wiseowl Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 55 minutes ago, Ritchierich said: The funny thing about clubs our size is that the finances could be altered pretty quickly by getting an extra 500-1000 fans per home game....suddenly the club breaks even so the owner doesn’t need to subsidise. This depends on the club being well organised and well run operationally in the first place which we don’t have at the moment and which is also difficult due to the dangerous structure with Brassbank/band and the other asset stripping entities. I suppose what I’m saying is we have 2 clear choices...we can either disengage with the club and owners and work against them in the hope that a very wealthy and hopefully smart new owner will magically appear on the scene or, we can take a different tack and collectively decide to go all in with AL and to some extent the ex-amigos and try to turn the club around. The Trust would need to re-invent itself as a bigger, more open, more forceful entity with the kind of regular, large scale fan meets and a focus on fan engagement. Can AL be pursuaded to sell a small percentage to fans for example....how many of us would be prepared to put in £100-£1000 for a tiny stake each? I would. Could we turn Latics into a fan owned (at least in part) and run club....it could be a dream scenario for AL, he gets to keep living the dream and we get to enjoy it like we should and be part of it. Maybe this is all nonsense and we’re doomed but the 4,000 at Fulham and the amazing away support and passion for this little club tells me it still has something special and it’s not beyond saving I didn’t go to Colchester yesterday like I would normally and I felt annoyed at myself, I don’t want to let the owners ruin our club but maybe AL just needs help and support and just doesn’t know how to do it. Was his request for non-execs a first recognition of this and an attempt to reach out? One or two fan representatives on the Board is NOT the answer, we need large scale fan involvement, ownership and engagement, we need hundreds then thousands of Oldham fans to truly feel it is their club. Excellent post and certainly food for thought. I have boycotted the games since Scholes left because it felt like the straw that broke the camel's back. It's clear now, however, that (despite whatever was/is going on in the background) Scholes was not cut out for management. The juxtaposition of him and Pete Wild paints a very clear picture. I think I agree wholeheartedly with your post, Ritchie, and would certainly give my support to a powerful Trust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyres42 Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, wiseowl said: Excellent post and certainly food for thought. I have boycotted the games since Scholes left because it felt like the straw that broke the camel's back. It's clear now, however, that (despite whatever was/is going on in the background) Scholes was not cut out for management. The juxtaposition of him and Pete Wild paints a very clear picture. I think I agree wholeheartedly with your post, Ritchie, and would certainly give my support to a powerful Trust. It's not clear at all though, we are none the wiser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kowenicki Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 1 hour ago, Ritchierich said: The funny thing about clubs our size is that the finances could be altered pretty quickly by getting an extra 500-1000 fans per home game....suddenly the club breaks even so the owner doesn’t need to subsidise. This depends on the club being well organised and well run operationally in the first place which we don’t have at the moment and which is also difficult due to the dangerous structure with Brassbank/band and the other asset stripping entities. I suppose what I’m saying is we have 2 clear choices...we can either disengage with the club and owners and work against them in the hope that a very wealthy and hopefully smart new owner will magically appear on the scene or, we can take a different tack and collectively decide to go all in with AL and to some extent the ex-amigos and try to turn the club around. The Trust would need to re-invent itself as a bigger, more open, more forceful entity with the kind of regular, large scale fan meets and a focus on fan engagement. Can AL be pursuaded to sell a small percentage to fans for example....how many of us would be prepared to put in £100-£1000 for a tiny stake each? I would. Could we turn Latics into a fan owned (at least in part) and run club....it could be a dream scenario for AL, he gets to keep living the dream and we get to enjoy it like we should and be part of it. Maybe this is all nonsense and we’re doomed but the 4,000 at Fulham and the amazing away support and passion for this little club tells me it still has something special and it’s not beyond saving I didn’t go to Colchester yesterday like I would normally and I felt annoyed at myself, I don’t want to let the owners ruin our club but maybe AL just needs help and support and just doesn’t know how to do it. Was his request for non-execs a first recognition of this and an attempt to reach out? One or two fan representatives on the Board is NOT the answer, we need large scale fan involvement, ownership and engagement, we need hundreds then thousands of Oldham fans to truly feel it is their club. V good post. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whittles left foot Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 39 minutes ago, deyres42 said: It's not clear at all though, we are none the wiser. If it is not clear to you yet that Scholes was not fit for management then it never will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyres42 Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 5 minutes ago, whittles left foot said: If it is not clear to you yet that Scholes was not fit for management then it never will be. Yet? Has something happened in the meantime that we've missed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Ritchierich said: The funny thing about clubs our size is that the finances could be altered pretty quickly by getting an extra 500-1000 fans per home game....suddenly the club breaks even so the owner doesn’t need to subsidise. This depends on the club being well organised and well run operationally in the first place which we don’t have at the moment and which is also difficult due to the dangerous structure with Brassbank/band and the other asset stripping