slystallone

Great Post O4U, come to expect that though so I shouldn't be surprised.

I've already stated my views on this whole sorry debarcle already.

I have outright anger towards the senior people pertaining to run the club, the owner, the board of directors, the chief ex and, importantly also, the manager; as - similar to you O4U, I too have very real reservations that Lee Johnson is not fully part of this decision making process and is behind this move also. I have outright anger towards these people.

They've dragged our club through the mire, and shown themselves to be idiotic, amateurish, out of touch morons in my opinon. This was a situation that did not need bringing to our door, but they have brought it; with scant regard for the fans of the club. I have anger towards them because through their idiotic decision; they have made me have to make a choice I didn't think i'd have to make: namely to continue to watch my club as a supporter or to withdraw my support.

I cannot, nor will not, continue to offer my support when we have a convicted rapist attached and associated with the club. Nor will I continue to offer my support when the people in charge show such contempt for their fans, in outright lying to them; and then in failing to undertake any form of consultation in an overall decison making process. Once CE is no longer at the club, and once we have a new owner and thus with it a new look board, I will be able to then attempt to rekindle the passion and love for the club I used to have; and see about returning to games.

I'm a season ticket holder. I attended my first game in 1986. I've followed the team up and down the country across countless away trips, as well as obviously all home games for years & years. My decision has not been taken lightly, far from it in fact. I've agonised over the various options as I see them, but I simply cannot nor will not continue to support in light of what has come about since Sunday.

On another interlinked point to my stance on this; I have also been appalled in discovering a certain section of OAFC fans; who have come to light or been 'outed' if you will, a group that condone CE's actions, seek to trivialise rape, offer up abuse to anyone who does not share their abhorrent views and are actually; as we speak, coming up with pro-CE chants and songs to start to sign at game on Saturday, all in a 'ladz bantz' style.

I would find it difficult to now actively associate myself with them by standing on an away terrace near them, or be having a pre-match drink in the same pub as them. At home games, I cannot be sat in & around fellow fans who will be actively supporting and cheering CE.

Someone posted on one of the many threads that they are proud of the club in the way they're going about this; and It wasn't from what I could tell, a post that was a fish / troll / whatever you want to call it.

Proud is about the last thing I am. I'm ashamed and disgusted at the club, the people who run it and towards a certain section of fellow fans.

I'm angry at Simon Corney, his yes men Board of Directors, Neil Joy, Lee Johnson and his backroom team for creating this situation, and I'm gutted - genuninely gutted that I will not be attending games for the forseeable future.

No grand gesture from me on Saturday; no throwing my ticket onto the pitch, no protest before the game on a picket-style gathering. I will just not be attending anymore. And I hate that I feel my hand has been forced into that decision.

Old habits die hard, and you can't cut feelings off overnight, so I would imagine I will possibly be still checking in on here from time to time, but my posting will be drastically down on current levels (i can imagine small cheers starting in certain living rooms as i type that!). 29 years is a bloody long time, and Its going to be really hard to just 'flip a switch' so to speak and go Oldham Athletic cold-turkey I think.

I was proud to call myself an Oldham Athletic fan. I was proud of my club. After this sorry debarcle, I no longer am.

Each & everyone of us has their own individual decision to make in regards to this development at our club. We shouldn't have to, but we do. I don't agree with the views that are the exact opposite to mine, but - you have to respect the fact that everyone has their own views and thus makes their own individual decisons from that. Good luck to those who can compartmentalise their feelings and still continue to go, I wish you luck for the :censored: storm that is to come.

I'm going to miss my pre game & post game beers in the Rifle Range, meeting up with football mates and following a club I was proud to support.

So, :censored: you Simon Corney. :censored: you Barry Owen. :censored: you Neil Joy. :censored: you Ian Hill. :censored: you Lee Johnson. :censored: all of those others involved in making this decision. You've made me come to this, and I hate for you for it.

But most of all? :censored: You Ched Evans; you absolute and utter scum bag.

I'm actually starting to feel proud of my club for doing this and for giving someone a second chance to rebuild their life.

