oafc1955

OK maybe you'd start your account with £50 and any money in it will be yours to draw out if you wish, the figures were only meant as a guide and it was only an idea for god's sake!!

No probs bt....The season ticket is still by far the best earner for the club, but by paying monthly on a regular basis you are helping the club right through the season and people who don't normally come to many games just might be tempted!! The club could also offer extra incentives once your signed up on line to the scheme like free, or cheaper membership to Latics World for instance.

I didn't say it's broke and I'm not trying to fix anything...I said it would be an alternative...In the real world you expect people to be able to save for a ticket but come June it's been spent on something else. In my case working on shifts I would definitely pay the monthly and so I would expect others who can't go to every game may do so.

How about this as a user friendly alternative to buying a season ticket. Most people's complaints are that it is hard to find £300 in July all at once or in my case I work shifts and can only watch about 15 home games on average per season and the outlay simply is'nt viable. Starting in June apply for an OAFC club debit card and start to pay a set amount, say £30 per month, into your club account by direct debit and continue throughout the season, the club, to their advantage, would always have at least £60 in advance in their bank building up interest on the way. If you couldn't attend matches for any reason it wouldn't matter as your personal balance along with the clubs interest would just increase. The cost per match would be a more reasonable £15.65. Surely you're not going to miss £7 a week and it would get you into all home league games throughout the season. At the end of the season you would be at least £60 in credit and could use it to buy items from the souvenir shop, or it could even be used for away travel and membership and for the purchase of cup tickets or away matches. It would have to work like a mini bank with statements available on line. You could even download your matchday tickets on your PC, in much the same way as the budget airlines. It could also involve swipe machines at designated turnstiles but hey, this is 2008 and anything should be possible! With the stadium development imminent we could be the first club in the football league to adopt this system, and you never know in the future, we could all be paying for our football this way. What do you think, workable or not?

When Trotman was sold to Preston the playoffs were realistically still very much on and we should have replaced him immediately with a covering centre back. Stam was always likely to get an injury and if he'd picked one up a month ago we'd have been in the brown stuff!!!

I don't mean non-league, it would by Div 1 North & Div 1 South.......We'd be travelling no more than 120 miles to an away fixture and regularly play the likes of: Rotherham,Stockport,Chesterfield,Bradford C,Chester,Accrington S,Bury,Macclesfield,Wrexham,Doncaster,Tranmere,Leeds,Huddersfield,Crewe,Port Vale,Walsall,Hartlepool,Darlington,Forest,Notts County, and finally Carlisle which would be the furthest we'd have to travel. It would need a bit of tweaking here and there and promotion and relegation would have to be adressed but surely it would cut down on costs and increase match revenue.

I think that in a nutshell is why our season never really took off. In hindsight we should have done our upmost to keep Wellens at the club, he wasn't pefect but he was the creative player that we have missed all season. The dithering about waiting for Kilkenny at the beginning of the season led to our downfall as we were a quarter way into the season when he finally signed and then we had to change our style to accomodate him. We never really saw a Kilkenny at his best because he came to the club unfit and was carrying an injury, by the time he came to his peak he was off to Leeds! One thing is for sure we have to get a midfield creator for next season, however they are in short supply for the money we have and an alternative could be to get a good wide player in and play with two wingers.

I'm not going to get in a dispute, but if you don't think that a drop of 1200+ per game in Div 2 over 4 seasons is a problem...that equates to about £400,000 per season in monetery terms. Don't forget we've had a lot of new stadia and generally better facilities in all divisions but it hasn't made much difference has it? I still think if we do nothing the situation will only get worse!

Just have a proper look at those stats you have kindly supplied. On closer inspection you will find that over the last 3 or 4 seasons in the second and third divisions there is quite clearly a downward trend!

I Posted some weeks ago about the benifits of regional divisions but many people disagreed. I still think it's the way forward as surely it's better to have less travelling costs and bigger crowds watcing locally based clubs. If we'd been playing Rochdale last night we may have had 6000+. Something has to change because people are staying away from football outside the top 2 divisions, and as it's been said before, a team is going to go out of business very shortly and once it happens that will just be the start!!

I've read all the posts from last night and in my opinion like the majority of fans believe it would be stupid to even think about sacking Shez, but the stark truth of the matter is that if it were a Talbot or a Moore with no real connection with the club most on here would be wanting him out. If we give Shez the time I'm sure he will get us promoted, but , will he get it, I fear if we don't see real progress and we're in a similar position next year then it may well be his last season. He's had better backing from TTA than most of our previous managers and money is still available for the right players. We haven't had much luck with injuries , but every club in every league has to deal with that and that's why we have a squad. If I have one real critisism of Shez then it's his stubborness in playing people out of position. It's 4 years since TTA bought the club and you have to say that whilst the off field activities have slowly progressed, where it matters most, on the pitch, it has been very dissapointing. Sometimes Shez is his own worst enemy, when he makes silly statements, like: "On our day we can beat anybody in this league" ........So can 20 other teams in this league and we've only managed it 11 times out of 33 attempts! " We are going to attack! attack! attack!"..........since that boast, apart from a few goals against Yeovil, we've probably had one of our less successful footballing spells. "The playoffs are still on, and 11 wins from 18 should be enough and I think we can do it!" .......the result has been 2 wins from 5 and now we only need 9 from 13!!!! "Lomax is the best footballer at the club"...... So he plays a left sided midfielder ( who we've lacked all season ) out of position at left back gives Lomax a 3 year deal and dumps him on the bench! When he has played, I don't he has had a bad game and at Everton he was superb. What happened in the next game....he was relegated to the bench! I really want Shez to succeed but he has to learn fast and next season I feel is what's going to make or break him. Coupled with the new stadium development we have to deliver on the pitch. Crowds are dwindling still further and next season without real progress the average will drop below 5000. I joked with a steward in the bar last night saying do I really have to go back and watch that rubbish and he said that a few people had already left at half time!!! Now I know it was cold last night and the first half was garbage, but to go home at half time...well that speaks volumes! TTA will not be content to stick around in this division for much longer and no matter how nice the ground looks if you don't have a product on the pitch worth getting out of your armchair for then you simply won't have a sustainable club!!

