167 replies to this topic

[Shaw Lad]

In 1997 we had no other option. CH was the only option that came forward, so it had to be tried.

Rubbish. He got his foot in the door first. There was far better people than Hamilton, he just got in first.

[oldhamer]

Was there? Post some evidence not 'rumours' to back that up, as there are too many "I know a man who knew someone......"
CH came to the front and delivered. I do not remember any other parties that had tried to get involved.

[oldhamer]

.

Edited by oldhamer, 26 June 2012 - 07:21 PM.

[allroughyed]

We have only 7 games left

[oldhamer]

Donny home
workington home
Whitehaven away
Barrow away
Gateshead away
south wales away
london home

7 your right.the bbc was wrong when I looked

Edited by oldhamer, 26 June 2012 - 07:42 PM.

[allroughyed]

BBC is like the Oldham chronicle, bloody slow

[thecrab]

Oldhamer,

I'll take you up on a few of your points while i've got a bit of spare time....

7 teams into 4 places doesn't go, three had to give. Competition, its what all the divsions want isn't it?
Yes it is very competetive so why should we settle for being 7^th out of that list and maybe lower after this weekend having not picked up a single point in 3 games against the welsh teams who are currently below us. Look at the table, we are above London, the 2 welsh teams and Gateshead, that’s all. That is simply unacceptable.

Since the first three/four games of thes season, have we fielded our strongest, and consistant side since those games? No. Maybe, just maybe, we have been unlucky so far this season.
Theres absolutely no doubt we’ve been very unlucky with injuries but my issue is with the team performance. Week in week out our discipline is poor, our attacking line is disjointed and we are often out-enthused. In my opinion i think there are larger underlying problems in the team and a lack of respect for the coach,

To throw a different light on the situation. Who is doing more damage to the club?
The chairman who is trying to keep the ship afloat during a storm, with no lifeboats on standby?
Yes but who created the storm? CH has p#ssed off so many fans and sponsors that we have very little additional income to support the club. So CH is the reason why theres no lifeboats on standby.

The coach who is trying everythig he can to change things with a limited budget that allows the business to keep going?
I have a small amount of sympathy for TB, he gets paid buttons, has to work with very low budgets and is trying his best to compete with some strong teams. That said, I still think hes a poor coach and was probably the cheapest option to CH.

Or finally the supporters who refuse to go and support the club and deny the club income?
Against 30 years of loyal support I have joined this bracket of supporters. My main reason is I cannot bring myself to watch a club and town with so much RL history perform at this pathetic level.

Is the season over for us?
Of course it is. The performance on Sunday showed that alone. That was our chance to kick start the season and we were slaughtered. I can only see 2 or 3 wins at the best out of our run-in.

Look at Bradfords situation to see that the game as a whole is struggling, it's not just us.
Totally agree, the whole game is a mess.

If I was a betting man, Huddersfield will be next. Say what you want about CH, but we have never entered into Adminstration unlike some clubs.
There is always speculation that he is on a huge salary? Where is the proof that he is? He may draw a wage from the club, but should he work full time for nothing??? Would you?
Of course he’s entitled to pull a full time wage and personally I don’t have a beef about his wage assuming its not OTT. I really have a problem with the way he has isolated our club from many sponsors and hundreds of fans. These are the main sources of income and could have given TB that extra bit of money to make the signings to get us out of this horrendous league. No matter how you look at it, its p#ss poor management.

I really wish CH would drop the club now and if he really had the club at heart he would let someone else have a go.
To all the pro-CH brigade who say there's no-one who would take the club over, I say rubbish.
I’m certain there are enough individuals with the club at heart who could run a transparent, well communicated, successful organisation.
By the way, im not referring to RO there, I’m making parallels to our neighbours who trounced us on Sunday.
We need a change. If you’re in doubt that we need a change, just think how many fans and sponsors would return if CH left….That tells us what needs to happen.

[Robthegardener.]

Personally Id have Holroyd in now and give us a new options on game play
Sorry to say TB but you have gone stale!

[rugbyman1]

I think there is a winning team in our squad but sadly TB can't find it anymore.Too much loyalty with older players, gving them too much leeway. Hollroyd, well maybe this was in CH's mind when he came on loan.Time for thanking TB for his efforts and then move on.

