latic12345

I had planned to write something in response. However, I ask you this. Go back read, my post, look at what Zorro wrote and think about it. Oldham Athletic is bigger than me, it is bigger than you, it is bigger than OAFC0000, it is bigger than a one-off £2 entry scheme and it is bigger than Barry Owen. There is one person in that list who fails to recognise this... [Clue - it isn't you]

And then the Trust wonders why it is considered a club of insiders and not representative of the fans? If he doesn't go regularly he doesn't go. It doesn't make him any less entitiled to an opinion. It doesn't make him any less entitled to care. I really hope that the next "Trust Director" of whatever organisation decides to spunk £250k on putting a puppet on the board is a little more open to the people, a little more politically correct and chooses someone who understands their role, someone who galvanizes rather than divides opinion. I am sorry Barry, and I know that you try, but, on here, you are petulant at best, usually divisive and other times offensive. This is our hour of need, this is your time to make a difference yet you continue to have a pop at those who don't attend rather than encouraging them.

Why would you buy two tickets? That's just odd... ;)

And what would happen if you suddenly had a child?? Aren't you the guy who got thrown out at Colchester a couple of years back? So you're 19/20? Good on you for paying your way and standing on your own two feet (assuming rent isn't to your parents) but I doubt you've got too much responsibility. Nor do I. I just live feckin miles away

How about having a meeting at work until 6pm near Crawley. Can you lend me your helicopter? I'll happily pay my £2 then. Or, maybe I can make a 7pm plane from Gatwick, have a taxi meet me at Manchester Airport around 8.15 and make it just in time for the last 30 mins. I can obviously afford all this now given my match ticket has been reduced by £18... Of course there are excuses. Price is only one factor.

Ah good old diplomatic Barry. You really are wasted outside of the High Commission in Washington D.C. aren't you? If only President Mubarak had your negotiation skills, he'd have probably jacked up public sector wages in expectation of everyone going home... More seriously, what do we expect to learn from this initiaitve? Do we have a view of what we expect the gate to be at £20? If so, we can learn what difference discounting by 90% adds. However, as usual, the price will then be £20 again next game and attendance will be back to normal. If I can suggest something innovative here. Drop the price to £2. Increase the price by £2 for each match until the end of the season. That way the club will learn more about what the majority of fans are willing to pay for a match ticket rather than "it's really cheap, lots of people come. It's £20 not many people club. How do we solve this problem?" We've got the data points for this, we know that attendance will be up but we also know it will fall again. If only we had history on our side. If only history wasnt there to ensure we make the same mistakes again...

I agree it was supposed to be temporary. It didn't materialise that way. I'm not joining either side of the debate here. I know how I feel and can completely understand people who feel the other way. If we leave BP we'll never go back. I fear there's more to it than where. If we leave BP, without a clear plan of return or new ground, I think we'll go bust

Only when they moved miles away to Milton Keynes. They moved from Wimbledon to Croydon (well Selhurst) without changing their name. I'd imagine thats a similar distance... Brighton have been playing outside of Brighton (it's 15 mins or so on the train) for years. They haven't changed their name. Their new ground is not in Brighton. Everton were hoping to move to Knowsley - feckin miles away. Would they have given up their history and become Knowsley Lions (see what I did there ;) ) There's also no such place as Tranmere, it's Birkenhead ;-) I couldn't give a toss where we play. I've never lived in Oldham, I just went to school there and had been going to matches well before that. I support the club because of my Dad. I keep going and stay interested because of him and my mates.

Maybe on the day they announce we're no longer playing at Boundary Park or the day it's flattened?

Do you really believe that the sole beneficiaries of such a scheme would be the football club? The guys own a "dormant" company that owns lad on which BP is situated. They have got the club to pay for planning permission on it. Simon Corney has been left behind but Blitz has gone "nuclear" so to speak. He's buggered off and took his asset with him, slowly selling bits of it as and when the houses are developed. You may argue he hasnt asked for his £4m loan. I would hazard a large guess there's no point requesting it as he knows that would force administration and he'd get somewhere between 5 and 10p in the pound back. I think Simon Corney has improved this season and him being here is why I am pushing him back to Average as he appears to be trying to do his best for the club. His mates have left him high and dry though and that, as I said in my original post, is a damning indictment of his performance as MD / Chairman to date

