millsy82

Paul recently took over Phil Nevilles Twitter account to answer some fans questions. He stated that if he was to ever have left Man U for another club it would be Oldham. http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/paul-scholes-does-a-short-q-a-on-twitter

My first game was against Oxford United. My dad took me to watch us thrash them 3-0 and we stood in the RRE where I took up my place behind the big yellow gate giving it the big'gun to the Oxford keeper with the older kids! I'll always remember that game for the greatest goal line clearance I've ever seen. Leading 3-0 with around 10-15 mins to go, Oxford striker broke free and found himself 1 on 1 with the Latics No1, whom he promptly rounded and slotted from just inside the area. Out of nowhere Paul Warhurst came steaming in at full pelt and with the ball on the goal line, he somehow managed to scoop the ball over the cross bar for a corner and thus preserving Latics clean sheet. My next game was a gritty 1-1 draw with Millwall and that was the first time there was real atmosphere around Boundary Park. My dad had told me to stay close to him when we was walking down Sheep Foot Lane, which I duly did and to avoid the travelling idiots my dad took me into the George Hill Stand. It was the atmosphere that day against Millwall that kept me hooked and I used to go home and pretend I was my hero: Andy Ritchie. Getting the full kit and rolling my socks up for a kick about with the other Latics fans on the estate (which back then was the majority of kids). I later joined Junior Latics for pretty much our entire top flight existence and was lucky enough to be mascot for Latics against Notts Forrest on Saturday 30th January 1993 at the City Ground. For any of the tic's on here who wasn't as privileged as me to see Latics in the top flight and also see some amazing football, I hope one day that our club can go on and do "a Blackpool". It's truly an amazing experience, that I dearly miss now.

Either For me it is whatever ensures the survival of the club I love. Simple.

I never said it would make a difference to the gate. Read back. It's for the people who go often. I said it's something I don't understand why they offer but then make it......difficult isn't the word......lets plumb for inconvenient. If your you can save £20 a year on your gas bill but it's going to take 30 days to sort it all out and numerous phone calls, would you bother? Some would, the majority wouldn't. If you believe you are one of the people would change to save some money, the next time somebody calls at your door telling you that the Gas, Phone, Electric company they represent can save you money, invite them in, hear them out and then change providers. Now imagine your Gas/Phone/Electric company you was with phoned you up and offered you £10 off your bill. How many people would take that? Answer: Everybody.

Actually I'm almost sure I'm right that that is not actually the case. If I don't want to go, I just phone up and cancel my tickets and recieve a refund. Look.........no insults needed.

Then again maybe it's people such as yourself who put people off coming to Latics with your needless sarcasam.

It's still time consuming though, no? It's peoples time that the club is wasting and it is wasted. 5 mins on the phone at my expense and then another few minutes at the ground picking up the ticket. Get a big game and you do have to que for a good while. Like I said, it's not much but it's the small things that will count to some people. In all honesty I wouldn't bother and pay the extra £2. I know it's going to the club and it's saves me 10 mins of my life getting a £2 discount. If it was a £5 discount then maybe I would bother. Actually as I've only just recently discovered, I'll be getting in for £12 in the future (£10 if I could be bothered to ring, book & collect).

I think your missing the point. You can take the pi$$ all you want, but at the end of the day I can't remember the last time I even seen a phone book if I'm honest. Everything is on the internet, but they need to make it clear and easy to find. Why can't you order your tickets on the internet? For other clubs you can. E-Tickets that you can print off. You don't live in Oldham yet you have a phone book that has Oldham Athleics main number in? What about kids? At 11 or 12 year old you might be a positon where your parents will trust you to go to a Latics game on your own. You might do it without telling your parents! How is a kid going to get a ticket without a bank card. The whole point of this is that if the club can afford to sell it's ticets for £18 instead of £20 then why not just do that. If they are relying on (and lets be honest here) the vast majority of pay on the day punters being lazy and not getting the tickets then why not just reduce the price by £1 for everyone.

So add the price of a phone call, not much I know, but still eating into my £2 discount. Then the inconvinence of queing and having to get there at least 10 mins earler. It's only a little thing and it's sounds petty, but thats how people will look at it. That number is not exactly well advertised either.

I think you might be wrong. I'm no expert, hell I'd be better of running the offical website ;-) , but I think there are those that have other commitments and when the oppotunity arises they won't go because it's £20, or they'll save the money for away games (I know quite a few mates of mine who go mostly to away games because it's better atmosphere). As for the Latics World offer, how would it be possible to know without knowing how many people subscribe to the offical website and how many of them are actually season ticket holders. The ONLY reason I subscribe to Latics World is because I live in Cyprus and it's the only way of listening to commentary and watching the goals. If I was a Season Ticket holder, I wouldn't need the commentary (I'd most likely be a the game) and I can see the goals on BBC website before Latics website anyway. The only real benefit is the interviews, but the common man wouldn't see it like that. He'd see if for getting everything that Latics World actually has to offer, hence the reason to offer it to Season Ticket Holders only.

