The Trust

[Canada_latic]

This has been coming for three years. A plan could have been in place for a worst case scenario, instead the fanbase and Trust are as further apart than they ever have been and why the club is destined to go down the :censored:ter. Why? Many of us have been accused of being doom and gloomers and trouble causers when questioning the motives and the direction the club was going in. All fight has turned to complete apathy - certainly in my case anyway, earlier in the season and last season I was willing to start a protest group to show the depth of feeling there still was for the club. I was shouted down and pretty much told any campaign would be ineffective. I was sent a text by a true fan on Friday asking was I willing to fight for the club, you know what? I haven't replied yet as I'm unsure whether i've got the desire to wade into this sea of bull:censored: we're enduring from boardroom level. I'll be there supporting the team until the end of the season but after that who knows. Is it really worth this? The warnings have been there, people have finally realised what this was all about in the first place but there are still too many with their heads in the sand.

 

As Lags says, time for a complete overhaul. Sell the club and land and admit defeat, rightly or wrongly the club has been run into the ground and the entire board should walk away, those employed by the club on the board should be sacked for long-term incompetence after over-seeing this abject failure. Yes, there has been some issues that have been out of the club's control but let's be honest if it wasn't for the desire to claw back losses we'd at least have some sort of stand on the Broadway side of the ground.

 

Administration may be a silver lining in a very dark cloud hanging over the club if it gets rid of the millstone around the club's neck. If the club goes bust then so be it, the existence that awaits us beyond this season will be non-league within two or three years anyway. The fans have deserted the club, but I don't blame most of them. When the die-hards have gone, en masse it is for much more than for footballing reasons. Not once have the club sought to find out why attendances have dropped so dramatically and the arrogance around tomorrow night's fixture is laughable and the club will indeed be a national laughing stock with no fans behind the goal in the RRE. Another of a procession of decisions that demonstrate complete apathy towards the fans from the people running the club.

 

This club is my life and has been for 25 years, but like many others the failures, false promises and excuses eat away at you before something finally snaps. I've been on the edge for the last three or four years yet only missed two or three home games in that time. But gradually my own apathy has grown. The team up until February has been a joy to watch this year but yet again the off-field crap kills everything off. It's one time too many for me. Fractured fanbase, dilapidated ground, clueless board and to top it all a team top-heavy with loanees and short-term stop gaps. We're not Oldham Athletic anymore we're a team of make do and mend. I could cope with this philosophy under Ritchie as the lads who were losing every week were OUR lads, not kids from other clubs underachieving.

 

I simply can't be arsed fighting for the status quo, if there's a chance of real change, bring it on. If not stick yer season ticket next season…..

Once again Prozac, you have read my mind, and pretty much nailed what I have been feeling about latics, the fanbase and the town. Thats why I have not been on here for a while. I've just gone past caring, if its not the happy-clappy make do merchant group of fans, trying to shout you down, its the short sightedness of the people running the club, who expect fans to pay £20, to watch a club situated in a town that is dieing on its knees where half the population is out of work or £20 is a lot to spend every other week. Then theres the council of the town who seem to lack ambition and seem only able to have the ability and interest to build houses and mosque's. I said a few weeks ago to my family that I would be surprised if we manage to stay in business in 2 years time. I've changed that to I would be happy if we stayed in business next season even if we start with -10 points.

[beag_teeets]

Messageboard bingo! I claim my £5 for the first mention of the M word.

 

If someone quickly mentions Hitler I get a line!

 

And while I'm here, at least if OMBC allow a mosque to be built people bloody pay for it themselves and then go and attend it whether they like the Imam or not rather than bitching from the side that in 1976 one of the clerics looked at them funnily.

[losesome]

Once again Prozac, you have read my mind, and pretty much nailed what I have been feeling about latics, the fanbase and the town. Thats why I have not been on here for a while. I've just gone past caring, if its not the happy-clappy make do merchant group of fans, trying to shout you down, its the short sightedness of the people running the club, who expect fans to pay £20, to watch a club situated in a town that is dieing on its knees where half the population is out of work or £20 is a lot to spend every other week. Then theres the council of the town who seem to lack ambition and seem only able to have the ability and interest to build houses and mosque's. I said a few weeks ago to my family that I would be surprised if we manage to stay in business in 2 years time. I've changed that to I would be happy if we stayed in business next season even if we start with -10 points.

 

Houses ???

The original redevelopment plans of BP were knocked back by the council because they said there was TOO MANY houses

and we had to reduce the number.

Had those plans been accepted the money for the redevelopment would have been forthcoming and everyting in the garden would look far rosier.

Instead the inept council's hurdles resulted in where we are now.

 

Mosques -

In some ways it emphasises the problems the club has with the town , there is little interest in the club ,

Football loving supporters have left the town and have been replaced with people that have no interest in the game.

