Harry Dowds Green Shirt

I'd rather you had both beat me to announcing the granting of planning back in 2007. It all seems so second rate now despite how important it is to our future

Planning permission was tonight granted by Oldham Council planning committee for the new stand at Boundary Park. All councillors voted in favour of the plans as submitted Well done all

I knew Mike really well and we worked together for Littlewoods Pools for nearly 10 years so met up every week and always talked Latics. Hadn't seen him in a while and then bumped into him at BP a few weeks ago. Sad sad news. Condolences to the families.

Soft arse. I'll go back to what I said last night. I generally like the attitude of young untried managers they tend to go that extra step and have the benefit of youth on their side. LJ has been to a number of matches kept under the radar and done his homework. Before the press conference today (his 1st official day) he has taken the 1st team training session had a group meeting to set out what he wants and expects as well as having 1 on 1 sessions with 6 players (the rest to follow over the next few days) To top that he has had the usual press conference and radio interviews to do and still insists on finding the time to spend a good hour or so with a group of fans to give them a flavour of what he is all about. He already has his game plan in place tomorrow night and I think you will be surprsied (but pleased) with what you see. It is this type of enthusiasm that I like and why I favour the young untried over the experienced (failed elsewhere seeking another chance) candidates. Sure if Dowie, Mourinho Wenger were avaialable and we had the money to pay them I would have a different view, but the fact is we have to survive on the gates we have and that doesn't stretch to that type of "experience." My posts last night were purely about my personal preferance and I think we have seen today the benefits that someone like LJ can bring to our club. I really would not want us to bring a Phil Brown, Sammy Lee or Brian Little character in. They have all failed. I'd rather have the enthusiasm of youth and it looks like we have got it. Not wanting to have a go at others and I honestly respect their opinions. This however always was and remains my opinion. I wish Lee every success and he will also need some luck over the coming weeks. We have all had our say now and it is time to move on. The appointment has been made. The immediate future is what is important and for every 90 minutes we need to be all signing from the same hymn sheet starting tomorrow night, 3 BIG points on offer tomorrow so please all get behind the boys in blue. Oh when the blueeeeees!!!!!!

People forget the situation that Joe Walked into. When he was appointed, the club had no money and were in a very bad way. I remember baillifs walking in the doors and re-possessing tv sets. Joe offered to walk away to save the club money, but the club wouldn't accept that and stuck by him. That season(1982-83) he had to work with mainly kids and was forced to sell off Paul Futcher mid season just to pay bills, yet he still managed in that 1st season to produce a team that played good football and provided some promise for future years, despite the fact that we would continue to have to sell to survive. He was forced to rely on the likes of Paul, Heaton, John Bowden, Paul Atkinson and John Ryan etc coming through from the youth team. Despite all the turmoil at the club we somehow managed to finnish 7th that year. I know the claim will be that he came in during the summer, BUT he came in after the very unpopular decision to sack Jimmy Friz and at a time when the club was basically in turmoil, there was disagreement in the boardroom where Stott and Knight got their way and appointed Joe (called a cheap option by the fans). A few months later there was a change of chairman, the Boundary Club was sold to the Brewery and Futcher sold to Derby to bring us some financial stabilityand Joe was allowed to get on with the job of gradually building a team. The only difference here is that we are in the middle of a relegation fight. I don't know if the new man will keep us up, I don't know if an experienced head would fare better, but I am prepared to give him a chance and back him, because my club needs us to back him to do his best to keep us up. At the end of the day I'm not bothered who is wrong or who is right, i'm only interested in us staying up this season. He comes from good stock has lived around a football manager nearly all his life and played the majority of his career at and around our level. Hopefully he can bring that experience to our club and make the difference we need over the next 10 games. Good luck Lee.

Thats a fair opinion Ghost. I don't have the answers, just an opinion. I could be wrong but I look back n stats as much as anything and if i'm wrong then so be it. I just don't think someone like Phil Brown will save us from the drop so would rather look elsewhere. The most improtant thing in all this debate is that we stay up. In 7 weeks we will have an answer

Nothing to do with the club. Purley my opinion. Look at the bottom of every post I make. It's been there for years and I stick by it. Consistency on my part nothing else

Your entitled to your opinion as much as I'm entitled to mine. Will LJ be a success for us or will he even keep us up? I don't know. BUT rose tinted or not the stats as far as oafc are concerned are that rookoes have mre success for us than experienced managers. I'll stick to my own thanks but won't begrudge you yours

I'll give everyone Ronnie Moore and fair play. But how many of you then wanted him out?

Had to laugh at that Senor. 191 games for Yeovil 2001-06 and 174 games for Bristol city 2006-12 so he's a 365 games for 2 clubs over an11 year period journeyman is he? Do your homework

Do you honestly think appointing a Phil Brown (failed at Preston - Relegated) or a Warnock (failed at Oldham - relegated) would guarantee survival? If so then fair enough. I will repeat the question, Name the last experienced manager to have ANY success at oafc?

