Armchair

They changed the images (which is good). Originally both the front page and the article photo were pictures of Montano.

... Seriously? We suspend a player without pay in controversial circumstances and two games later we're spreading his picture across our website like he's our poster boy? Well done Latics.

I was quite entertained at the Hereford game. Not by the football - by the Latics fans fighting amongst themselves and getting thrown out

I wasn't proposing anything. I was just making observations - inaccurate ones it would appear as I take on board NewBlue's comments. I've just read a little (and I mean a little) about the foreign illegal betting markets and can see that they provide a problem which local regulation cannot address. If only it was a simple as I'd described. It leaves me feeling a little disheartened that this is a very real problem within modern day sport which won't go away anytime soon.

I agree that the problem lies with regulation. Some countries do not allow online gambling at all (lots of states in the US for example) - probably more due to social and economic reasons. I wouldn't argue for that, however, I believe as a society we are at the opposite end of the spectrum. There appears to be very little regulation from our government with respect to online gambling. It's also impossible these days to watch a sporting event without being bombarded by adverts offering free bets, the latest odds or bet in play. When there is little regulation on what or how you can bet it becomes difficult for a sport to regulate the implications of betting. I'm sure there is some element of the governing bodies of sport being complicit - I would imagine gambling brings a lot of money in the form of sponsorship and advertisement to the game - If I'm honest I don't know? If the sport and gambling industry aren't regulated to a greater extent then the evidence suggests someone somewhere will always be tempted into corruption. It is much harder for example (but not impossible) to fix the result of a team game than it is to ensure there is a throw-in within the first 15 seconds of a game. The sport probably doesn't want to lose out on the money / sponsorship / support it receives from the gambling industry. The industry itself will not self regulate; they want the money of the thousands / millions of punters week in and week out. They also want the government's resources to be available to investigate and prosecute those who are (admittedly) breaking the law by exploiting the ease and methods of betting. I think they have a lot to answer for, however, we can't have it both ways. Either we want our online gambling or we don't. The government won't regulate because they want the taxes of the betting companies - and they are probably reliant on the cash the gambling industry now provides. Tough situation all around but I can't see there being any widespread change soon. Any resolution to recent cases, unless significant and addressing the root cause of the problem, will just be papering over the cracks. We'll go back to a state of blissful ignorance until the next time someone is filmed saying something rather silly.

I think your interpretation of unreserved seating might be incorrect. As far as I'm aware, unreserved seating means that everyone (irrespective of whether they are a season ticket holder) can sit where they like.

Does anyone know what exactly has been alleged? Ignore me - I missed the link

He scored 17 goals for us and set-up a few more too. I think someone who does their job well deserves some plaudits. Legend? No. Decent player? Yes. No hard feelings from me, he owed us nothing and we owed him nothing. You're right; we just move on and hopefully progress without him.

Just thought I'd say I've been impressed with the communications coming out of the club via email and via the official site on the lead-up to the closure of the transfer window. Anyone else agree / disagree?

Big thanks to Jose for what he did for us. I'm sad to see him go as undoubtedly he helped us survive last season and was a real talent. I agree with the club statement that this is in best interest of the club. Jose has proven difficult to fit into Johnson's side and I hope, with the new signings, we will go on to prove that we can continue to play winning football without him.

Would it not be possible that a lower offer may be seen as quite attractive if it offered a % of the next transfer fee? Just a suggestion.

Really thrilled to see that Rooney has signed. It's been a long time since I've been this happy with our attacking options going into a season. I think we are in for an exciting year; I believe we will be fantastic with the ball but worrying at times without it. I'm hopeful all the rumours regarding a decent loan centre back are confirmed. This may prove to be a terrible prediction, but we might be pushing for a play-off place this season. For the time being I'm trying to keep my feet firmly on the ground but I'll be there on Saturday hoping we get off to a flying start!

I'm not picking on anyone in particular - but lots of posters have mentioned problems with the Trust and the way it represents fan views in very general wide sweeping terms, almost as though there is an assumed agreement that it's not performing it's function correctly. Can anyone help me out by spelling out in simple terms what isn't happening that should be? (Some sort of list would help) Can someone else help me by spelling out in simple terms what major achievements the Trust has contributed to in the past 8 years? (Some sort of list would help) Until then I'll remain blissfully ignorant of how much the Trust is failing me and remain quietly optimistic about: - the new stand - the players we've signed (and the improved communication from the website since the contract extension news article) - the performance we put in on Friday - the fact we have an owner who's willing to talk frankly with the fans (we're doing a good job of making this positive thing into a significant negative. I can actually see Simon Corney avoiding this type of discussion in the future if all people do is use it as ammunition to undermine someone else's position). The start of the season can't come soon enough.

I was only pointing out that he meets certain criteria for being called a cock. (So did Lee Hughes). But, as you infer, being a cock isn't a reason not to sign someone if they have the right attributes for the job.

Bit of an old interview but comes across as fairly genuine here: Weird that he ended up at Sheffield United after citing being up north as the major contributing factor to his poor performances at Stoke. However, I agree that he is a cock on the basis that he's been done for failing to provide a breath specimen. I don't know him personally but it seems a fairly deserved label for that reason alone.

Thanks for the replies all and apologies for the Americanism - I was having a mental block and that's what came into my head first. Genuinely disappointed in myself! I think I prefer lurking around the forums for several reasons. Quite often it's a time issue, but I do like coming here because news breaks here first. Picking the truth out of the rumour is an interesting pass-time. I've also never been one for wanting the limelight, I prefer reading to writing, I don't understand 'the twitter' and haven't yet subscribed to the popular trend of publicising my relatively mundane life to others via social media. I'm appreciative of those who do post regularly though as it gives people like me something to read and think about. JoeP - I agree as well. I suppose if we can't be irrational on an online forum then when can we be.

