Harry Dowds Green Shirt

Strange that you think that exile, as I thought so myself when I first watched the clip and had to rewind to make sure. In those days I was still helping out Harry Wood with the pitch at times and the picture does look uncannily like me or at least how I remember myself. Strange when you look back, but even stranger when someone recognises a picture of your back from 28 years ago. You probably recognised me because I was a fast runner in those days and everyone was always behind me. I remember at around that time when Brian Clough was manager of Forest and we played them in a midweek league cup game. As the teams came off the pitch, Cloughie came up to Harry Wood at the top of the tunnel and asked him to wait until he came out of the dressing room. Harry was furious when Cloughie took an age to come out as he wanted to go and lock up to get away for last orders. Anyway, Cloughie eventually emerged, thanked Harry for waiting and informed him that his players had said that the Boundary Park surface was the finest they had ever played on. Some compliment at the time from the great man himself. Harry actually thought he was going to get a b*llicking from Cloughie. Strange that really as well, because when John Platt broke his leg in a pre season friendly against (I think) Sheffield United, the pitch was blamed as being too Lush as John's Studs had got caught in the surface as he twisted. By the way stipey great find.

Does that mean the moderating team are going to "buy" us something or are we going to be dealt with "BY" the moderating team? Just wondering like. [EDIT] Sod off! [/EDIT]

Evening all. I attended the meeting tonight (with other owtb members) knowing that in all likelyhood the applications would be deferred. In reality, and despite what Alan Hardy says on the official site, it was better to defer the decision tonight because, if they had approved the application, there would be more possibility for a legal challenge from those objecting to the scheme(residents) ala Brightons new stadium. The reason tonights decision was not made earlier is that upto around mid day on the day of the planning meetings, there is late information arriving from the various bodies that are consulted on planning applications and there was the possibility that the Highways Agency could have notified the Council this morning that they were withdrawing their holding directive. In my view, the planning committee could have proceeded with their debate and made a decision tonight if they were going to refuse the applications, because the Highways Agency report would not have made any difference to a decision to refuse. The fact that they haven't followed this route fills me with more confidence that the Councillors will, subject to the Highways Agency comments, approve the scheme. The decision to defer until next month was by virtue of a unanimous vote by Councillors of all parties. It is also worth noting, that the rarely wrong Chron have this week reported that the Council want to take over the running of Broadway from the Highways Agency from the M60 junction at the Boat & Horses to where it joins the A627 at the Elk Mill roundabout on the grounds that now the M60 is complete there is not the level of traffic on Broadway. On that basis, it will be difficult for the Highways Agency to argue/prove that the proposed Boundary Park development will have an adverse effect on Broadway and the Elk Mill Roundabout. Cheers, Harry

Just a note of caution to you all. There is a very very strong possibility that the decision next week will be deferred. A post earlier in the thread referred to the holding objection from the Highways Agency. This is still in place and is unlikely to be removed before next Wednesdays planning meting. The reason it is in place is that the H.A. are waiting for the results of a survey (I don't know the full details of what the highways survey is ) which are unlikely to be available before the meeting. Whilst I understand that Councilors will have sufficient information to make a judgement on the applications, with the strength of objections from local residents, it is likely that members will defer to await the results of the survey and whether the H.A. will then withdraw their holding objection. By deferring the decision to wait for the H.A. the Councillors will reduce any opportunity for a legal challenge from residents in the event that they approve the applications. I must stress that this is regular practice and should not in any way ring alarm bells for us or the club. In the short term it may be frustrating, but in the medium to long term it will probably benefit us. I don't mean to alarm ppl but please dont all blow up if, as I expect, this happens next Wednesday. By the way, the issue about the bats is now standard practice in relation to planning applications. The presence of bats does not necessarily prevent development proceeding and I am sure the club and their consultants are fully aware and have probably already had the necessary bat survey carried out and have proposals at the ready. Cheers Harry.

