Ok, 10 months ago the following post would've been unthinkable and would have made my blood run cold! But first, a little background info.....
I first became aware of Oldham athletics existence back in '77/'78 when I was 6 or 7 years old. Every Saturday afternoon at around 4.45pm my dad would put Grandstand on for the vidiprinter. Without fail he'd say, "Lets see who's beaten Latics today then!", I never found out if he was being sarcastic or not. A couple of years later we moved house and I could see the glow of the floodlights and hear the roar of the crowd. Me and a few mates went down and managed to get in when the gates were opened 10 minutes before the final whistle. The atmosphere was electric and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. As we got older we bought tickets and I remember buying my first shirt with my first wage. Of course I was ridiculed at school for supporting the (only TRUE) Latics and not Citeh, Scousepool or Scum. I witnessed promotion to the old First Division, founder membership of the Premier League, Wembley finals, Wembley semi-finals THE great escape. Yes we were relegated from the Prem but I still kept the faith. Another relegation but the faith was still strong.
Sure I stopped going for a few years due to having a young family but I came back, even buying my kids season tickets in the Lookers. We came to the survival game and gave what we could afford and bought the DVD. I remember a signing session in the Spindles and my daughter being distraught because she couldn't get her photo taken with Stefan Stam. The club found out about this and offered us a tour and photos. Happy days. The faith was a strong as ever.
I have even been privileged to work for the club in recent years. However I have been slowly losing the faith for the last few years. The constant changing of playing staff, inept/unproven/cheap manager after manger, ridiculous boardroom appointments, media attention for all the wrong reasons, tactical ineptitude during matches and the (perceived) complete lack of passion on the pitch have finally made me lose the faith.
There are many other things I could mention regarding my current lack of interest in Latics but I don't want to bore you all.
As a final point, I couldn't really care less whether we are in League 1, 2 Conference or Evo-Stik North. So, at the end of this long winded moan, my request is simple........
SOMEONE PLEASE CONVINCE ME THAT ALL IS NOT LOST, RESTORE MY FAITH, GIVE ME (and all the other lapsed/stay away fans) A REASON TO COME BACK NEXT SEASON!!