ronnieblair

During the Stirling Albion game I must say that I really enjoyed having a chat with a few fellow Oldham fans who, like me, live in Scotland these days but remain loyal to the club. That got me thinking, why don’t we look to form ourselves into supporter’s group North of the Border; along the lines of OASIS? So here’s a quick mail just to gauge interest. A few thoughts: We could get together every first Sunday in the month during the season, this would mean our first get together would be on 02nd August, the week before the opening game. We should look to meet at a pub near to Waverly Station. Waverley Station being a destination reasonably accessible (at least) to most fans living near the central belt. A initial idea for the pub in which we meet might be ‘The Guildford Arms’ as this is just a short walk up the road from Waverley Station. The get together would be an afternoon event, maybe starting at midday and lasting for a couple of hours or so. To give ourselves our own identity we could be called something like ‘Offside’ a simple, football themed acronym, generated around the words Oldham, Fans & Scotland. The height of our aspirations at each get together might simply be to discuss the recent Oldham games/results/performances, the next games, player movements etc over a beer or two but most importantly with 'kindred souls‘. ‘Offside’ might go on to think about getting a few quid together to sponsor a player’s shirt or suchlike for the 2015/16 season. We might go on to plan to hire a mini bus for a group excursion to a particular game, or even to car share similarly for other games? Let me know if you are interested, and what you think. It might be fun. Martin.

Full Time FC Gulpen 0 - 26 Roda JC Kerkrade half-time:(0 - 16) match details : 3' 0 - 1 Marc Hoecher 4' 0 - 2 Anco Jansen 7' 0 - 3 Anco Jansen 9' 0 - 4 Mitchell Paulissen 11' 0 - 5 Anco Jansen 12'. 0 - 6 Mitchell Paulissen 14' 0 - 7 Anco Jansen 16' 0 - 8 Anco Jansen 28' 0 - 9 Mitchell Paulissen 30' 0 - 10 Tom van Hyfte 35' 0 - 11 Mitchell Paulissen 36' 0 - 12 Tom van Hyfte 39' 0 - 13 Anco Jansen 42' 0 - 14 Tom van Hyfte 43' 0 - 15 Anco Jansen 45' 0 - 16 Arjan Swinkels 48' 0 - 17 Mitchell Paulissen 55' 0 - 18 Henk Dijkhuizen 58' 0 - 19 Mitchell Paulissen 64' 0 - 20 Anco Jansen 65' 0 - 21 Daryl Werker 68' 0 - 22 Noor 69' 0 - 23 Martijn Monteyne 71' 0 - 24 Edwin Gyasi 85' 0 - 25 Nathan Rutjes 88' 0 - 26 (o.g.) Pity the FC Gulpen fans this evening. What a mauling they took in this pre-season friendly played today. Looks like they enjoyed a decent spell at least between the 16th and 28th minute. Love the fact that the 26th goal conceded was actually an own goal. Can you believe that the ref played about 3 mins of time added on at the end of the game, why didn't he just blow the whistle when it got to 90 mins? Did the home fans sing "We're going to win 27 - 26" in the dying minutes of the game? Priceless.

If Lee Johnson leaves for Barnsley could/would Oldham create footballing history by appointing his Dad, Gary Johson as his successor? Does anybody know if such an event has happened previously?

I've just seen the video of the Latics visit to the children's ward of the Royal Oldham Hospital, this to spread some Christmas cheer and to give presents to the kids, and it made me feel proud. What a brilliant gesture. Well done and thanks a lot to Lee and the lads, what a brilliant gesture.

League Two's story of relegation Bristol Rovers spent 54 minutes in the relegation zone and were relegated Northampton spent 217 days in the relegation zone and survived

How can I be listening to live match commentary on Latics Player and Sky Sports Centre tells me that Port Vale has scored before the commentary does? Rubbish.