4 please Beardy. There will be myself, Alan Groves Perm, Neil Adams Headband & Lt. Pigeon. Unfortunatley Nava is being a lightweight. Some excuse about girlfriends birthday.

Exactly the point I was making before Steve. Lee Hughes will earn our respect more by his behaviour off the pitch than anything he is likely to do on it. We have to give him that opportunity first before we judge him further. Its now upto him. Maybe we can judge him in 1 or 2 months if he cocks up. Hold our hands up and say it was a poor decision, there again in 12/18 months we may well be able to turn round and say he has earned our respect for the way he has behaved since he was released. Only time will tell and the justice system we have in this country says that he is entitled to that time to show that he has changed. If he doesn't he will in all likelyhood return to prison.

Since the (possible) signing of Lee Hughes was 1st mentioned I have said very little and kept my own counsel. The last 24 hours have brought nothing more than I expected. For 13 years I practiced law and got to understand why and how judges assess the length of sentence handed down on conviction. The judges for the most part are applying directives handed down "from above." e.g. Murder is an automatic life sentence, yet judges then get a discretion to say that the convicted will serve a minimum of ??? years. (its just an example - not meant to be extreme.) We quite often (some more often than not) disagree with the level of sentence handed down, but in the end we (reluctantly) accept the given sentence. If the convicted shows remorse and displays good behaviour they may become eligible for parole. At that point and for parole to be effective, the system needs to be able to provide a situation where that person can be re-intergated back into the community. They will need for example housing/family/employment and be able to be assessed whilst on parole. The system is there for all not just convicted high profile "celebrities." Prior to my involvement in law I would probably have had a greater problem with this signing. I also think that both sides on this argument need to take a step back and consider the following: - 1) Lee Hughes was drink driving when he was involved in an accident that resulted in both death and serious injury - fact 2) Lee Hughes compounded his guilt be attempting to avoid arrest and going into hiding before handing himself in - fact 3) Lee Hughes was correctly convicted of the offences and sentenced by the judge in accordance with the directives handed down to him - fact 4) Lee Hughes has served his sentence in accordance with the rules and regulations set and as such has become available for parole - fact 5) Lee Hughes will have to adhere to the terms of his parole or will be returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for breach of those terms - fact 6) Since his release Lee Hughes has not (as far as we are aware) yet committed any other offence - fact Lee Hughes has signed for Oldham Athletic as a profesional footballer and will have to prove to us all (both for and against his signing) that he is a reformed person, has remorse for his previous actions and respects the opportunity he has been given to resurrect his family and professional life. He has a lot of proving to do. We can all have our moral stand point on what he has done, but we all live in a country that says you live by the laws of the land and as such, Lee Hughes is entitled as the next person to be treated equally on those rules once he has paid the price for his misdemeanour. I have a lot of time for both points of view, but for me, the past is the past, I have respect (although I dont always agree with various sentences) for the legal system we have and believe that it is the best on offer. I also believe that be it Jo Bloggs from Lands end or Billy big premiership superstar we should all be treated equally. Lee Hughes has got a very tough 12 months in front of him. It wil be hard enough convincing his own fans that he deserves this chance let alone opposition fans and the media at large. I personally think that we should not prejudge him on what he will or will not do following his release. The ball is now in his court to show us that he deserves our applause when he crosses the white line, when he does something entertaining on the pitch and when he scores a goal for the super blues, but most of all it is down to Lee Hughes to earn our respect (in some cases against the odds) by his behaviour and attitude away from the pitch and his involvement in the various activities/initiatives he is likely to be involved with. I hope this helps and ask that you please all take a step backfrom your own viewpoint and let Lee's actions in the coming months make your mind up for you. Cheers Harry

When it was the main headline item the words "senior player" were indeed there in the text below the headline. However as it has slipped down the page with the addition of the new items, the text has been removed so you no longer see anything other than the main headline. The words were definately there.

Baldy