Gemma06

The chron has not done alot for the club! I would say bare minimum to be honest!!! And I would hardly say they are right behind us in the call for a new stadium!

You have to remember they are an newspaper for the whole of Oldham not just for the club and as such they have to take into consideration the whole of the borough not just the club they have to be neutral they can not be seen to be either in favour of the stadium or against

And the club has done more for the club than most local newspapers have done for their local clubs. What is it you would like to Chron to do for the club?

It not to bad but the news in it is about 2/3 days late!!!!

Communication between the club and the chron is hardly good, when Talbot got sacked the club didnt even let the chron the know!

This has to be the funniest thing to appear on the offical website I cant wait for the results

 

The chron dosent give a dam about this football club. Its to busy flying the flag of the ruined rugby club.

 

I read it online to catch the local news, but I never by it, why would you ??? You can get the MEN for free!

The chron has done a lot for the club, perhaps its not always been made public but they have. The rugby are always second to latics though recently they have been getting more of a mention but thats understandable considering they have a good chance of getting promoted

I know the chron isn't exactly popular on here but for a local newspaper i think its ok, the coverage latics gets is very good. I read it online more than i buy it and only normally read the sports pages but its better than most local papers

The last thing I want is for people to start slagging off the club with a kneejerk reaction to what I'm about to post about the benefit idea. Gemma refers to the unknown - how Gary is handling his horrible situation - further surgery is planned and his very survival is unsure.

 

Alan Hardy has replied to my email:

 

"Awful news about Gary.

 

I have to agree he was perhaps one of the best 'keepers I have seen at Boundary Park since I joined the club.

 

I don't know what Newcastle would want to do in this instance but I guess they would not want to set a precedent as I am sure there will be a number of ex-players who may find themselves in a similar position, and of course they would not be able to have a benefit game for all of them.

 

I know that the PFA have policies in place to cover situations like this and I am sure that they are aware of Gary's condition and are helping all they can."

 

As I say please don't jump on the Club's back if you feel that the reply does not meet your wishes. Gary would not want that.

Thats fairly understandable from the club. Perhaps if there is no benifit game we could have a collection and make a donation to cancer research in GKs name or something

NB. And what the hell do people have against Dougie Hodgson. He wasn't a bad player and was 100% committed. I can think of MANY worse players than him.

Thats what i was thinking too, he was a decent enough centre half for us who new his limitations.

With regards the the benefit for GK i think its a great idea but it all depends on how he is handling the horrible situation he is in. If it was to go ahead then i would definately be there, he was a great keeper for us and i was very shocked and saddened when i heard the news on saturday

Gemma, the debate is about being criticised for not singing loud enough to be heard. For me the singing needs to be heard by the players. I said I criticise non-singers in the context of not being heard by the players, regardless of where the fans are sat. I believe it makes a difference to the team's performance if people sing - the manager and players say it is worth a goal.

 

Just out of interest Gemma, do you sing at away games?

Sometimes but not very often. I did a bit at Burnley but the last time i remember singing properly was at Scunthorpe last season. It's not like i sit there in silence, i shout encouragement to the lads when things aren't going there way, i cheer and stuff when we score or after a particularly good move but i just dont sing, i never have done. It doesn't make me any less of a fan. Its not like i sit there not singing and moaning about the fact that sometimes we can't always hear the chaddy or the lookers or wherever singing, i'm sure there are people sat in there singing there hearts out every week. You will never get every single person in the crowd singing at any football ground it just doesn't happen. People go to watch football for lots of different reasons some want to go and sing constantly for 90mins others go and sing when there team is winning, others go simply to watch the football and others go it would seem just to sit and moan for 90 minutes

I criticise non-singers regardless of where they remain silent.