[oldhamer]

Some good points there crab. One thing always stands out for me and thats the "I am not going because...." brigade. People will always find excuses for not supporting the team. If I have heard the saying, "I am not going whilst CH is in charge" then the Nou Camp wouldn't be big enough for Oldham RLFC. Things are stale at present, but I am sure we have enough in house to get out of it. Management has been poor at times, granted. But also some great decisions that go without praise.

[Roughyedz]

All the posts on this forum are academic , wether they be factually correct .....................or not ........... nothing has changed and nothing will change as we all know ............ until there is a change in the owner of Oldham R.L.F.C. ........and that is NOT going to happen ............. unless the Oldham R.L.F.C. goes bust ..that is the only answer and as already mentioned by a previous poster on this topic . . .somebody else gets their foot in the door first and reforms a new club ........ as happened 13 years ago now ........... and its been 13 years of PAIN .......... I honestly believe this is the only answer to any progress whatsoever for Pro Rugby League in Oldham ...... Saddleworth , St Annes and Waterhead are managed better than Oldham R.L.F.C. . . . . FACT . . . its plain to see by every R.L fan in the town .............

Edited by Roughyedz, 27 June 2012 - 12:26 AM.

[Roughyedz]

Some good points there crab. One thing always stands out for me and thats the "I am not going because...." brigade. People will always find excuses for not supporting the team. If I have heard the saying, "I am not going whilst CH is in charge" then the Nou Camp wouldn't be big enough for Oldham RLFC. Things are stale at present, but I am sure we have enough in house to get out of it. Management has been poor at times, granted. But also some great decisions that go without praise.

Could you please list the GREAT DECISIONS for us ........thanks

[Steve the Roughyed]

Some good points there crab. One thing always stands out for me and thats the "I am not going because...." brigade. People will always find excuses for not supporting the team. If I have heard the saying, "I am not going whilst CH is in charge" then the Nou Camp wouldn't be big enough for Oldham RLFC. Things are stale at present, but I am sure we have enough in house to get out of it. Management has been poor at times, granted. But also some great decisions that go without praise.

I have refrained from posting any comment this season because after 44 years or so of supporting Oldham I have not yet been to a match this season. The reasons are many and varied but I felt that we had a squad that was looking to compete for a position between 5th and 7th, the "stadium" is an embarrassment, I was underwhelmed when the "coach" was appointed and sadly he is living up to that billing, I am still an active cyclist and events happen in the summer and perhaps most significantly the game itself is less interesting as a spectacle and who gets into a division is fixed in boardrooms rather than on the pitch. The whole game is becoming a joke.

[sheddings69]

Some good points there crab. One thing always stands out for me and thats the "I am not going because...." brigade. People will always find excuses for not supporting the team. If I have heard the saying, "I am not going whilst CH is in charge" then the Nou Camp wouldn't be big enough for Oldham RLFC. Things are stale at present, but I am sure we have enough in house to get out of it. Management has been poor at times, granted. But also some great decisions that go without praise.

I'm not sure that people need excuses Oldhamer - they are entitled to spend their hard earned money wherever they like. Sadly I know many people that feel its the only way they can have their voice heard. It's a very sad state of affairs indeed.

The vast majority of potential customers appear to be completely disengaged from the club - what business can survive when its potential customers feel that way? Talking to people, there is a common feeling that they have 'had their club taken away from them'. Whether that's actually the case or not is almost irrelevent, the point is many, many people feel that way. Even though my money is still handed over, I feel that way too. I'd love to see some genuine attempt to engage with supporters but we are now 15 years in, and in my heart of hearts I know it's not going to happen.

The team has had a very poor make or break season, and at the worst possible time. I can deal with that no problem - I've seen that more than enough in my 43 years following ORLFC. However, what I'm struggling to deal with is not having a sense of belonging anymore. If I'm being completely honest, like most of us that are left I just go out of out of habit.

I was always proud to stand side by side with other ORLFC fans, wearing the colours with pride and always believing. Someone asked me the other day, 'do you still feel like a Roughyed?' The very sad answer was, 'no, not really, not anymore'.

