Oldham Athletic - next 7 days in the diary

[Museum de Latique]

Next Tuesday the first team have another warm up game as the guests of Mossley FC in their Seel Park Centenary Match with Mossley legend Leo Skeete their special guest.

 

Adults £5/Concessions £3/ accompanied children FREE and unaccompanied children £1.

 

Always a warm welcome here and a smashing bar to boot (Though they cant beat £1.50 a pint of Guiness that Barrow where doing ).

 

1945 is the start time and point your SatNav to OL5 0ES.

 

The following day (Wed at noon) the first team have another run out "behind closed doors"! against Blackburn Rovers at the Rovers training complex at Brockhall Village. SatNav BB6 8AY.

 

About Brockhall from Wikipedia Brockhall Hospital was once Europe's largest mental institution. It was built in 1904 as an Inebriate Women's Reformatory, later becoming a hospital for people with learning disabilities.

 

The hospital was closed by the NHS in 1992 as part of the government's Care in the Community policy, and the property developer Gerald Hitman, who had earlier bought the lease on the hospital, started to develop the site, replacing the hospital with a gated community, which now contains more than 400 homes, as well as the Blackburn Rovers' training ground and a hotel.

 

If you want to make the trip here are the directions (This is from the Bury FC website - dont know if the last bit is correct:

From the M60: Leave M60 at jct 18. Join M66 and travel on to the very end of the motorway. At the roundabout take second left A56 (A6068/M65) signposted Clitheroe. At Traffic Lights follow signs for Clitheroe. At the next set of traffic lights turn left onto A671 (Clitheroe) until the junction with the A680. Bear right at the traffic lights following signs for Whalley B6246. At the bottom of the hill you reach Whalley. Turn left at the roundabout following signs for Preston A59. When you reach the large roundabout, follow signs for A59 Old Langho 3rd exit. Turn right at the Northcote Manor Hotel and follow the road until you see signs for Brockhall Village. Once you have turned left into Brockhall Village, there is a large building on your left, which is the Blackburn Rovers Academy. You need to come to the security barrier and ask for directions to the First Team Training Ground.

 

On Saturday the Youth team play their second game at Bacup Borough (15.00). The game at Silsden was split into 3 x 30 min periods so this may be again.

 

No word on admission but league games at West View where £6 last season. With no first team game and our first visit to Borough for a while I would think a few will travel to knock it off the list.

 

Directions: From M62, take M66 onto A681, through Rawtenstall to Bacup Town Centre, turn left onto the A671 towards Burnley, after approx. 300 yards turn right immediately before the Irwell Inn climbing Cooper Street, turn right into Blackthorn Lane, then first left into Cowtoot Lane to ground. (OL13 3EE)

 

If you fancy the bus the 464 from Rochdale to the center of Bacup will leave a 10 min walk (Uphill). Follow Burnley road until just before the Irwell Inn then turn right and the ground is at the top of the hill.

 

Bacup is a strange place and pubs in the area are chav central. The British Queen is really the only one left in the center now so if you want a scoop I would do that in Rochdale or head for the ground where you will find the "Martin Peters Sports Bar"

 

If you do want to eat and drink before game I reccomend "The Rose & Bowl" in Stacksteads. Voted best pub in the Rossendale Valley last year. Owned by the company who do a lot of the catering for the sponsors at BP (Lords Catering) and run by a fantastic couple Jon & Carol. Beer not too cheap but a really good place for some scran. After the game they will have a carvery on at £5.95 and is is great value and quality.

 

About a mile from Bacup on the road to Rawtenstall.

Edited July 10, 2011 by Museum de Latique