A home win for Bristol City’s Lee Johnson: Footballer times his £1.2million transfer to perfection It takes courage to buy a house and renovate it for profit when the property market has slowed to a near halt. But Bristol City footballer Lee Johnson has just agreed the sale of his spectacularly renovated house he bought two years ago – at a 21 per cent return on his investment. And it is in his timing that he has done so well. Lee, 29, decided to wait until he thought the property market had bottomed out in the spring of 2009 before snapping up a tired six-bedroom Victorian detached house in Redland, one of Bristol's most desirable areas, for £890,000. Property players: Lee Johnson spent £94,000 making improvements to the tired six-bedroom Victorian detached house in Redland and now expects to exchange contracts this month at an agreed price of £1.2 million Opportunists and serial investors were holding back at the time, either because they feared making a loss in a falling market or because they couldn't get a bank loan. In the following year, Lee spent £94,000 making improvements and now expects to exchange contracts this month at an agreed price of £1.2 million. 'We bought at the lowest point in the market and are selling at the top of the recovery curve, before prices plummet again,' says Lee, who lives in the house with his wife Nicola, 27, and two-year-old daughter Isabella. Clearly conscious he will soon be approaching the twilight of his Championship League football career, Lee believes the £200,000 profit he now expects to make (after sale costs) points him to a source of additional income for the future. 'I am very aware that when footballers reach the age of 30 the value of their contracts fall so I need another way to earn money,' he says. Property ladder: Lee and his wife Nicola intend to find a place for his family to rent over the next year while looking for the next renovation project 'Having proved to myself that I can make a profit in the recession I now want to repeat this success. 'I love football and would like to be a club manager one day, but I am also passionate about property – I'm always researching the local market for opportunities.' Two years ago Lee and Nicola were living in a four-bedroom apartment in nearby Clifton, which they had bought in 2006 for £330,000. In early 2009 they sold it for only £30,000 more than they had paid. Lee was convinced it was the perfect time to upgrade, despite fears that prices could still fall further. He felt larger homes in the area might never look so cheap again and spent six months scouting for an investment opportunity. He settled on a three-storey detached former guesthouse in Redland with a large basement, double garage and enclosed walled garden. The owner was inviting offers of more than £1 million and Lee initially offered £867,000, but was then negotiated up to £890,000. 'My offer was accepted because I had the money and could move quickly,' he says. 'I was really pleased with the price I paid per square foot – it was at least £30 cheaper than anything else in the same location, but we decided to keep our renovation costs low to ensure making a profit.' Leafy Redland is an area close to the centre of Bristol which, along with Clifton, has always been popular among family buyers for its abundance of terraced and semi-detached period homes. The chance to pick up a detached Victorian home so close to theatres and shopping areas in Bristol is relatively rare and Lee knew this would add to its final appeal. He is also fortunate to have a builder as a personal sponsor with Bristol City and says he only had to pay £56,000 to have his structural modifications made. Over a period of six weeks the house was gutted and rewired, two bathroom walls knocked through to create more en-suites and one smaller bedroom was converted into a walk-in dressing area. The roof was leaking and the tiles were old so Lee decided to have it sealed with a resin spray. And in the basement he created a separate entrance and installed partition walls to form a large games room and toilet along with plumbing for a kitchenette. Classy: The rooms are stylish despite a decoration budget of just £15,000 'We decided against extending to save money,' says Lee, 'but because we partially converted the basement the house now has 5,500 sq ft of liveable accommodation. The main work was done quite quickly and then we went around redecorating room by room and installing floor tiles.' A sea of marble tiles now greets visitors in the hall and flows into a large kitchen, which is kitted out with thick granite tops, a central island and double cooker range. In three double-height reception rooms are chandeliers and full- length curtains and the bathrooms are tiled in luxury 'wet room' style. According to Lee, the house is full of bargain items that Nicola has sourced carefully to keep to a decoration budget of £15,000. She bought the marble cheaply from Cyprus, for example, found £300 chandeliers in Belgium and made the curtains herself. 'She is a natural with interior design and I kept challenging her to find things cheaper,' says Lee. 'When she found a Clive Christian kitchen she wanted, she used a local carpenter to mimic the carved features and install them over standard carcasses, which saved us £60,000.' Lee now intends to find a place for his family to rent over the next year while looking for the next renovation project and also wants to invest some of his equity into starting a buy-to-let portfolio. Lee wants to purchase 20 properties off-plan in and around Bristol, Oxford and Milton Keynes. 'I think the market in Bristol will now dip between three and seven per cent so we hope to be renting when that happens,' says Lee. 'We'll put our kitchen in storage as a head start on our next project. 'It's crucial in a market like this to keep your costs down and to think carefully about timing – even in a recession there are occasional surges in activity and you want to get in just beforehand.' According to Richard Harding, at Richard Harding estate agents who are handling Lee's sale, the value of large family homes in Bristol have now recovered to peak levels. 'In 2008 our transaction volumes fell by 40 per cent,' says Richard, 'but we recovered in the summer of 2009 and prices came back quickly. In this office we are now seeing almost the same number of transactions as before the crash.'