 

 

The Town is dying and with it will go the football club as well as the few other facilities that are left.

Edited March 28, 2011 by losesome

[singe]

I think you'll find its acedemic anyway.

They 'll build when they jolly well want,does it mater if they build in 2 years or 5 years?THe endgame will bring the same result.

Rigsby predicts that the TTA wanted to build houses on BP all along shocker.

[edhunteruk]

Houses ???

The original redevelopment plans of BP were knocked back by the council because they said there was TOO MANY houses

and we had to reduce the number.

Had those plans been accepted the money for the redevelopment would have been forthcoming and everyting in the garden would look far rosier.

Instead the inept council's hurdles resulted in where we are now.

 

Mosques -

In some ways it emphasises the problems the club has with the town , there is little interest in the club ,

Football loving supporters have left the town and have been replaced with people that have no interest in the game.

 

 

The Town is dying and with it will go the football club as well as the few other facilities that are left.

i think you will find the original plan got knocked back because of the height of the flats and apartments,there wasnt many houses in the original plans,when the plans were re-submitted the height of the flats were lower and to compensate for this 4 bed houses were included in greater numbers...

[oafcprozac]

i think you will find the original plan got knocked back because of the height of the flats and apartments,there wasnt many houses in the original plans,when the plans were re-submitted the height of the flats were lower and to compensate for this 4 bed houses were included in greater numbers...

 

The original plans smacked of greed, stick as much as we can on the land and try to bully/emotionally blackmail our way through the planning process…the council delayed the process but they weren't responsible for the 18 month hiatus between announcing the plans and actually submitting them - plans announced in the Forest programme 15/2/2006 (How long prior to this had they been working on the scheme too?) Planning application submitted late summer 2007….

[ghostofcecere]

 

And here's the crux of it. It's all gone to :censored: so you need someone to blame. So despite there being no evidence and not a shred of logic to the idea, you decide TTA were bad 'uns all along and only came here to destroy the club and steal the land. After nearly 8 years and £14 Million spent, they must be the most incompetent asset strippers ever.

 

You need to understand that the club is :censored:ed not because of some outsiders with ill intent, but because it's in a :censored:ed up dead end town populated by people who couldn't give a :censored: any more.

Absolutely spot on that!!

Edited March 28, 2011 by ghostofcecere

[ghostofcecere]

I've made my feelings about Barry and the trust known on here before, but rather than being a mouthpiece of the fans on the Board, he is the mouthpiece of the Board to the fans.

 

This has always been fundamentally wrong, and I suspect a big reason why the majority of fans have never really got behind the trust after an initial promising start.

[oafcprozac]

Absolutely spot on that!!

 

The same :censored:ed up dead end town that rallied round en masse to help save the club in 2003, the same dead-end town that saw fit to march 2,000 strong for a new ground (not all were Latics die-hards that day). There's a lot wrong with the town and the council but the club has been :censored:ed up twice in the last ten years, but to simply blame the townsfolk is for too simplistic. I prefer to blame the mistakes by so-called millionaire businessmen that have proved time and again they cannot deliver what they have promised.

 

The fans have deserted the club in droves because:-

 

They feel their voice is not heard despite there being a supposed link between fan and boardroom

The club takes them for granted, ever demanding more for less product in a society that simply will not put up with what we did a generation ago. People want value for money, like it or lump it and Oldham Athletic has not provided that for nigh on two decades.

The cost-saving measure to drop the Lookers Stand - people argue against this. But look how the attendances dropped between 2007-08 - 2008/09 and thereafter.

The fans constantly being criticised by the club's hierarchy

The turnover in playing staff year on year, even half-seasonly is ridiculous - The fans simply cannot identify with a team of loan or short-term mercenaries

A procession of failed managers

Boundary Park being left to rot

Decisions from on high that constantly alienate the fans - tonight is an example

Failsworth divided the fanbase in a way that may prove to be terminal

The fact that every time things seem to be going well on the field, a bombshell is dropped or there's a doom and gloom article in the press with the same one or two board members peddling their message of devastation.

[ghostofcecere]

The same :censored:ed up dead end town that rallied round en masse to help save the club in 2003, the same dead-end town that saw fit to march 2,000 strong for a new ground (not all were Latics die-hards that day). There's a lot wrong with the town and the council but the club has been :censored:ed up twice in the last ten years, but to simply blame the townsfolk is for too simplistic. I prefer to blame the mistakes by so-called millionaire businessmen that have proved time and again they cannot deliver what they have promised.

 

The fans have deserted the club in droves because:-

 

They feel their voice is not heard despite there being a supposed link between fan and boardroom

The club takes them for granted, ever demanding more for less product in a society that simply will not put up with what we did a generation ago. People want value for money, like it or lump it and Oldham Athletic has not provided that for nigh on two decades.