entities. I suppose what I’m saying is we have 2 clear choices...we can either disengage with the club and owners and work against them in the hope that a very wealthy and hopefully smart new owner will magically appear on the scene or, we can take a different tack and collectively decide to go all in with AL and to some extent the ex-amigos and try to turn the club around. The Trust would need to re-invent itself as a bigger, more open, more forceful entity with the kind of regular, large scale fan meets and a focus on fan engagement. Can AL be pursuaded to sell a small percentage to fans for example....how many of us would be prepared to put in £100-£1000 for a tiny stake each? I would. Could we turn Latics into a fan owned (at least in part) and run club....it could be a dream scenario for AL, he gets to keep living the dream and we get to enjoy it like we should and be part of it. Maybe this is all nonsense and we’re doomed but the 4,000 at Fulham and the amazing away support and passion for this little club tells me it still has something special and it’s not beyond saving I didn’t go to Colchester yesterday like I would normally and I felt annoyed at myself, I don’t want to let the owners ruin our club but maybe AL just needs help and support and just doesn’t know how to do it. Was his request for non-execs a first recognition of this and an attempt to reach out? One or two fan representatives on the Board is NOT the answer, we need large scale fan involvement, ownership and engagement, we need hundreds then thousands of Oldham fans to truly feel it is their club. I agree with your sentiment. Only issue is, will AL want that kind fan involvement? Absolulety not. His ego alone wouldn’t let him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whittles left foot Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 1 hour ago, deyres42 said: Yet? Has something happened in the meantime that we've missed? 'We' haven't missed anything. You however? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 7 hours ago, Ritchierich said: The funny thing about clubs our size is that the finances could be altered pretty quickly by getting an extra 500-1000 fans per home game....suddenly the club breaks even so the owner doesn’t need to subsidise. This depends on the club being well organised and well run operationally in the first place which we don’t have at the moment and which is also difficult due to the dangerous structure with Brassbank/band and the other asset stripping entities. I suppose what I’m saying is we have 2 clear choices...we can either disengage with the club and owners and work against them in the hope that a very wealthy and hopefully smart new owner will magically appear on the scene or, we can take a different tack and collectively decide to go all in with AL and to some extent the ex-amigos and try to turn the club around. The Trust would need to re-invent itself as a bigger, more open, more forceful entity with the kind of regular, large scale fan meets and a focus on fan engagement. Can AL be pursuaded to sell a small percentage to fans for example....how many of us would be prepared to put in £100-£1000 for a tiny stake each? I would. Could we turn Latics into a fan owned (at least in part) and run club....it could be a dream scenario for AL, he gets to keep living the dream and we get to enjoy it like we should and be part of it. Maybe this is all nonsense and we’re doomed but the 4,000 at Fulham and the amazing away support and passion for this little club tells me it still has something special and it’s not beyond saving I didn’t go to Colchester yesterday like I would normally and I felt annoyed at myself, I don’t want to let the owners ruin our club but maybe AL just needs help and support and just doesn’t know how to do it. Was his request for non-execs a first recognition of this and an attempt to reach out? One or two fan representatives on the Board is NOT the answer, we need large scale fan involvement, ownership and engagement, we need hundreds then thousands of Oldham fans to truly feel it is their club. Some good points in here. I definitely welcome people taking a step back and trying to consider what a future sustainable and viable OAFC looks like. That’s what we need to do more of. Our current approach is about reaching out to AL and trying to get him to come to the table and engage in some productive conversations about the long term future, as well as shorter term operational issues. We are here to try and help him and we offer that within our letter. We need him to open up though and be willing to let us in. We can then look to put some options on the table as to how we and fans can support, financially or otherwise. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hands on Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Scholes is not the issue and we might never know how good or bad a manager he would have made. You can't be at odds with the owner and perform well as was evidenced by Wellens. The issue is the failure of Marco despite his public pronouncements to engage with the supporters. Giving us a scarf is the way you engage with a two year old. Engagement is particularly important when rumour after rumour suggests that the club is not debt free and could be heading for disaster even greater than sticking his oar in and facilitating our relegation to league two. The letter is the right way forward for the Trust. It is an opportunity for Marco to give at least some answers - to prove that some of the rumours have no foundation. It is his move next but if he fails to answer something has to be done. I would favour taking legal advice to find out how/if Marco can be forced to engage as he should with the Trust and then doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 59 minutes ago, Hands on said: Scholes is not the issue and we might never know how good or bad a manager he would have made. You can't be at odds with the owner and perform well as was evidenced by Wellens. The issue is the failure of Marco despite his public pronouncements to engage with the supporters. Giving us a scarf is the way you engage with a two year old. Engagement is particularly important when rumour after rumour suggests that the club is not debt free and could be heading for disaster even greater than sticking his oar in and facilitating our relegation to league two. The letter is the right way forward for the Trust. It is an opportunity for Marco to give at least some answers - to prove that