ronnieblair

Craig, well done mate and good luck in the role. I can't think of a better man for the job. Blue through and through. KTF.

Dic*ov will not leave Morais out of tonight's starting 11, he'd be foolish if he did. Morais performance on Saturday versus Carlisle was nothing short of amazing. Morais covered every blade of grass, competed for every ball that came anywhere near him and in my opinion was our most outstanding player. Plus he mixes it up a bit too..

Phew - panic over, that is unless Oreint beats Arsenal! Thanks jsslatic, happy again.

From my mate today - a big Brizzle City fan.. I read that the Gas have fired their mgr Paul Trollope after last nights jpt exit and 5 wins in 19 in the league c/w fac loss to non-league Darlo. Not sure who they will attract to replace him. Quite funny, there has been a (admittedly) rather useless Brizzle City striker - John Akinde - on loan to Gas for last couple of months. But since they have signed him he has scored 0 goals in 12 games, seen them slide from 8th place into 21st and go out of both cups - this has made him hugely popular therefore at Ashton Gate to the point where there are now t-shirts available of him with the nickname "agent John"!

Works for me anyway.... Neil Redfearn (OLDHAM v Sheffield Wednesday, 1991) The equation was simple - Oldham needed a win to overhaul West Ham as Second Division champions on the final day of the season. They made it hard for themselves as they were 2-0 down early in the second half but then the drama really started. Ian Marshall and Paul Bernard levelled the score and deep in injury time, Oldham were awarded a penalty, Redfearn stepped up to the spot, sent Kevin Pressman the wrong way to give the Latics a 3-2 victory and the title. Even sweeter that the Second Division Championship trophy had already been engraved with West Ham's name. Very probably the best moment for me ever with regards to football, and I mean ever! Was it really nearly 20 years ago now?

Brilliant, almost 'Inspired'!

I must admit that I haven't had as much stick from my Scottish work colleagues in this past week as I had expected, this following Engerland' shambolic World Cup performances; and what criticism I did hear was pretty much all perfectly justified. And on the same theme I must also admit to having to smile whilst driving home from work on the M9 today. Part of my journey home takes me past a huge landfill site - a vast 'rubbish tip' in old money. If you couldn't see the huge flock of feral seagulls circling the mountains of fresh rubbish then you would know of its existence purely by smell alone, which can even fill the car - as you travel past at 70mph - when the wind is in the right (wrong) direction. There today, proudly flying from a tall makeshift flagpole perched on the highest pile of rubbish was a massive flag of St George for everyone on the motorway to see. The Scots it would seem are developing a wicked sense of humour!

You need only to remember this. In the first ever campaign of the Premier League (1992-93), Oldham Athletic earned 49 points from 42 fixtures to stay up by the smallest of margins. With 3 matches remaining, the Latics had attained 40 points and looked doomed, lying second from bottom in the table. For the club to survive relegation, three wins from their final three matches were required, and the Latics had to bank on Crystal Palace gaining no more than one point from their final two matches. Oldham's first game of the final trio was away at second placed Aston Villa - a side who had to win to have any hope of winning that year's title. In a battling display, Latics stalwart Nick Henry scored the winner midway through the first half, a shock result but one that gave hope to an unlikely escape and clinched the first title for 27 years for Manchester United. Three days later Liverpool were beaten 3-2 at Boundary Park, whilst Crystal Palace could only draw at Manchester City. This led to a scenario by which for Oldham to survive, they had to beat fellow strugglers Southampton at home and hope that Crystal Palace were defeated at Arsenal's Highbury ground. Oldham eventually won 4-3 despite ahead 4-1 at one point, whilst Palace lost 2-0 at Arsenal, meaning that the Eagles were demoted on goal difference. Incredible - I also recall that Matt Le Tissier scored a hat trick for Southampton and still ended up on the losing side!

Did anyone else notice the following sequence of events involving our 'keeper yesterday, and then have a quiet chuckle too? 85th minute and the ball goes out harmlessly for a goal kick to Oldham. Flahavan walks slowly towards the ball boy behind the goal who promptly retrieves the ball and rolls it towards the advancing 'keeper. Without breaking his stride - or changing his expression - Flav steps over the ball and the ball rolls on for some distance behind him. Flav' advances a couple of more steps and looks at the ball boy, gesturing with arms open - 'Where's the ball son?". The ball boys points frantically to the ball, which has by now come to rest some 10 yards behind Flav. Flav - "What's that son?" (in a pantomime stylee!) Ball boy - "It's behind you!" Flav, hands now on hips, turns his head and feigns some real shock to see that the ball is indeed already back on the pitch. Flav, shaking his head strolls slowly to collect the ball and then manages to waste another 20 seconds setting it up, and kicking it back into play. Total time wasted? - Well in excess of 1 full minute! - with the ref, the Carlisle players, and the home fans absolutely none the wiser! Priceless!

Thanks Bob. Happy Hogmanay to all too, from a very wintery Scotland.