The cost-saving measure to drop the Lookers Stand - people argue against this. But look how the attendances dropped between 2007-08 - 2008/09 and thereafter.

The fans constantly being criticised by the club's hierarchy

The turnover in playing staff year on year, even half-seasonly is ridiculous - The fans simply cannot identify with a team of loan or short-term mercenaries

A procession of failed managers

Boundary Park being left to rot

Decisions from on high that constantly alienate the fans - tonight is an example

Failsworth divided the fanbase in a way that may prove to be terminal

The fact that every time things seem to be going well on the field, a bombshell is dropped or there's a doom and gloom article in the press with the same one or two board members peddling their message of devastation.

The points you make are of course all contributing factors, but at the end of the day it's simple economics, a town of 250K+ inhabitants can only get 4K interested in following it's football team on a regular basis.

[jimsleftfoot]

Its hardly rocket science to say that a business that year on year doesn't break even could go out of business. It's a bit like if you say a boat with a hole might sink.

Edited March 28, 2011 by jimsleftfoot

[singe]

Houses ???

The original redevelopment plans of BP were knocked back by the council because they said there was TOO MANY houses

and we had to reduce the number.

Had those plans been accepted the money for the redevelopment would have been forthcoming and everyting in the garden would look far rosier.

Instead the inept council's hurdles resulted in where we are now.

 

Mosques -

In some ways it emphasises the problems the club has with the town , there is little interest in the club ,

Football loving supporters have left the town and have been replaced with people that have no interest in the game.

The Town is dying and with it will go the football club as well as the few other facilities that are left.

In the 2001 Census there were:

217,273 White

13,754 Pakistani

9,817 Bangladeshi

 

How many have left the town, to be replaced by people that have no interest in the gmae?

Edited March 28, 2011 by singe

[oafcprozac]

In the 2001 Census there were:

217,273 White

13,754 Pakistani

9,817 Bangladeshi

 

How many have left the town, to be replaced by people that have no interest in the gmae?

 

If i remember correctly are those figures not per household and not indicative of the numbers pertaining to each and every individual?

[Matt]

...but at the end of the day it's simple economics, a town of 250K+ inhabitants can only get 4K interested in following it's football team on a regular basis.

...for the reasons Prozac stated. If entrusted businessmen bankrolled the club to the tune of £14m in eight years with :censored: all to show for it at the end (or less!), just how good are they?

[DerekWilson_1968]

Spot on Rummy and Prozac.

[garcon]

Prozac, all the factors you mention are absolutely right and relevant. That's why I added "any more" to my comment on the people of Oldham. You can only expect popular support for so long, after the catalogue of mistakes, false starts, and maybe even sheer bad luck since 2004 it's little wonder people - even the leaders of protests two years ago - have given up.

 

Unlike some, I don't doubt the sincerity of TTA's original intentions. But they've made more mistakes than any other involved party to lead us into the state we're in now. Unfortunately, one of their biggest mistakes was overestimating the ability and willingness of Oldhamers and Oldham Council to support their vision - especially by the time we'd reached Plan C.

[ghostofcecere]

Prozac, all the factors you mention are absolutely right and relevant. That's why I added "any more" to my comment on the people of Oldham. You can only expect popular support for so long, after the catalogue of mistakes, false starts, and maybe even sheer bad luck since 2004 it's little wonder people - even the leaders of protests two years ago - have given up.

 

Unlike some, I don't doubt the sincerity of TTA's original intentions. But they've made more mistakes than any other involved party to lead us into the state we're in now. Unfortunately, one of their biggest mistakes was overestimating the ability and willingness of Oldhamers and Oldham Council to support their vision - especially by the time we'd reached Plan C.

You've nailed it again for me!

[oafcmetty]

So what do we do from here? Try and get the club in the hands of the fans and try and build up a support base again?

[singe]

If i remember correctly are those figures not per household and not indicative of the numbers pertaining to each and every individual?

I am not with you prozac, not per household and not indicatiive of individual?

At almost 250,000, it's not households.

Whilst it cannot be guaranteed, the numbers are not going to be 50%, 75% inaccurate.

It still shows over 200,000 white people in Oldham (for that was the insinuation, under the heading of Mosques, a lot of white people have moved out and people with no interest have moved in)

Edited March 28, 2011 by singe

[opinions4u]

The fact the 8,000 turned up (albeit on the cheap) for Carlisle does show what's being missed out on.

 

Get the balance right on the pitch and off the pitch and Oldham surely has a viable football club.

 

Have the Trust spoken yet?

[oafcprozac]

Prozac, all the factors you mention are absolutely right and relevant. That's why I added "any more" to my comment on the people of Oldham. You can only expect popular support for so long, after the catalogue of mistakes, false starts, and maybe even sheer bad luck since 2004 it's little wonder people - even the leaders of protests two years ago - have given up.

