For you non - Oldham residents

[Tommy_Fent]

For me my family have always supported Latics so I have followed suit, the usual reasons tend to be for the above, which begs the question why don't more people support Latics? Especially these people who are born and bred in Oldham, probably have family who support Latics, some of you say lack of Marketing, other reasons may be just a lack of catchment area, it might just be a lack of success, in other threads we've tried to discuss how to solve the problems, but what would you say is the root of the problem? I'm torn personally

[leeslover]

One schoolkids freebie to this St Aidan's boy paid it's way back. Granted I'm not exactly a none-Oldhamer from where I grew up on the Dale borderlands but I had no other factors that were going to get me to BP. I was obsessed with sport but would never have been taken to a game anywhere.

 

Voted for rival teams for part 2, but the point is you have to do something, anything, to stand out. Winning is the best but it doesn't stop you trying everything else as well. Oldham is NOT a well-defined distinct town like Huddersfield or Burnley, Latics have to rely on more than the number of miles between our town and the next one.

[Tommy_Fent]

I tried to change the title, it should of read 'Why do you support Oldham?'

[leeslover]

I tried to change the title, it should of read 'Why do you support Oldham?'

I asked a similar question back on JKL once when there was a debate about attracting Asians into supporting the team. The plain fact is that there is nothing too sinister about why very few do, for sure there are a few regulars who wouldn't welcome it but for the most part they just haven't had the same influence in their youth that caused most of us to do so. But I will stop hi-jacking your thread

[rudemedic]

Pity you can't vote for more than one in either category. As I feel I could vote for everything. My Dad (a Latics fan) took me to see my first pro game at Oldham (Chelsea at home in 88 lost 4-1), and at the time I was living in Heywood and Boundary Park is my nearest ground in terms of travel time. Plus in the season after my first home game, we had pinch me season number 1 so we had some success. So that's all four in the first category. In the second category our attendance is low because we are in League 1 and there are many 'fans' of either Manchester club who'd much rather watch 'their' team on a TV than go to a live game (even on a saturday at 3pm when no English games should be on TV- a pont I've made before). If we hadn't been robbed by a bad linesman in 90 semi against ManUre it could well have been us in Europe (United might have even gone down and Fergie would have been fired) people like to watch football in the top flight more than in the second etc. Our attendance if we were in the Prem probably would be the lowest but it would be more than what we get at the mo. I've said this before only advertising the club in the Chron or on the club's website is not good enough we need to promote the team in areas other than Oldham as I'm sure people in Bury, Rochdale, Ashton etc. would go watch Oldham if they were getting cheap tickets (like the cheap tickets for schools in Oldham), or if we were playing a big game, especially if the likes of Bury and Rochdale aren't at home.

[BigfinLatic]

wheres the option for "My mum told my Dad he couldnt take me to Parkhead every weekend, so he had better take me to watch the local side instead..."

 

Suppose that is other.. or first side watched...

 

Just glad my dad didnt turn left at Delph crossroads so we ended up in 'udders.....

[rosa]

i grew up in Liverpool in the 80s, i must be mental....

 

Actually it's not that unusual here for the oldest kid to support Liverpool, the middle kid to support Everton to spite the oldest and the youngest to support someone totally random to spite both of them. And we were in the Premiership when i started getting into football. We got relegated in my first season; maybe i should do the decent thing and get a season ticket for Tranmere cos i'm clearly a jinx.

[warwickshire latics]

For me my family have always supported Latics so I have followed suit, the usual reasons tend to be for the above, which begs the question why don't more people support Latics? Especially these people who are born and bred in Oldham, probably have family who support Latics, some of you say lack of Marketing, other reasons may be just a lack of catchment area, it might just be a lack of success, in other threads we've tried to discuss how to solve the problems, but what would you say is the root of the problem? I'm torn personally

 

Latics played West Ham in the FACUP 1966

 

Latics in Div 4 West Ham in Div 1 my cousin was a hammer so took the rise out of him when it was a draw

 

Latics ever since so is my lad & Wife 100% blue

 

Born & Bred Warwicks

 

Crackers Eh !!!!!!

[Rocky_Latic]

Dad came south from Scotland. Started going different grounds with my uncle. Brother was born. He eventually made a decision that he wanted to be an Oldham fan having watched us. By the time I was old enough to go - I got took Latics and had it drilled into me by my brother that I had no real choice. My uncle took me dale in the really dark days of the early 90's when they were absolutely awful. I'm sure it was my mum punishing me really.

