lalalajpkalala

What's all this I keep reading about Dickov being a decent bloke? I've never met the guy or spoken to him but I have seen his antics in the technical area and he comes across as a complete and utter fool compared to the vast majority of managers. Anyway, he should be judged on results, goals scored, goals conceded, performances, return on investment in his squad. The rest is a sideshow. Whether he's nice or not reminds me of those amongst us who blame the opposition every week for time wasting when we're losing. They aren't the reason we're crap to watch and they're winning and have earned the right to waste time (God, I wish we were good enough for Bouzanis to not have to race around getting the ball forward in a panic towards the end of every game). Ultimately I have no idea what his budget is or how it compares, but I do know that his team has been awful to watch since about November last year other than the very odd performance. And that's why I'd quite like to see him replaced by someone who can hopefully better set the team up to cause problems for the opposition. Having said that, whoever the manager is, for ninety minutes each week I'll support the team and I bloody hope we win at Glanford Park, The City Ground on so on, Dickov or no Dickov, nice guy or fool.

In what seems like no time at all, we've gone from Matt Smith scoring the equalising goal at Chesterfield in January to Matt Smith scoring the... ah the ref saw a foul. Here's Latics' record in League 1 in 2012: LLLL WLWW LLLD LWDW WLLD DWLD LWDD DLLL LLWW LLLL WDWL WDLD Home: P24 W7 D6 L11 F23 A26 GD-3 Points 27 Away: P24 W6 D5 L13 F21 A39 GD-18 Points 23 Total: P48 W13 D11 L24 F44 A65 GD-21 Points 50 Clearly, performance is judged by the league from August to May, but there is some interesting reading in there. We've lost half our league games, scored less than a goal per game and picked up an uncomfortably low number of points. In the league, my highlight of 2012 was Kuqi's winning penalty and swan dive in the last minute at Bramall Lane. What was yours?

You can see him thinking about every move he makes. He's not a natural footballer at this level. Yes, he tries very, very hard but we must be having a bad season when some fans back him because he tries hard. That's the sign of a poor, poor team, and we are just that. We have nowhere near enough quality on the pitch in key areas and it shows. For me he epitomises that. It's hard to have a go at a lad who tries hard but lacks the natural ability to thrive, but ultimately, professional football should have left him behind.

I'm expecting very little other than to catch up with a few mates, having been naive enough to think it'd be a nailed on win and therefore booked the trip months ago. If Furman plays a positive, attacking pass, the wingers try to beat their man a couple of times, the full backs attempt to overlap, we appear to have at least one set piece that threatens and the strikers do something, at any point, that the Pompey centre-halves don't see coming a mile off, I'll dance all the way home. All I want is some attacking ambition. Regardless of the result, have a go, please! Give me one great moment to remember the game for and you've done your job. Don't make me go away saying nothing more than 'they worked hard' - it's the entertainment business after all. Come on Latics!

New ground probably has an automated turnstile like those at Chesterfield. Could be the reason.

I'm sure it was reported that we'd only taken two trialists when we departed.

It's so you can live the dream and holiday in the same destination as your favourite player. This year, mine is Dan Taylor. Although I have booked a weekend in Portsmouth first weekend of September. I think he's going too.

Is Brown a shoe-in for first choice RB? I've never seen him play or heard of him for his footballing ability. Anyone in the know?

What's a 'family club'?

Please could someone mention that the new kit is the wrong colour, and if only it were red we'd be raking it in from the Far East? Also the badge must be red too, and preferably include a mythical animal that's popular out there. No wonder we've signed no players. Sack the board.

I think we'll play a northern club on Boxing Day. Mark my words.

Are you sure you can't remember?

I don't imagine his retirement will stop us from a rendition or twenty of that classic tune.

Personally, I think we'll Kroos to victory. And if we don't, I'll feel pretty Löw.

I love nothing more than a post which includes the words "very reliable source"! Opening post is bang on the money.

According to the accounts for the year ended 31.12.10 we had what could be described as "serious" negative balances on the balance sheet. Net liabilities of £5.4 million in the context of assets of less than £700k (including cash of just £52k) and a loss of almost £800k looks bad and is probably in the "serious" category given that the BBC reporter is unlikely to care who it's owed to. You can't see revenue on the abbreviated accounts that are published and there is a comment to suggest backing from shareholders will continue and the business is therefore a going concern, but the face of the Balance Sheet still looks "serious".

Same boat as philliggi for me. Would only get one if it's dirt cheap due to the number of Tuesday nights we get that I can never make due to working late and not locally and not being able to make the odd Saturday either. The club has very little room for manoeuvre. No-one to subsidise the risk of dropping the prices significantly should it not reap the desired rewards. Therefore, I'm expecting the same again and I wouldn't blame them. Poor sods.