 

Unlike some, I don't doubt the sincerity of TTA's original intentions. But they've made more mistakes than any other involved party to lead us into the state we're in now. Unfortunately, one of their biggest mistakes was overestimating the ability and willingness of Oldhamers and Oldham Council to support their vision - especially by the time we'd reached Plan C.

 

I too think they came in with very good intentions and to make a decent wedge out of the scheme they had planned. As we know the situation we now find ourselves in is down to TTA's mistakes. As you say, of course there's been mitigating circumstances along the way but as custodians of the club they are ultimately to blame, as others have said the fans walking away is just many of several negative by-products of those failings.

Edited March 28, 2011 by oafcprozac

[rigsby]

I know I'm wasting my time arguing with someone who can't even use the :censored:ing quote function properly, but what the hell....

 

 

Yes, you've been spouting nonsensical bull:censored: about TTA for nearly two years. Well done.

 

 

That is so wrong it's actually offensive. What has Hardy invested? Only his entire working life. Your opinion says far more about you, and the value anyone should attach to your drivel, than it does about Hardy.

 

 

Once again congratulations for predicting demise once the slide had already started. You must win the lottery every :censored:ing week.

 

 

 

And here's the crux of it. It's all gone to :censored: so you need someone to blame. So despite there being no evidence and not a shred of logic to the idea, you decide TTA were bad 'uns all along and only came here to destroy the club and steal the land. After nearly 8 years and £14 Million spent, they must be the most incompetent asset strippers ever.

 

You need to understand that the club is :censored:ed not because of some outsiders with ill intent, but because it's in a :censored:ed up dead end town populated by people who couldn't give a :censored: any more.

I could quote a lot of that nonsence but to be honest i'd be wasting my time.

A few points of order...

1.I have NEVER said TTA came here to destroy the club,they came here as INVESTORS,they INVESTED in the LAND.Now,8years on they want a RETURN on the investment,unfortunately,as it stands,they are putting finances first and if that means,(to all intents),the club dies,then it would appear that is of secondary importance.

2.Don't mither with the 14mil,i dont know why you keep sprouting that figure,they'll get their money back and more,end of.

3.Regarding AH,WTF???He's invested his whole working life,LOL,SO F'ing what?He's made a small fortune out of it,some blokes invest their whole working life down a cold mine,what would you rather do?What a ridiculous standpoint.

4.I have NEVER trusted TTA from the word go so dont start this 'oh you come on here now the slide has started' BS,because i was suspicious of their intentions from the START.

I HATE arguing with a fellow fan,because de4spite our differnces we are both fans of the club,you might not like my opinions,but they are my opinions,and im entitled to them after INVESTING THOUSANDS into it over the years,unlike AH btw.

[oafcprozac]

I am not woth you proza, not per household and not indicatiive of individual.

At almost 250,000, it's not households.

Whilst it cannot be guaranteed, the numbers are not going to be 50%, 75% inaccurate.

It still shows over 200,000 white people in Oldham (for that was the insinuation, under the heading of Mosques, a lot of white people have moved out and people with no interest have moved in)

 

Ignore me, got my figures mixed up...

[ghostofcecere]

I could quote a lot of that nonsence but to be honest i'd be wasting my time.

A few points of order...

1.I have NEVER said TTA came here to destroy the club,they came here as INVESTORS,they INVESTED in the LAND.Now,8years on they want a RETURN on the investment,unfortunately,as it stands,they are putting finances first and if that means,(to all intents),the club dies,then it would appear that is of secondary importance.

2.Don't mither with the 14mil,i dont know why you keep sprouting that figure,they'll get their money back and more,end of.

3.Regarding AH,WTF???He's invested his whole working life,LOL,SO F'ing what?He's made a small fortune out of it,some blokes invest their whole working life down a cold mine,what would you rather do?What a ridiculous standpoint.

4.I have NEVER trusted TTA from the word go so dont start this 'oh you come on here now the slide has started' BS,because i was suspicious of their intentions from the START.

I HATE arguing with a fellow fan,because de4spite our differnces we are both fans of the club,you might not like my opinions,but they are my opinions,and im entitled to them after INVESTING THOUSANDS into it over the years,unlike AH btw.

Could you explain point 2), how exactly will they make £14M out of Oldham Athletic? And also point 3, how exactly (and be careful not to be libelous) has Mr. Hardy made a small fortune out of Oldham Athletic?

[rigsby]

Could you explain point 2), how exactly will they make £14M out of Oldham Athletic? And also point 3, how exactly (and be careful not to be libelous) has Mr. Hardy made a small fortune out of Oldham Athletic?

Point 2,they will make money,IMO.

Point 3,I'll wager AH has been drawing a very princely wage for the last 20 odd years.What the hells libellous about that???????