Whilst I understand the point, experience doesn't guarantee anything and sometimes you need something different and for young and hungry is different

I knew one of the non attenders would comne back with something like that. So here's a question for you. Name the last experienced manager that we appointed who had some success.

On the basis of the comments on this thread none of you would have appointed Royle and you would all still welcome Warnock. It beggars belief. Right or wrong we appear to have gone for young and hungry over experience. For those clamouring for experience, did Warnock save us (and with a fair bit of cash to spend by our standards)? Did Redknap keep up Southampton? The answer is no. Experience isn't everything and I would prefer this appointment to Phil Brown whose record with struggling sides at Derby and Preston was poor. Lee Johnson was a warrior in his games for Bristol against us and the type of player with some fire in his belly a fire that yesterdays gutless 1st half showed we are missing now. He worked his socks off fo his team and if he is appointed tomorrow I expect he will bring that ethic with him. Young and hungry every time for me, A clean sheet and no baggage of failure. I don't want another Penny, another Warnock another Moore another Wadsworth. The only managers in my 45+ years to have any success whatsoever have been young and hungry and I say we stuck with that. The odds as far as oafc are concerned say that works better than experience. Therefore give me another Frizz, another Royle, another Dowie or another Shez. They are far more likely to bring us success.

Since the season started we have brought in Derbyshire, Baxter and Wabara to fill out the squad to 25 players. Whilst we have lost Derbyshire and Wabara they have been replaced by Iwelumo, Barnard, Murray and Obita. that takes you to 27. All but 1 of those players have spent time on the pitch this season. Whilst Furman and McChangama have gone this week (neither of them are currently in the 1st pick - for different reasons obviously) we have signed a replacement today so the squad is still at 26. Before anyone says that figure includes youngsters like Jacob and Belezika, go and do your homework of the other clubs in our league and see what their respective squad sizes are. I think you will be in for a shock. The moves this week are not bad news. Changy will not play again this season and their is money to be saved by doing this deal. It makes good business sense (It's good to see we are benefitting from having an accountant as CEO) no matter what anyone thinks from a sporting perspective and it does not preclude the new manager offering Changy a contract for next season if he thinks that appropriate. As for Furman. He wanted to go. Plain and simple. Whilst I thank him for his past efforts I do not want players like that in my football club no matter who they are. They need to be committed to the cause in our position and he clearly was not. I'm afraid this thread is yet another massive over reaction. Anyway, I trust TP and PG will have us set up right for tomorrows game as they have done in every game so far to be fair. Hopefully we will get that bit of luck that has gone against us in the last 3 games and pick something valuable up from the game. Roll on tomorrow and 3pm

^ This although calling Furman a clooger is a bot OTT

Nothing sinister in this as far as I can see. Changy is out for the season so in effect he is out of contract now. The Club are committed to pay him but have put an offer to him to "buy out" the remaining 3.5 months of his contract. There are financial benefits to both the player and club of doing this in terms of NI contributions and is faiirly common practice. Pity Changy got injured as I think he would have been an important member of the team during this run in. Good Luck Changy and thanks for your erfforts.

Wow what a mixed thread. The usual anti SC/board/club all using the thread as a reason to bash SC/the board/the club and the happy clappers all, ahem, satisified that he has gone. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The facts are that upto going to the ACON after the Forest game at the end of the 1st week in January he was probably the 1st name on PD's teamsheet. Since his return he has faded badly from the scene and I think there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, Furms came to the fore with his performances at the ACON and has had his head turned. May be by agents may be by other players, but it has certainly been turned. Since he has come back his twitter picture is still with him in his South AFrica kit not the actions of someone claiming to be "proud" to be the captain of oafc and the Donny romour didn't just start this week. Whilst he was away we knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup and signed 4 players to give the squad more depth. Barnard, Iwelumo, Obita and Murray. PD departed and TP has come in and changed the style. Gone is the Dickov way of crab and tickle in the middle of the park. TP has given Wes a particular job, one he does better than Furms as he is more of a terrrier, who does his work of breaking up the oppositions play and playing the ball simple to the creative players. Along side Wes TP has gone for Baxter who certianly has more flair than Furms for the role of being the playmaker. Rightly or wrongly TP has changed to a style he feels suits us better or at least suits the players we have to better effect. That has left Furms stuck on the bench for the most part and he will not have enjoyed that and I'm sure it has played a part in him wanting to go. For the most part I think TP has got it about right. The losess in the league have only come against 2 top 6 sides and came only after major decisions had gone against us in both games. TP has instilled a belief into the players who, as far as I can gather, want to play for him. As a result Furms partly due to going of to the ACON and partly due to PD going and a change in the style of our play is no longer a first choice shoe in The fact is Donny made an enquiry (probably after they had spoken to Furms or his agent 1st) Furms said he didn't want to play for us and wanted to go, we have got a fee and his wages off the books and have a little bit more room for manouvre to bring someone in in the last week before the loan window closes who can make a difference in our fight for survival. This is not about Furms. It is not about SC or any other individual. It is about our survival in league 1. A decision needed making. It has been made. Thanks for your efforts Dean, but in the circumstances the time for you to go was right for both parties.