Copy of letter that was sent out by Brizzle to it's supporters on this matter, makes for interesting reading? Dear...... I am contacting you as I believe that our supporters deserve to hear about the most important news directly from the club. This morning we have chosen to part company with head coach Sean O’Driscoll with immediate effect. Over this last year, we as a club have made our strategy very clear. The five pillars built around Academy & Youth, Community, Recruitment, Facilities and Financial Prudence are the right ones and are strong. This strategy will not, and must not, change. We have seen increasing numbers of examples where our strategy has been bearing fruit. It is still early days, but the progress is solid and we are building an enduring platform for sustainable long-term growth. However, results on the pitch have been poor. We have given the situation as much time as we could to improve but have become increasingly concerned about the club's league position and have decided that a change of head coach will give the club the best possible chance of improving this. The league table does not lie. We are currently in the relegation zone and have been there for most of the season. This is not acceptable and the board feels that it needs to take action to try and rectify this; we need to move to ensure that results on the pitch keep up with progress off the pitch. It is vital that we now look to appoint a head coach who buys into our strategy and can help us to continue to grow and develop it successfully. This, of course, includes results on the pitch. This is an important decision and one which we will take careful consideration and diligence in making. For the immediate future, first team coach John Pemberton will take charge of the first team for this weekend’s trip to Preston North End and will continue to do so until a new permanent head coach is appointed. Thank you for your support. Jon Lansdown

Nottingham Forest 2 - 3 Oldham Athletic The romance of the FA Cup is alive and well at Boundary Park thanks to a balance-boosting weekend that could net cash-strapped Oldham Athletic more than £300,000. After sensationally knocking Championship heavyweights Nottingham Forest out of the competition with a shock victory, Latics were rewarded with a home tie against the mighty Liverpool. And having already banked around £100,000 from the unlikely City Ground triumph chairman Simon Corney believes the glamour tie with Brendan Rodgers’ side has a strong chance of being televised live – earning them another £120,000 plus gate receipts from what is sure to be a sell-out. The long-suffering Oldham supremo revealed to M.E.N. Sport he is even considering bringing in a temporary stand to boost the 10,638 capacity at the three-sided ground. A beaming Corney said: “It will be a great day for the fans and a great day for the town of Oldham and I couldn’t be happier. “We’ll look at bringing in a temporary stand if health and safety regulations will allow it and if it makes financial sense.” The chairman, who last week oversaw a clear out of Paul Dickov’s backroom staff, added that the manager may now be permitted to enter the transfer market as they look to improve their League One form. “It’s been a great end to a hard week,” he said. “We’ll be measured with the money but it’s only fair we help the manager.” The win at Forest was one of those rare occasions which make everything worthwhile for fans of lower league clubs. In seven mythical, magical second-half minutes, the League One strugglers somehow morphed into the mighty Barcelona, blasting three unanswered strikes into their more illustrious opponent’s net. This was not your typical smash and grab giant-killing fayre as the home side were pegged back time and time again by the suddenly bloodthirsty blue hoardes. First, Robbie Simpson cracked an unstoppable 25-yard thunderbolt to cancel out the unfortunate Matt Smith’s first-half own goal. Moments later the rejuvenated Simpson, finally back to match fitness after a series of niggles, somehow managed to contort himself into a position to head captain Dean Furman’s cross over Forest keeper Lee Camp and under the bar. Could it get any better for the delirious, disbelieving 3,000 away fans? Yes, it could. With the home side still reeling, Smith then latched onto a glorious through ball from stylish left-back Jonathan Grounds leaving Forest skipper Danny Collins, the last man, with little option other than to pull the giant striker down on the edge of the box. The red-carded Collins had hardly reached the dugout before Jose Baxter immaculately struck the resulting free-kick into the bottom corner. Using their extra man advantage, rampant Oldham almost made it four when midfielder Youssouf M’Changama’s curling effort from distance was tipped wide as time ticked away. That sub Billy Sharp eventually reduced the arrears with almost the last kick of the game did not matter – this was a day that will long in the memory of every Latic fanatic. Dickov himself was equally euphoric. “I am proud of the club and the players,” he said. “We have shown what we can do. I thought we were guilty of showing Forest too much respect in the first half but I said to them at half-time, ‘It’s the FA Cup and if you are going to go out, don’t go out with a whimper’. OLDHAM: Bouzanis 7, Wabara 8, Byrne 8, Mvoto 8, Grounds 8, Croft 8 (Millar 90), Furman 8, Simpson 8 (Taylor 81, 6), M’Changama 8, Baxter 9, Smith 8. Not used: Cisak, Brown, Tarkowski, Winchester.

