mikeroyboy

For clubs like ours promotion to the Premiership usually does the trick.

You can also fall from a three story building and survive. You could have made your statement more plausible with figures to back it up.

An excellent original post. Along with other posts many traditional reasons are covered as to how we started supporting the club and how it’s all changed. For me it started in 1954 when going to the cinema in Oldham with some mates. We noticed a line of ‘football special’ buses waiting down the side of the Paragon Garage in King Street. I was 8yrs old and this scenario would not be repeated today. After a quick debate we hopped on one. I was hooked. A couple of years ago I wondered how much an adult ticket should cost today allowing a generous inflation figure. I started with a mid-sixties date, added a 10% per annum inflation and an educated guess of 6 shillings/30p entry. If memory serves right it came to £11. Over the last 10 to 15 years I have introduced 6 grandsons to Latics. 3 are now adults and rarely go except for big games. I have been to a game with all six only twice. The youngest, now 9, was first introduced to a live game two years ago at a pre-season friendly at Ashton. He was hooked and became a season ticket holder and he still absolutely loves the games. In the car on the way home from the 5-2 defeat against Southend I was silent. ‘You know granddad, it’s not too bad you know. I thought it was quite a good game – we saw 7goals’. Oh, for the perception of a kid. When he first started going his City and United school chums were taking the micky out of him. I told him to find out how many have seen 'their team' play live. None was the reply. He started to take his programmes into school which went down well and they loved the photos of him leading the team out as mascot. Sadly, these lads don’t have anyone to take them. 9yr olds can’t hop on a bus anymore. The options now for things to do on Saturday are numerous. And no matter how much money each club pumps into the club to gain success it is impossible to avoid disappointment for the majority. There does need to be a realignment of our hopes and expectations.

Certainly it's OK to be unhappy, I'm unhappy. What I'm saying is, remaining in L1 is not failure, even if it's for the next 20yrs. By nature I always try to look at problems from a business perspective. As we agree there is no guarantee a larger salary will secure a top half of L1 position. I also suspect Dunn is on a substantially better package than Kelly because of his experience in the game. There is no sign as yet of any improvement so short term we have another duffer. Extensive Championship experience doesn't seem to be the secret ingredient which is opposite to what we thought Kelly lacked. The players look disorganised and quarrelsome so moral hasn't been boosted. Not forgetting the coaching team are a 4 man squad. The booing won't help anyone either. Successful managers at other clubs fail on a regular basis when moving on. Unhappy fans are an intrinsic part of football. Every club has them and winning handsomely is the only thing that shuts them up, never for long. The bigger you are the more fickle the fan. Where does Corney go now; at the moment I guess he is gutted over Dunn's start. His aversion to relegation and taking action to avoid it could be sorely tested if things haven't improved by the end of December. I can't see him giving the hapless (up to now) Dunn any money for the January window. I don't think he has parted company with two managers in one season so it could be squeaky bum time come the New Year. If Dunn does fail (I haven't given up on him yet) I hope the next manager comes with experience at our level and at least 'some' experience of success. But it will be yet another gamble - it always is.

I have not voted, understandably not all options are there. I am 'content while he finds someone'. I would be gutted if he bumped the club, which of course is possible, as an act of desperation. I refuse to accept remaining in L1 during his tenor is failure. I spent 30yrs in business, about 8 as director and 6 as chairman of a LTD company. I can easily relate and understand how difficult it is for football league owners to employ skilled staff manager/coaches/players when they themselves have little or no knowledge of sussing out the applicants reliability at forming a group of players to work together. The standard of managers in general is pretty poor, especially man-management. I do suspect that this is our major problem this season and not least Dunn's tactics on his learning curve. Virtually every owner in the league suffers the same problem, many with devastating consequences. They are all at the mercy of LUCK with the manager who needs luck with the players he inherits and buys most of which he will not know personally. All that before the opposition try and sabotage your product. How LUCKY are Bournemouth with Eddie Howe? An owner who is willing to invest and a very good manager who, along with his family, love the place. But we have enjoyed our share of luck and it lasted 12 magical years. There is no doubt we are in a bad place at the moment but to call it failure to be still in L1 from a position of administration when many of our peers have plunged out of this division and beyond the next is far from a structured and informed viewpoint. Not least because in all case they are arrived at without any semblance of an alternative.

You give no indication of your 'decent percentage' but I'll give you a poor one at 4% which would increase the gate by 9,000. It would take a lot more than a few home wins to achieve that - more like a good run in the Championship funded by someone we don't know. Meanwhile...

Whether it be Corney, Blitz, Gazal or a White Knight riding into town you are delusional if you think they are doing it for us lot. There are no disgruntled masses, Latics fans represent only about 3% of the towns population. About another 3% have already gone. They have done what most people do with a poor product – withdrawn their patronage. That’s how business works and most of the fans left understand that. Who supports a business offering a poor product? There’s a hard-core of ‘fans’ who seem to have a misguided sense of entitlement to investment and success. Can anyone identify another business that operates on opening hours of 90hrs per annum, 1.7hrs per week for their main revenue stream? Merchandising and Sponsorship will be negatively effected by a drop in core support. Hypothetically; White Knight rides into town. First job is, shall we say, an experienced manager. There are dozens of those on theMagic Roundabout but most of them have been tossed there. Money is no object so let’s look at those in the Football League, no need for the fans to worry about the risk. There seems to be a problem there too, rapid turnover due to failure. Only 27 managers out of 98 have manged to stay put over 2 years and only 8 have made it beyond 3 years. Of course they have not all been fired, some of them are newbies, but better not go down that road. Here’s a question for the blind rabbit; ‘how would you decide the next manager and who?’ Even the blind rabbit uses hind sight to realise when the wrong man has been appointed – with the exception of Kelly, of course – it only took Corney 7 games or so. Hindsight, where would we all be if foresight was reliable? Queuing up to fund the club would be my guess. A very large majority of the town don’t care what happens to Oldham Athletic. Don’t expect too much from strangers.