My mate - a long time ManUre fan - told me that ManUre automatically debits all its season ticket holder's bank accounts with the full ticket value for each and every Champions League or FA Cup home fixture as it arises, this whether the season ticket holder wants to go or not! He also said that weak excuses like "the dog ate my bank account and therefore I do not want a ticket for the mouthwatering Mansfield (h) FA Cup 3rd round game" are treated with very short shrift by the ManUre management; and that effectively 2 such 'strikes' could mean that you lose your season ticket renewal rights!! My mate has often had a cup game ticket bought for him by ManUre at £40+ each which he didn't use because of other commitments etc. Imagine the uproar if the 3 Amigos adopted a similar policy? Mind you I'd certainly like the opportunity to have a good moan about an unwanted Champions League ticket!!!!

Travelling back to central London on the train directly after the match I found myself sat in a carriage made up almost entirely of replica shirted Charlton fans. As I sat there, feeling quite smug, reflecting with pride on our resolute performance that had earned us a valuable away point, I caught sight of the text message that the bloke next to me was creating on his mobile, it went something like "Saw the most boring game of football today - Ever!" Isn't it funny how fans of different teams can have such completely different viewpoints on the same match!

Have a good look at the last photo - see link below. We all know about the Great British bulldog spirit, but surely this is taking it a bit too far? http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/fans/oldh...shirt-0910_4367

Can anyone confirm, has Furman been given a 2 year or a 3 year contract?

Abbott Thanks Fans By Scott Thornberry - 27/06/2009 08:29 Pawel Abbott joined Oldham Athletic on Friday, on the same day he contacted Uncovered to pass on his thanks to the fans and also wish us luck in the future. The 27 year old oozes class but his stay at Darlington was dogged by injuries, injuries which saw him play just 42 games in his two year stay, scoring 17 goals. But when fit Pav was just a class above everybody else, but with finances tight the new Darlington FC were never really going to be able to afford to keep him and it was no surprise when Abbott, who got married a couple of weeks ago, then got hitched up with Dave Penney at Oldham Athletic. He was frustrated with the clubs turmoil in recent months but will always keep an eye on our progress. "It's so annoying we went into admin because we would've got promoted!" "i really enjoyed my time at Darlo and I would like to thank all those fans who stuck by me when I had all those injuries. It was a pity I couldn't have played more games for Darlo but hopefully the fans will remember for what I did on the pitch and not my injuries." "Good luck and i'll be keeping an eye out for you's."

Well said Harry.

4 Best of luck lads!

Having had the opportunity to reflect on Saturday's 5-0 drubbing by Hereford on my flight back to Scotland and at home over the weekend I would like to offer the following as a potential positive. Firstly let me say 'Yes it was terrible, the worst performance I have seen for quite some time' but it brings to mind something that Phil 'The Power' Taylor said in an interview recently. Taylor said that he had been talking to his mate Ricky Hatton at the time when Hatton was at his very, very best, sweeping all opponents before him. Hatton had said ‘You know Phil, getting beaten in the ring one day might just make me a better boxer’. I sort of know what Hatton meant. For Oldham now, the important thing is not to wallow in the misery of Saturday’s defeat but to look forward to the up-coming matches against Stockport and Swindon, and to set the record square, showing that we have well and truly learnt our lesson. If we were to take 6 points from these 2 games with good performances then - for me at least - the painful memory of the Hereford debacle could be resigned to history.

Just noticed previous thread on same theme....

Taken from the February FourFourTwo magazine: Yeovil's Paul Warne admits he was so devastated to leave Oldham that he drove to a nearby B&Q carpark and cried his eyes out. "I was devastated to leave and I never hid that," he said. Compare and contrast Mr Warne's attitude with that of a certain Mr Porter (amongst others). Yes I came to exactly that conclusion too. Good on you Paul!

Hmm, that Marv Levy quote is a bit of a give away isn't it?

I drove down from Alloa to Manchester on Tuesday afternoon to meet my mate and we went for a pint and a bite to eat in Oldham town centre prior to the match. On exiting the Up Steps pub - after said refreshments - my mate saw a large rat emerge from one of the elevated flower beds, leap to the road and dash off down by the Spindles. Inspired by this unusual event and for the very first time ever, we visited the bookies at the back of the Chaddy End and stuck £2 on Allot to score the first goal @ the rather generous odds of 14/1. The rest of the story? Well, you know the rest of the story….!

To underline the fact - in my opinion at least, as a life-long Chaddy Ender - that the Chaddy End is, and will remain the home 'kop' end, despite the pro-Rochdale Rd end movement, you only have to read Lewis' reaction to his second & third goals below. "For the second goal Neal Eardley's cross was inch-perfect and for the third I caught it sweetly, it was a great feeling, especially in front of the Chaddy End, and I just wanted to go mad. Nice one Lewis!

Whilst I think that the signing of Brett Ormerod and Daniel Jones are positive short term signings by Sheridan - bolstering the squad and encouraging competition - I also fear a similar scenario to that experienced last season, when the departure of Kilkenny and Bertrand at a key stage of proceedings triggered a downwards trend to our fortunes.

What about that Brazilian stylee goal celebration? Big Gordon, you're a star! Get in!