I worked down in Brizzle for a while (great place) and yesterday I received this from one of my mates down there - makes for interesting reading. One thing is for sure, Oldham must keep on playing to the final whistle. "I’ve just had a look at the timing of goals conceded by Brizzle and as suspected the 84’ minute+ goals that we’ve conceded have a huge effect. If they’d not been conceded then we’d be playing Oldham this Sat seeking a win to put us within 2pts of the play-off positions (and with a game in hand!). The record with the late goals we’ve conceded we’ve dropped 8 points: 1 pt at Crewe (a draw became a loss) 2 pts at Port Vale (a win became a draw) 1 pt at Swindle (a draw became a loss) 1 pt v Wolves (a draw became a loss) 1 pt at Coventry (a draw became a loss) 2pts v Bradford (a win became a draw) Just goes to show! Simply with improved concentration our luck will turn." Let's hope Brizzle's luck doesn't turn for a week or so at least.

Thanks to everyone who offered guidance, I watched the game on digital channel 853 and it was well worth all the effort.Great win, got to learn some Samba moves - Come on Engerland.

Got it, thanks all. Come on Engerland.

ITV player it is then, thanks.

Isn't that just a catch up facility?

We don't get the Eng v Poland game on the telly here in Scotland. Can anybody let me know the address of a legitimate free streaming site that I could watch the match on, one that doesn't take all the money out of my on-line bank account and then try to sell me viagra? Thanks. Come on Engerland.

It might be only me... But does anyone else feel queasy when any manager, particularly one of ours, says "the lads really worked their socks off" as features in the latest written account of an interview with LJ on LaticsWorld. God how I hate that particular football saying. Second only to Dick*v saying "the lads did ever so well" (but were beaten again) and "the lads tried ever so hard" (but were beaten again). Grrrr! Right, so it is only me then.

Fragile and unconvincing. And yes I was at the match.

Absolutely thrilled. Went mental along with Roy & Gordon when the equaliser went in. One small part of Scotland will forever Oldham Athletic be. Well done boys. Well done Paul Dickov. Well done to all the fans that believed enough to go to the game. Come on Oldham! Nurse, the screens!

Hi. Greeings from sunny Scotland. Please ask Simon Corney whether the club has any plans for launching an official Oldham Athletic 'Hall of Fame' for club players/officials etc that have served the club well and therefore deserve the recognition. This idea was acknowledged by the club recently but I have seen nothing on the matter since. A well managed Hall of Fame might just create some welcome additional revenue as well, this based on sales of associated memorabilia etc. Cheers.

