oafcmetty

46. Casper Ankergren, Leeds Jesus wept.

Hughes is the most skilled footballer at our club by a country mile. If he can stay free of injury, he'll be dynamite next season.

When he starts getting some game time?

Key difference S_W, between today and the era of Royle/Frizzell, is player power. With the intro of the bosman, and the constant chopping and changing of playing squads, managers nowadays can't really bank on being able to build a settled squad, not unless they get some instant success and can then take that side forward. A couple of seasons of 'building' will see players contracts expire, and them then off somewhere they can get a better deal.

Not far off I still maintain that they aren't too bad. In league 2, for example, from 1994-2001, the average didn't get above 4,000. It's been above that every year since.

League 1: 03/04 - 7505 04/05 - 7740 05/06 - 7460 06/07 - 7485 League 2: 03/04 - 5390 04/05 - 4500 05/06 - 4060 06/07 - 4134 Hardly a downward trend, and in all cases, higher than 1999/2000 or 2000/2001.

Not quite sure where you get that from... Stats

Taylor is under contract till 2010 BBC

The Ford Sporting League was a short-lived English football league sponsored by Ford Motor Company. The League's only season was that of 1970-1971. The league adopted a unique points system, intended to reward goalscoring and punish ill discipline. Clubs were awarded a point for every goal scored at home and two points for every goal scored away, but lost 5 points if a player was booked and 10 points if a player was sent off. Oldham Athletic A.F.C. won the league, winning a pot of £70,000. League rules stipulated the prize money be used on stadium improvements, so the money went to build a stand in the stadium. Ford's sponsorship of the competition is notable, with the 1970-1971 season marking a watershed for sponsorship in English football. In addition to the Ford Sporting League, the season saw the first Watney Cup and first Texaco Cup, although The Football League itself turned down an offer of £600,000 to sponsor the Football League Cup. Wikipedia

Best post I've read for ages.

Not my dad is it?

Yes - at the end of next season if we dont get playoffs/promotion, although I'd modify that slightly to read "if we don't challenge for the playoffs, at least"

But there's a difference between blowing it, simply because it is there, and waiting for the right player to come along. Admittedly, there's a fine balance to be struck, and getting it right can be very tricky, but given our current position and recent troubles, I'd rather the club tended towards the more cautious view.

Personally I'd rather not spend it, if spending it would put us in a poorer financial position, and more at risk if TTA ever pull out.

And my wife deleted the 'viewed' soccer am show last night without asking me

Cool. oafcforever - I ain't got one of those - know anyone who does, and who'd lend it you, to lend it me, so I could copy it? If not, try emailing them, they might mail you the clip.

I've got it recorded on sky+. If you can figure out how I get it from my sky+ to you, then I'll gladly do it.

This was the tackle - look how high his foot is...High

Even worse

Bloody pub team defenders... Don't click if you're overly sensitive

I think the problem lies more in making smart decisions, than having stability. Smart decisions will ultimately lead to stability, barring outside events. Would Talbot have got us promoted, given enough time? Possibly, although promotion back to league one, rather than up out of it, was probably more likely!

Bloody hell, possibly the first time I've ever agreed with S_C... Quite a few I've spoken to (lurkers from jkl mainly) don't like the owtb format - the sign up process seemed ott, and the topic based, rather than thread based, layout. For me, it's not having any views (excuse the pun) from our rivals. It just seems a bit cliquey at times. I tend to go through phases of activity/inactivity, depending on how fed up or bored I get.

To be fair, he is originally from Chadderton

I'll be there with 3 non-Latics mates visiting the glorious North (and stoke!) from London - a Brighton fan, a Wycombe fan, and a dirty red. Our record against them at VP is truly awful... http://www.soccerbase.com/head2.sd?team2id...mp;team1id=1924

Allott was my MOM today too. JJ on the other hand was probably our worst player today. He must have passed to a green shirt 70% of the time. Saying that, he got around and put in some good challenges, just wasn't the best on the ball. Can't complain too much though with that result!