[oldhamer]

Roughyedz. Some great decisions.

1) To have a permanant home since Watersheddings - yes Whitebank is....Whitebank, but it's a home for the time being. And that isn't CH fault that the club in 1997 had no ground or no assets.
2) To run an Under 23s with limited funding.
3) To run an extended scholarship with very little funding.
4) To enage a better working relationship with the amateur clubs and service area.

To me, they are major plus points for Oldham RLFC.

To name a few.............

And now Roughyedz, over to you. Post some actual FACTS about other parties who were ready to start in 1997 before, as you put it, CH got in first. But its the same stories as usual " I know someone, who knew a man etc etc."

[eclecticsheep]

Sheddings 69 I could have expressed that word for word it is so very spot on! along with the last two lines of steve the roughyeds post.

Quote

"I'd love to see some genuine attempt to engage with supporters but we are now 15 years in, and in my heart of hearts I know it's not going to happen "

Some of the most ardent Roughyeds have been Stonewalled over and over again

We also know FULL WELL that we will be ultimately blamed if and when we use the utterly last option and vote with our feet, but what is the alternative for those who have come to the end of their tether with Mr Hamiltons tenure of ORLFC?

[higgy]

In 1997 it was a number of people who came forward not just CH and prospects looked good ( you only have to look at the first match we played and the number who turned out). We could easily take a few hundred travelling fans away with us then not just the odd few now.

Slowly CH P---ed them all off and they left, as he as also done with a lot of good sponser's over the years.

What I can't understand is in view of the financial situation and everything else, is why we are running three teams ( Credit to the guys who are coaching them) surely the money involved with running these could be put to better use, strengthening the first team, paying a better coach etc. I know we gain through players coming through the ranks, but the first team should have been the priority this year in particular?

[oldhamer]

The ES and U23s are for long term development, something that most Championship and Championship 1 clubs are missing out on. Oldham, as a club should know the consequences of getting a team of players that are soley there for the cash.
I applaud Oldham for having the guts and determination to try and develop 'British' talent, something that most SL clubs are rubbish at doing, and not going for the quick 'Australian' fix. Just how many Aussies/Kiwis/Pacific Islanders has Oldham had in the past 5 seasons? Hardly any, and have tried hard to develop talent through the correct channels. To bring this talent through on its own, would of been lambs to the slaughter, but Oldham had the experience of Neil Roden, Paul Noone, Paul Smith to help guide them through the professional ranks. It's just sheer bad luck that the three top senior players have been out injured for such a long period of time, and we have suffered.
I can remember not so long ago, supporters complaining that the club did nothing to develop the youth of the town, and had no long term goal in player development. Now that they have, they have been called for doing so. You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

[higgy]

Oldhamer. I fully agree with your comments and have had more pleasure watching these two teams sometimes more than watching the first team, but can we afford them given the current situation and to the detriment of promotion.

[oldhamer]

I think to have a future, they have to keep running both teams. Personally, I would like them to extend this scheme to house an Under 16s scheme to feed the extended scholarship team. Looking at the teams in the Championship, how many are going for broke? Past history says a majority, and will hit hard times the year after, and what will they have to fall back on? Nothing. Growth on the field is key to Oldhams long term success, and that has to be kept on going. There are now people involved with the club who have deep rooted connections to the local amateur scene, and the service area, and that can only help the club long term to help it reach its goal, but it won't happen overnight, it has to take time.
As someone who has posted on another thread about some players that don't deserve to get caught up in all the turmoil, one player is Michael Ward. Without the 23s Wardy wouldn't be figuring in the first team, as wouldn't Clarke, Thompson and Dallimore. Developement sides like the ES and 23s have to have a long term plan to bear fruit, and we have been lucky that we have had the early harvest of the above plus Ben Heaton. And that's off a very short time frame.
Don't get me wrong, I am as dissapointed as most with the current form, and the league postion, and I am sure everyone connected to the club feels exactly the same. But now is not the time to give up and throw the towel in. With the way the RFL are conducting matters and SL clubs struggling and imploding, you may find that Oldham's postion could be alot stronger than most.