BucksBlue

I posted elsewhere that I was very pleased with the performance and the individual work rate in mid field, BUT I certainly didn't see much attacking edge from them.

I was one of the "279" yesterday. We definitely played with "bite" in midfield and we chased and harried for every ball. It was good to watch and admire the effort. However, we do seem to lack in imagination and creativity. With a couple of exceptions the midfield dont thread balls through, and in fact the midfield was often by bypassed with the long ball overhead to Pavel. To his credit Pavel held the ball up well waiting for supporting players, or laying the ball off from head and foot. But other teams will soon work this out and, aside from Pavel, we did not have much attacking edge. On other days, like Stockport last week, we will boss the midfield but with no alternative striking options, we end up nil nil at best. On the positive side the defence handled everything well except for their one goal, and at this low level, they will not always be punished for every slip up. Gregan has his "boo boys" on here, but for me he has been the stand out player over the first two league games. Good atmosphere, great to win, and a well organized performance with the players at our disposal. Impressed with DP so far!!

That York away game was a fantastic day out ... the Cron were giving daily updates on coach bookings, but stopped when we got to over 50 coaches (imagine that today!) .. and every other car and coach all the way from Oldham to York was going to the match! (At least that's how I remember it from the haze of 35 year old memories). Anyone know what the actual attendance was?

Eh - Nostalgia .... Saturdays .. I used walk back after a match from BP over Oldham Edge to my grandma's paper shop on Huddersfield Road, and then go and deliver the Pink all over Waterhead and Derker ...

I agree. As fans, we are NOT investors or stake holders in the future ground lease arrangements, but as suppoters of the club we DO have a vested interest to see the future of the club is protected. I think that transparency and the flow of information is EXACTLY what Mr Owen should be focusing upon in his role between the club and the supporters.

Ed - you make my exact point ... but in reverse! ..... you say "bp will be sold to a developer in conjunction with" ... but the point to make is that the owner of the land at BP is NOT OAFC. It is TTA (or their holding company) in a private capacity. So any revenue from the sale or development of BP will NOT go to OAFC (unless TTA volunteer to give the proceeds to the club). It is like saying I will rent you a flat to live in, and, by the way, when I eventually sell the flat, I will also give you the sales proceeds". It isn't going to happen! TTA made two commercial decisions when they bought into OAFC. (1) they bought the club. They knew it was losing money and decided to invest because they wanted to fulfil their dreams of ownership of an FA club. (2) they did a separate personal and private deal with Oldham Council to buy back BP. They did this because they saw potential financial gain in the development of the land. This potential didn't materialize because of the economic crisis. So now the club wants to build a £20M stadium, with negative income streams. And no asset base (BP) to trade. So who pays for it all?? I have no "axe to grind" with TTA. Without their support, we would not even be discussing these matters. But the fact is that we are here, and OAFC is still there for all the community. And at this time of major evolution, the current supporters and the community deserve total transparency so we can see the commitments made today on behalf of future generations.

I noted on other threads several misconceptions concerning the current BP land and the proposed new stadium. The (wrong) assumption is that the club is "giving up" BP and that "we" (the club) may end up as owners of a long term lease with the council. Firstly BP is not owned by the club. It is owned by TTA through some separate holding company. Therefore whatever money is raised from the sale of land at BP, or through any redevelopment in housing etc will be of no benefit to OAFC. it will be for the benefit of TTA or a future developer. Concerning the new stadium, it will presumably be owned by another property company (belonging to TTA individualy? or maybe this time by the club itself?) and the land will be held on a long term lease in order to facilitate the stadium investment. Either way OAFC is not really protected unless the owners of OAFC and the council each volutarily enter into a long term commitment to keep professional sport in this community. (The commitment on BP was I think only 5 years, and here we are at 6 years moving to another home). Times flies fast! The TTA have supported the club financially, for which (as a supporter) I am very grateful. But they also sought personal financial potential through the development of BP. The unforseen economic crisis has hurt those aspirations, which is no-ones fault, not least TTA. However, it is we the supporters who must seek to protect the long term interests of the club for the future. Owners will come and go. but the club has been here a hundred years. When we and the current owners move on, lose faith, sell out or simply die, then then the legacy must be there for the club to continue for future generations in the community. I would therefore ask that there is total transparency from TTA and the council concerning the lease arrangments, the commitments made and the investment strategies for the future. The last thing we want is BP sold (by TTA / for TTA) and the club is then either left stranded before the devlopment of the new stadium, or for a new stadium to be built with large debts to the club, or for a new stadium to have only a short lease between the owners of OAFC and the owners of the stadium.

Three year contract as well ! That's like a life time contract with a guranteed pension in lower league football ! Good luck to them, but it was time for a change for us.