His body seemed behind the line, his hands may not have been. Being in the Chaddy, I could only judge by where he landed which appeared behind the line. Sometimes you get 'em.

According to Soccerbase we haven't won at Hartlepool since November 1970. Good time to end one sequence and start another. Here's hoping.

I remember going there once or twice when I was a kid in the early/mid 90s with friends who were Dale fans. About the time Steve Whitehall was in his pomp for them. Used to think how :censored: it was and how lucky I was to support Oldham. Back then they just had the Main Stand and large parts of the rest of the ground were shut due to being unsafe iirc. Mentioned to my mate today how good their ground is now. Took them a long time to get there but I like it. Four stands, all slightly different. Looks fairly full even with a poor crowd (as today's was - surprised how low the official figure is). And not many can make decent noise. Shame on us and our town I guess.

I also thought "what a £&?!" as he hit it!

Haha indeed.

To Shefki Kuqi on a fantastic goal. Being a team player it won't be much consolation to him but well done. Terrific strike. Worth the £20.

Apparently every part of the team is crap at the minute and we're heading for a scrap to survive. But what do we really need? If you could add one player and one player only for the last 12 games of the season who has played at this level for us since we returned in 1997 who would it be? I'd say David Eyres. Guaranteed a couple of goals, set piece threat, cracking delivery and the ability to keep possession for a good 5 minutes doing the same trick over and over and over as the right back gets dizzy. 10 points in the bag - safe. For all the faults people keep raising - keeping clean sheets, left back, soft down the middle, Shefki's only scored 15 goals in 30 odd games etc etc - a cool, calm, classy older head is what we need. Lots of candidates though - Gregan who marshalled Penney's dross to safety, Sheridan who did it so many times, Duxbury in the engine room, Beckett with his guaranteed goals off his shin, arse and both feet, there's been so many - and would be interested to see what positions people go for if you force yourself to choose just one player. Or maybe you could pick a manager we've had in this league. Ronnie "7 points from 9 since returning to Tranmere" Moore anyone?

Some of the topics on here recently have really helped me realise what it's all about. The (tongue in cheek!) Bunn vs Messi poll, and the posts on the Sheff Utd game. I'm 25 and have been dragged along since I was 3/4. All I remember of the '93 win over United is the corner coming over and Adams getting on the end of it. Last Saturday is genuinely up there with the proudest I've ever felt coming away from a match and that's having been seething at our completely inept, negative and embarrassing first half performance. First half represented the worst of teams in Latics' situation, bowing down and letting the big club run over you. The last half hour, admittedly with some massive luck and madness on Sheff Utd's part was what it's all about. Having a go. Believing you can do it. And the luck and madness is ultimately what makes football such a great game. The emotional roller coster that Latics have taken me on for 20+ years is why I still turn up. I have to say I struggle to think of a game where I've come away happier although the numerous victories over City and any win over a local rival, particularly away from home, or a club that turns up at BP thinking they're massive is always extra special. But the turn around on Saturday was immense and it's a feeling only teams in our position (perennial underdogs) get to feel once or so a year. The attitude you turn up with is "at best we'll sneak a point but I just hope we score and can go mental for a bit" (like the Leverkusen fans the other night - I bet they loved it when they scored at the end) but then actually coming away with the spoils is amazing. Even better when you do it with your mates - travel together, drink together, laugh together, take the piss out of each other and then stand together to watch the last minute penalty knowing you're about to feel f*ucking amazing or absolutely sh*te! It's just dawned on me that as my brother turns 19 on Monday, never in his lifetime have Latics beaten United. All he's seen is decline and stagnation and the likes of Palmer, Ritchie, Marshall, Holden, Barrett, all of whom I can just about remember, are that little bit more in the distance for him. Not even hazy memories, just the past, history, gone. That's a big barrier to entry as a Latics fan these days. It'd be easy to say they can't be my team. They're :censored:, always have been. And for that I applaud him and anyone of his age and younger who turns up without even the memories to build their dreams on. Just the hope that one day we might get back. Personally I find it very hard to imagine, but I'm sure 20 years before the pinch me season no-one would have foreseen it. If instead we have to satisfy ourselves with bloodying a few noses here and there a pulling off the odd surprise against the Sheff Utds, Leeds Utds, Wednesdays, Forests of this world, I'm happy enough with that. We're Oldham. Sustained success is the exception, not the rule. But the one-off results happen pretty regularly, and luckily for us our one offs are good days. The most excited the United and City fans in our pubs and round our neighbourhoods get these days is when they lose. They don't get it. On Saturday I got it, and I was with a few hundred other Latics fans who got it too. Keep the faith, stick with it and you'll see enough sunny days to make it all worthwhile.