I can understand this comment.
The last game of the 2006/2007 season I saw most of the Oldham squad, on a night out in Oldham.
I got chatting to Terrell Forbes (drunkenly) I will never forget this conversation because it was quite deep and I believe that he was genuinely upset. He was saying how he thought he was performing well at the beginning of the season, also that when the confidence is low it doesn’t help being targeted and booed by your own fans.
He also was saying how he had never experienced this at any other club, and that our fans made him afraid to but the shirt on and walk out onto the pitch because he didn’t know what to expect next – at this point I was feeling quite sorry for him.
He asked me if our club was racist because he couldn’t believe some of the comments he had heard, he also mentioned the Oldham riots as more proof to say that our town and club is racist and had issues with race, I told him that you can’t judge people from the uneducated and ignorant minority that are racist.
I think that our fans turned him into a nervous wreck because that was the impression he was giving off – look at him now, highly rated at a club that just missed promotion, he also won player of the season. So how is it that he can play that well at another club but not ours? You have to ask yourself that question, because I happened to rate him at the start of the season.
I’m not saying that every supporter of Oldham Athletic is a racist but I have also heard a lot of race based comments. It does happen.
Booing players is simply ridiculous anyway; if a player is wearing the shirt they should be supported 110%. What will boo and verbally abusing them achieve? Nothing, it will only lower confidence and make matters worse. Not only that though, but I believe that its very embarrassing – other fans hear us booing and shouting abuse at our own players, what will they think? Very very embarrassing.
You could only imagine my conversation with Forbes that night, because he said a lot of other saddening things. For the first time in my life I was actually ashamed to admit that I was a Latics fan.
: Rant over