The Last 10 Years

[Latics and England]

Next Saturday will be the 10th anniversary of Celebration Sunday so seems a reasonable time to objectively assess the period since TTA rode in to save/ruin the club (dependent on your viewpoint).

 

We were 17th in League one at the time having just been hammered at Rushden & Diamonds and we had an average crowd of circa 6,000. Ten years on we are sat 15th in League one and the crowds have dropped to about 4,000. We have not achieved a promotion yet have also not suffered relegation.

 

Of the other teams in our division that day, 6 now play in either the Championship or Premier League, 8 are still here with us having had a trip either up or down in the meantime, 4 are in League two whilst 5 are now non-league. Those non-league sides are Rusden, Wrexham, Luton, Stockport and Grimsby.

 

There have been 26 sides promoted from League one of which the following did it on a considerable budget:

 

QPR

Brighton

Hull

Sheff Wed

Bristol C

Blackpool

Swansea

Forest

Doncaster

Leicester

Peterborough

Norwich

Leeds

Brighton

Southampton

Charlton

Huddersfield

Bournemouth

 

That leaves 8 promoted sides who I would say batted above their weight to get promoted:

 

Plymouth

Luton

Southend

Colchester

Barnsley

Scunthorpe

Millwall

Yeovil

 

There have clearly been a lot of mistakes made by Corney and his former partners over the last decade, but looking at this, I don't think he's done that bad a job. I look at those clubs now in the conference and can't help but think that, barring Rushden, they are probably all similar sized clubs to ourselves and it could so easily have been us languishing down there.

 

The fall in gates is in no small part down to the fact that we never change division and so the excitement factor is not there but the list of promoted clubs shows how difficult it is to get out at the right end. It seems ridiculous to hold anything against him that we've never been relegated. Of those clubs I suggested batted above their weight to go up, half of them are now at least one division below us suggesting they probably spent beyond their means to get that bit of success.

 

None of this changes the fact that we are right to want more than what we currently have but I think it does provide a bit of perspective.

 

 

 

[Pine Villains]

it may come to some surprise but by and large we couldn't give a toss about anybody else. what matters is us.

[HarryBosch]

As daft as it sounds, and as much as I want us to go up, having kept us where we are with everything that's gone on could be viewed as quite an achievement.

 

I'd love to ask him/them if, in hindsight, they wish they'd thrown more money at it when we had 6000 crowds and were flirting with promotion. It would have cost them less in the long run I reckon.

[lookersstandandy]

An excellent and well balanced summary L&E. Of those who have gone up on modest budgets, the 3 that remain are also all struggling to survive.

[Oh Heck C-Beck]

it may come to some surprise but by and large we couldn't give a toss about anybody else. what matters is us.

 

Why not just pull out the league and have matches between two Oldham teams then... ;)

[Stevie_J]

Well done, Simon. It could have been worse.

[longtimeblue]

Well done, Simon. It could have been worse.

Will that fit on a brick?

[petelatics]

Well done bit of research. Glad we've still got a club.

[yarddogs]

Same :censored: different decade!

[4oakslatic]

As the man said, at least we have a club

 

ffs we could be Blackburn or Leeds (god forbid- I really hate Leeds !) or Portsmouth

 

Well done Simon, thank you keep it up

Edited February 3, 2014 by 4oakslatic

[rudemedic]

As the man said, at least we have a club

 

ffs we could be Blackburn or Leeds (god forbid- I really hate Leeds !) or Portsmouth

 

Well done Simon, thank you keep it up

 

So two teams in the Championship, and recent FA cup winners and finalists. Yeah at least we aren't them

[oafckev]

Stick in the middle of that a massive recession that has hit businesses massively over the past 5/6 years and you could say that we've done fairly well. Finally we have progression off the field, a promising set up from the youth to the first team and had a couple of cracking cup ties to put our name on the worldwide map yet again.

However, I'd say it hasn't been all plain sailing for Corney and the fled amigo's. Mangerial appointment and sackings have left a lot of questions by many. The frustrating plans to move to Failsworth which wasted years and money with the whole failed process. The lack of progression on the field in the last ten years has lost us fans and reduced our optimism as loyal supporters as we constantly aim for a play off push.

 

For me personally, my view on Simon is constantly changing which in my eyes is the best way as it avoids blind faithfulness but also unnecessary doom mongering towards the running of the club. Currently I'm happy with him being in charge of our club and I feel that he is one of us mad lot now. He doesn't have to do it, I wouldn't do it if I had the money, so, for that I thank him and fingers crossed next year will be our year...

[Stevie_J]

So two teams in the Championship, and recent FA cup winners and finalists. Yeah at least we aren't them

[4oakslatic]

So two teams in the Championship, and recent FA cup winners and finalists. Yeah at least we aren't them

in the case of Leeds and Blackburn being owned/lead by megolomaniacs

and in danger of crashing and burning completely

[singe]

It is a moot point.

Would anyone be in the same position as:

Leeds or us

Blackburn or us

Bolton (£160m+ debt) or us

 

 

OF course, there are plenty of teams we would willingly swap places with. I'd be happier with a steadier ship than the roller coaster of a meglomaniac.

 

Jealous of:

Brighton

Blackpool

Swansea

Norwich

Charlton

Huddersfield

Bournemouth

Barnsley

Hull

Yeovil but may be back with us.

 

 

No jealous of:

QPR More of a rough ride there, and just thrown money at it. WE don't have the fanbase to support it

Sheff Wed Not 100% sure. They are on a good run, but I feel debts are holding them bacl

Bristol C

Forest Again not 100% sure, debts holding back

Doncaster Nah, they'll be back with us

Leicester No because of going into admin (clearly did it better than us though)

Peterborough Nah, that's not going to end well, too much of a roller coaster

Leeds Cirucs full of clowns

Southampton Ditto Leicester and debt, and well, it Leeds

Plymouth Freefall, too tortuous

Luton

Southend

Colchester Should have been a model, but one of few building a new stadium has not worked. A cautionary tale for us.