 

Stopped going Latics on a regular basis around 1999/00 ish (only went the more high profile games - which were few and far between) when at high school we were given free tickets to dale on a weekly basis rather than just once every so often. Still went Latics now and then, when I could but my dad and brother had lost alot of interest by that point. Warnock played a big point in the dwindling years for my brother and dad around the time. Faced with the choice, Latics on my own in a town I didnt really know, or Dale with 30/40 school mates. No brainer really. I was at Spotland every home game and went Latics in the sparce times I could persuade my old man. Followed dale for a year after leaving school into college - but started going Latics alot more around the time - as I had to pay to go dale and I was at Oldham College, with a few Latics fans which I guess helped push me back to BP on a more regular basis. Not entirely sure why as they didnt even go and I went Latics numerous times on my own, dad couldnt be arsed most weeks - he'd rather manage his football side and my brother wasnt bothered in the slightest - even did a few of the localish away's by train. Since then it's always been Latics taking priority and the roles switched, with me now going dale when I can.

 

Have to say it's paid off no end for dale no end now. Out of the 40 of us who went all the time on free tickets (as it was us same lot who were taking 40 of the 50 or so tickets the school got issued every week - that's the key and probably why it's paid off so well. Rather than targetting different kid's every so often). We had dale drilled into us - you go week in, week out. You grow to love it, even if it's crap - even more so when you pluck up the courage to start doing away days. Some of my all time favourite away's have come with 'dale. Plymouth away i'll never forget, same with the old £2.50 buses from the town hall to Halifax. We made up the bulk of the atmosphere in the WMG and had the place rocking at times, well apart from when 100 Hull fans invaded it and chased us all over the place. There used to be offers on the back of the tickets we were issued for discounts in the shop (when it wasnt advertising maccy's, which when you're 13/14/15 and dont worry about beer money is pretty attractive to you). There was probably about a dozen who would of been dale fans anyway, as most of them had brothers/family who were dale and they knew nothing else. There was quite a few united and even a lad who didnt even like football - he was a rugby fan. The dozen dale fans go all the time still. There's about 4 others who are now regulars - despite being dirty reds. Even the Rugby fan and absolutely all the others were spotted by me at numerous games I went too. There's about another dozen who like me, go when they can and try to get to about half a dozen home games a season if possible. Pretty much 3/4's of them were at dale and as far as i've found out. All of them were at the home leg and wembley. Now when you take this into context and think that the dozen of us are now having to stump up the adult price to get in there - which in the stand we used to sit in for free is now £17 a go. I'll be there on saturday against the inbred lot from Heywood and I wont be suprised if I bump into or spot 20+ of the faces I used to go every week with.

 

Never understood why Latics never targetted St Cuthberts school. It's on the Rochdale/Oldham border, yet it was always Rochdale who were constantly at the school trying to get the kid's down to Spotland.

 

My brothers to blame/thank (whatever way you choose to see it) for getting me started with Latics. If it wasnt for him, i'd of never had any affiliation whatsoever with the club. His fault teaching me to sing "big fat joe's barmy army" and Latics actually being good in those early days. More than likely would have been a 'dale fan, or took the bait and joined the lads off my estate at Maine Road.

Edited August 27, 2008 by Rocky_Latic

[willo74]

Born in Oldham but moved away at 12 months....still oldham through and through but local team is tranny so what choice do i have!!!!

[martjs]

For me my family have always supported Latics so I have followed suit, the usual reasons tend to be for the above, which begs the question why don't more people support Latics? Especially these people who are born and bred in Oldham, probably have family who support Latics, some of you say lack of Marketing, other reasons may be just a lack of catchment area, it might just be a lack of success, in other threads we've tried to discuss how to solve the problems, but what would you say is the root of the problem? I'm torn personally

 

Born and bred in Oldham. My Dad took me to my first match and all the family who like football are fans. Moved away for work reasons in 1996 after following Latics for almost 20 years. It was a wrench and still miss it.

 

A lot of Oldham-based United fans use the "my Dad took me to Old Trafford etc..." excuse so I believe Latics need to be more-proactive in the schools to get the kids going a few times a season. Let them in free with an adult.

[oafcjacob]

OAFC will always struggle to attract new people to BP whilst we languish in the third tier

of english football...we have lots of other clubs close by competing with us for peoples

hard earned cash....look what drastic measures bradford and huddersfield have done

to get people through the turnstiles...even their schemes may not allow them to break even

 

i personally think the only way is to lower the price of admission and reward people who go

regularly,£20 pay on the day is too expensive for a poor northern town and all the other cost of

living expenses that are rising at present...people are always gonna pick & choose the best games

to watch throughout the season

how many times have we seen queues at the ticket office when we are involved in

a big game when everyone comes out of the woodwork to watch us

 

i got hooked also after getting a free ticket at school but with the choices kids have at their

disposal are watching OAFC gonna be at the top of their list

 

lets hope we keep going on a good run and hopefully the numbers will improve

heres to a succesfull season

[wozz_oafc]

I support Latics because its the first team i saw no other affiliation, my dad and bro now come, dad supports latics as much as his old club now or more really as he goes the games.

