Scapegoat

One that appears to get regularly sung incorrectlt in my view is: Eee ii Eee ii Eee ii o Up the football league we go (and not up the football, here we go) When we win promotion This is what we'll sing We are Oldham We are Oldham We are football Kings

I have lived in various locations in Yorkshire for the last 15 years and I often get asked the question of why I support Oldham. I answer 'because I am a glory hunter' I was born and bred in Shaw so another local that moved away. But have kept my season ticket ever since with very little thought of stopping going (though when I lived in Beverley and Colin was serving up utter dross I did question my sanity). My thoughts on the crowds at Latics is that we've never had great crowds in my supporitng lifetime except during the Royle success period, and we have now been in the 3rd tier for too long so its bound to be poor. Also football on TV is now a much bigger draw than it was 20 years ago - then if you wanted to watch football you went to a ground. These days you can watch Prem football from the couch 2 or 3 times a week. Not living in the area I don't know what Latics do to attract fans locally. My dad was a lapsed Latics fan (marriage / kids etc) and then Joe Royle and a few players came to my junior school and gave an assembly talk, did some ball juggling on stage and gave out free parent and child tickets for the next home game - this included ground tour, signed programme, pie and a drink. Of the 10 kids that went, I still see 50% of them regularly at BP. Huddersfield a year or so ago (not sure if they still do this now I have moved to Wakefield) gave a free home shirt and parent/child ticket for a home game to kids on their 12th birthday I think. It seemed a good way to get the kids hooked. Rugby League over here is very very well marketed - town centres on match days have attractive girls in short-skirts etc (OK sexist, but it works) promoting the games. They use bill boards around the town to promote the clubs etc. A bill board near the end of the A627(m) promoting the club - photo of Talyor celebrating goal against Leeds etc. "Top of the Table Latics v XYZ at BP this week" etc. might help a bit. At the end of the day though, unless we get some success on the pitch the above things will only have limited impact. But if we can start to get both running - it might do the trick.

Too soon for me to start making comparisons against a player I have seen 4 times v one I saw play considerably more. But DW has looked a cracking little player so far and based on the fleeting appearances from others - is comfortably the best signing of the summer. Looking forward to another good game tonight. Also - he appears to be one of the better corner takers on the pitch (when he doesn't get drawn into the crap short corner routine we have become afflcited with) and actually makes me think we might score from one this season!

Football supporters are rarely viewed as customers by any football club. You get your 'core' fan base - which basically you can treat as badly as you like and they will still turn up next week begging for more wearing the latest fashion monsterosity to be called a football shirt eating something almost, but not quite, totally unlike food. There is an argument that 'customer service' can alter this figure by a %, at best 10% either way I'd guess. But I'd still argue that it will return back to the 'core' no matter what 'customer experience' is on offer if the football on offer is the same. Then there is the 'glory hunter' briggade. These turn up based on the quality of football on offer and swell the core fan base whilst the success is maintained. This can range from the few hundred of 'lapsed fans' that will come if the team are in the top 6 / winning a few games / beat a big team in the cup previous week, up to a trebling of the gate if we get a good cup game / are in the end of season play-offs / are at the death of the season and something is at stake (promotion / relegation). Glory hunters are part and parcel of football and every club has them, and will retain them when they are doing well.

Whilst I will not defend the overall standard of the coverage of the lower leagues on Sky, they do cover it pretty well in terms of volume. With a reasonable length preview and review show every week, equal to what the Beeb give to the Premier League. To be honest I just series link the BLW2 (though so far this season the link option is not available) and FFWD to the goals though - so not bothered. In terms of the Fan of the Week coverage - I think no matter what the result it was going to focus on the team the fan supported (it could have been Northampton, not Leeds) becuase that is what the item was designed for, to highlight a club and an individual. Generally the BLW coverage tends to show the teams in the play-offs first when running through the games - if we are not in the POs or playing someone that is, we always seem to be at the end of the segment. To be honest - the media can ignore us all season as far as I care as long as we keep doing well.

John Eyre? Not really a goof forward in his first spell but played a more midfield role in his second spell and always seemed decent to me in that position.

53 posts on an oppositions forum indicates you tend to spend a fair amount of time associated with Oldham Athletic. However it makes a change having 'away' fans on the forum - whilst we got some complete idiots on JK, it does make for some interesting debate. As for the article - I'd expect nothing less from a partisan local newspaper, hardly likely to say 'Leeds season is over' is it. I for one still expect Leeds to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season - they have some decent players which will be far too good for a lot of teams this season. However on Saturday, despite some periods of possession, they rarley troubled our defense from open play - whilst I think we caused more problems, particularly through Whitiker and Taylor, when we had the ball. Set-pieces however always looked a threat, some good delivery coupled with two tall forwards is always going to present chances - but our centrebacks coped very well. Far from using the result on Saturday as a means to put Leeds down in terms of quality/promotion chances - instead I'd use it as a means of assessing the potential of Latics this season. If we can go toe to toe with the favourite away and come out on top - the 11 long years might be at risk of coming to the end. Spainboy - I would wish you luck for the rest of the season, but I live and work in Yorkshire so would never hear the end of it. Also I do not think luck will come into it and I hope that come the return fixture in March its a top of the table clash.

I think that the confidence in the team must be high at the moment so hopefully a good start on Saturday - both on and off the pitch. Another 3 points would be a massive boost ahead of 2 away games. But if we get 5 points+ from the next 3 games I'll be very happy (following the win at home; draw away rule) and wouldn't be bothered where they came from. We would still be in a good position after 5 games. Of course 5 games and 15 points would be fantastic - especially given 3 away games.