I no longer think they'll leave with armfuls. 2007-2009 saw to that. I do think they are currently limiting damage. The new Stadium is an interesting one. Correct me if I am wrong but it has always seemed deliberately vague regarding ownership and finance. I have no doubt that TTA would have been the ones to stump up any equity needed on which to take out a commercial mortgage. It was also talked about that there could be local council and European grants. Let us not forget however that in return for their investment (however financed but likely to need c.£5m cash due to Loan to Value on Commercial property) that they would own as a minimum: 1. The land on which the football ground stood (would we have had to pay rent?); 2. A cinema 3. A hotel 4. A bowling alley 5. 3G pitches 6. Lots and lots of land All of this would be money spinning. I'm not denying them that. If they'd have done it and left the club viable I have no problem with an excellent and shrewd piece of business. However, they havent and (for me at least) the way in which it looks likely to be left smells and leaves the club in a very precarious position. Plan B for Simon Blitz exists. What they fail to tell you is (and the way in which Simon Corney has stuck around may make him exempt from this) that Plan B is to safeguard their interests and not necessarily the clubs...

I'm not saying I know what the number is here. I can feasibly believe a number of £10m plus. However, when LL and Latics & England went into the club I seem to remember that they saw Directors loans of £4m. The stadium buy back cost them £3.5m. This is not an expense related to the club. They bought it, they own it, and they will reap the benefits once they have sold it.

Wasn't there a figure of £4m of Director loans talked about? To those who believe that £14m is the figure, do you really believe they have put £10m in cash? I don't know what the numbers are. I'd hazard a guess that because the economy has fallen off a cliff their investment and project hasn't come off. However, they have also had some benefits to owning the club: It was talked about a few months ago that the club funded the planning application for the land behind the Chaddy (at c.£400k) yet this is land owned by Brassbank. This allowed Brassbank to remain dormant. Very useful for tax purposes. They have a business losing money. They also have business making money. Another very advantageous tax position. I'm not saying they are bad people. I think they've done a good job. I just think that to believe they are doing this, and have done this, for the good of the club, and not for some potential self interest, is a little naive.

Looking good for my first visit this year...

All other conversations aside, wasnt there a covenant included with the sale of the land which meant that football had to be guaranteed on the site for at least 10 (or possibly 15) years....

I'm not convinced by this argument. It used to make economic sense to move to Tameside. Without a doubt. Before they built a cinema, bowling alley, hotel etc. The stadium move though is not just about a stadium. It's a project whereby the current owners get lots of money and the this is used to help ensure the club breaks even. A kind of win-win where everyone is happy. If we move to Tameside and Curzon in particular, what will the extra revenue streams be? In my opinion, this ship has sailed. We were too slow. This isn't an option for the kind of self sustaining solution we're looking for...

Where is that scoreboard.... ;-) It's really quite sad (and I'll get shot down on here for this) but when I heard the news yesterday I was quite upset about the prospect of no longer being at BP. I hastily arranged train tickets from London and thought I'd go along today. When I woke up this morning, after a very hectic week, I just didn't have the energy. For whatever reason, all the wranglings of the last few seasons, knocking down the Lookers, the second half of Shez's last season, Big Fat Joe's failed return and Dave Penney, it's just difficult to muster the energy these days. I would rate Simon Corney as average. Not all together to do with football - people are right, he's kept the lights on and kept the club going by hook or by crook and I'm proud to say he has stuck around this season to help us. That is what keeps him as average. However, the more damning indictment, I think, of his tenure is that his mates, the people with the money, walked away and left him here. He failed to deliver the return they were looking for. It was promotion and a new stadium. Crowds are 2,000 lower than they were and, whilst the product and togetherness this season is simply superb, it's just not as fun a place to be anymore. I will always love the club but the activities of the last 18 months make me feel led astray and disillusioned. Blitz has walked away with the assets and his "mate" has been left behind to make it ok...

Corney exclusive has a "That's it, We're Off" header on the front and him merged onto the front of a 3-sided BP. I'm hoping the "We're Off" means Tameside or somewhere rather than anything else...

Keeper should have saved it. It went straight in the middle of the net...

Speaking of bavaria...

Yes this is now 'Zorro's house party, 11 March 2011'

I may be... Dave Penny's back innit

But not brizzle?

Oooo Kevin Keegan's clearly coming to Orient. So are you allowed out in February AND in March?

I guess, tis only a 10 minute walk away. Whilst, I obviously don't support them, and watching Arsenal every week must be frustrating (you just want someone to put their foot through the ball every now and again) it was a bit off to have Ipswich fans chanting "we support our local team" at the corporate ring - it literally cannot get more local... They are both cracking days out (including resounding renditions of Swing Low - ooops did I say that out loud) but I'm still looking forward to Orient more than any other