Harry Dowds Green Shirt

In tonights raely wrong on page 10 there is a half page advert "in association with Oldham Evening Chronicle." Basically it says that by attending the 2 homes games against Scunthorpe and Yeovil and collecting vouchers at the turnstiles, you can claim a free ticket for the Orient Game on Saturday the 20th December. Alternatively, season ticket holders can claim a £15 voucher in the club shop. I thought this may have also been promoted at the same time on the official site. And on this message board. Or have I just done that? Cheers, Harry

I'm not quite sure where this fixation of having 2 strikers scoring all the goals comes from. Our last promotion season of 1990-1 saw our 2 top scorers as Marshall with 17 and Redfern with 16. Its no great shakes that 1 forward is scoring and another/others are not hitting the back of the net anything like as much. We are presently top scorers and the goals are coming from different sources (no, not ketchup or Brown ) and I'd be more concerned if only the forwards were scoring. The fact that we are scoring from all areas of the team makes us that more difficult to defend against. Oh and by the way Headband put the bloody spell check on or get your keyboard checked. It might be sticking. (See you at the quiz tomorrow.) Or Are you trying to be like exile? Quote exile said "I can only make out from that post that the joiners have been in and we have a spnky brand new one, splinter free happy.gif " Quote Cheers, Harry

So despite what you say further on in the paragraph you are justifying the violence. Don't come on here and think that simply by saying you are not in favour of violence will make us think that you condem the actions of your fellow "fans" when you also say you have no sympathy for the victim. You bloody well should have sympathy, because, despite your protestations the oldham fan was not going in there fighting with the County fans, he was celebrating a goal. That as I have said previously is no excuse for the subsequent violence. The fact he shouldn't have been in there is a separate matter and the reason he was forced to go in there is one that we do agree could and should have been prevented. Cheers, Harry

So are are saying that the oldham fan who was beaten up was not an innocent victim? and that you are therefore defending the 20 or so yobs that jumped on the Oldham fan in the lower part of the Cheadle End kicking 10 tons of cr*p out of him? and he should have been "prepared to take a beating" Be he innocent or not there is absolutely no excuse for that behaviour from your "fans" some of whom must have initially been 30, 40 or 50 yards away from him. Personally, I'd call it cowardice. Even I might fancy my chances of 20 against 1. Whilst I agree that visiting fans in the home end should show some respect, that is also to be expected in return. Your yobs had no right to dish out that treatment. What should have happened if the Oldham fan was out of order was that the Stewards/Police should have ejected /arrested him and your fans should have left them to it or at most reported the situation to them and asked them to take action. Finally, you say that the police may have been able to react more quickly had they not been occupied by Oldham fans playing up outside the ground having been removed from the Main Stand. Well you need to get your facts right before typing, because the Police actually were in with the Oldham fans in the popular stand and took ages before they reacted and went into the Cheadle End. They were just stood around talking and watching what was going on. The real question you should be asking is what were the Police doing in with the Oldham fans who were in the right part of the ground when every man and his dog had known for over a week that there were Oldham fans with tickets in the home stands. Cheers, Harry

I thank you. In answer to your question, I condem all violence. In my view it is totally unnecessary all round. The vast majority of us just want to enjoy a day/evening out watching our chosen team playing football, win lose or draw. From where I was at virtually the other end of the ground, I could not see any "goading" so have to accept your word on that. However, it was unavoidable not to see the violence that followed and I trust from the statement on your clubs official site this morning that the culprits they claim to have identified include the relevant County "fans" and that the police will be prosecuting for ABH/GBH. Like you I doubt that prosecutions will follow, but for the good of the game and all genuine football fans, said prosecutions should follow. The Police can have no excuse. I hope my answer is acceptable to you. Cheers, Harry

In your post that I originally replied to you went onto say "Had your fans done the decent thing and kept quiet though, peace and love all around." The point is, that while we accept that probably 90% of people would keep stum, some people, for wahtever reason, can't. It does not excuse the violence dished out by your fans. Yes you did say that there was no justification in your words "that goes for both sides." However, I did not ask you if it was justified, I asked you to condem the violence dished out by your fans. Quite simple really. I also stated "and I would at least expect you to support the rooting out of the offenders to be prosecuted and have lifetime bans issued by both Stockport County and the Courts." So, in answer to my original question you will have no problem then confirming your condemnation of the violence dished out by the County "fans" and their rooting out and subsequent prosecution. I await your reply. Cheers, Harry.