Not everyone has to sing though Diego. I sit in the lower tier of the main stand and hardly ever sing at home games and, i have no problem if people around me are singing or if they stand up but why should i get criticised for not singing?

i'll never forgive him for getting rid of andy hughes and bringing paul reid to the club

I've never understood the hatred towards Paul Reid either, have i missed something? He was a decent left winger at our level, he could cross the ball, pass, beat his man, he would get back and defend when he needed to he wasn't the quickest but you can't have everything. And i loved his tackle on Dennis Wise in the cup game against Chelsea

I 100% agree with this. I put him and Ronnie Moore in the same category as ex-latics managers. Both treated harshly becasue of their unattractive tactics and style of play. If you look at both managers records, their pretty good compared to a number of ex-latics managers including some of our favourites. Moore's football was terrible but look what he did for us, got us clear from relegation, got us to 8th in the league and was sacked on the back of it. He brough players like wellens, beckett and warne and was the first to blood players like taylor. I never understood the hatred towards him, hoever i was glad to see him go. Warnock was very similar apart form the fact he didn't dave us from relegation. Imagine if that had happened to Ritchie or Royle, saved from relegation, a steady 8th place the next season and shown the door. I doubt many would of us would be happy with that

 

I'll get ready for the onslaught of Ronnie haters.

 

P.S. I don't like Ronnie but i do feel he was very harshly treated.

100% agree, Warnock did alright for us, he had no money but brought in some decent players for us and we finished in a decent position in the league in his first full season. The only thing i had a problem with was him swopping Andy Hughes for Craig Dudley, but the only reason he did that was because the board wouldn't give him any money. And as for Moore i never understood the hatred for him, he saved us from relegation and got us in the top ten.

My eldest started going to Everton matches with his dad when he was 6 months old as there was no-one else to look after him and he has always loved going, the other two started at about 18 months (there now 3 1/2 and 20 months) at Latics and love going but do get bored if there are not a lot of goals - or fights, they like it when they fight as well (they must get it from their scouse dad!) - so i just take a couple of cars for him them to play with and some sweets (chewey ones so it takes him longer to get through them!) However my nephew who will be 7 next month hates it. In fact a few weeks ago he thought his mum had told him that he had to come and started crying!

Eh? Well right up to the point when he sold all our best players off on the cheap and stuck the money in his back pocket.

He didnt get all his money back though - no where near the amount he put in. Which is no bad thing considering the mess he left us in

cant remember the year but we played burnley at home and they brought loads and had to bring a few hundred over the pitch and into the lookers, then we were gettin beat 2 nil i think and it was dead then all of the sudden a massive crack of thunder and a massive storm rolled in which for some reason woke the home crowd and the team up and we might have won or maybe it was a draw but the atmosphere was electric. i can just remember the storm and some goals to be honest its a massive blur can anyone help? hope it really happened and i didnt just dream it !!!!!

Was it the one we won 3-2, Stuart Barlow and Sean McCarthy getting the goals?

Theres a lot of doom and gloom about the club at the moment with the poor start to the season so thought i'd lighten the mood with a more positive thread. Just wondered what peoples favourite games have been for the club. I was lucky enough to witness the 'glory years' of the late 80's early 90's and there are far too many games to choose from from that era, so since we got relegated from the premiership what are peoples best memorys? A few of mine include being the first team to beat Wigan at the JJB in the season they got promoted with a Dux header if i remember rightly and Scunthorpe away last season the atmosphere was just like when i first started coming to watch Latics it was fantastic but my favourite has to be beating City 2-1 at Maine Road thanks to a Paul Reid penalty and a Dux header from a corner, fantastuc game and a fantastic atmosphere

RUBBISH! He got us to the playoffs last season.

 

We had this same start last season. WE WERE CRAP UNTIL MID-SEPTEMBER! HAD SOMETHING LIKE THE SAME NUMBER OF POINTS AND THE SAME NUMBER OF GOALS.

 

Jesus flaming well wept. Why are you people so anti-managers? The fact the we have lost 4 league games in a row? Would you really want him sacked if we are top come May? Would you really? What if we had got promoted through the playoffs last season? Would you be calling for Sheridans head if we had lost four league games in a row?

 

GOD SOME PEOPLE PISS ME OFF.