Singe. As a Latics fan there is nothing better than a fan coming up wanting to get their newborn a season ticket or enrolled into Chaddy's gang etc. He wasn't turned away. He wasn't refused a season ticket. He says himself that he was asked to come back in a couple of weeks when the drama has calmed down a bit. You have to understand that the staff there are run off their feet. They are not having their days off, are working extended hours and again this week a 7 day week. Youth Developments staff are providing helping hands to try to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible and by and large most people are being satisfied and not having to wait in long queues (well not until after the match tomorrow and Sunday) I'm sure that if we lose to Everton then it will be no problem to deal with a ST. In fact I'm sure it will be a pleasure. The only fly in the ointment for him though will be if we beat Everton and have a quarter final against Wigan 11 days later which would mean he would have to wait for another couple of weeks.................................... Unless of course we beat Wigan and go to Wembly for the Semi Final whcih would mean he will have to wait anitehr 3 weeks.................................. unless

Unbelieveable. Just about the busiest period the club has had in the last 10 years, trying to dole out tickets for these cup games whilst also carrying on with the normal day to day duties leading upto an important home league game on Saturday and someone thinks the clubs priority should be to process a £10 junior season ticket for a new born to cover the next 8 games. Brilliant

I am putting the following information on the forum for information purposes only. This is not intended to be a question and answer thread. I have been down to the club this lunch time and it seems that some ST holders are kicking off with the ticket office staff because they can't have the number of tickets they want. Please refer to the details on the official site on the following link. http://www.oldhamath...ate-665362.aspx The club have implemented a strict policy of 1 ticket per season ticket holder. It is stated in the article and their are notices up on the ticket office windows. We have been allocated 4,800 seats for the game. As we have 3,300 season ticket holders they cannot make it 2 per season ticket as that would potentially exceed the available tickets. Whilst people want to sit together and not everyone has a season ticket, there are still ways that this can still be achieved. 1) If you know a season ticket holder who is not going, ask for their season ticket book. 2) If the person/people who is/are going with you are going to the game on Saturday, they can get their voucher at the match and the season ticket holder and voucher holder can purchase their tickets after the game on Sunday. (Tickets will not sell out to season ticket holders only) 3) If you friends, either cannot or choose not to go to the match on Saturday then the season ticket holder and heir friend can obtain tickets togeteher on Sunday during the open sale phase. Seaon tickets have historically enjoyed priority over the pay per match/casual/occassional supporter. The club cannot give every season ticket holder preference where the capacity available doesn't allow them to as in this game where they would need to have 6,600 available. All season ticket holders are being treated equally whether you go down at 9am this mroning or midday on Saturday. Giving abuse to the staff is unacceptable

With yesterdays barnstorming finish where we were clearly on top for the last 20-25 minutes against a team in the top 6 or 7 in the premiership, the players fitness was clearly right up there. Earlier in the season there were a lot of questions being asked as to why we were conceeding so many late goals and fitness was clearly an issue and playing a part in that. These things don't change over night, but I think that the change in regime over the last 6 or 7 weeks has seen a gradual impact on the players fitness resulting in strong finishes in the last 2 games against MK & Everton. Add to that the fact that we are now utilising a bigger squad (and TP using his subs to good effect) and players who were carrying little niggles are now being allowed to rest them properly should help us through the remainder of the season where it matters in the league. The best example of the new regime having an impact is with Crofty. He came in the sponsors suite after the MK game for the usaul presentations and he just looks so much fitter, probably 1 good stone lighter. Not that I think he was unfit previously, just that he has been "educated" differenlty these last few weeks. Beacause of the cup run we are going to have a run of Sat/Tues/Sat/Tues games and it is inevitable that changes will have to be made to the team to keep them fresh through those games. The good news is that we now have not only the quality of players but the quantity to do that as and when TP sees fit.

Whilst I hear what you are saying, the Chelsea v Brentford 4th round replay was shown today. TV have the option of still showing a chelsea replay. However, I believe that they will take the view that as they won;t know for definated that Chelsea v Boro will require a replay they will plump to show our game. Or they may wait until tomrrow night to see the result of the Man yoo v Reading game to cover all bases

If Middlesboro and Chelsea draw the 1st game then the replay would fall into the category if ITV /ESPN have not already selected Everton v Oldham & Reading v Man yoo

The small section of the RRE holds 1600. Yesterday it didn't even sell out with only about 1300 in there. The CRE holds 3500 and there were over 3000 yesterday. The argument will disappear when the new stand is built. The whole rre will go to the away team unless we suddenly start getting 10,000 home fans. With the new stand there will be a capacity of 8.600 for home fans without using any of the rre