View from the opposition – Oldham 6 February 2009:
Editors comments – Dave makes some very valid comments about the newspaper (Leicester Mercury) offer not being open to all & the pricing for league one (division 3 in old money) matches!
A bit about you:
Name: Dave Hudson
Current home town: Oldham Birthplace: Oldham
How long have you supported your team? Lifelong (I am 47 years old) I first attended as a babe in arms (owing to my mother going back to work and my father being told that if he was going to football then he would have to take me with him!!)
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: This is probably quite a strange answer but I think it must be the elements. It doesn't matter what time of year it is it always seems cold. I think that visiting players and fans alike are always surprised at how cold it actually is at Boundary Park and it is quite a shock to them.
The ground itself is nothing to shout about but it has a 'homely' rundown feel to it that I think is lacking from a lot of the 'new' grounds these days.
New stadiums take time to get the 'right feel' instilled into them!!
Favourite match played by your team & why: This is a tough one:-…..
I think that my favourite match has got to be the last game of the 90-91 season when we beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 (after being 2-0 down) to be crowned 'Champions' of Division 2 and win promotion to the top Division for the first time in my lifetime.
It seems even more special these days in the fact that it was our current manager John Sheridan (playing for Wednesday) who brought down our marauding full back (Andy Barlow) for a penalty late into injury time which put us 3-2 up.
A very close run second has to be the Littlewoods Cup Semi Final 1st leg (February 14th 1990). The Valentines day massacre with us beating West Ham 6-0. We knew that night we were going to be going to Wembley for the first time (despite trying to throw it away in the second leg which we lost 3-0).
There was a lot of truly amazing games around this time as we were indulging in unbelievable cup runs and pushing for promotion.
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: Again because I have been watching Oldham for quite a few years I have got quite a few 'favourite' players. My favourites include Vic Halom, Alan Young & Simon Stainrod, Alan Groves, Andy Ritchie, Richard Jobson, Rick Holden through to later players such as David Eyres & Paul Warne.
John Sheridan – although not joining Oldham until the end of his career would probably be right up there at the top.He was totally 'different class' even though his mobility was not at it's best. He stood in the centre circle spraying balls out to either wing with deadly precision. How I wish we could have seen him in a Latics shirt whilst at his prime!!
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? I think that my favourite current player has to be Chris Taylor – the ginger winger.He is an Oldham lad and loves the club like the rest of us.He usually plays with a passion and enjoys a win like a supporter does. The down side is that he also feels defeat like a supporter does.
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? Chris Taylor – When Chris gets the ball in space he can be very dangerous and very exciting. As explained above he is Oldham through and through and plays like he cares. (I think that there are too many players these days that just turn up for their wages and if they lose so what – Chris is certainly not one of these players)
Player in our squad you most fear and why? Matty Fryatt – Phenominal goalscorer. He is a player that has always done well in the lower leagues and is a player that I would love to have leading the front line at Oldham.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? We have recently signed a young(ish) lad from Bury – Dale Stephens. He has been touted as a player for the future but in my view he should be playing now. Dale is an attacking midfielder and I have been very impressed with him whenever I have seen him play.
For some reason he doesn't seem to be involved much as our manager (John Sheridan) seems to like to stick to the 'tried & trusted' more experienced players in the squad.
Where do you think you’ll finish this season? At the minute I feel that we will be lucky to finish in the top six as we seem to be very inconsistent in recent weeks but if we can find a way to play like we did earlier in the season then maybe we can make the playoffs. Fingers crossed!!
How do you think you’ll do against us? Owing to our inconsistency and dependent on which Oldham decide to turn up we will either win in a closely fought game or we will get stuffed.
If I was having to put money on a correct score – bearing in mind that we don't usually do too well when on tv – I will go for a 4-0 defeat!! (with a 1-0 win as a saver!!)
Any other comments? I am a little disappointed with the scheme that you have run in conjunction with one of you local papers (Leicester Herald?) for this weeks game whereby your supporters are getting entrance into the game for a lot less that our supporters are having to pay.
Whenever we run schemes like this we ALWAYS give our visiting supporters 'like for like' and in honesty a lot of our supporters feel a little let down by this.
I also feel that although you have a nice new ground you shouldn't be charging supporters £23 to watch a game of 'third division football'.
Surely the time has come for some price capping for each division relating to entrance charges.
I know that you have recently come down from the championship and have probably just kept the prices the same but I do think that anything over £20 for this tier of football is too much.
I have visited 'Walkers Stadium' before as I attended a Conference play off final between Hereford & Halifax (just so that I could cross another ground off my list) a couple of years ago and for this reason along with your price of £23 I will probably not attend the game this weekend.
This will be the 3rd away game that I will have missed this season with the others being Leeds (£27) and Southend (in Vegas watching Hatton!!).
To end this off I would just like to wish Leicester City "All the Best" for the remainder of the season and would like to say to all Leicester supporters "Enjoy your Promotion" (this is based purely on personal issues owing to the fact that I backed you to win League One this season way before the season had started!!)
Hopefully this game can beat the weather and a good day is had by all!!