It's not surprising really that they let people go. Entering the pitch IS a criminal offence for which you can be arrested as stated on the ground regulations. As I stated on an earlier post going in a home section is not a criminal offence as far as I remember, so all they can do is eject you from the ground at their discetion unless you commit a criminal offence such as ABH/GBH etc. Cheers, Harry

Whilst I take on board and understand your points, can you give me the justification for 20 or so of your "boys" kicking 10 tons of ***** out of one or more of our fans for having the audacity to celebrate us scoring. Irrespective of the fact that this occurred in the home end, your comments are seeking to justify that if our fans had been celebrating outside after the match, that would also have been ok for such a violent and cowardly attack? Quite simply, there is no excuse whatsoever for the violence that was dished out by your "fans" be it inside or outside the ground and I would at least expect you to support the rooting out of the offenders to be prosecuted and have lifetime bans issued by both Stockport County and the Courts. There is "no justification for went went on" We all accept that if you go in the "home end" you keep stum, however in times of high excitement people sometimes forget themselves. Please don't come on here and tell us that because some of our fans were in your end it justifies the cowardly and brutal attack on them. I await your condemnation of the violence dished out by your fans. Cheers, Harry

I've been a little surprised that during the last 2 matches, we have not changed tactics when what we have had on the pitch hasn't been working, especially after the Millwall game where Shez's changes turned the game. Sure personel has been changed but not the tactics, although to fair when you are unbeaten and top of the league there is a damn good argument for not changing. However, both Huddersfield and Stockport packed their midfield to negate Allot & Whitaker. Not having Maher on the bench restricted the option to change the midfield against Huddersfield in what was the first sign that opposition teams had sussed us out. Last season when JJ was on Loan, Shez had a stage where he played him just behind the front man basically giving us a central midfield of 3 men in a little triangle with the front one (JJ) supporting the striker. When Stockport made their change at half time and their tactics were closing our midfield down, basically forcing us to go long, I would have liked to see Maher come on for O'Grady and play Whittaker more forward of Allot and Maher. Some may see that as a defensive move, but it really isn't. It makes it harder for the opposition midfield and their defence have to try and pick up the "2nd striker" breaking into spaces from midfield and, being kind, defenders in the third division are not that clever. Whittaker has shown that he has an eye for goal and with Lids/Smalley on 1 wing and Taylor on the other it gives you good options going forward especially when you have young pacy overlapping full backs such as Eardly & Jones. In terms of the defence, I said after the Burnley game that anyone who thinks that Stam is better than Gregan basically needed their head looking at and was slaughtered in some quarters for that observation/opinion. The fact remains that Gregan is imense for us both as a commanding centre half and Captain, whilst Stam is more than good enough to be a useful squad player at this level in a promotion chasing team. His mistakes costs more goals than Gregans or Hazells mistakes, but nevertheless he is a decent player and in Gregans absence we nissed him on Friday night. For County's second goal Byrne was out jumped and out muscled and for both the 1st and 2nd goals we didn't defend the second ball from the flick on and paid the price. I dont think that with either Gregan or Stam on the park we would have conceeded the second goal in particular. Byrne for me looked comfortable on the ball at Hartlepool, but looked uneasy with the ball in the air on Friday. However, that was effectively his first full match of the season so I don't think you can really judge off that 1 game. Having said that I get the impression from what I have seen that Byrne will be used more as a full back and as an emergency centre half rather than a 1st choice centre half. So to answer your question. If Stam is fit then he should play against Hereford particularly as they are likely to be more direct. Cheers, Harry

The point I was making in saying "I accept that they shouldn't do" was that the police and licencing authorities require the clubs to segregate fans and for that reason alone away fans shouldn't sit in the home ends. I fully agree with you that within reason who you support should not affect where you sit. Cheers, Harry