 

IMO crowds are low because many reasons. Some more vital than others. We are a small club, lack of success, general disregard for the club in Oldham (im sure we have traditionally had low crowds?), over expectations amongst the more fickle fan (due to late 80s early 90s success.), poor atmosphere at games, no help from the council, poor marketing, the fact that we have completely missed the boat when it came to turning the club into a business. For example we should have put the home fans in the RRE years ago, it is much better, sod tradition I'm afraid. There is a better atmosphere, view and facilities which I am sure would have encouraged new support.

 

There are many factors involved so you cant just point at one area. I think the only real way to turn things around now will be promotion to the Championship, however how long are the TTA going to hang on for, or for a really rich benefactor to come in and inject a real buzz around the place. But look what happened last time!!

[ThaiLatic]

All of the above. My family are life-long Latics fans (my parents even met at BP!!), they're my local club and they were the first team I ever saw.

 

In spite of leaving Oldham in 1975 I still managed to get to 30 + matches a season and was a season ticket holder until I emigrated in 1997.

 

As for the second part of the poll, there are probably numerous reasons for this - most of which have been mentioned above.

 

Just as a matter of interest how does the cost of watching the Latics compare with other "leisure" pursuits? Cinema, bowling, round of golf etc I don't even know how much a pint of beer costs in England these days!!

[Daboke]

My Dad and uncles were all Chadderton lads - grown up on watching Oldham. I loved them since I can remember and managed to watch my first match when I was about 5 standing on a stool, then sitting huddled behind the advertisements with other likely lads.

My brother wouldn't like to admit it but he started off being a UTD fan (sorry Pete) and thankfully I never followed suit. My Dad wouldn't have been happy at all about that.

I had a season ticket until 2006 when I decided to emmigrate.

There should be a poll (if there isn't already) as to why people STOPPED going to oldham. Mine is emmigration and I think you would find lots of other fans have moved away. Although we love Oldham football it should be upto the town/council to bring more fans into the game.... but we all know that won't happen.

Anyway - my other reason for falling crowds is the closeness of more "successful" (OK those with stupid money to throw about and huge debts) teams and the glory hunters/ couch supporters that go with them.

[singe]

I'm two of them, local team and also first team I ever saw.

[Fergie]

I am born and bread in Norn Ieland and still live there. I started supporting oldham over 20 years ago to my familes surprise as they are all big Liverpool followers, I remember watching a game on the tv against West Ham on the old plastic pitch and I have supported Oldham ever since.

 

Its quite amusing as I have purchased every home and away top over the last 20 years and wear them on a regular basis around Norn Ireland, and the amount of people and give you a good look trying to identify the top you have on is quite funny.

 

I always get asked the question by Utd, City, Liverpool and Chelsea fans why Oldham, I always turn it back on them why do you support Utd or Liverpool.

 

I know 6 other Oldham fans who live in Norn Ireland one an ex Oldhammer and the rest from over here.

 

Lost count to the games I have been at over the years, thankfully I have seen nore wins than losses.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Fergie

[Lags]

Born in Waterloo, Ashton and moved to Mossley at 13, Briefly lived in Darwen and now Carrbrook. First pro side I saw at the age of 8. I school mate of mine had an elder sister who was about 18, she was a nurse at Oldham Hospital and she would take my mate and me to watch Latics. By the age of 10 my mate and I would travel up on the 410 or 409 to sheepfoot lane and watch the matches. By the age of 13 I'd moved to Mossley and caught two buses to sheepfoot lane and my old mate become a :censored:ty fan!. I've seen my old mate about 4 times in my life since and his sister I don't recall the last time I saw her. About 10 years ago my old fella started coming to Latics with me and pleased to say deep down Man Ure and the bias to them by the establishment sticks in his throat now. I do know although it was prior to me being on this planet, he did attend both OT and Maine Road.

 

Second purely lack of success coupled with the ability of people to travel easilly compared to the 70's. In the 70's 10,000+ was seen regularly at BP, but car ownership wasn't what it is today and the bus was as cheap as chips to BP likewise the admission price.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Lags

[andyritchieshairline]

Born and bred in Oldham. My Dad took me to my first match and all the family who like football are fans. Moved away for work reasons in 1996 after following Latics for almost 20 years. It was a wrench and still miss it.

 

A lot of Oldham-based United fans use the "my Dad took me to Old Trafford etc..." excuse so I believe Latics need to be more-proactive in the schools to get the kids going a few times a season. Let them in free with an adult.

I come from the other darker side. My Grandparents were season ticket holders at Man U and took me when they could, so I was brought up a red. It was only when I was old enough to want to go to the footy with my mates and they were all Latics fans that I saw the light, thankfully. I couldn't think of anything worse than being a Utd fan now.