One thing that does bug me about Latics is that it's cheaper to buy your ticket before the day of the game. Who in there right mind is going to take time out of their busy lives to go to the ground just to get a £2 discount? It would probably cost £2 in petorl money unless you live very close to the ground. If the club can afford to sell tickets for £18 a game then why not just do that in the first place?

Why won't people buy a membership? For me and many others I know it would be ideal. To pay £20 for a membership for the year and get in for £15 a game I would only need to go to 5 games before I've got my money back. Season Tickets are brilliant, but only if you can go every week. I can't. Many others I know also can't. A mate of mine plays football on a Saturday. If he's playing away he doens't go to Latics, if he's playing at home he's walking down Sheep Foot Lane at 14:45 to pay his £20. Or the people who work the occasional weekend. When I lived in the UK I worked 2 days, 2 nights 4 days off. So if a Latics game fell on my 4 days off I could go, if the game was on during my 4 days in work I couldn't go. That meant for weeks at a time I was unable to get to games, no point in me having a season ticket. Some sort of membership would have suited me perfectly. It rewards loyalty. Just because circumstances dictate you can't get to games doesn't make you an unloyal fan. Besides, we used to have a membership scheme. I had a book that I used to take with me to the RRE gates and the turnstyle operator would rip out the voucher then give me my £2 discount or whatever it was. I was only a kid but I seem to remember it was about a £5 for the season. My old man was in the Navy so we couldn't go every week so this was the best we could do. Another idea. Free Latics World Membership for anybody buying a Season Ticket.

Intresting read. Here is the problem as I see it; After doing a little research that took me no more than 10 minuets, I've found the matchday prices for all the club in Oldham's "catchment area". All prices are the cheapest available. Manchester United Adult ticket: £27 Child ticket: £13.50 This is reduced by £5 for adults if you are a member which cost £30 for the year and £27 for renewal. On top of that you also get free entry to reserve games and 10% off in the shop amongst other things. With Membership. Adult ticket: £22 Child ticket: £10 Manchester City Adult ticket: £30 Child ticket: £10 Membership is free and gets you priority over the general public. Rochdale F.C Adult ticket: £18 Child ticket: £12 Bury F.C Adult ticket: £17 Child ticket: £12 Stockport County Adult ticket: £16 Child ticket: £3 Under 7's: Free of charge Oldham Athletic Adult ticket: £19 (knock £2 off if you pay before the day) Child ticket: £11 (knock £2 off if you pay before the day) Students/Military: £10/£12 So by my reckoning we are the most expensive lower league club. Add to that for just another £10 you can go and see the revoloution at Manchster City or for a one of £30 outlay for the season you can then go and see the most successful Premier League side on a regular basis for again for just £10 more (all this based on 1 adult and 1 child). Maybe Latics need to re-think their ticketing prices? At the end of the day it's divisoin 3 football whether we like it or not. Do we still have memberships? I'm guessing we don't. We should look at schemes like that to encourage fans who can't make every game. For a £20 fee you get a membership that will let you in for £15 a game and gets you 10% off in the club shop. What happened to Junior Latics? I was a member of that back in the day and it was excellent. Maybe set up some sort of Club Latics. Maybe say £15 to join and then it's only £5 a game, you get a goody bag when you join up and the chance to be a mascot during the season (keep the kit, photos, meet the players etc). Give season ticket holders vouchers that can be reedemed against opposition such as Yeovil where a low crowd may be expected. That way they can bring somebody who might no usually be there. If it was me, I'd probably sell it for 10 quid to a mate who otherwise wouldn't go. That way you get another person in the ground who is likely to buy something: pie, chips, beer, programme etc.... Doing offers like 3 in a row just isn't fessable for a lot of people. The deal that was advertised for Yeovil, Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers is okay if you can gurantee you can get to all 3 games. How many people actually can though, I'd wager it wouldn't be many who are not already season ticket holders.

Aside from the sublime double save from Hart against Liverpool, I thought he looked nothing better than okay. His distribution was awful, no, infact it was worse that Pog's distribution!! He wasn't communicating well with his back 4 and at times looked nervous. The double save of course masked his overall performance which was at best average. Don't get me wrong Hart will be an amazing GK in the future and maybe it was just nerves playing at home in a massive game as No 1, for a genuine big side now, knowing one mistake and your out of the team to be replaced by an equally brilliant GK in Given. As for Dean Brill not making any clangers for 10 months.........wasn't he responsible for one of Charltons goals on the last day of the season back in May??? Hopefully Paul Gerrard will concentrate on the weaker areas of his game, such as his command of the area and decision making.