The Notts County Mad website feature 'League 1 Map 2012/13' describes Oldham, Greater Manchester as 'just incredibly dull and pointless'. The words 'kettle' 'pot' and 'black' immediately spring to mind, that said, I always did enjoy a pint in the Cattle Market(?) pub near the Notts County ground on a match day. Is that pub still around? BTW, currently sunning myself in Italy where every Italian I have spoken to rates Engerland as a 'very strong team' and fears the worst for Sunday. I simply cannot believe that Rooney is held in such high esteem over here, the man can do no wrong. Let's hope they're right.

Surely a big contributory factor in Micah Richards being left out of the 23 man England squad for Euro 2012 was that he wasn’t getting regular first team football with Man City. Surely now he will make his mind up to move to a club at which he will get first team football thus putting himself back into the England spotlight. Oh, and did I mention that we would then be able to cash in on our cut of any associated transfer fee. Simples.

I know I'm a sad man but I was just reading about the St Mirren Hall of Fame (well I do live up here!) and I was wondering why we don't have an official one, or do we? It seems to be a great way to honour top players from the past and would definitely generate some interest amongst our fans, of all ages. There might even be some associated commercial spin off for the club, t shirts of the inductees, badges, team photos of the first 11 inductees etc The criteria for any inductees into the St Mirren is as follows: Hall of Fame The St Mirren Hall of Fame was started in 2004 with Tony Fitzpatrick, Ricky Gillies, Campbell Money and Hugh Murray as first inductees. Membership is by invitation and players are eligible for the honour if they have played in over 200 matches for the club or played a significant part during an important period of the clubs history. What do you think? Please, even if you think its a terrible idea don't bury me under a wave of apathy, I'm feeling a little fragile from an Oldham Athletic perspective at present (as indeed we all are probably). Whilst I'm on the subject of the St Mirren Hall of Fame, it might be of interest to some to know that ex-Latic Tommy Bryceland was inducted in May 2007 on the strength of scoring 69 goals overall for St Mirren and for helping them to win the Scottish Cup in 1959. A top midfielder North and South of the border.

In a recent interview our very own Taggart (no, not him with the gob full of chewing gum, bad attitude and magic watch) has hinted that the club has set a points target for the next three games:- Hartlepool (h), Notts County (h) & Chesterfield (a). What points target do you think the club has set? - I reckon it really has to be all 9, and 'Why not?' given the form we are currently in and the momentum we currently have. How many points do you actually think we'll get? - I reckon 7. We'll draw one of our pre Jan 1st games as Simmo will not be available to provide the extra firepower needed to bag all three. Happy Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay from bonny Scotland! I'm missing the game tomorrow but I'll be at the next three!

FA Cup 2011/12 Prize Fund There is very little to be earned in actual prize money but getting far into the competition will also give you more money via increased gate receipts (for each time whether home or away each league side gets 45% of the gate receipts with the remaining 10% going to the Football Association, non league sides get an extra 5% which comes from the League cups share). Money is also earned through TV revenue and the eventual winners will get the opportunity to play European football and enjoy the riches that will come with it. The prize fund allocated to each team, the brackets denote the amount of teams that will receive funds. Over all the rounds just under £15 million will be paid out by the Football Association. •Extra Preliminary Round winners - £750 (201) •Preliminary Round winners - £1,500 (166) •First Round Qualifying winners - £3,000 (116) •Second Round Qualifying winners - £4,500 (80) •Third Round Qualifying winners - £7,500 (40) •Fourth Round Qualifying winners - £12,500 (32) •First Round Proper winners - £18,000 (40) •Second Round Proper winners - £27,000 (20) •Third Round Proper winners - £67,500 (32) •Fourth Round Proper winners - £90,000 (16) •Fifth Round Proper winners - £180,000 (8) •Sixth Round Proper winners - £360,000 (4) •Semi Final winners - £900,000 (2) •Semi Final runners-up £450,000 (2) •Final winners - £1,800,000 (1) •Final runners-up - £900,000 (1)

Biting into a packed 'egg muffin' yesterday, my mind was immediately transported back to away journeys I made on Barlows coaches eating similar fare. Is there a taste, sight, smell etc that brings Latics to mind in an obscure way for you too?