent Taylor report many measures were put into place giving The Local Authoirty an overriding responsibility to devise a multi-agency appraoch to safety and pulbic order at football grounds. Believe me it is not as simple as making our own decision without consents from others. Intelligence is a big factor and is looked at when visitors attend other grounds. I think some of you might remember earlier this season a problem at Gillingham when the Chairman of that club did not agree with the recommended number of police at a game and it was in danger of being called off by the Local Authoirty Committee responsibile for. safety. As a club we do of course sit on this committee but such an example perhaps typifies that others have a say on how we operate. I cannot make any promises but we will be discussing such matters as a Board and with all the relevant agencies to ensure that safety and public order is maintained to ensure that the vast majority of supports enjoy the game. I hope this helps at the present time Barry

Sorry re the odd grammar mistake. Sent before checking.

Thanks for the glowing reference McVitieman. Given your personal and rude comments is it any wonder why I do not get too involved on this site. It is the case that I have posted recently and log in virtually every day to see all your views.I don't know how long you have been on this site but you should be aware that many fans have requested that I do not become involved in the topics under discussion. I have never been shy to correspond or meet any fan or group of fans and if you would like to identify yourself I will gladly meet up with you. I have posted very late because I have been u all night writing and corresponding with fans regarding our current predicament. I aalso get approached via other sources other than OWTB !!!!! If anyone would like to speak, if you leave a message via this site leaving your details I will make contact with you. In the past I have asked groups of fans if they want to meet and nobody turns up. Anyway the offer stands. Barry

Ian I was unaware of this awful news. The Owen families thoughts and feelings are with you mate. I am away this weekend after the game so cannot attend. I would like to make a personal donation and I know the Trust would help if you want to run anything to raise any funds. When you feel able please give me a call if you choose. Barry

I have read all the comments on the two posts running on this topic and thank everyone for their valuable contributions. Though I would just comment on a few points. There is no conspiracy theory in involving the fans and the Board are genuinely interested in their views on such an important topic that can have massive implications for the club. The Board will not shy away from the decisions it needs to take but at least any action taken will be more informed. Some comments have been made aboiut he amount of money that is spent on running a Youth Section. All I can say is that it is a very expensive operation with staff costs, accomodation cost and the care and welfare of so many people. £20.000 is a lot of money that needs to be found each month and it may be money well spent if returns are seen with quality players coming into our first team or from fees that can be derived from transfer activity. Like any other financial operation the money spent has to be justified. As with all areas of accountancy at a football club each area of expenditure is looked at in the light of priorities. Equally so we have to assess any rule changes and assess the likely impact on our budget. Certainly with youth in mind we have to look very carefully at the long term effect of any decisions we make. In comparison with those considerations you also have to look at the bigger picture and assess any changes of policy you may make. For example would the first team benefit from any monies saved by the scrapping of the youth team. In actual fact many clubs like ours are producing lower and lower budgets each year for first team squads and again you have to look at how money should be spread to secure a good first team. I note that many say that any demise of the youth section would see the end of their support for the club. Equally so ,in any results industry you also have to consider if fans will be patient enough to see a young first team squad made up from many youth players who may not get you the instant results as quickly as fans may demand. This woulld be occurring season after season and if implementing a "Crewe" like system you have to be prepared to "support" your team with such a policy in mind. The Crewe model is great in many ways but one has to remember that they have had their rough spells with relegations. Thank you Leeslover for your comments and regards when I was diagnosed with the prostate cancer. I am well on the way to recovery and have never taken your comments and views personally. The way my operation was conducted with experimental and up to date equipment has allowed me a swifter recovery and less side effects than perhaps Alan Hardy had. You are perfectly at liberty to resume any attack on me that you see fit and indeed I enjoy the many sensible and intelligent points you make.As you know I do not always respond on the board because many fans have asked me not to. I appreciate that many of you may not see the expenditure of the youth section as being a major conisderation but believe me the gates and revenue we receive do not cover the total expenditure of the annual costs. Whilst it may be a different topic we are very fortunate to have a Chairman who takes the worries on board of cash flow problems. Whatever fans thinks and I do not believe that anything I say will change some peoples' minds, every single penny of expenditure has to be looked at. I must MAKE IT CLEAR that final decisions have not been made about the structure of our club for next season and the debate amongst the Board continues. Your views are being looked at very carefully and we find it helpful that we have so many varied and frank views. To help the process the debate will continue with the assistance of the Oldham Chronicle so we cannot be accused of limiting the availability of information to the official site and subsequenty OWTB. If any fans wishes to speak to be personally on this topic (or any other for that matter) I am available. Equally so if fans believe it might be helpful to hold a meeting to discuss the topic I can also arrange. Regards to you all Barry

Will be at another club tomorrow Barry

GREAT SUPPORT IN THE AWAY END, WHAT A NOISE YOIU MADE,PROUD TO BE LATICS Barry

A Happy New Year to all Oldham fans wherever you are. A very difficult day at the office. I know the travelling fans will get behind the management and team both tomorrow and at Forest. Lets hope the new year brings better fortunes for the team. Barry

Thanks for all your work and effort. This is really a fantastic initiative and a great help to playershare. Well done and thank you. Barry Owen