Worcester Owl

Lot of absolute hysteria on a number of fronts on this board at the moment. Differences of opinion expressed in a reasoned way, fine, but I think a number of people need to calm down. It's going to be a long season.

This is getting out of hand. There is no need whatsoever to abuse fellow supporters in this way. I often find @GKing521 a tad negative about Latics, but in this case he is expressing a perfectly reasonable view. He is simply pointing out that we haven't (at time of his post) sold out our allocation and that if subsequently there is strong demand for more, fans will be entitled to moan if that demand is not met. The decision as to whether or not more tickets are allocated to away fans rests solely with SUFC and it is as pointless as it is unfair to criticise @GKing521 and anyone else who points these facts out. I imagine that Southend may have concerns over ground safety as well as possible protests against their chairman.

Possibly because in July they’re all going on a summer holiday.

Bad idea - he’d be bound to fleece them.

Hopefully fit for first home game according to Suzanne/OT.

Going back a few years, I was in a restaurant in Cheltenham with my wife and we found ourselves sitting next to Trevor and Mrs Francis in the reception area while we waited for our tables. He was happy to chat about football, really nice bloke and very down to earth. Class act on and off the pitch. I also "met" him flying back from Munich after the 1988 Euros final, when Holland beat USSR 2-0 and van Basten scored THAT goal, me and my mate were lucky enough to get tickets for the match. Trevor sat in the row in front of us on the plane, didn't speak to him but I was very impressed he was reading an Italian newspaper! Legacy of his time at Sampdoria/Atalanta I guess.

Come on BP, you're better than that. Of course that's not what the club want. I'm sure they are doing the right thing by youth/squad players for the season ahead. And 14 games would be pathetically few - I can still remember playing way more games than that at school for goodness' sake!

My favourite memory of McManaman was in his Real Madrid days - he'd slipped down the pecking order and wasn't a regular selection. The Telegraph ran an article on him, with a photo of him by his very large pool at his very large Madrid villa, soaking up the sun and the headline: "McManaman - I am in no rush to leave Real" . Can't think why he wasn't! On the punditry, I used to dislike McManaman and Savage, but they come over far better these days - very knowledgeable and read the game well. The guy I miss is Robbie Earle, I always rated him on ITV.

That 6-0 in v Huddersfield was such a great performance. Groves was on fire that day. Les Chapman was on the wrong side that day! Speaking of Les, I never realised that his daughter played Rachel Jordache in Brookside, Anna Friel's sister. Another bit of useless information!

I've hung on with BT Sport (sorry, TNT) and every time my sub runs out I agonise over whether to renew. As with Sky, if you threaten for long enough to cancel, they will eventually cut you an 18/24 month deal. Feels a bit hypocritical saying this, as I hate what the "Premier" League has done to the game, but I mainly keep BT Sport for the Champions League (and NL for our occasional appearances - while we're in it!). The CL group stages can be pretty dull but once you get to the KO stages some of the matches are terrific entertainment. Most teams just go for it these days, home or away. Still a shame though that money rules - can't see an Ajax winning the trophy ever again.

So many great games that season. One disappointment I remember well though was losing at home to Charlton. Boundary Park was rammed for that match, a real anti-climax. But we had a great Easter and it all ended well eventually.

Yes - winning the NL.

I understand the point you’re making and I fully support your optimism for the season ahead. But speaking of a sense of perspective, and making comparisons with Covid or Ukraine, is whataboutery really. This is a football forum and fans of our club have known nothing but doom and gloom, with occasional good days to temporarily puncture the despair, for 30 years. An entire generation. We almost lost our club and have lost our league status. Of course, life goes on, and the Rothwells have brought hope and optimism, thank goodness. I hope the Ukrainians one day throw out the Russians and rebuild their country, but there isn’t much point comparing their immense suffering with being a Latics fan - we can’t relate to it. The comparison trivialises their ordeal and offers false comfort to Latics supporters. Shankly famously said football is more important than life and death. Now of course on one level that’s nonsense, but football fans everywhere know what he meant.

Saw what you did there

Yes, if the criticism of Nuttall is based purely on his work rate then I'd say that's more of an indictment of modern football and coaching mantras. The only time I remember Gerd Muller being outside the opposition penalty box was entering/leaving the pitch at KO, H/T and F/T but he would have walked into any team in the world in his prime.

Chancing your arm there!

Some valid observations there. I guess they didn't help themselves by calling themselves Latics, bound to wind fans of the real Latics up. When you consider also that they had to compete for support against a very strong RL tradition in the town, they've done ok.

Well indeed. But passing the ball sideways and backwards over and over is still boring. It’s not just Citeh who do it to be fair.

Newcastle fans will tell you they're the best in the land, but there was a time when they were getting less than 20k at home games in the second tier. It's all relative.

I wouldn't disagree with that. Certainly, the sometimes endless sideways/backwards passing indulged in by 100+ charges of FFP regulation breaches Citeh can be mind numbingly boring to watch.

It's incredible isn't it. A couple of training sessions against other teams and some people think the roof has already fallen in. If pre-season friendlies don't enthuse, there's a simple solution - don't watch them.

Are you telling me the league campaign hasn't started yet and these were a couple of meaningless friendlies? Less of that common sense posting, please.

A rare burst of optimism there, @GKing521. I was expecting you to say we are relegation fodder. After all, it’s already mid-July and we have two meaningless pre-season friendlies under our belt. How much more evidence do we need, for God’s sake?

A stout response there, sir.

It matters more to some than to others, and if one has paid for a specific seat one is entitled to sit in that seat. I remember turning up at the Oval back in 1986 or 1987 - three of us - for an Ashes test, only to find a woman and two kids in our seats. She point blank refused to move despite repeated requests and showing her our tickets, and this went on for some time, inconveniencing spectators in the rows behind. Eventually a steward demanded to see her ticket and pointed out to her that she was in completely the wrong section of the stand. Now, we could have sat elsewhere, but then what if the people with tickets for those seats had turned up? Unless clubs have unreserved seating and sell tickets on that basis, then BP1960 is entitled to get what he's paid for.