Steve_R

It looks plain to see that Unsworth’s going nowhere.

Before yesterday I thought very slowly improving, and that this would continue for the rest of the season, and although it wouldn’t be pretty we would finish mid table, well away from danger. The crunch would come in pre season, where we had a Ronnie Moore situation with season ticket sales well down as no one could stand the manager.

After that yesterday I’ve lost hope of mid table mediocrity and I’m dreading next season already.

2 hours ago, Gaz_Oafc said:

Probably wouldn't be best pleased fans were giving the manager stick in the first place... He was big on support the team/manager no matter what in his takeover press conference 

That was for a different manager and he soon fucked him off

5 hours ago, oafc1955 said:

Dylan Fage has left GNE without playing a game…signed for Macclesfield fc!

Maybe Mo was right and clubs are queuing up for him. Who wouldn’t want him?

21 minutes ago, disjointed said:

With some of the shite he spouts we should be grateful he is leaving it to Ebbrell. 

To be honest, after listening to Ebbrell’s interviews, my advice to Unsworth next time he pre-plans not to do one would be ‘send Jeffers instead.’

15 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

 

 

We've got Peter Clarke on board to step in now.  Give it to him and see how he gets on.  He isn't going to do any worse.

 

 

Even if he doesn’t want it and he’s not even our player?

9 minutes ago, wiseowl said:

Exactly why I am boycotting from here. It's the only thing that has an affect i.e. don't waste your hard earned money on this ferkin tripe. 

 

Surely Frank and Joe can't continue to let blind loyalty cloud their judgement - can they?

So you’ll ‘come back’ if we sack Unsworth. What happens if the next manager is just as bad or not much better? When does ‘Boycott 3’ start?

1 hour ago, singe said:

Darren Byfield takes charge at Crawley. He takes over from Matthew Etherington who had been in charge for 32 days. Etherington himself had taken over from Kevin Betsy who'd lasted 4 months. 

Crawley is owned by some Crypto Bros, and seemingly intent on out Lemsagaming the Lemsagams. 

Etherington was in charge for just three games apparently, and he won one of those!

Reading that it doesn’t sound as if he’s going anywhere. A lot of what he says is true, total rebuild, all stick together etc. The trouble is, if the person in charge of the rebuild is shit at his job, it’ll never get of the ground 

1 hour ago, nzlatic said:

I've said this before, but the previous owners aren't responsible for how Abdallah has treated the fans over the last 4 years. That is totally on him. Had he treated fans better then the club could be in a very different position despite all the financial issues.

Oh definitely, The state of the club from when he took over to where it is now is down to him, but the reason why I see it being so hard to sell is down to the lot of them.

An interesting listen, particularly to hear another 'take' on the whole mess. What I took from it was that although Abdallah's made a right balls up of it, we were well and truly fucked anyway before he came in.

I thought Andy's line of questioning was very good, but the other guy seemed determined to blame Abdallah for everything and less open to look at the fact that the club was a basket case anyway.

I'm not sticking up for Abdallah in any way, and the day he leaves can't come soon enough, but I can't see anyone buying it in it's current state, and the current and previous owners are all equally culpable as to where we are now in my view.

If sufficient funds are raised to purchase the ground or form  a consortium to do so, but Abdallah remains in situ as owner of the club, what then?

If the original aim is to force Abdallah to sell up and leave, how will OASF owning/part owning the ground achieve this?

Danny Whittaker is manager at Macc, for today anyway.

Danny Whittaker is manager at Macc, for today anyway.

7 hours ago, Clifford said:

If AL is managing to make some money, by whatever means, from OAFC he will remain. We have seen this with other owners at other clubs. Give them abuse, they stop going but still earn.

The only way to get an owner out is to hit them in the pocket.

Stop giving them your money. Support the FLG (when the time comes) and get rid of this clown. 

I thought the FLG wanted to give them. money

22 minutes ago, Clifford said:

 

Corney managed to get loans against the club didn't he. No reason why AL cant do the same.

 

These 2 or 3 year deals that have been handed out on stupid money need paying monthly. If he fucks off in January they'll still need paying long term.

 

Once the Edmondson money and season ticket money are gone, bearing in mind we've no real corporate monies coming in then we'll see real issues. If we go early in the cups i think AL will be gone before the seasons out.

Apart from Wheater we seemed to have signed a lot of players I've never heard of on 1 or 2 year deals. Who have we signed on a three year deal, and how much is this silly money they are on?

Against my better judgement I'm off to Forest Green on Saturday. After what I've seen so far pre season I was predicting at least a 3-0 defeat. After signing Wheater I've changed my mind.

I reckon it'll only be 2-0 now.

1 hour ago, yarddog73 said:

£500k is probably the figure the club makes out of selling the hospitality, 100 club season tickets and the remainder of the other season tickets and pay on the dayers, I wouldn't say its profit or indeed money made exclusively from that stand because surely fans would just relocate if the stand was to shut, I also don't understand the drama surrounding the catering contracts, at yesterdays game it was frankly a piss take what was on offer, do the OEC/FLG hold sway over the catering as well then?

