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Not quite a minyan, but Oldham are the real Jewish deal


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jewish newspaperSomeone asked me the other day, ‘which is the best Jewish football club?’ Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea, Watford, Barnet, Wingate & Finchley or even London Maccabi Lions would be likely answers, but my choice would not be one of them.

 

While the first five have large Jewish fan-bases and/or key players at boardroom level, it is in fact League One outfit Oldham Athletic. Lying eighth in the table, the Latics have four members of the faith charged with running the club. At board level, you have chairman Simon Blitz, managing director Simon Corney, vice-president Chaim Beniaker and director Danny Gazal.

 

In terms of playing personnel, former Rangers star Dean Furman, 21, has been earning rave reviews as he looks to catch the eye of South Africa manager Joel Santana ahead of next year’s World Cup finals.

 

Full-back Joe Jacobson, the former Wales Under 21 captain, has yet to play since moving from Bristol Rovers due to injury. The club also has striker Nick Blackman, 19, on its books. The former King David pupil, who is on loan from Blackburn Rovers, scored a long-range strike against Brentford. He has a Jewish mother and has played in a Maccabiah.

 

Corney is delighted by the kosher connection. “Each one of those boys is there on merit,” he told me. “Agent Matt Kleinman begged me to take Dean, who coincidentally was the first target of new manager Dave Penney. He’s been outstanding in the last few games.

 

“Joe has had a good career at our level and hopefully we’ll see how good he is. I didn’t know about Nick’s Jewish connection until Dave Nadler jokingly asked if I was trying to get a minyan.”

 

The Jewish roots do not stop there. Since Corney, Blitz and Gazal took over the club, they have had mezuzot dotted around the ground and kosher food is available in the boardroom for midweek games.

 

Like Corney, Jacobson and Furman fasted and did not train on Yom Kippur. The following day, Furman was man-of-the-match against the MK Dons. “Maybe we should get the team to fast before every game,” Corney joked. :bob:

Edited by boboafc
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jewish newspaperSomeone asked me the other day, ‘which is the best Jewish football club?’ Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea, Watford, Barnet, Wingate & Finchley or even London Maccabi Lions would be likely answers, but my choice would not be one of them.

 

While the first five have large Jewish fan-bases and/or key players at boardroom level, it is in fact League One outfit Oldham Athletic. Lying eighth in the table, the Latics have four members of the faith charged with running the club. At board level, you have chairman Simon Blitz, managing director Simon Corney, vice-president Chaim Beniaker and director Danny Gazal.

 

In terms of playing personnel, former Rangers star Dean Furman, 21, has been earning rave reviews as he looks to catch the eye of South Africa manager Joel Santana ahead of next year’s World Cup finals.

 

Full-back Joe Jacobson, the former Wales Under 21 captain, has yet to play since moving from Bristol Rovers due to injury. The club also has striker Nick Blackman, 19, on its books. The former King David pupil, who is on loan from Blackburn Rovers, scored a long-range strike against Brentford. He has a Jewish mother and has played in a Maccabiah.

 

Corney is delighted by the kosher connection. “Each one of those boys is there on merit,” he told me. “Agent Matt Kleinman begged me to take Dean, who coincidentally was the first target of new manager Dave Penney. He’s been outstanding in the last few games.

 

“Joe has had a good career at our level and hopefully we’ll see how good he is. I didn’t know about Nick’s Jewish connection until Dave Nadler jokingly asked if I was trying to get a minyan.”

 

The Jewish roots do not stop there. Since Corney, Blitz and Gazal took over the club, they have had mezuzot dotted around the ground and kosher food is available in the boardroom for midweek games.

 

Like Corney, Jacobson and Furman fasted and did not train on Yom Kippur. The following day, Furman was man-of-the-match against the MK Dons. “Maybe we should get the team to fast before every game,” Corney joked. :bob:

 

Definately time to "Keep the Faith"

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Like Corney, Jacobson and Furman fasted and did not train on Yom Kippur. The following day, Furman was man-of-the-match against the MK Dons. “Maybe we should get the team to fast before every game,” Corney joked. :bob:

Maybe we should try to get Gregan to convert....

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Super-secret inside information from the halls of BP... yesterday I heard Mike Platt offer Simon one of the Ham Butties which was going to waste after the Youth Team's game got called off at short notice.

 

:lol:

 

The best comedy is accidental folks.

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Is Mike Newton not Jewish then? Not that I had any great reason to think he is but I think he was heavily involved in trading with Israel so I think maybe he was.

 

Interesting about the food, as someone who doesn’t eat pork and finds the smell of it disgusting I would be very much in favour of them making all the catering outlets at BP kosher. Does anyone else agree?

 

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Interesting about the food, as someone who doesn’t eat pork and finds the smell of it disgusting I would be very much in favour of them making all the catering outlets at BP kosher. Does anyone else agree?

You're a very bad man leeslover.

 

 

But I like you. :lol:

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