I've deliberately not posted for a day or so to reflect on Friday nights events. The ticketing situation from day 1 was always going to be a difficult subject and probably a shambles due to the limited number that Stockport decided to allocate to us. Everyone, including Stockport knew that 2,000 would not be enough and Latics requests for more tickets were refused. The upshot of this is that away fans will attempt to gain access to watch the match from the home sections if the away end sells out and there are tickets available in the home section. This is not something new, it goes on all over the country. The bigger and or more successful the team, the bigger the away following etc etc, United, City etc we have all seen it at BP. We had it last season with Leeds. The sensible clubs, will allocate a sensible amount of tickets to visiting teams, taking into account for example likely requirements from home supporters. Where it is obvious that the away team will sell out thier initial allocation and there is the ability to allocate more seats to away fans, then most clubs will do so. Oldham have done it in the past, (see Blackpool play off game as an example) and are doing it this season with huddersfield, Leicester and Leeds. On our 2 previous visits to Stockport, County have moved their ST holders to accommodate the larger away following. It is all common sense. The question that Stockport have to answer is this... Why did they refuse to allocate us the whole of the popular side for the game as they had done for our 2 previous visits? Was this their decision?, Was the decision made by the Police or licencing body? Usually, the decision is made by consultation between those parties and for the life of me, if there was no chance of Stockport selling out the home section, then why would the authorities run the risk of any type of public disorder? Putting the allocation of tickets to 1 side, and accepting that in the circumstances, Latcis fans were always going to be in the home sections, (And yes I do accept that you are not supposed to be, but be real it happens) what really concerns me is this. When we scored, a limited number of our fans "celebrated" in the Cheadle end (the more sensible ones celebrated inwardly ) Now I am not aware at this point exactly what "crime" they have committed here except the 1 thats not in the statute books of celebrating a goal in front of the opposition fans. So the next thing that happens, is that those celebrating fans are attacked and assaulted causing actual bodyily harm by a good number of what I can only describe as hooligans. The Oldham fans, who were beaten up are then ejected and arrested. Arrested for what? getting beaten up? My real point here people is what has happened to the Stockport fans who assaulted the Oldham fans? I carried on watching what was going on in that area, and I did not see 1 Stockport fan removed. Having attended and witnessed the debacle of Stewarding at Colchester, I am appalled at the total lack of sense that was applied by both the Stewards and the Police on Friday night. Colchester was a non event in reality in other words there was nothing happening until a steward overstepped the mark and through his overzealous actions nearly caused a riot. Friday saw the opposite. there was a lack of appropriate action from both Stewards and Police. The ground CCTV will have homed in on the incidents and it would have been relatively easy to identify most of the Stockport fans involved in the subsequent assaults (I am still not condoning our fans actions) and eject and arrest them as well. The police were so slow to react to the incident it was a disgrace. Whilst our fans will take some of the blame for Friday nights situation, Stockport are culpable, because they were aware from day 1 of the likely implications of their actions. The police and licencing authorities are also equally to blame as they are charged with risk assessing these sitautions and licencing the grounds accordingly. (AND we have seen ourselves this season following the Millwall game, how powerful they are) For the record, whilst I understand why supporters go in the home ends, I accept that they shouldn't do. I also believe that you are entitled not to have your head kicked in if you do and I also believe that those responsible for kicking someones head in should be arrested and sent to prison. I also believe that teams should try and accommodate as many home and away fans as possible thus reducing the risk of supporters ending up in the wrong sections and I believe more than anything that we were cr*p in the second half on Friday and therefore deserved to lose the game. Cheers, Harry

Now I feel that i have been libelled. Can the mods look into this serious allegation and give the corporal a ticking off for alleging that I am in some way the fuhrer chief executive of OAFC. PMSL. If the corporal cares to partake the next trip on the Beardybus I'll kindly introduce myself. And as for your post Lees, well your punishment should be the further publication of THAT photograph. Time for exile me thinks Cheers, Harry

Well surprise surprise (where's Cilla) I logged on first thing this morning to find this thread part way through the 2nd page and expecting it to die its natural death. When logging on tonight to find page 4 almost full I thought hey up CJ must be around half joking to myself. But lo and behold he is. Not content with making his own opinion clear (which, like everyone else he is clearly entitled to do) he persists in constantly having to have the last word with individual posters. I don't actually mind his comments/opinions and find them quite interesting, but the constantly having the last word is bordering on the David Beckham syndrome of abnormal compulsive disorder. Just make the point for god sake and don't go on and on and on and on and on. I await the inevitable reply. Cheers, Harry. P.S. I'll tell you now corp I won't reply to any comment you make as I've no intention of getting into a petty exchange of posts.