So this £500k is just a finger in the air figure. It might come from here, it might come from there etc. Even if the whole stand was fully operational every day of the year it might not pull in anything like that, but some seem to be taking it as gospel that AL's turning the money away. He's a dick, of that I've no doubt, but figures shouldn't just be made up to make hime look an even bigger one.

22 minutes ago, Bristolatic said:

The more you read, the more you realise that AL wouldn't know the truth if it smacked him in the gob. How many more lies?

 

Please, please, please Abdallah, piss off out of it, take your brother and whatever other loons are involved in running the club with you.

 

I'm beginning to think I'd rather be in the Conference with an owner who is honest, trustworthy and diligent than be in any EFL division with this bunch of charlatans.

 

 

After what I saw today the conference bit might not be that long away

On 6/29/2019 at 7:44 PM, unsworth blue said:

1974 had been a tremendous year for Latics - a wonderful 10 match winning sequence in January - March 1975, a wonderfully productive Easter, catching runaway leaders Bristol Rovers and lifting the Third Division Championship in May. Starting in the second tier of English football for the first time in 20 years, winning our first 4 home games before a bad run but culminating in beating our illustrious neighbours Man United in December 1974.

 

So what of 1975? Would it be a quick return to the third division for Jimmy Frizzell's doughty fighters or would they survive a wretched away record and stay afloat in the bigger league for more than one season for the first time since 1930?

 

Latics first fixture in 1975 was a home FA Cup tie against high flying Aston Villa who had already won at the home of British football in October. They won that game with a last minute winner but Latics were no match for them in the cup and lost 0-3, a quick return to cup walks after the glamour of 1973/74 cup run.  Our poor away form continued with a 1-2 defeat at Bristol Rovers before West Brom racked up at Boundary Park and left with a goalless scoreline.  Latics went back to the Dell, in the league this time, but come away with a 0-1 defeat.  One win in 15 since October had left Latics in jeopardy but two home wins on the spin, against Nottingham Forest 2-0 and our hated neighbours Bolton 1-0 gave Latics some hope of avoiding the drop.

 

Draws against Millwall away and Southampton at home were satisfactory outcomes but two away defeats at Norwich (0-1) and Bristol City (1-3) left OAFC in peril once more. Portsmouth were the next visitors to Boundary Park in a real 4-pointer but proved no match for Latics  (Robins and Groves). A great away point at high flying Fulham was wasted by dropping a home point in a 1-1 draw with Oxford United (Ray Treacy scoring his only goal for Latics with a diving header). A tough looking Tuesday night away fixture at Sunderland followed and expectation was low as the Rokerites were vying for promotion.  But Latics put up a wonderfully spirited fight and returned home after sharing the spoils in a 2-2 draw (George McVitie scoring both). In typical Latics fashion, we followed up with a 0-1 reversal to unfancied Hull City and the relegation trapdoor was opening again. Easter Monday featured  a trip to Old Trafford to face runaway leaders Man United. I am not sure how many Latics fans made the trip as in those days, anyone wearing the other team's colours were targets for the hooligans and United had a vast number of those in their ranks. I sat in the Scoreboard Stand seats with my cousin, Uncle and his mate - could have done with Mr Mellor (1973/74 hero v Burnley lol)….where was he? Anyway Latics gave a grea account of themselves on the pitch, United scored first, Latics replied and it wasn't until 20 minutes from the end that Steve Coppell (United signing from Tranmere) appeared to make it safe at 3-1 after Macari had punched in a second in a goalmouth scramble. The referee (as often happens at the bigger clubs) chose to turn a blind eye and the goal stood. Even at 3-1, Latics had the tenacity to grab a second and should have had a penalty when Ian Robins lobbed the keeper and was following it in until Sammy McIlroy barged him from behind and his momentum took him off the pitch at the Scoreboard End. The linesman and referee saw it that Robins must have fouled McIroy from in front of him and instead of a penalty, awarded a free kick to United. I can't recall feeling overly threatened in the seats and did celebrate wildly when we scored but outside was different. We were parked at White City about 5 minutes from OT and there were hordes of Northern Soul- type tartan scarf clad wankers looking for away fans. I recall seeing two fellas in sheepskin coats (must have been in their 30s?) with one having a massive gash in his eye with blood bellowing out. One said to the other "Good job we didn't fucking win isn't it?". Memory stays with me forever.

 