Try reading my post, i said Coco was right in saying Sheridan is getting much more support from the fans because of who he is. I didnt say Shez should be sacked, i said if it wasn't him the same people who were calling for Moore to be sacked a few years ago would be at it again now. I don't want Shez sacked, i didnt want Moore sacked. Managers need time to get success but unnfortunately they dont seem to get it

Coco is right, if it wasn't Sheridan then people would be calling for him to be sacked. I'm not saying they would be right to do so but many people would.

Sheridan in a suit yesterday?

 

And what looked like (from the Chaddy) Corney and a mystery woman making notes and comparing files throughout the game.

 

Looked a little bit suspicious from where I was stood. Could this be the beginning of the end for Sheridan?

 

Keep the Faith

The suit was to try and change our fortunes round, same as Ronnie Moore did last season, unnfortunately Moores suit was a bit more lucky than Shez's

I really hope the board aren't thinking about getting rid of Shez

Ronnie Moore saved us from relegation his first season and then followed that up with getting us into the top ten the following season, that is not a bad record. The football may not have been pretty all the time but at times we played some fantastic football, Bradford away for one. He signed some good players and some poor ones, same as Shez has done, same as all managers do. Fact is were a third division football club sometimes the players in this league will resort to playing the long ball, thats why there here and not in the championship. Sheridan will turn it around, we have the players with the ability to do it, it might only take one good result and one good performance to get all the lads confidence up and we'll be away. Hopefully it will start at Walsall next Saturday

Buck stops with the manager.

 

If these performances were under Moore people would call for his head, about time people stopped pussyfooting round Sheridan.

 

Give him till Christmas!!!

If it were Moore i wouldnt be calling for his head - i didnt whilst he was here he saved us from relegation and then the next season he got us into the top ten, hardly a bad record. Anyway back to Shez, we have played a few bad games, give the guy a chance its only September. If he can't change it round then maybe in a few months time we should look at it again but at the moment he needs time to get it right and i believe he will. Big Joe made some bad signings and things didnt go great for him at first and look where he took us. Give Shez a chance, he's still learning and he will get it right

Cheers,I can only comment on what I see on the pitch and the vibes dont look so rosey to me?Anyway,if what they other guy said about shez shouting those obscenities for me he should take a long hard look at himself b/c thats unacceptable and almost certainly counter productive.

I sit near to the dugouts and i didnt hear Shez shouting like that at the players (he might have done and i just didnt hear it of course), yes he sometimes tells them what they have done wrong in some pretty colourful language but sometimes he needs to, he also encourages them and tells them how to improve and tells them when they have done well.

Shez did turn round and have a go at one fan that was giving him stick and normally i wouldnt condone that sort of thing but the guy was talking rubbish and what Shez said to him was spot on

dont think they are scared of him, someone in an earlier post said they lipread eardley telling him to shut up etc. in the macclesfield game.

The club did a photo shoot with the squad and coaching staff and the clubs main sponsors on thursday, the lads are all together, there is no dressing room split. there was a good atmosphere and they were all having a real laugh with each other. Greagan is not the captain off the pitch Liddell is and i believe he is a very good club captain, he is constantly helping out the younger players in the squad in training and staying behind after training with them to help improve various aspects of their game and has become more and more vocal on the pitch this season which i think will be a good thing. I personally didnt want Moore to be sacked (think i may have been the only oldham fan with that opinion though!!) but Sheridan has come in and done a decent job and just because we are in a bit of trouble at the moment it doesnt mean he should be sacked. Yes he has made some bad signings but all managers do that, he i still learning. A guy was yelling at Shez today that he should never have signed McDonald and that he had never had a good game for us, is he for real he was one of the main catalysts for our turn in form last season, though i admit he is struggling for form just now. We can't keep sacking managers as soon as they hit a bad patch, let him work through it, they will come good it will just take some time. I always thought that as a club we had a really good set of fans and the fans and the club were always together but the last few years as soon as something goes wrong there are sections of the crowd that turn on players/managers in a second and seem to want a scape goat that they can blame everything on.