No! Why would he continue to jettison managers when relegation looks likely? He is a failure for not getting promotion or for not getting relegation, which is it? He can't be trying to do both. Why would he secure funding for the new stand? He is an honourable man - but for how long?

It was shambolic tonight but a taxi for Dunn is hardly the answer. A mini bus would hardly be big enough. After 18 league games the dye is cast on where we are and why. But there is something very fundamental missing. Who and why would 'anyone' step into Corney's shoes to fund the revival of our club?There are no guarantees with any manager, any player and any amount of money. Expectations of football fans are simply beyond rationality.

They've been listening to us airing our dirty washing in public.

I have just gently inserted a blunt instrument (don't ask) into my 600ft above sea level lawn. It was like a hot knife in butter.

That figures, at the back.

What 'exactly' are you doing or proposing to do then - if I may be so Bold?

He needed to get it off his chest - just like some misguided fans with zero motivational skills think sarcasm will improve performance. I don't think Dunne should have taken the bait. The vast majority of fans denounce derogatory chants towards their team and the bone heads won't take any notice or could even get worse.

I think the club are trying to get a commitment from fans. Tuesday night coming up to Christmas is hardly likely to attract too much interest even at a fiver. The club have clearly stated that the offer is to help fans with financing 3 home games, this means regular fans in my view. The casuals wouldn't come anyway if it was a foul night.

Next door to a giveaway and we get the usual 'they should have done this or that'. If you seriously want to go Just Get On The Bloody Phone or do what you normally do.

An owner who sees fit to risk some none returnable cash on two or three players to give the disillusioned fans an incentive to return. Increasing attendances is one of only two ways, along with none football income, to escape the bottom half of L1. Of course a manager who can identify such players and gel them into a crowd pleasing attacking force will likely take more luck than money. As most football clubs know. There are a lot of high end/one club duffers out there.

So the 'clubs' pitched it right then.

This is one for sub-2000 local diehards. The club have pitched it about right to make a crust out of it. £10 would have attracted a few more fans but not enough to cover the cost.

A big gamble on a manager who was unlikely to attract quality players. Cheap option gambles on players with lifestyle problems and injury issues. A revolving door of short term contracts and loan players. New stand nearing completion. New owners in the background anyone?

No, just a gamble, like many managerial appointments in the game. If Corney had deliberately wanted to try something reckless to get us relegated in order to move forward he wouldn't have fired him.

You may not be sure my observations stand up but your excellent research has confirmed that being relegated is an outstandingly reckless gamble in the hope of moving forward. Which is of course is the theme of this thread.

Where to start – a bloodless coup, ousting the board and not attracting investment will do. Not a single buyer nominated and total disregard for the circa £4,000,000 investment in the income generating potential of the new stand. Relegation is the way forward – at ‘who’s risk’ is my first thought, not the person who ‘thinks it’ is my second thought. Has the number of clubs (the vast majority of the 44) who have been relegated in the last 11yrs some having gone even lower been noticed? The few who have recovered and bounced back beyond L1 will, in virtually all cases have been due to exceptional private investment, and good luck to their fans. Many of the rest are rattling around in the Conference or lower. The odds of an easy recovery are slim and that’s why Corney sacks managers if he smells danger. It is easy to understand supporters anguish and yearning for success but the fact is there is no mention by these fans of funding or a three year financial projection. We are not stagnating, we are working to a budget. I have been there twice when applying for re-election to Division4 (that's avoiding the Conference in old money) and seeing us in the Premiership. While we are undoubtedly playing poorly we are pretty much at our level in league status. The few clubs our size who gain a modicum of success get lucky with someone gifting them cash or stumbling onto a talented manager. We get unlucky along with the rest. However much money club chairmen put into a club only three will be promoted and four poor sods will be relegated. Promotion is excruciatingly difficult and investment is not guaranteed to achieve it. Traditionally big clubs with double or treble our support will always be favourites. The combination of Joe Royle, Ian Scott, and a group exceptionally talented players is hardly likely to be repeated. We have only been relegated twice in around 40yrs, one of those from the Premier League. That's not a bad record. While I am not happy with the dire home performances of the last 4yrs I cannot see anyone seeing us (or any club our size) as a club worth investing in. If someone does I will count ourselves lucky but only but only for a trial period. Having said that it’s common knowledge Corney want’s out and just maybe the new stand is the prelude/condition for someone to come in. If our performances are to improve it is more likely to be manager led not the unlikely scenario of a stranger throwing non-refundable cash at us. In that respect we are well overdue a break.

I have to admit i thought he'd passed his sell by date. He was excellent on Saturday. His experience and composure made up for any lack of pace or height. I would be happy to see him continue in central defence if Saturday's level of performance continues.

Agreed. But I am speaking about confidence on appointment.