[3 Lions]

My dad is a Man U fan and as a kid I meithered and meithered him to take me to a game, he never did. Then one morning at school a mate was talking about Oldham playing against Southampton in some cup competition at home and it was pay on the night, I went along to that and have never got off the bandwagon which was rolling around at the time. This wasnt my first Oldham game, I do remember being given a free ticket (Crystal Palace, when they had the diagonal stripe on their shirt) when I was at school, but I was way too young to pay attention to a game for 90 minutes.

 

I think the question should be aimed at those who can afford to go, but would rather have 10 pints, or spend the money on something else that is not important. For me supporting Latics is going even when we are tripe, if I'm lucky I'll get to a couple of games a season.

 

Price is certainly a factor, especially coupled with the credit crunch, I would say a lot of people cannot afford to go to every home game now. The TTA are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this issue, there is no evidence that an extra 1000 fans will show up if they reduced the costs. The Premiership also has a lot to answer for, money is pouring in to that league, but only trickling down to our level. Back in the day, it was the directors pockets that were being lined, but at least the fans were not priced out of the game. Nowadays it's flying straight in to the pockets of players and the ordinary fan is being hit the hardest for it. It's my biggest gripe about top tier football.

[ghostofcecere]

Latics runs in my family. In fact my great Grandfather one Alfred Tetlow was one of the original 20 founder members of Oldham Athletic; we were share holders until Mr. Moore it up!!!! My great Grandfather on the other side of the family, 'Flash' Harry Garland actually played for Pine Villa too.

 

My Dad has supported Latics all his life, he is now 72, so basically there was never going to be any other choice for me. Even if I'd been brought up in Outer Mongolia I would still have been a Latics fan.

 

The reason for low attendances now? Poor performance of the club since the 'pinch me' years plus the rising costs of attending games. It used to be £7 to stand in the Chaddy in the late 80's early 90's (and about £3 or so for kids), now the casual fan is looking at paying £20. If your a family man you can kiss goodbye to the best part of £60 to bring a couple of kids today to the game, if we said that the average wage around these parts is £250 - 300 a week that's a fairly healthy chunk of the household budget gone twice a month or more if we add in cup games. It's just not gonna happen I'm afraid......... I don't blame the clubs, it's the players who have brought about this situation over the years with their salary demands.

[Kingdingaling]

I was born in Rochdale but me all my dad's side of the family were Everton/Oldham fans but the local side were latics so me dad used to go watching them with his work mates who were all tics. Me dad started taking me when i was 5 coz i liked football and my dad really didn't want me to support United or City so he bought me loads of Oldham gear and took me every home game. Only good thing the guy's ever done for me but heyho.

 

The reason latics are struggling with their crowds at the minute is in my opinion a combination of poor marketing, high prices and a distinct lack of success. I still feel that the club could do more to attract fans who aren't convinced that it's worth paying £20 to watch a league one game, i know so many people who say they used to go but have just stopped because their isn't anything anywhere to say come to latics. I know it's a poor comparison but Citeh have a radio advert on Key 103 every now and again, they advertise in the MEN saying come down and watch us. I don't know if this would work for latics but the only thing the club have done in recent times is offering free entry to kids and a get in to the game for a pound initiative i.e Grimsby. This hasn't worked for latics as the gates have gone down to normal at the next game but it seems like the club has just said "well that hasn't worked so let's forget it". I honestly believe that more people would come to watch them if they just put it out their for fans to read or hear, get it in people's minds, it's a basic marketing techinique and i don't think it would cost a fortune as I've managed a £250,000 adverising and marketing campaign for a company over 2 years in local papers accross the country and it didn't cost much to to put a small advert in the paper advertising a jobs fair. Just my opinion anyway but come rain or shine i'll be there.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Kingdingaling

[garcon]

I grew up in Oldham, my Dad took me to a few games as a kid (even though he's really a City fan). Lost touch a bit, but then started going in the 80s.

 

Moved around the country for work, came back to the northwest and made a base in Cheshire which is nice and close for home games, and family and friends who are still local. In all likelihood, next time I move it'll be back into Oldham somewhere!

[oafc_ok]

Just as a matter of interest how does the cost of watching the Latics compare with other "leisure" pursuits? Cinema, bowling, round of golf etc I don't even know how much a pint of beer costs in England these days!!

 

 

In 'The Dog' it's about £2.80 for a pint of Guinness, Dale.

 

I've booked tickets for the Pogues Xmas tour this morning. Including booking fee (a staggering £5.65 per ticket!) and postage it is costing me over £37 for the Manchester gig, slightly less for Birmingham. It will be almost 22 years to the day since The Pogues played Central Park in Burton (Dec '86). Ticket price that day was £5.50. For comparison purposes Derby v Latics (Aug '86) cost £5 for an adult ticket (seated).

[Guest oa_exile]

In all likelihood, next time I move it'll be back into Oldham somewhere!

 

Really ? get a grip