Whilst you are correct about the original post, give the lad a break as he has reviewed the video and retracted his objection. Fair play to him. Now all we need now is for the FA to review Gregans red card. Cheers, Harry

Don't apologise. You are entitled to an opinion. 4 different people can all see it differently............Until you see it on the tele and then you have to accept that view instead Cheers, Harry

Actually Terry's was for serious foul play like Gregans and if he had not succeeded with his appeal would have faced a 3 game ban. Cheers, Harry

Thats the way matey. The most sensible post you have made on this thread to date IN MY HUMBLE OPINION Cheers, Harry

One point in this thread that is relevant is the fact that the referee saw fit not to book Hughes for overcelebrating yesterday. Therefore in the opinion of an unbiased (and with referees I usually use the term lightly) witness to the incident Hughes did not overdo the celebration. Lets face it we have seen some pretty soft bookings already this season for over celebrating, including IIRC Chris Taylor, so even the slightest sign that Hughes had overstepped the mark would surely have resulted in a yellow card. I think everyone should take time out to watch it again on TV/Latics world. I really cannot see what is wrong with it if he is facing into the pitch or towards our fans. The fact remains that he scored at their end of the ground and went towards the corner he was running to as he headed the ball in the first place. He did not go to the corner flag right in front of the home fans as Taylor did. Now really which was the worst scenario of these 2 for "winding" the home fans up? Also, his past has absolutely nothing to do with his celebration. If you accept the principle that he has served his allocated punishement, and you say you do accept that principle, then he is entitled to work and react in the same way as any other person. Cheers, Harry

Haha. Thats the problem with people sometimes. They take things literally rather than looking at what is said. So just to clarify my point. Redfern took four different penalties and put 1 penalty in the bottom left corner, 1 penalty in the top left corner, 1 penalty in the botton right corner and 1 penalty in the top right corner. I hope everyone accepts my apologies for the original post being unclear and I trust that the above explanation clarifies things for everyone. Cheers, Harry

Ive already posted this season, that with the firepower we have the number of goals we concede may be somewhat irrelevant. Clean sheets are great and when you are not scoring many goals are a necessity to pick points up. But I would rather watch a 4-3 win ala Millwall than a 1-0 or a 3-3 at Hartleppol than a 0-0 or 1-1, with the game ebbing and flowing. Yes Shez is pushing for us to be tighter defensively and 4 clean sheets in 7 suggests we are making progress. At the same time we can also play the game of if you score 3 we are more than capable of scoring 4. We have proved that already against Millwall and very nearly did it again yesterday. God this season has already provided more entertainment than the whole of last season. Long may it continue. Glass definately half full. Cheers, Harry

Probably knackered as he is unlikely to have trained much during the week and you can't take chances. Its better him coming off after an hour today and getting in a full weeks training before the Huddersfield game than play 90 today, not training during the week and struggling for Saturday. Cheers, Harry

Actually its not the first time. I'm sure exile will be along shortly with "THAT PICTURE" from Crewe to prove the point. Cheers, Harry

Check out Refearns penalties from the 1990-91 season. He put 1 penalty in all four corners. Cheers, Harry

If you think that then you were watching a different player to me today as I thought he did more than ok when he came on and was very unlucky not to score the winner. Questionable attitude? Ok after his sending off at Rochdale that accussation could be levelled at him with some justification However certainly not today.

PM me and I will tell ya. Oh and Mick wasn't in the team in '82. Cheers, Harry. P.S. the "green Shirt" bit may be a clue bob