From what source SUPER BLUE ??

Contract terminated by mutual consent.

Acording to M.E.N today were getting nobody. What a surprise!!!!

Who mentioned left winger? I said left mid! All it would mean is playing our only true winger on his natural right side! Surely it's worth a try after playing for nearly two seasons on his weaker foot. The lads hit a wall and he ain't improving, his delivery into the box is poor. Our best team has to include Lomax at left back, so even if we have to sacrifice Mcdonald or Jarrett for the last 20 minutes of a game that's already won, then it's got to be worth a try! Hasn't it???

Loaning a striker at this stage of the season is pointless, if we were going to do it then it should have been a month ago!!! It's going to take a new player at least 2 or 3 weeks to bed in and we just haven't got the time. If we don't take maximum points from the next couple of games then the seasons over anyway! Our biggest mistake was when we got rid of Ricketts, that was the point at which we should have got a striker in and, if we had have done, we would probably be 10 points better off and still in the promotion frame. We've lost 8 league games 1-0 because we just ain't enough of a threat up front. Teams have been signing strikers left right and centre and to say there's nobody available is utter crap. Boyd, Savage, Dickov,Vernon,Murray,Bowditch,Hoskins,Akinfenwa...the list is endless. One or two on that list may normally be out of our reach but if you want to go up then you've got to go for it even if it's only a three month loan. Just like last season, It's been blindingly obvious to the fans that we've needed a goalscorer at this club for months and yet again it hasn't happened. With the playing budget we've had at the club this season we should be in a much better position. I fear we're going to once again get a massive turnaround in players at the end of the season for the third time in a row and it just doesn't work. Season ticket sales and matchday attendances will continue to fall unless we get some long awaited success on the pitch. It's OK building a new stadium as we need better facilities but unless you produce a better product on the pitch fans will continue to stay away. Shez is a legend at this club as a player and always will be, however as a manager he has lots to learn. If we aren't challenging next season then I think the fans patience will run out! P.S LOMAX TO LEFT BACK, LIVERMORE LEFT MID, TAYLOR RIGHT MID.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To many if's and but's...I feel we had to get something from the game today and we didn't, Allesandra's been a breath of fresh air and been playing really well but like Smalley how many goals has he scored? Take away the threat of Davies and Hughes and you just can't see where goals are are going to come from, look at the bench today.....5 kids and nobody to throw on and change the game. Missing out on promotion this season would not be a disaster in my opinion as we would need 5 or 6 players just to stay up and we've seen how long a new team needs to gel together and we just wouldn't get the time in the championship. We could make a real challenge next season when the kids would be a year older and wiser. We need to score more goals next year it's as simple as that.... and as well as Davies has done this season, next year we will need a partnership up front and I think Shez has got some tough decisions to make to remedy this problem.

I'm pretty sure that Richards was here for a few years!!!

I would love to get in the playoffs but just can't see it happening, the slow start to the season didn't help and I just can't see us making up the ground on the rest. Shez says 10 wins out of 16 should be enough.......Well that's almost title form and with only 10 wins in the previous 30 think that's a tad optimistic. We all want a striker in at the club but I for one think it will make little difference at this stage, and we would be better off waiting until the end of the season and giving it a real go next time. I don't think the problem has been the lack of a striker as, like last night, the service to the strikers this season has been generally dire. Most of Davies's 13 goals have been engineered himself apart from a great cross from Smalley in the first game against Swansea and the injury time goal at Tranmere when Liddell provided the assist. How many times this season have our strikers recieved the ball running into the penalty area? they always seem to be out wide or have their backs to goal. I like alot of supporters on this site would play Lomax at LB with Livermore moving to LM and Taylor to the right side which hopefully would result in a better supply line to the forwards, however for reasons best known to Shez it just ain't gonna happen! I'm certain we'll be in this division next year and perhaps once again it has been an opportunity missed as next year will be harder still, with possibly Leeds, Forest, Preston and Sheff Wed amongst our rivals. Will we ever get out of this division!!!!!!!

What's the position regarding Livermore, can we keep him for a maximum of three months or for the season? If he settles well and we put a run together, to lose him for the playoffs would be a real blow!

Hopefully it will be different next week when we'll have a balanced midfield with Livermore on the left, Jarrett and Allott in the centre and at last Taylor on his favoured right. With Davies and Smalley/Allesandra up front I think there's plenty of goals to come. Looking at the fixtures we've played all the big boys now and apart from perhaps Doncaster away all the other fixtures are winnable. Tranmere have shown that three or four wins can get you up into the playoff area, the season's definitely not over yet!!

David Livermore fro Hull

SMS extended until end of the season.r

Good deal for the club as it's also appearance based and has a future sell on clause.

There are too many distractions other than football and I'm sorry but in general at £20 a time people will stop going to matches if they are not entertained. In these days of SKY live armchair football winning at all costs is simply not enough to get bums on seats. Your always going to get the diehards like us, who turn up week in week out but to get success at a club you need to entertain and at home this season we just ain't doing it! We all have opinions but the reason we've averaged 5,800 instead of 7,000 is solely down to boring, predictable, football, producing 2 wins and only 9 goals!!