PBL

It's off... https://fchalifaxtown.com/news/oldham-athletic-match-postponed/

Thanks for taking the time to read my book and post such a generous review, Pete! I'm a first-time author and independent (with help from Wibble) so it's not easy plugging the book with so much competition out there. For anyone interested, the book is available from my blog at https://the1888letter.com/book-before-the-premier-league/ - with a bit more information about it. I've tried to be objective but I do miss football pre-1992 (and not just as a Latics fan)! Paul.

Spot on with the Sunderland 1975-76 memory! Just no sign of it on YouTube – Sunderland are pretty good at putting up clips where they exist so possibly ‘lost’. They also have a stats site with details of individual games: http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Match.aspx?MatchID=1425&LU=S&LUID=97 This is a great resource for Granada/ITV games, shows that one and several others featuring Latics which are also seemingly lost: http://carousel.royalwebhosting.net/itv/KickOffMatch.html There must be footage from other regions too, hope more can be found.

A couple more away defeats to add to the list here, snippets from Sunderland in 1975-76 and 1977-78 – Steve Taylor’s goal in 1977 not shown but a couple of saves in the first by Chris Ogden and some vintage sloppy defending throughout… sounds like both must be The Big Match so not sure if there is more footage out there? 29/11/1975: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Vx4ScbPzA 29/10/1977: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6lxLlJrftk

Recently came across full highlights footage of the Spurs game in March 1978 from The Big Match - nice intro by Brian Moore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jPhDpQ_h6o An amazing job putting all these together by the way!

Before I get beaten with the ‘negativity’ stick, I hope the two latest signings from the French lower leagues are successful and I really don’t want us to get relegated again! I can’t comment on the ability of these individual players, but I have an idea of the level they’ve been playing at. The quality of the French League falls away massively below the top two divisions. I’ve seen a bit of football in their 3rd Division, Championnat National (Red Star of Paris) and it was piss-poor, slow and a lot less physical than anything we’ll see next season. These players are coming from 1 or 2 divisions below that, amateur leagues probably not even at Evo-Stik level. Given the problems AL’s signings had adapting to League 1 last season, these two hardly fill me with confidence – Placide, Maouche, Omrani and Menig especially had all played at a much higher level. It’s not as if they’re young prospects either (24 and 25 respectively). I hope they prove me wrong, but I think it’s fair to be concerned if this is the route AL is determined to go down.

Sure there must be a lot more footage out there from the 80s - and not just Oldham Athletic Nil like this one... but a nice tangerine kit, a young Andy Goram and is that one-time England manager Peter Taylor at no. 7 (not sure he touches the ball on these highlights)?

Sorry Mods - thought I'd just edited and didn't realise there were now two of this post/thread - please delete!

Forgot about the headbutt - but a bit of random violence didn't normally bother Shez. On the pitch or at the dogs.

Yeah, we got decent money for Davies in the end because he'd signed a contract extension after a good first season, but Shez didn't seem interested in playing him that second year, maybe something off-field. We ended up loaning him out to Stockport - who were in the same division at the time! I just didn't think we got the best out of him then, hopefully he's making it up for it this time around...

Doyle's a class act and guarantees goals - got to make keeping him & Byrne the priority in January - but always liked Davies, thought Shez binned him off too quickly first time round (but then got him scoring at Chesterfield?!). Holds it up, touch has improved and love to see him bullying defenders, he's setting up plenty and if he's getting goals too that's a bonus. Credit to Shez for bringing him back (and loaning Bryan, Byrne, Doyle...) Agreed this is our best partnership for years, both of them put a real shift in and given our top scorers have struggled even to reach double figures in recent seasons, long may it last!

Cheers ctblue Good to get these memories. It was Feb 77 apparently - but spot on with David Shaw the goalscorer, looks like a very strong Liverpool team in their 70s prime (no resting players for the Cup!) and their third was a pen, so I'm guessing a decent Latics performance? http://www.lfchistory.net/SeasonArchive/Game/956 I did see David Fairclough play for us (started going early 80s) but sadly too late for Alan Groves... and I still can't find any more footage of him!

I'm always looking for older Latics footage on YouTube - all I can find for that game (1977?) is two Liverpool goals at 10:48 in these season highlights, Kevin Keegan belting in a free-kick and then Jimmy Case... There's a glimpse of Alan Groves and a beautiful Maurice Whittle free-kick at York, 1973-74, from 6:40 on the Big Match - would love to see a bit more of him if anyone knows of any footage?

Looks like we might have an upgrade on Ryan Flynn... if this is happening (even Sidney Schmeltz's highlights didn't look this good)!