Scunthorpe

Millwall Self explanatory

[mikeroyboy]

An excellent compilation of stats that should help us all to realise that our plight could be a hell of a lot worse.

 

Chris Moore took a chance on better quality players on unaffordable wages to make a genuine attempt at gaining promotion. He was by no means the first and certainly not the last to fail miserably and disastrously - administration no less and that is where Chris Moore left us.

 

Corney and Co rescued us from that administration. Its been no secret that they had their eye on land valuation, indeed there is no valid reason for a stranger to rescue/buy a football club for the sole benefit of its supporters. In due course they submitted a failed plan to build 600 housing units on part of it. This came after an absolutely necessary cull on our wage bill and just before the world recession.

 

The ground development fiasco has been well documented and followed with dismay by the fans. Other parties share some of the blame for the lack of progress and I think would be unfair to assume that Corney has not had a fair crack at developing the ground - one way and an other.

 

What would Corney have done differently with the benefit if hindsight? If I were him, it would be getting involved with the club in the first place. Having said that hindsight is a useless tool. Once you have taken a certain path in life there is no going back to square one to try another route for comparison. The entire fabric of time and place changes. For me a significant error he made that had a seriously detrimental effect on fans and likely also the players was knocking down the Ford Stand. Corney, himself has said he regrets it. What a soul destroying place Boundary Park has been for the last 5yrs. There is absolutely no way that we could find out where we would have been IF we had got promoted with Chris Moore. Premiership, Conference - who knows, think Luton and Portsmouth or Swansea and Southampton.

 

There is nothing wrong with ambition - a better car, house, job but it does tend to need personal input to achieve. In terms of a higher league status and better ground we are depending on someone else's ambition, not forgetting their cash and a dollop of luck.

 

It all depends what you realistically expect from someone how you react to their performance, understanding, indifference, anger.

It's all there on a football fans forum. it wouldn't be a forum otherwise.

 

I think Corney has done a pretty good job overall. I have no one else to compare him with and I am comfortable were we are.

But we are overdue a decent season.

[leeslover]

How long would Plymouth have been up when they were offering £700k for Chris Porter at Christmas? They were riding the doomed SW tidal wave at the time.

[BlueJazzer]

Stick in the middle of that a massive recession that has hit businesses massively over the past 5/6 years and you could say that we've done fairly well :

Has the recession hit other clubs crowds though?

[real]

As daft as it sounds, and as much as I want us to go up, having kept us where we are with everything that's gone on could be viewed as quite an achievement.

 

I'd love to ask him/them if, in hindsight, they wish they'd thrown more money at it when we had 6000 crowds and were flirting with promotion. It would have cost them less in the long run I reckon.

 

After Talbot's poor season we had 4 years of top 10 finishes, 1 under RM, then 3 under Shez (one was after he left with 8(?) games to go) - I wonder how much more could have been spent to get us consistently a few places higher? Did TTA think it was going well and just needed a bit of extra luck to put us in with a shout of promotion?

 

I also wonder how the fans calling for Shez to be sacked look back on their own decision making and recognise that watershed moment?

[simplythemostimportantkick]

Maybe my memory is false but I don't recall many calling for shez to be dismissed, not me that's for sure. For me the board should have stood by Sheridan after belle-vue gate and got rid of the wrong uns involved,and who knows where he could have taken us.

[LaticMark]

Celebration Sunday - 10 years ago today.

 

http://mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/080214451-celebration-sunday-10-years-heroes-oldham-athletic%E2%80%99s-legendary-6-0-drubbing-grimsb

[Zorrro]

I also wonder how the fans calling for Moore to be sacked look back on their own decision making and recognise that watershed moment?

 

[HarryBosch]

Imagine how little we'd have appreciated going up under Moore or Sheridan compared to how we will under Johnson.

[leeslover]

After Talbot's poor season we had 4 years of top 10 finishes, 1 under RM, then 3 under Shez (one was after he left with 8(?) games to go) - I wonder how much more could have been spent to get us consistently a few places higher? Did TTA think it was going well and just needed a bit of extra luck to put us in with a shout of promotion?

 

I also wonder how the fans calling for Shez to be sacked look back on their own decision making and recognise that watershed moment?

I was backing Shez, but the point about the backing may be key - he presumably asked for and was given a load of cash for loanees, and he spent it on :censored:e that was worse than what we had.

[the_mighty_bosh]

Maybe my memory is false but I don't recall many calling for shez to be dismissed, not me that's for sure. For me the board should have stood by Sheridan after belle-vue gate and got rid of the wrong uns involved,and who knows where he could have taken us.

 

I was in the camp of giving Shez until the end of the season and if it didn't work then completely rebuild the squad and backroom staff in the off-season. Although with hindsight I could understand if the board thought a collapse was inevitable after the MK defeat.

 

I would be interested to know what Royle's job description was for the last 9 games. After the MK Dons defeat we were only 2 points off the playoff spots, two games later after the Cheltenham game where Danny Whitaker got the last kick equaliser we were still only 4 points off, before letting Hughes go 2 days later. If Royle's job was to give us a last push to try and get promotion through the playoffs then letting Hughes go was the white flag in that respect and the wrong move regardless of whether he was being a knob or not. If Royle's job was to rebuild the squad for the following season with 9 games to go and only 2 points from the playoffs then the board must shoulder the responsibility for lacking ambition.

 

Of course if we knew at the time that Royle was breaking up the side for Dave Penney to rebuild then I'm sure there would've been more of an uproar. Benefit of hindsight I guess.