We were still not safe, we had to host Cardiff City in a must-win 4-pointer and on the day, Latics were unstoppable. They were 3-0 up in no time, aided and abetted by Cardiff goalkeeper Bill Irwin who had terrible day spilling easy shots into his net. I shouted at him from the Chaddy End and was amazed when he turned to me and smiled and held his back mimicking his having a bad back after keep picking the ball out of the net. There was a large army of Welsh on the Chaddy and I was aware that there was some crowd trouble but amazingly it didn't seem to register with me (seemed to be every week lol). The week after, I went to Aston Villa on Barlows (my first trip on Barlows - soon to become a regular part of awaydays). Me (a 13 year old) and Coop (12 year old) going into a 35,000 stadium full of mad Brummies with crap accents. We stopped at the services and I recall about 7 latics coaches of lads (one had a flag "One of Oldham's chosen few) - I thought that's me - I am one of them, for better for worse, for crap and poorer... I was to visit a tatooist several years later to have this on my arm but couldn't afford the cost and never had it done. We got to Villa Park, Latics fans were like peas on a drum, Villa were everywhere. We made the error of paying in and finding out we were at the Holte End - like the bloody Stretford End but bigger!!! Discretion being the better part of valour, we took our leave and paid in to the Blue Seat Paddock (55p all told I think - a princely sum) but at least we were relatively safe. On the pitch, Latics got a mauling, Brian Little got a hat-trick and we lost 5-0, our only spot of cheer was when Chris Ogden saved a Little penalty. Safety arrived at home to Orient the following Saturday when a John Jackson masterclass stopped the O's from a right battering but Millwall and Cardiff failed to win and so Latics survived. The  last game of the season was at Bootham Crescent against our old friends York City and thousands  of Latics fans made the pilgrimage. The behaviour of fans in those days was awful and everywhere you went you saw hordes of Latics fans urinating in the streets and generally being a nuisance. Another draw left Latics winless away from home all season but their 8 draws along with 10 home wins and 7 draws was sufficient for Latics to keep their heads above water and survive.

 

The team were challenging all season and only had one real mauling (Villa away) but a lack of goals kept us in jeopardy and you'd say it was a rock solid defence and a quality home record that kept us up. in 42 games we only scored 40 but only conceded 48. Robins was our top scorer with 9 goals. The crowds were generally 10,000+ (18 of 21 games) and often were 14,000+. The levels of away support were massive in comparison to what we had seen before but as I stated, we were now amongst the big boys and learning how to compete against teams with much better players, much bigger budgets and massive grounds.

The best player - well all of them deserve a mention - the defence was immense, Ogden was an ever-present in goal, Graham Bell looked like a star in the making in midfield (England manager Revie came to see him against Bolton in his third game such was his influence in the games). Hicks was a revalation at centre half although no one seemed to rate him. Alan Young arrived this season, Grovesey was a great talent and did well against some top defences and Blair, Robins and Jones were regulars.

 

If a Latics side of the last 10 seasons had shown the same level of desire and application, no one would ever moan. Those days are gone now but this team were giants of men to young lads of my age who were committed to the cause. Loved them then, love them today - 45 years later.                                                                                      

Is that you, Phil?

On 6/23/2019 at 3:24 PM, wiseowl said:

 

Would that have been Russ Waller? - the lad from Southend originally, who lived on Shaw Road Estate and used to run the programme shop at back of Rochdale Road end (he now lives in Australia if it was).

Russ Waller! That's a name from the past. Remember going to Plymouth away with him many moons ago. Was a mate of John Whitehead, who also ran coaches now and again, if I'm thinking of the right lad

1 hour ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

 

“In summary, Umm Salal under his leadership were pretty direct and mid-rank for the league in pressing metrics. Their defensive shape in the mid block is fine but individual defensive errors and low block was problematic.

But what were they like in bomb alley?

8 minutes ago, Andy b said:

Thanks. The issue of what his future long term plan is is given attention in our letter- see the six expectations. The very specific questions are supplementary to these. We have a right to ask these additional questions but i assure you we are very much driven by a focus on the big picture points, which is I think what you want to see.

 

As stated in the letter, we will all judge the owner against the six ‘strategic’ expectations we set out and our engagements with the owner will be structured around those expectations.

A big part of this is what his long term plan is.

 

You will see that this issue comes up again in our brief to fans following receipt of the response where we express our disapointment that the owner is not opening up about his long term vision. We will be picking this up with AL if and when he agrees to meet 

 

I wish you luck. I've nothing against the Trust and I know from previous personal experience how difficult it is to try and mobilise support from a fanbase where there are many different views. You need to find a common goal, and people will always have objections to what you do and what you say.

I would say that I don't think their is any chance that Addallah will attend a public meeting, wouldn't expect him to or hold it against him if hr doesn't. From the interviews with him I've seen his grasp of the English language isn't good, so can't see any way he'd have the confidence at would be a more than likely hostile environment. I'd certainly push him for a meeting with the trust board thought, or certainly a least a couple of you.

15 hours ago, Andy b said:

Honest point, what do you think the Trust’s question should be and what do you want to see from it?

I'd be asking where does he see the club being in 'x' years time, how does he expect to achieve that goal, and how does he see the role of the fans in helping him achieve this, other than just turning up every week. Obviously there's a lot more to it than that, but It's more important that he can come up with convincing answers this rather than seeing a copy of the receipt for the gas bill.

5 hours ago, Londonboy said:

I've joined the Trust this week and urge as many fans as possible to do the same. 

Like it or not it's the best vehicle we have to communicate with the owner. 

Huge respect to Andy and the rest of the trust team for making the effort in what is unpaid and voluntery. 

Out of interest Andy how many trust members are there currently? 

I'll join the trust when I think that they are worth joining, and not when I get urged to. At the moment I don't think anyone is coming out of this mess with much credit. Just because the owner is a dickhead doesn't mean the Trust is the answer, especially when I've no idea what their question is yet