Let me get this straight, I'm something of a forum lurker who is generally content to read the forums; I seldom post unless I feel really strongly about something. My interest in the club (and football) usually wanes over the off-season and picks up as the pre-season friendlies kick off. For that reason, while I keep tabs on transfers in and out, I usually read the forums at this time of the year less than during the season. For a couple of reasons I've stayed around reading posts longer than I typically would. Primarily because of the optimistic end to our season due to us finally getting approval for the new stand and also bringing in a new manager who seems to know what he's doing. Also partly because I have a bit more time on my hands personally. The main purpose of this post is to ask: Is it always like this during the off-season? By that I mean, the general atmosphere has changed from being euphoric at us securing our league one status to every next post being fairly negative / critical of the club. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at the forum community in general - I'm just saying 'can't we all be a bit more reasonable?'. As a fan, I'd like..... but most importantly don't expect or feel I have a right to: - an in depth, blow by blow account of every discussion which takes place about the sale of the club or the finances of the club. - details on transfer targets and contract negotiations on a daily basis - immediate (within 24 hrs) responses from supporter representatives (While I don't know Barry Owen at all I have to commend the rapidity of his recent posts and activity) - personally shape the football club I choose to support. (After all - I'm only one person. I do believe in supporter representation but sometimes we don't know all of the details, we can't know all of the details and we just have to trust those who do) I know a forum is all about airing opinions and discussing the latest news so that's what I'm doing today. My opinion is that the views on this forum are now less representative of a typical Oldham fan and more representative of the hardcore fan who is missing their weekly fix of football and this is therefore affecting how negative / demanding / panicky we're getting. What does everyone else think?

I'm fairly glad Bouzanis has gone. I've seen many people here say we have 2 good keepers but, from what I've seen of Bouzanis, he: + is a good shot stopper - is weak positionally - doesn't command his area very well recently (he did at first - maybe a confidence thing) - has very inconsistent distribution. Usually 3 or 4 misplaced passes each half, typically so bad we can't even compete for the ball. (not offset imo by v good passes he occasionally pulls off) - isn't particularly intelligent from footballing perspective Jury is still out from me on Cisak.

Iwelumo has to be an honourable mention. Also not seen much mention of Michael Ricketts - perhaps a bit unfair of me as he was class for other teams but for us he looked like he'd used all his energy getting his kit on.

How poorly have we managed this? Is it good the prices are frozen? Yes. Is it quite cheap for L1 football? Guess so. Surely everyone should be relieved the prices arent going up. But I'm disappointed. Why? Because the club has failed to manage my expectations. I didn't come into this expecting anything unreasonable. I merely listened to the noises from the club. In particular Simon Corney who hinted several times at there being a special season ticket announcement. I don't always go in for Corney bashing but in this instance I think it's warranted. If you can't deliver, don't raise expectations. It's some ability to take something which is fundamentally a positive and make it feel like a negative. Well done Latics.

I used to play Diablo2 back in the day, put hundreds of hours into it - I quit a while back but you're right, it's an amazing game I do think we have rising attendances. There was a real buzz about the place for Johnson's 5 home games in charge. Yes we were fighting for something but for the attendances to be as high as they were with 2 evening games included is really positive. (I don't buy into the doom and gloom there seems to be on the forums at the moment). For me this has been a fantastic seasons and if next year has as many highs and lows it'll be well worth the entry fee . I'll take a look at the Matt Smith v Jose Baxter one the next time I wake up (probably tonight!). Can't see us holding onto Smith though so it'll be a bit of a moot point.

I'm not getting much sleep at the moment as I have gallstones. So...... while I await my op I often have lots of free time to waste. I know it's sad, but, this morning I decided to pull some of the info from the official site and stick it into excel. Below is the result. It only shows league results for this season. It also only shows home attendances. In fairness it doesn't really show anything noteworthy but it kept me entertained for a while! A couple of other stats: We've had 33 players make an appearance for us in the league this season to date. Free cookies if you can name them all (no cheating). Average home attendance 4128

I think booing is OK - the idea that being critical makes you less of a fan is utter none sense. In fact, I think it's good for a crowd to demonstrate it's displeasure at a team's performance, therefore providing a dynamic range of positive and negative feeling. It's this dynamic range that makes the crowd real. If the crowd blindly sung their hearts out irrespective of what was happening I personally feel it loses a lot of it's influence and the atmosphere would be false and ultimately sterile. The crowd on Saturday booed at half time but really got behind the players in the second half and I didn't hear any boos at the final whistle. The odd grumble, yes, but no pronounced boos like at half-time. To me this means the feedback was fair. Don't misrepresent negative feedback as non-constructive. If I were a player, I'd take a hell of a lot more of a boost from a change in crowd perception after the team started to perform to their ability.

I was at the game today and have to commend Croft. He was in a real battle against their left back all game. He was coming out second most of the time but he kept plugging away and had the quality to find the right pass to Barnard and create the goal. Their goal was the best finish I've seen live for a long time. Don't shoot me but I was applauding it - sometimes you just have to take a step back and admire something like that. We rode our luck once we'd conceded and, thanks to some woeful finishing, held on well for an excellent point. They could have scored 4 in the second half.

Excellent result today but I must have been watching a different game. Brown was OK defensively but he needs to work on his play receiving the ball in more forward positions. Croft is our 'out ball' and as a result he brings any right back we play into the game in forward positions. Unfortunately a lot of the time Brown just doesn't know what to do with the ball and doesn't find a blue shirt, as a result the attacks break down. I know he's still learning so I don't want to be too hard on the lad - he seems to put a shift in every game and does appear to be improving.