cheshireblue

Very strange. Would seem it's not just been done on footballing grounds unless he's got somebody else lined up. Can't see Walsall being able or agreeing to take over what is probably a sizeable contract either, seems it's just a case of getting him out of the club as quick as possible. Thought it was a strange decision to drop him against Forest after having, imo, a decent first half against Northampton. If we had a striker who could take chances that Ricketts put on a plate for them, like the Davies chance last week, then things may have turned out differently. Always thought we would wait to see how a Ricketts /Hughes partnership would work but just when Hughes is coming back, Ricketts is shown the door. I am probably in the minority when it comes to Ricketts but feel he has only received crap service from the rest of the team, the big hoof, and a striking partner in Davies who has no vision and wouldn't spot an opening if it bashed him on the head. preferring to get in the way of others on the wing. Having said that we don't know what goes on at the club during training and perhaps his attitude was causing problems amongst the rest of the squad. Whatever, something has gone on this week which has not been revealed yet.

The best left back ever to play for Latics imo. Genuine excitement in the ground whenever we got a free kick within 30 yards of the goal and boy could he hit the ball. Don't think I've seen another Latics player hit it as hard as he could. Well remember the penalty against Man U. Also remember a screamer he scored at York City. Not too many full backs today, or even then, played with socks round their ankles but he never seemed to get injured and it just seemed to add to his character. What wouldn't we give today for a left side of Whittle & Groves. Was gutted when he eventually left us.

As I've said before Taylors confidence has gone & I don't think Shez is doing the lad any favours by keeping him in the team. He's obviously Oldham through & through as are his family and I'm sure he'd love to be playing better. I think it is best now to take him out of the team for a spell and see if he can get his confidence back in the reserves or coming on as sub. At present it's not helping Taylor or the team performing as he is. The one glaring omission from the pre season signings was the addition of any left footed players (apart from Crossley !) and this is now coming home to roost. Every young player goes through a bad spell and normally this means a spell out of the side, unfortunately Taylor keeps getting picked presumably because we have no alternatives or Shez doesn't think we have. This then begs the question of why nothing was done about it in the Summer.

Yesterday was awfull, 2 rank bad sides just banging it up in the air. Doesn't seem to be any other tactic than to give it the big boot out of defence and hope for the best. Davies's vision is woeful, Taylors confidence has gone. I feel sorry for the lad because no matter what he tries it is not coming off and imo should have been taken out of the team weeks ago to prevent his confidence going competely. Perhaps Shez would have made changes before now but for injuries to Hughes, Smalley, Allesandra etc but now that at least 2 of these are fit for next week it will be interesting to see if he is prepared to change things. At the moment we are just sleep walking through the season and at best will finish lower mid table. We have got to try something different because these performances are just not acceptable given what has been spent in the Summer. If his only change next week is to bring Ricketts in for Wolfy I will despair. On the plus side Beresford, Hazell & Gregan played well although at times Gregan is guilty of just giving it the big boot instead of looking to pass through midfield. Also thought Wolfy did as well as could be expected given the appaling service he was receiving.

You may have had some of these already but from the top of my head Colin Garwood , Alan McNeil, Keith Hicks, Ronnie Blair, Ian Wood, Chris Ogden, Harry Dowd, Alan Young, Maurice Whittle, Rodger Wylde, George McVitie, Vic Halom Kenny Clements, Paul & Ron Futcher, Richard Kowenicki (may have to check the spelling !!)

Don't think I ever saw the Fryett/ Shaw partnership which my dad used to talk about as one of the best ever. Ironic that at the time we are talking about demolishing the NSM Stand it was Fryett & Shaws goals that helped build it by winning the Ford Sporting League. My Dad always said he was one of the quickest players he had seen in a Latics shirt and complemented Fryett's ability in the air perfectly. Can clearly remember Shaws second debut against Southampton on a Tuesday night when he scored a hat trick. A real legend of the early 70's.

Just a question. If it gets voted through, is that it or can the residents object and delay matters ? Seem to recall Brighton getting permission but that's still dragging on.

I think we've now seen enough of the Ricketts / Davies partnership to know its not one thats going to get us a bagfull of goals this season. I like Ricketts, I think if he is given decent service ie ball to feet he can cause a lot of problems at this level. I'm not bothered about him chasing lost causes, Paul Warne did that to little effect. What is more concerning is that he's getting no support in the box either from Davies or the midfield players. More often than not when a cross comes in Davies is on the wing somewhere having either crossed it or played a part in the build up. The midfielders are generally 35 - 40 yards from goal leaving Ricketss on his own.I would try a Ricketts / Wolfy pairing with Davies out wide - probably left wing. When Hughes is fully fit I think him & Ricketts will be a much more effective partnership than Ricketts / Davies. At the moment Ricketts & Davies just do not look like a proper striking partnership. As for Chris Taylor he is not a left winger and never will be. Too many runs end up with a cross behind the goal or him over running the ball. Consequently most of our attacks come down the right making it much more predictable for the defenders.