Back in 2004 he was on £75,000 a week (£3.9M a year). Ronaldo is on £6.5 now, so I guess Scholes is somewhere in between. So the bottom line is he could buy OAFC for less than one years wage at MU. Which probably means 2 things. (1) he will never play for Oldham if wages were an issue (2) he will stay at MU as long as he can, even as a squad player or impact sub. At 35 he has a fair few years left to provide for himself and his family, and another season on £4M will never be sniffed at !

It wouldn't work quite that way. The land is owned "privately" in a separate company structure, which is in turn owned by the three amigos. So any deal to sell the club would be a separate deal to the land. (Of course they could sell both companies, but income for the land would not come back to the club).

way back in my youth .. Bundesliga German side - Borussia Dortmund?

I will be there. It's more of a home game than BP for me

As an "exile" I only get to BP a few times each season, but Monday morning I was on the blower to order my tickets for Saturday, and relishing the prospect of a 400 mile round trip. And the reason is Joe. I'm old enough to have been through the good days. I'm also realistic enough to appreciate that 9 games isn't long enough to make the same impact as last time. Of course I hope we'll have the ususal temporary "bounce" from a new manager, but win, lose or draw I'll be happy just to greet BFJ back I noticed "Isle of Wight" on here is making a trip, and Alan Hardy is expecting 9000 (???) .. but how many others know of people (exiles or stay away locals) who are making the effort because of Joe?

Harry - you said it all, and far more eloquently than I can (after a night on the town in Madrid). My additional observation is on "votes", where it is generally accepted that the "oldest stories" are the hardest to tell. So for example, in a vote for the "best ever single released" you will find the newer group etc well ahead of the classic greats Stones / Beattles etc etc. NOTHING wrong with that at all, because the pole reflects the views of today's voters. The point I am rambling to make is that if 1000 latics supporters today could see Alan Groves at his peak, as I had the joy to see, then they would NEVER vote any of the other candidates (much as each gave/give their best).

it's been minus 50 (with wind chill) where I'm skiing in Colorado, so Oldham sounds like a tropical paradise

I agree with all that you say, but I would also question "motivation" ... and not just any self motivation coming from the players, but motivation from the management team. It has become a pattern this season and last that we can always be up for the big games, but we we do not have the discipline and motivation for the lesser teams. Look at Dowie / Harbin in our case or at good managers at all levels. They motivate their squads whoever they play. I am not a "Shez out" fan, and I will be there at Northampton and Southend, but I fully appreciate why SC would have a pop, when the team is not consistently motivated.

WE didn't play in midfield yesterday ... we only used forward balls from defence up to the wings ... THEY played in midfield ..

I think I was at a different game yesterday ... firstly where we were sitting was a long way away to see exactly who was pulled out of position, but I think the overla was caused by the big centre half making the outside overlap .. so not directly Gregans fault .. and for the rest of the game he held the back line well and made a good number of clearances .. As for the game, we were the better team in the first half, and lost it 2-0. In the second half we were poor and lucky they didn't score more. It was a fair result in the end.

"if omerod is still as good as he has been in the past he will do a good job for us" ... Fact is, if he was still as good as that, then he would not be languishing in the reserves and then signing a one month loan with a division three side ... but hopefully he still has enough class / speed / knowledge to be a threat at this level

sitting on a beach in Honolulu

Hi - I cannot add anything "new" to the various accounts on this board, however I am very happy to provide a supporting statement if required. I am a 50 year old "serious" professional man, I was attending the match on my own and I was sitting in an aisle seat just as Lee was manhandled down the steps immediately next to me. He was certainly not resisting in any way. He was "held, jostled and surrounded by a number of stewards" and he had little opportunity for any resistance. When the group reached the bottom of the stairs and the main walkway along the goal line, then there was more jostling from the steward who was holding Lee. The steward then appeared to put his face in a close and threatening manner into Lee's face. The whole group were then moving and jostling and the steward simply lost personal control and acted in a violent manner. His actions were entirely inappropriate. Please feel free to use this and I will be happy to sign a statement.

as an exile, yesterday was my first look at the team ... Crossely had good positioning and excellent distribution from hand, but even at this relatively low paced league one level, he looked slow around his area ... guaranteed he will let in a couple this season, simply by not "getting there" quickly enough, BUT his experience and positioning will also "save" a couple ... hopefully his coaching skills will be more in demand as time goes on ..

Shez does NOT need to give Davies a roasting as suggested in some threads. He only needs to show him what the paying fans (the oldham supporters) are saying about him here, and he ought to hang his head in shame and volunteer to take a three week pay cut for his automatic suspension. (but I'm not holding my breath!).

I've done without one for 10 years - great thing

Tics 1 - O Millwall - Davies 4,999 Out of interest how many season tickets were sold?