And I still think we got the worst of both deals...

Wasn't there today but based on what I saw last season, we're always going to struggle to boss games with our centre midfielders. Can't understand what a midfielder of Shez's quality and experience as a manager, sees in Banks, Flynn & (to a lesser extent) Green - they don't offer creativity, goals or even get stuck in. Fane does a job at least but oh for the days of Milligan & Henry!! Think/hope the strikers will score with service but it won't come from Banks/Fane/Flynn/Green... with the squad we've got, we'd be more of a threat & better to watch playing 4-4-2 with wingers - McLaughlin & Tope - Fane & one more (Fawns or Gardner?) in the middle, & Dummigan & Hunt at full-back. As for transfers, need to get rid of the passengers and take a punt on Baxter, surely...

Most clubs generally appoint someone with either a good playing career (gets respect from the players, at least) or relevant management experience, ideally both, and very very rarely neither... but who knows, it might work.

When appointing a football manager surely you might also look at playing career and relevant management experience rather than going for the best powerpoint presentation - or should we trust Barry's Due Diligence?

"He blew us away in the interview process" Sounds familiar.

First one for me under Holden but it felt familiar. Pretty even until they scored a scrappy one from a set-piece, then we had no idea what to do and not much fight. Struggling to see what the plan was cause we hardly tested their keeper, especially in the last 20 minutes we didn't put any pressure on. Lockwood looked shot, Gerrard definitely another Gregan in the making and shirt size, Winchester and Woodland too lightweight against physical, experienced opponents. Poor pitch and ref but nothing doing down the wings, Forte didn't get a single decent ball to feet or to run on to, and Wilkinson has obvious talent but his head went down far too easily... still not seeing anything in Poleon either. Enjoyed half-time though.

The fact we're even thinking about this shows what a disastrous mess Corney, Barry Owen & Co have made of it. How could they not have seen this coming? They've divided the fans & quite possibly the players during the most promising season in years. Even worse if it's true that LJ was against it. A lot of other teams fans used to think well of Oldham from the Royle-Premiership-Wembley days. Now we're the team that signs convicted criminals. Yet we sacked Montano for 'gross misconduct' & as yet he's not been convicted of anything - his lawyers must be looking at this too. I respect the opinions of those who are still going - we shouldn't even have to make the decision - but I won't be while we're employing a totally unrepentant rapist.

Have (like everyone else) been thinking this over all day. Wrong on every level if true - Corney & Owen lying to & then ignoring the fans, an unrepentant convicted rapist as role model for the kids we're meant to be attracting, massive negative publicity etc etc. Hughes was bad enough, but the whole idea of a 'second chance' is a sick joke - how many posters on here think they'd be able to walk back into their job after a rape conviction? It's a violent crime which ruins lives and anyone convicted would be lucky to work again. As many have said, we shouldn't have been put into this position of deciding whether to sacrifice 10, 20, 30, 40+ years of supporting our team. My final decision is not to attend again (effectively paying his wages) while he's around, which is shared by my wife & my dad, & not easy when it's part of our lives.

A battler like Wesolowski??

Agree on the ominous signs - the worry is how long we wait for Elokobi, Kelly etc to get 'fully fit' (shouldn't they be doing that pre-season?) & having to carry them in the meantime, which means losing games & getting stuck around the bottom four from the start... having made Kelly captain, I doubt LJ is going to drop him anyway, even though he doesn't seem able to put a foot in, control a ball or pass to a man in blue, fit or not. Then there's LJ's latest, another Bristol City midfielder who even he admits has only got 10-15 minutes in him. JCH needs help up front but Gros is another unfit, who the manager doesn't seem to trust already. Apart from Winchester, Forte is a really positive signing but even he probably hasn't got 90 minutes in him, though it was hard to tell yesterday when we stopped passing him the ball in the second half. Just seen LJ saying 'heads will roll' on player - remind me who brought these players in, picks the team and decides the tactics? The half-time team talks are producing worse results than Dickov's. Keep the Fa... er, One dream?

Seem to remember LJ talking about the many systems he had available this season, I'd love to know what Plan A is... First game this season but not really tempted to go if thats LJ's best team & tactics - I look forward to him telling us about the many positives we can take from it after managing no shots on target in second half (& how many in midweek?) & virtually no decent crosses even. They weren't great but physical, organised & took their chances. I can't see it just 'clicking' one day, that midfield is really poor. Did we pay a fee for Kelly?! Fit or not (&if not, shouldn't be carrying him while he gets these), that was garbage.