some of the rumours have no foundation. It is his move next but if he fails to answer something has to be done. I would favour taking legal advice to find out how/if Marco can be forced to engage as he should with the Trust and then doing it. Trust meeting held tonight and advice sought from Supporters Direct last week about next steps. Likely to be a fans meeting on or around 25th April (evening) if we don’t get a response. More info to follow. For now we await the owners response by 12th thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiseowl Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 13 hours ago, Andy b said: Trust meeting held tonight and advice sought from Supporters Direct last week about next steps. Likely to be a fans meeting on or around 25th April (evening) if we don’t get a response. More info to follow. For now we await the owners response by 12th thanks Cheers Andy. Someone responded to me on here (may have been Underdog) that Trust relations had not, in fact, broken down with AL (i.e. to the extent they had with SC previously). If that's the case, then surely he has indicated to someone from the Trust that a) he's received the letter and b) will respond to it (or appropriate bits of it as he sees fit) ASAP or by the deadline? Sorry if I`ve missed this covered elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, wiseowl said: Cheers Andy. Someone responded to me on here (may have been Underdog) that Trust relations had not, in fact, broken down with AL (i.e. to the extent they had with SC previously). If that's the case, then surely he has indicated to someone from the Trust that a) he's received the letter and b) will respond to it (or appropriate bits of it as he sees fit) ASAP or by the deadline? Sorry if I`ve missed this covered elsewhere. No response received to date and no acknowledgement of receipt to any Trust Director. I don’t read anything at all into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 On 3/29/2019 at 10:14 AM, Andy b said: 3 minutes ago, Andy b said: No response received to date and no acknowledgement of receipt to any Trust Director. I don’t read anything at all into that. I do...he ain’t responding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick26 Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: I do...he ain’t responding! Well if he doesn't or the Trust still have concerns then we need to look again at replacing Playershare with a "Clubshare" scheme. Even if AL won't sell any of his 97% then this might go some way to providing a warchest if needed in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorvik_latic Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 13 hours ago, Andy b said: Trust meeting held tonight and advice sought from Supporters Direct last week about next steps. Likely to be a fans meeting on or around 25th April (evening) if we don’t get a response. More info to follow. For now we await the owners response by 12th thanks I would imagine that fans will be looking to move sooner than that if there's no response. There will probably be a protest at the Mansfield match. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 If he responds in a positive way ie. a plan going forward I’ll renew my ST! All it needs is a simple ‘we’re going to give it a real go next season’ Sort out the pitch, and back Wild in the recruitment of players. Or I’m struggling with finance, have no money for players so we’re going to have to turn to the youth at the club. I can live with either scenario as long as he gives some honest answers and promises to engage with the trust but he needs to do it quickly. FWIW I don’t think he’ll respond! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 13 hours ago, Andy b said: Trust meeting held tonight and advice sought from Supporters Direct last week about next steps. Likely to be a fans meeting on or around 25th April (evening) if we don’t get a response. More info to follow. For now we await the owners response by 12th thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kowenicki Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 26 minutes ago, jorvik_latic said: I would imagine that fans will be looking to move sooner than that if there's no response. There will probably be a protest at the Mansfield match. When a reporter from sky asks “Why are you protesting?” What is the common and coherent answer that will be given do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjointed Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, kowenicki said: When a reporter from sky asks “Why are you protesting?” What is the common and coherent answer that will be given do you think? "The owner is a twat" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kowenicki Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 Just now, disjointed said: "The owner is a twat" Thats about what I expect funnily enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorvik_latic Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 1 minute ago, kowenicki said: When a reporter from sky asks “Why are you protesting?” What is the common and coherent answer that will be given do you think? Maybe that could be decided at an organised meeting beforehand. Rather than after an inevitable disorganised bunch of fans pissed off that AL hasn't responded? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorvik_latic Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 1 minute ago, disjointed said: "The owner is a twat" Or that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjointed Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 3 minutes ago, kowenicki said: Thats about what I expect funnily enough. Glad I didn't let you down, tell it as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kowenicki Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 4 minutes ago, jorvik_latic said: Maybe that could be decided at an organised meeting beforehand. Rather than after an inevitable disorganised bunch of fans pissed off that AL hasn't responded? It is essential, otherwise some of the fans ‘protesting’ will come across very badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorvik_latic Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, kowenicki said: It is essential, otherwise some of the fans ‘protesting’ will come across very badly. Hence why I'm pointing out that a meeting on the 25th will probably be too late Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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