I'm running with a plethora of varied emotions over this whole debarcle: being proud is most certainly not one of them...

 

Hi Rob

I'd love to say I had a well scripted and thought through explanation for him. Sadly I didn't.

With a twelve year old brother around he's a pretty clued up seven year old. With a very inquisitive mind.

He asked me what all this was about and I probably started in the same place most people would / did.

 

I started with the least I could say 'he did a bad thing'

but as the questions persisted, I decided rather than claiming parental privilege and ducking a tough conversation, this was the right time to explain what that was. he knows what sex is already. and he's only going to go and google it and read god knows what if I duck it.

 

i tried to be as matter of fact as possible about what rape was, explaining the serious nature of it, without getting into the full emotional horror of it. it's tough.

 

Good luck!

Hopefully we can replace the sponsors who have jumped ship, with ones that aren't so cowardly or morally dubious/inflexible/binary.

 

Sorry, but this whole episode is pissing me off royally now, both the reactions of some on this board and in the media over the last few days are sickening to me. I think I'll take the rest of the day off to calm down.

 

Welcome to the club Ched Evans. Here's hoping you are worth all the fuss.

I agree fully.

But I think we're talking about different reactions......

 

Sly did you get a reply from Corney, just that a friend of my lads sent him an e-mail saying he would back him, and he got a reply thanking him.

 

Emails sent to Corney, Joy, and Johnson.

No replies.

I got the Post Master delievered and read receipts though.

I didn't write the emails for replies anyway, it was simply so they could read my own, individual view point and opinion; I wasn't pertaining to speaking for anyone else other than myself.

 

But quite a lot of fans wanted him signed? So they are hardly disregarding everyones opinion. What a ridiculous thread. On Saturday we go and support the team in a league game and hope for 3 points, as normal.

Edit. Done. My post added nothing to what already is being said...

The thought of standing on the terraces alongside some of the absolute :censored: who have surfaced since Sunday makes me feel ill so for that reason, but not only that reason, I'm out.

It truly is an embarrassing and appalling byproduct of the whole sorry mess.

This is a cluster:censored: of the highest order...

Really? Because it's only you lot on here that seem to be against the signing. From what I have seen all over Facebook, Twitter and indeed talking to my many OAFC supporting friends, the MAJORITY is backing the move.

I keep reading this

I'm not on twatter or arsebook so i can only go off here and fellow Latics fans I know.

Everyone one of them I've text or spoken to are against it; with most of them having come to the same decision as I have should the awful but now it seem inevitable happen and CE is signed.

We move in different circles obviously...

If the club could really alienate a quarter if the fan base to the extent that they will no longer attend matches, how can they even consider going ahead?

Because we don't matter.

They can plug the financial gap with monies from CE's wealthy girlfriends father.

Money talks obviously.

:censored: years of support, :censored: years of association and passionate following: as long as the club isnt out of pocket eh?

 

This could affect future loan signings.

Yes, and I think it will.

But i'm not sure in this case. He said when he arrived he was here to build his experience, play games and improve further, with a view to getting as high up the football pyramid as he could.

The Chron piece echoes that too.

So, he's aiming Championship or higher. Bigger than us; and it's for that reason i'd say we wont be seeing him again.

(Nice to post something unrelated to CE for a change.....damm it, still mentioned him)

NO. Don't be ridiculous. Get down to B.P. and get behind the lads.

Yeah. Come on. Pretend that absolutely nothing has happened.

Yeah. Can't wait....

I am feeling like a victim here, three days of my life totally screwed up !

all i want now is a definitive yes or no, surely that is not too much to expect .

I think victim is an exceptionally poor term to use considering the circumstances, don't you?

You couldn't make it up could you?

The club is a shambles.

I'm embarrassed by it frankly

Over the years I have learned through experience never to react with my first thoughts on emotional

issues. My immediate thoughts were FFS No but having thought about it more I am now in no doubt

where I stand.