Jamie "Me & my mates" Redknapp is a complete tool! He does my head in no end. He is so bias. A few years ago Liverpool hammered United but lost 1-0 at Anfield. During the game a lovely cross was floated in to the back post where the oncoming 6ft 7inch Peter Crouch was running in unchallenged. As he came in, he elected to volley the ball, which was a good 6ft 8inch in the air. Needless to say he missed and Liverpool lost the match after a late John O'Shea goal. After the match Keys asked Redknapp why Crouch didn't head it. Here is what he said: "Well I know Crouchy really well and if you know him like I do, you know he'd much prefer to volley that than head it and for him he was better of attempting the volley" PARDON? He missed Redknapp you prat! All he had to do was jump 2 inches and head the ball downwards. It wasn't hard and is a very basic football skill that most people learn at a young age (apart from Lomax). Worst pundit ever! Closely followed by Shearer, Big Ron The Racist, Andy Grey, Random Crooks, Kev Keegan, Adebayor (World Cup worst pundit by far), Gazza (remember he was a pundit for the 2002 WC I think. Truly shocking), Beagrie. Best: Alan Smith, Turnip Taylor, Venables, Hoddle, Rudd Gullit.

I once heard him say "he's a cracking inside left". Didn't that position die out in the 60's? My other gripe with him is that he always refers to Man Untd, as "Manchester". No you moron, there are 2 teams in Manchester..............and if we move to Failsworth, you can make that 3 !!!

Every dog has it's day! Dogdale was in the bottom division for the longest of any teams, but they finally got promoted last year. The great thing is about us is that nobody expects it. Not the fans, not the players, not the board and not the managment (though I bet they think every game is winnable, which contradicts itself). Having such low expectations is a good thing in my eyes. I remember Shez's first year in charge and thinking we was in for a year of doom & gloom, but by Feb I was expecting us to go up automatically (especially after thrasing Forest at home). I won't be making any such assumptions this time. If we are doing well come christmas/Jan time then we'll just be overachieving in my eyes.

I must admit my passion for Latics is back. Living abroad, at times last season I couldn't even be bothered to logon to the offical website to see how we got on nevermind the £5 a month I was paying for my subsciption to Latcis World being completley wasted. Thank goodness for PD & GT. I've rediscovered the buzz and when I'm back "home" I'll certainly be visiting BP. It's far to soon to say we'll be anywhere near the promotion/play off places. But one thing I am certain about is that this league is a lot closer in terms of standard and quality, that many would think. I don't think anybody is going to walk it this year (like Norwich or Leicester previously) and I believe there are 10-12 teams who would consider themselves play-off contenders. The problem that the likes of Wednesday, Southampton and Huddersfield will have is one, having the tag of favourites for most matches and two, being the team everyone wants to beat. Teams who should harbour genuine Play Off (minimum) hopes: 1. Huddersfield 2. Southampton 3. Sheff Wed 4. Plymouth 5. Colchester 6. Peterborough 7. MK Dons Teams who might not set Play Offs as a target but are capable of getting there: 1. Oldham 2. Brighton 3. Carlisle 4. Bournemouth 5. Notts County So lets hope we do what Blackpool did a few years ago in this league, just look where they are now!!!

Quite possibly.

Thery're Mancunians who want us to become Manchester Athletic aren't they?

Byfield has ended up at Wallsall on a contract till Jan. Here's the link. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11730_5519651,00.html

Yep, he sounds (live in abroad so only get to listen to the commentry online) like a very good footballer, who could play a number of positions. It also means we get to fit Furman in the team as I don't think we can lose Worthington's bite and aggression that he offers the team. Alternativley GK. Brill RB. Holdsworth LB. Jacobson CB. Hazell CB. Gregan CM. Worthington CM. :censored: AMC. Furman RW. Taylor/Parker LW. Taylor/Parker CF. Abbott.

That's what I've been saying since the start of the season. Any Other Keeper In The World Ever :censored: Hazell* Gregan Jacobson Furman Worthington Taylor Whittaker Parker Abbott * Replacement for this "footballer" wouldn't go a miss either!

Think we will have to agree to disagree on that one. Where he isn't as good as Gregan, his is better (and always will be) better than Hazell. Stam's problems lay in the fact that he is very injury prone. If he was the only thing that was available, I'd have him back in a heartbeat over Hazell. Fortunatley for us, he's not available and there should be miles better options open to us. As I've said previously, let pick up the phone and speak to a few of the Premier League teams. What's that Jack Cork from Chelsea doing. Seen him play for England U19's not so long ago and thought he was class.

If offered, would anybody take Stefan Stam back now? I always rated him far more than I did Hazell. I think we should be looking to maybe take a risk if there are no established centre halves available. Lets ring around the Premier League and see what kids are available to join us on loan.