What I noticed against Bristol was the amount of time Davies found himself out wide, usually on the right. trying to supply a cross. At times we had Davies, Liddell & Eardley all on the right & only Ricketts in the box. Agree that KK was missing for most of the game but with the travelling & injury that maybe understandable, in fact JP was sometimes further forward with KK simply picking the ball up from the defenders. Whilst not scoring goals is a worry I do agree with Sheridan in that it was probably our best game for playing football and keeping hold of the ball. Against Swansea we hardly got a kick and at Carlisle only played for 45 minutes. If we are still not scoring or creating chances in 2 or 3 weeks then I would be more worried. I also hope people get off Ricketts back. I had an idiot next to me on Saturday moaning and shouting abuse every time the ball came near him. For me he was our best player at Carlisle once he got moved from wide midfield. It seems these people only notice players if they run for every lost cause such as a Warne or a Dickov - it doesn't mean they are effective, just that they run about a lot to little effect. Play the ball to Ricketts feet and he can hold the ball up and bring others into the game, keep lumping it up in the air and he won't do much. At the moment any decent cross only comes from the right as neither Taylor or the left full backs seems able to supply decent crosses on a regular basis. This makes our attack somewhat predictable. On a plus side I do like the look of Smalley, whilst it is probably too early to throw him in as a starter he looks a decent sub who can make things happen - unlike Chris Hall.

Stuart Balmer, forgot about him. Just remember Cardiff having about 4 corners in the first 15 minutes and scoring from every one. I hate leaving early but with 20 minutes left I thought we aren't going to score 8 now !

Remember the 1 - 7 home defeat by Cardiff a few years ago. Think it is the only game I have left with 20 minutes to go. Andy Goram played and looked like he'd just come out of the pub that day. Bradford away in the cup was bad, 5 - 0. Crewe away last season was awful. I thought Saturday was OK in the 2nd half, first half was rubbish but I've seen a lot worse, at least it was only 45 minutes of rubbish. When we are really bad it can be the entire 90.

You don't see many players like Stainrod these days - a maverick both on and off the field. Had so much talent and a real entertainer. Remember his debut at Blackburn when he beat about 3 players on the bye line and then slotted it in from a really tight angle. It was Stainrod who caused the riot against Sheff Wed, remember he was an ex Sheff Utd player, he was winding Terry Curran up and Curran fell for it by lashing out right in front of the ref and the Wednesday fans. Think he went on to make the England squad whilst at QPR, not sure if he actually got a cap. Saw him at the play off game at QPR, didn't look any different. He is now a football agent and last I heard was living in Monaco. A true legend and one of my all time favourites.

What about that Rob Scott signed by Ronnie Moore. Absolutely useless and it was obvious from day 1. Forever injured and was equally useless in a variety of positions. Also that centre half signed by Warnock. Dougie something....Australian. Another who was forever injured. Remember watching a pre match kick-about at Wrexham and Warnock and his staff were throwing him balls to see how far he could hoof it. The object of the exercise seemed to be to try and clear the stands. A footballing centre half he wasn't. Thinking about it, we've had some rubbish over the years. We are always told as kids that the chances of being a professional footballer are minimal and only the very best get chosen. They must have to go through all these schools of excellence etc and work with the best coaches............and yet Branston gets through. How does that happen ?

If I am reading that right 227 out of 230 people are against the New Start Mortgages Stand being redeveloped - unbelievable. The stand is nowhere near any housing, how can they complain about one stand being knocked down and another built in its place. It seems that particular application doesn't contain any housing plans so not sure on what grounds they they can reasonably object. My local rugby club Warrington, had planning permission and a new ground built in around 2 years yet every proposal for Latics brings a whole series of objections. When did we first start talking of a new ground or redevelopment, must have been 10 years ago at least. Come on Oldham Council lets see some action instead of talking. We can't let a handfull of people keep blocking every proposal put forward. Every other club seems to be able to get new stands built without much fuss (except Brighton !) If this gets turned down you can only see TTA thinking whats the point.

Fantastic signing if he's has good as last time. Well done TTA because I bet he hasn't come cheap. Would have liked to have secured him for the full season but hopefully that might follow if we are near the top come Christmas.

Don't think I ever saw him play or if I did I can't remember, I started going in 1972. However my Dad could go on for hours about the Fryatt & Shaw partnership, always reckoned it was the best he had seen at Latics. Did Fryatt have the biggest sideburns of anybody who played for Latics. Cant think of anyone else. I seem to recall there was some grafitti on a wall near Westwood Park about Fryett which had been sprayed on in the early 70's and was still there 20 + years later.

Just hope he puts in the effort & doesn't pile on the weight again. If not we could be stuck with an expensive liability for 3 years. If he keeps the weight off he could be an excellent signing as we certainly need a big target man in this league. Put him & Gregan in a wall and won't need anyone else !

I think Allott will prove to be more than a decent replacement for Rocastle. Apart from the Swansea game I cannot remember any other game where Rocastle was anything other than average. Also don't remember him coming out with anything in the press after he left slagging the club off despite all the abuse he's received over the years. Still need someone who can score goals from midfield though as I can't see any of the current midfield appearing on the scoresheet on a regular basis unless McDonald comes good.

Lets not get too depressed, its only early July - plenty of time for some decent signings. Remember a couple of weeks ago everyone was doom & gloom and then we signed Davies, suddenly things looked rosy again. Let's face it last season we had 1 proper striker (Porter) who was good for about 4 months and Warney who ran about a lot. At least this season we have what look to be 2 decent strikers in Hughes & Davies. Ideally we still need a left back, a creative midfield player and another striker. We possibly also need someone for the right wing as apart from Liddle can't think of anyone else who could start in that position. Wellens will be a loss but these things happen at our level, players will always go for more money despite what they may say in the press, isn't that why we got Kalala. I still think that potentially we could start the season with a better squad than last year.

Name? Steve Rimmer Location? Warrington How Long Supporting the Tics? Since 1972 Best away match you've been to? Man Ciity 1 - 4 Oldham (mid Eighties ?) All Time Greatest Player? Alan Groves but Andy Ritchie a close 2nd Biggest Rivals (in your eyes)? Bolton