 

I grew up during times when women who took rape cases to court regularly came out feeling the guilty party. Men were acquitted because the woman looked or dressed a certain way and were obviously asking for it. I am happy that there is now improved protection for women where no means no and the capacity for an individual to give consent is given consideration in judgements. The need for both male and female to think more about the consequences of their Saturday night actions is a step in the right direction in both rape cases and for society in general. Yes there will be injustices, always have been always will, but to go back to the way things were is a place we dont want to go. The best advice I was given was not to put yourself at risk of harm or injustice or to go into a situation when you are willing and able to accept the consequences.

 

Whilst there are some who worryingly suggest signing Ched Evans based on the possibility of his innocence, the basis for arguments on the thread has mostly been a combination of the recognition of the severity of the crime and his ability to ply his trade during his rehabilitation/following his time served.

I totally agree that it is essential that society supports reformed offenders who have stayed on the right side of the law. Forgiveness and the offer of hope to offenders who conform to (what is considered) acceptable behaviour, and then go on contribute to society, is for the greater good of a modern society. Acceptable behaviour does require the showing remorse and not harassing the victim.

 

I have always hated it when people say of football aye but football is different when they try to justify why football should be treated different to other commercial organisations (e.g. the payment of creditors when clubs go bust). Unfortunately, I found myself saying just this when trying to justify why CE should not be allowed to be rehabilitated back into football. I have problems when the rehabilitation process itself puts communities at risk or is detrimental to society (e.g. what do with child offenders when they have completed their time). Im in no way suggesting that CE poses a risk toanyone who goes to a football match, but the dynamics of a football crowd are such that it would inevitably create a more hostile environment than if he wasnt there to the detriment of the thousands of other people present. For a convicted rapist to play professional football will inevitably result in hate filled chanting that cross the boundaries of banter. Women attend matches now more than they did before and chants about rape/saying no and even the sight of a rapist would make them feel threatened/uncomfortable. Those that had been victims of rape themselves do not deserve the unnecessary reminders when the watch TV or go to a match.

 

Signing CE would bring with it an opportunity for EVERY other club and their supporters and society in general to feel justified in hating everything associated with Oldham Athletic Football Club. If anyone believes their matchday experience would not change for the worse they either kid themselves or have very broad shoulders. The family club tag will be lost for a generation and any remnants of a family matchday experience will be lost to vitriolic chants associated with rape. Every time you mention youre an Oldham fan you know what the next question is going to be. Ive already had to have a difficult conversation with my 2 boys that I hadnt planned having for another couple of years. I have brought my kids up not to hold football players as role models (although they have come back at me with Ribery) so the role model argument doesnt work for me.

 

The only good that will come out of it is one person being rehabilitated through football and another individual making or saving money. So when you put CE rehabilitation it in the context of a greater good it simply doesnt work in football from a matchday experience alone. This is before you bring into the argument sponsorship and the showing of remorse.

 

So I have concluded that Ched Evans deserves the right to be rehabilitated into society but not in football. He should seek another trade, he is young and can chose alternative career path. Like other sports personalities that have fallen on the wrong side of the law or rules he shouldnt bring further disrepute to the sport that provided him with a great opportunity. If the club wish to sign him then itwont be in my name and I have no desire to listen to rape related chants for 90minutes. If he believes he is innocent and wishes to clear his name, that choice remains open to him.

Another to add to the growing list of very good posts.

Conspiracy theory - the father in law is investing in the club.

Journo doing a 2 + 2 = 93 maybe? But maybe not.

Put it this way; surely - surely someone at board level was able to forsee that the club may lose some sponsors or investors, and the shortfall would need to plugged short term. He is by all accounts a rich man.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he does indeed turn out to become a new investor shoud his daughters convicted rapist boyfriend be signed up.

Henry Winter nails it for me.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11326603/Ched-Evans-latest-Shame-on-Oldham-for-even-thinking-of-signing-the-striker.html

Another well constructed & written piece there.

And I find myself agreeing with every part of it too...