Surprises me. But I don't care. 2-0 most only stat worth reading.

Not sure that Leeds fans are evolved enough to be able to utilise irony.

Fergie blamed the grey kit for getting beaten by Southampton years ago - apparently the players could not see each other as the kit blended into the background. But they should have been able to clearly see the red and white striped shirts that scored 3 goals against them. Excuses - that is all it is.

From falling over due to being unable to walk? Only a possibility mind.

I thought it was rather odd that Leeds sang the 'not famous' chant back at us.

I was sat in the lower tier and there was some genuine concern for the blokes health by some of the Leeds officials stood near me looking upwards - he was taking to someone over the radio and was requesting medical attention urgently plus addition security. From what I could see of the individual he had no signs of a physical attack on his face/hands and did show all the signs of an extremely drunk / drugged person. Also the individual and the people with him made no attempt as far as I could see to attract the attention of the officials themselves - which would be very odd behaviour if he had been assaulted downstairs. Who, having been attacked by multiple assailants downstairs woudl return to their seat to watch the game without reporting it? It appeared to be the officials that spotted him and acted (perhaps aided by the shouts of a Leeds fan who claimed he had seen him taking drugs - though given the away fans on Saturday, I'd take that with a pinch of salt). I could be wrong - in which case I hope Oldham and Leeds work to find the individuals responsible - but it looked self inlficted, backed up by the behaviour of the individuals with him.

Not sure I disagree with that to be honest. First 15-20 minutes was a lot of Leeds, we then came back for the next 10-15, before Leeds came back for the end of the half. Second half, we started well and got the first goal and second disallowed one, but then inevitably Leeds came back into it. But we grabbed the second and it quieted them down again. But Leeds finished with some decent posession. However, for all the domination i.e. poessession, Leeds had - they didn't look THAT threatening. We however did, and had 2 goals chalked off on top of the ones we scored. Plus Alice had a great one on one chance at the end. Domination does not win football matches.

Midlands and London on a weeknight are an absolute no without taking at least a half-day off work, so a tie I can go to is a good draw. Might be willing to take a day off to go to a glamour tie at a big/new ground, but Palace/QPR/West Brom etc are not new and not 'big' enough for me. Difference of opinion, but I am looking forward to the game.

Another here who isn't too dissappointed. Of course Newcastle / City away would have been a 'glamour tie' and nearing the end of the draw I was hoping for Bolton away (not been to the Reebok) but its local enough to make going after work possible, a bit of a derby (only a bit), underdogs but winnable and I always like the singing of Chim Chimmeny! Not a great competition for clubs at our level any more. Big clubs devalue it (even small clubs tbh) so giant killings are slightly tarnished; prices reduced to get average crowds means low income etc. If we win - great. If not - no big loss, no big shame. Cheers up.

Ridiculous price, but I have paid it. But I think £20 is ridiculous for div 3 football. Perhaps we should adopt a rule that we charge away fans what they charge us - if all clubs did it Leeds et al may think twice about trying to rip off away fans knowing it would hit there own fans as well. PS - not confident about a result on Saturday, but hey ho.

Crossley - have to disagree with comments on here. There appears to be a distinct lack of communication between GK and defence e.g. Millwall second goal. This means that the back 4 (and a number of the fans) do not have confidence in him - this results in defenders making mistakes/trying to clear balls etc that they should have confidence to leave to the keeper. Mark is not a bad keeper and I do not expect Cech quality, but I do think we could get better in the this division and arguably NEED better if we want to get out of this division. We have bought a highly rater U21 Scotland player and I am amazed he was not given a run out in a Cup game. Other than that Crossley and the defence need to work on trusting and working together - difficult when he is player AND coach.

Having watched the feekick a few times on TV I have come to two possible comclusions: 1) It wasn't quite as good as I thought - yes its good, but the "it was just a shift and a hit" isn't that far off OR 2) The angle and zoom didn't show the goal off to its true glory. On the day, the curl of the shot and the quick pace of the paces seemed out of this league (and the one above) but the TV replay makes it look a very good, but not great goal. Anyway - I enjoyed it immensely. And even if it was just very good, its still 100 times better than most of the free-kicks we produce.

Crikey! If that is true I am surprised the City fans aren't demanding he is shown the door. Talk about fratinising with the enemy. Cannot imagine many on here would impressed if one our best players had been socialising with a local rival for so long.

£19 million is a good price. Quoted figures are often higher than actual tfrs in the end and I reckon we'd get £3.75m - a very very decent return. Will have to see if this is true though, old big nose has been bemoaning his strikers after yesterday so maybe priorities have changed and £19m on a defender not on the cards.

But they also played it after the Millwall opener. Never seen another club play celebratory music for the opposition!

You get the feeling that if that had been scored in Euro 2008 by Spain / Portugal it would be remembered as one the goals of the championship.

Very entertaining game today, if not the best in terms of football (at least until the last 20 minutes). Thought that the atmosphere was good - perhaps aided by the fact we were a bit more squeezed in than normal due to the Lookers (got used to the new look BP quickly to be honest). Also like the new 'quick' ballboy thing - get more football for your money! Finally - that freekick. I cannot remember Latics ever scoring a better worked free-kick in all my times watching Latics. Brilliant end to a game and worthy of 3 points all on its own.