Erratic_Latic

Heard he had one or two personal issues (aside from injuries) which he was struggling with, hopefully he can put these behind him and get back to being the player he was. Who remembers his 2 goals at Leeds, that's the real Chris Taylor we want to see.

Here are the official verdicts: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Oldham http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Rochdale

They both are, FFS!!

As an Oldham fan living on the boundary between Rochdale and Bury, I can't say I subscribe to all this local "hate" stuff. I was chuffed that Dale got promoted and hope Bury do the same this year. For someone living in Rochdale to call Oldham a sh*thole though has got to be taking the mick hasn't it??!!

Blood cancer apparently. Hope you make a full recovery Mr Ablett.

It's the signings like Adebola and Ormerod that p*ss me off the most, they just can't be arsed and they just use us as a training centre instead of actually trying their best for the team. Hopefully PD won't bring any of these jokers on board.

I second that. Things needed to change drastically. The best thing about going to BP last season was the music at the start of the second half. I'm looking forward to seeing a completely different style of play under Dickov, and if Abbott was a necessary sacrifice to accommodate PD's style whilst at the same time realising a profit on a player and saving some wages, so be it. I'm sorry that we won't be seeing Pav in a Latics shirt again, I liked him (both as a player and a person) and I am sure that there will be some games in which the loss of his ability and technique will cost us points. But we have to think of the best way forward for Latics. We are a small club, the days are long gone where we can afford established players, and I believe that giving younger players a decent run in the team and building up their confidence serves several purposes: 1. They become better players through gaining more experience and playing more together (I wasn't impressed with Eaves on the occasions that I saw him play last season, but accept that he didn't really get a chance to settle in the side). 2. The more they turn in decent performances, the more their value goes up, so that when we eventually sell them to bigger clubs (which let's face it we will always end up doing sooner or later) we will actually get more than the pittances that we've become used to. 3. They don't cost anything to start with apart from their wages. This season could go either way and we might end up regretting the loss of Abbott, but we might also end up thinking Dickov got it right and the proud chorus of "Oh When The Blues" will be ringing out once more! Bring it on, it has got to be better than last season.

I'm personally sorry to see Pav go because he was a quality player at this level. However, the fact remains that we struggled for goals throughout last season. It shows that good players don't always fit into every system. I don't think he had the right players around him to benefit from what he was doing. Yes he did try the odd unnecessary flick but what he did best was hold the ball up and usually find a blue shirt, something most of our players failed miserably at in 09/10. I'm happy to trust PD's decision but I will stand up and applaud Pav when he returns to Boundary Park with Charlton.

We used to be and can be again if the players on the pitch give us belief that we're going to see goals and excitement. The on-pitch fare over the past season or so has left most fans feeling flat and it's been hard to rouse any enthusiasm even when we did score. We just need to be able to believe that the opening goal is going to lead to more.

+1

If it's anything like last season you'll be back in the owl suit in no time mate!

About 20 years too late with that one, if the firm's PR and image management had been handled properly when we were going places (instead of the Cannon-and-Ball-esque on-field half time garbage etc reinforcing the image that we were a "small friendly club with a big heart") then maybe we would now be in a better place than we are now.

Positive appointment as far as I'm concerned. What I want though, above all, is for the club to start feeling like a club again, a club to be proud of and get behind. Rather than, say, a dwindling group of disaffected supporters who can't muster the enthusiasm to make any noise (apart from Penney-out chants); a manager who looks like he'd rather be anywhere else; a team playing like strangers passing in the night. If Dickov can bond the players and the fans, produce a team that gives 100% on the pitch, and give us something worth looking forward to on a Saturday again, that will be success for me. There was no love at Latics last season and I left the ground most times wishing I'd done something else.

Or following AH's press release: "In toto, fuceratus sum" (we are totally f****d)

Clint Hill got my vote too. Then Armstrong. Fitz Hall got all the attention in our 02/03 season but I thought Hill and Armstrong were both better.

I'd say keep Whitaker because on his day he looks like one of our best players. Admittedly he hasn't had too many "days" of late but isn't that partly down to the way the midfield has been set up, stretched too wide on many occasions earlier in the season giving him little time to play the creative way he does best? Certainly not our best player of the season by any stretch of imagination, but get rid??? Nah...

Cheers I was wondering that too, good track. Best thing about Saturday's second half!

Well put Sir - even on an off-day Abbott looked a class act above most of the other players out there. He went off at half time and we lost it. Some of the Abbott criticism on these boards baffles me, he is quality at this level.

I think they were a Div 2 side when they won the cup in 1976, so must have had a promotion since then.

They are a Premiership club which we're excluding.

Rochdale are deservedly making the headlines for winning their first promotion in 41 years, which sounds like a hell of a long time - but we ourselves have only had one promotion in the last 36 years which I think it's easy to forget. It got me thinking about how many clubs there are in the league that are starved of promotion success. So here's a question for the anoraks - which club has gone the longest without winning a promotion? Obviously we have to exclude Premiership clubs from this. I can't be arsed to look it all up on Google but my starter for 10 is Coventry City - 1967. Anyone beat that?

The biggest problem this season has been too much change all in one go, so the whole club felt unfamiliar. New management team, completely new squad save Greegs / Taylor / Whits / Hazell, combined with the 3-sided ground, following on from several years of relative stability under Shez where you recognised the majority of the starting line-up and felt comfortable with them. Was never going to be an easy season for a new manager working with a team of strangers. It's started getting better. Let him have another season and see where he takes us. Changing manager again now would make things worse.

Does anyone else think Parker looks and runs just like a real-life Scrappy Doo?

That's about how I feel too, it was strange yesterday I couldn't get that excited even when we went 1-0 up. Strange atmosphere. I'll be renewing my season ticket whatever happens but let's hope some of the old passion returns both on and off the pitch!