I'm not exactly over the hill at 30 years old and in sorry but had I got home from a night out and my mate text me saying "he'd got a bird" I might think ok and gone to sleep - I would not have chuffed myself over to the hotel to watch said mate shag said bird then asked to jump in for seconds - Ched Evans is a morally abhorrent scumbag of a human being and if the "younger" people think that kind of behaviour is acceptable then God help this species - this whole episode has made me sick to my stomach

Yep pal, i've only 4 years on you at 34; but that's it for me. Its not that long ago that I was merrily drinking myself into oblivion at Uni, and got up to plenty of 'young lad' escapades.

But, I can say hand on heart, even pissed out of my nut, my moral compass still worked to extent that I would not have ever got myself into the situation Ched Evans got himself into.

Whether you have an opinion on his conviction being correct or not, I would surely like to think that everyone could agree his behaviour that night was abhorrent.

Wider issue, is that sadly, from following the links posted on here from Twitter (im not on it, thankfully so, it seems from days like today and yesterday) - there are great swaths of the population - young men mostly - who can see no wrong whatsoever with the behaviour of CE that night. And the trivialisation of such a serious and life-damaging crime as rape is truly shocking actually.

Some of our fans, mostly young men it has to be said, coming out in such vocal support for CE and for his signing.....and the vile putrid bile they're coming out with to anyone daring to an opinion that differs to theirs is quite unbelievable.

Society is plumbing new depths in this it seems, its bringing out the worst modern society has to offer it appears.

This whole sorry mess just continues to get worse & worse.

I have anger towards the people pertaining to run our club for bringing this on us - it was an awful decision in the first place and their subsequent handling of it since has been shambolic, amateurish and frankly incompetent.

I now can add embarrassment and shame towards a section of our support.

And a head wobble towards the younger generation and the way society in our country seems to be heading. I'm expecting my first child in April; really looking forward to welcoming them into a Nation where its believed 'laddy' and is apparently acceptable to behave like a character from A Clockwork Orange.

As LeeSinnott and Pukka say, how is this rolling into a 3rd Day?

And from Beags multiple choice; i'd need a 5th box: all of the above.

Its a real head mess this. I've run the whole gammet of emotions.

Whilst still being opposed to signing CE; my main emotions today as this whole sorry mess is dragged out for all & sundry to see are one's of anger towards club officials and seniors for their huge part in all this, and embarrassment of my club. We've been shown to be naieve, amateurish, tin pot and plain stupid in all this - and i'm genuinely gutted at the club i support having got themselves into this situation.

"They" should never have even entertained the thought of signing CE, let alone follow through on it. The apparent U-turn (whilst it's what I want) has only shown them to be even more incompetent than than appeared yesterday.

Its a shambles. An utter shambles this, and it rolls into a 3rd day at the circus...

If this wasn't such a serious, important matter, you'd surely have to laugh?

Shambles.

Utter Shambles.

The people "running" the club; hang your heads. You're an embarrassment.

Clueless.

You just couldn't make this up could you...

It was a thought, give us a quid and save our soul.....my warped sense of humour

Oh.

I thought that you thought that all the people who have signed that online petition were Oldhams Fans.

IiRC they did the same for Brian Gunn too.

Decent club Norwich.

Just remind me..how many strikers have we currently got, regardless if they are firing or not.

 

Isn't there other strikers out there at the mo we can get or tap into via our links with Other clubs?

 

And just a thought but if all this who signed that petition would have stuck a quid into playershare, could we have afforded a striker wholly or partially?...ohhh what if eh

Why would people unconnected with the club contribute to PlayerShare?

 

A disqualification from working with Children is perhaps the main one (may not be an automatic condition). Given that we have a youth team and children attending matches, measures would have to be put into place to monitor him and ensure compliance.

IIRC, There were issues with Gary Madine when he came out, limitations placed on him due to be being on license? Think Rudemedic has already mentioned. Believe Madine had a curfew and as such was unable to play in evening matches; as they went past his court ordered curfew time.

IIRC he missed a number of matches.

Would it not be similar for CE also?

That's not even considering, as mentioned above, the Centre of Excellence and Youth Teams, any Community Work in Schools or Youth Clubs, Hospital visits etc.

 

Oh yes please. Full details too.

I was replying to oafc_lover with the PM offer; but sure thing, why not.

Hour by hour or more in-depth for you?