piglinbland

Is it possible that the very real and very British collective Saturday afternoon excitement has dissipated because, at our level, the game is so totally dissociated from the Premier league. From my memory of the Seventies, eighties and nineties, although still a hierarchy, the Football League was the same family from 1st division to 4th.

I thought the whole enjoyment of that Royle era was the fact that we were tin-pot? I think our delusions of grandeur stem from the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. For every 'you tube' video of a rammed BP and a heroic victory, there were a hundred drab matches played out in front of mainly empty and windswept terraces - I know, I was there for a lot of them. Maybe tomorrow's fans will look back fondly at the demolition of Liverpool in the FA cup and imagine a wistful and long forgotten sepia era where Matty Smith ruled? Yeah, the football is dire and we're as rock-bottom as I can ever remember. And traditionally, if we're tin-pot, then Rochdale are positively wattle and daub - so their current success most certainly rankles. But the fact remains that, without a plan, without a viable alternative and without investment we will, in all likelihood, drop out of the league. Now is the time for cool heads and common ground. The current animosity towards the ownership is most certainly due to the abject performances on the field, and understandably so. But it is also symptomatic of much wider modern day malaise - namely, internet, social media and the use therein of polarising algorithms. Any dialogue which can be set up outside of these constraints has to be encouraged and as such, I applaud the initiative of nonaenever who has had the balls to walk the walk (and not just talk the talk).

Make the ball heavy again, that would help the less favoured clubs.

Yeah, fair's fair and the lad deserves 15 minutes before we rip into him...

...or for the crack on the Latic's liner!

This placing of faith in some wholly unforeseeable future sounds to me uncannily like Brexit (only slightly tongue in cheek ). Statistically, mathematically and logically, relegation would be a disaster. As would 'ousting' Simon Corney or trying to run the club as fans. The whole nation is currently fueled by emotion and we'd have lost the war ten times over if we'd displayed a similar loss of focus in 39 - 45!

And still win.

Absolutely huge kudos to you, nonaenever, for proposing a positive initiative and following it up the way you have.

I suppose you're right. I'd suggest tacit support for Mr. Corney at the moment, not slavish, but certainly not the destructive vitriol we're seeing so much of.

Very fair point, BP1960 - 40years in my case. But it's just a failing business at the moment and there is no knight in shining armour around the corner. . At a guess, the next 10 years are going to be very, very hard for everybody. I'm tired of labels - be it "Up Corney's arse" or "Negative :censored:e". Can we just be objective and discuss realistic options?

A very good question. Any help? (Myself, I would imagine that he is out of pocket).

At the end of the day, this club could disappear without trace and nobody in the wider world would give a :censored:. You can argue that Mr. Corney has overseen a decline in the 12 years or so that he has been at the helm.. On the other hand, you could argue that he, and he alone, has had his finger in the breach to keep us in league 1. I tend to support the second notion, if only for the following reason - No other :censored:er has ever put their money where their mouth is. C'mon, haters, who do I put my money on?

Posh score from a set piece?

Incapable of communicating in the real world, apparently.

You're Fuqing having a laugh?

"That left-winger you bought in from Bayern is Ribery" "Thank you velly much, sir!" Groan.

Please elaborate...?

Very well put.

To be fair, as a small business, I have to be most circumspect in the information I give out, and the same applies to OAFC. Total transparency would spell death to any business, mine included. It would mean a call from the taxman, it would give an unfair advantage to competitors and it would bring howls of dissatisfaction from the customer. Every business, big or small, motors on a mixture of little white lies, ('the cheques in the post'), disinformation, creative accounting and the ability to big-up (potential investor) or play down (inland revenue) the company image, I'm not writing this to defend Simon Corney from criticism - only to suggest that some criticism is unreasonable.

Maybe there is a simpler explanation for the 'missing cash' - that day to day running costs far outstrip income and monies such as the Sports direct sponsorship are used to plug the haemorrhage? A far from perfect business model, but pretty much standard practice these days.

I know that the internet allows a certain social mobility which was previously unavailable, but sometimes there are more apt channels of communication. For example, have you reported to the police your allegations of misappropriation of funds? If true, the incumbent chairman would be relieved of his duties rapidly, which is what you want. Or, you could write to local MP Jim McMahon. He has a duty to hear your concerns and would presumable be in a position to advise as to the current precarious state of the club and any eventual malpractice. He has, of course, during his time as council leader, dealt intimately with the club. If, on reflection, you think the club is merely poorly run, why not become a director? I'm fairly certain a donation of £100,000 would do the trick. Or if you've a bit more spare cash hanging around, you could make an outright offer for the club - you never know - and that way you could demonstrate how blindingly easy it is to run a League 1 outfit and we could all enjoy subsequent promotion to the Championship.

A 'ruckery'.

Another very positive post. I'm probably away from the Oldham area too often to consider being in on the 'meet', however I'm writing to Mr. Corney with some suggestions of my own. 100% behind this, noneanever!

Rochdale's crowd and the bare 3,000 home fans scraped into Vale Park tonight suggest that 'League 1 blues' isn't unique to us.

I think this is a great idea and will try to coax some of my entourage down to BP. Won't be easy though, it's mainly Hudds/Villa in this family!