How about blaming no-one and just support the team and the manager. Yes today was poor, worst game in ages. Were bottom on the league - things can only get better!! We have quality, experienced players at the club in Liddell, Gregan, Ricketts, Hughes and loads of fantastic young players with bagfuls of potential in Taylor, Lomax, Eardley, Kilkenny, Davies, Eardley, Smalley, Alessandra, Pearson, Wolfenden to name just a few. Shez and the lads will turn things round, maybe not straight away but they will. I doubt we'll get promoted but if we can keep the squad together and then bring in a few key signings in the summer we can form a decent promotion challenge

Best chance of a new start company to get these students is to target people who grew up in Oldham and have been to uni and are looking for work.

The problem is once you've had been away to uni and lived somewhere else why would you want to go back to living in Oldham? The only reason i came back was due to family circumstances. Most of the people i went to school with either left to go travelling or left to go to uni and never came back

I would imagine that a 32 year old, who in the past has played as a midfield ball winner, but reverted to his original position at centreback, and is carrying a modest quantity of timber, would really struggle for breathe if he tried returning to the midfield even for a few minutes.

 

I can produce at least 21 witnesses from the Clayton playing fields to back up this statement.

When Haining played a game in centre midfield he said he couldn't believe how tired he was and how much running he had to do and he was a fit lad in his early 20's. Gregan should stay in the back 4, although i've stated above that i don't think he has been playing his best lately i certainly don't agree with the people saying he should be dropped

As I said to you at half-time last night Diego, the expectation of Gregan is too high. You yourself admit that you just want to see the match-winning, dominating Gregan back. Of course, that's what we all want. It seems though that his "average" is not good enough despite that meaning he is one of the better players at the Club and in League One.

 

What we currently have though is a group of fans (many of whom don't actually go to matches) picking him apart and highlighting every time he loses the ball/ misplaces a pass/ commits a foul etc. It was massively evident last night both from trawling through the match-time threads and also listening to people whose sole reason to be at Accrington seemed to be to point out his failings (and John Thompson's) while ignoring the massive amount of good stuff that Gregan showed.

 

If he were perfect, he'd still be in The Prem/ Championship. It is the same expectation that is on Ricketts; Crossley etc. We expect them to be fantastic players who don't make mistakes and who are going to walk us to promotion.

 

I'm all for having different expectations for different players but this blinkered view of Gregan is growing. Things like this start on messageboards and get transferred to the Crowd and it is building momentum with Gregan. Richard Butcher; Rob Scott; Terrell Forbes - I could go on. For those names read Mark Crossley; John Thompson; Michael Ricketts; Chris Taylor; Ryan Bertrand; Andy Liddell; Neal Eardley and now Sean Greagan. To a lesser extent, you can add Allott; Kalala and unbelievably; Kilkenny to that list - all of who have been labelled "not good enough" in some way, shape or form this season.

 

Usually at Latics, we need one or maybe two scapegoats. At the moment, we are somehow managing to ostracise virtually a full team.

 

Some perspective is needed in my opinion. Gregan is a good player who can also be brilliant.

 

Only at Oldham could that kind of player be subject to the kind of abuse that he is curerntly receiving.

My only problem with Gregan is that he tries to be too flashy and messes about with the ball too much. If he didn't do this he wouldn't make half as many mistakes as he does. The league we are in we have to expect that players will make mistakes if they didnt they wouldnt be playing for us but many of Gregans are of his own making. He is a centre half in the third division, all he needs to do is win the ball and then get rid of it either with a simple pass or if needed hit it long to the forwards. I have never booed Gregan (or any latics player) or given him grief, i just think all he needs to is keep things simple and stick to what he does best.

I do think that as captain he shouldn't be constantly having a go at the other players - especially the younger ones. Yes sometimes he is right in shouting but most of the time he's not. Our best captains of recent years are Duxbury and Milligan they lead by example and encouraged and organised the others on the team and i think this is something that Gregan should try and improve on. Not everyone has the qualities to be a good leader and i don't think we really have a good leader in our squad