Where hope is started and dreams can be borne

Our pre season was shit. League Two referees are shit. Mellon doesn’t know what he’s doing. Who the fuck even are these signings?

We are so back, baby!

We didn’t make the journey to Milton Keynes, as I refuse to give Franchise FC my money. We watched the game in the White Hart, where there were TV cameras doing some filming for an award they’ve won, and I make no apology for the fact that much of their footage may be unusable due to me repeatedly shouting “GET UP YOU SOFT SOUTHERN TWAT”.

Kudos to the 1891 of you who did make the journey to Buckinghamshire. It seems you made quite the impression. Good work. I’m proud of you all.

It was very much the Oldham boys (and fans of all genders) making all the noise, as you would expect. Our first match back in the Football League was marked by our supporters singing “hello, hello, Oldham are back, Oldham are back” to the tune of a Gary Glitter song. I was tempted to use that as the lyric pun last week, but even I have to draw the line somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a banger, but, y’know, the bloke’s a paedophile.

📷 Oldham Athletic

I’m sorry to have to ask, but it needs addressing: What the fuck is this? Apparently it’s called Mooie, and is therefore presumably meant to be a cow. Looks more like a sheep. Or a pig. Rubbish.

The absolute state of this mutant.

As for the actual football… I wasn’t confident. We’ve got a pretty crap record against Milton Keynes, they’ve spent big money over the summer and are many people’s favourites to win the league, and we could be forgiven for having a slow start, given our short pre-season, and our squad already being decimated by injuries.

They had most of the possession, but we defended and pressed really well and didn’t give them the chance to do much with it. Woods looks a right terrier and a proper box-to-box midfielder, and you can see that he’s played most of his career at a higher level.

📷 Oldham Athletic

Daniels was immense at the back, and had the Franchise fans crying when he made a great run to track back and wipe their player out in the box.

We had a penalty shout of our own when Hannant was brought down by their keeper. I thought it was was a stonewall penalty at the time, but with hindsight I might have been wrong. There was contact, though, so it wasn’t simulation, and Hannant’s booking was harsh.

And it looks like Fondop is going to get the same treatment in the Football League as he did in the National League. He appeared to get a yellow card because a Franchise player pulled his shirt.

All in all, though, a positive start. We need to take our chances better, but we defended well and looked dangerous on the break. And we definitely won the singing.

📷 Oldham Athletic

So, we went toe-to-toe with the favourites to win the league, matched them, and came away with a point and a clean sheet…..

…..then went to one of the favourites to get relegated to non-league, let in three horrible sloppy goals before half-time, and our most potent attacking threat was one of our centre-halves. Hello pissboil, my old friend.

Was it an indication of our lack of strength in depth? Was it just an off night for everyone, in a game when we made loads of changes to manage our injury-hit (worryingly, already) squad? Who knows. It’s disappointing, but we go again.

We strengthened said squad on Thursday with the widely-rumoured signings of left-back Jamie Robson and forward Joe Quigley from Forest Green Rovers being confirmed. Andy asked his Gloucestershire-dwelling mate for a scouting report, and got the following:

“Robson is very wholehearted. Has the first touch of a grand piano at times but somehow never actually loses the ball. Great engine.” And Quigley? “Even more wholehearted. Really puts a shift in, covers loads of miles but didn’t score any goals (at all) which is a bit of an issue for a centre forward. He did play as a lone striker which didn’t help.”

So, play Quigley as one of a front two or three and he’ll be reet. OK, it’s not exactly a like-for-like replacement for Norwood, but let’s give the lad a chance, not least because he’s keen to “start a new challenge at a proper club”. And the Forest Green fans seem gutted to see Robson go. In Mellon we trust.

There’s been two big departures off the pitch this week. Noah Shulman-Miller, who helped capture our promotion journey so well last season as matchday photographer and Athleticos snapper, is leaving to take up a lead media role down south, and Dale Harris, head of Commercial and Business Development manager, leaves to take over as CEO of Chadderton FC (and fired a hilarious parting shot at Captain Insensible). They’ve both done a fantastic job for us, good luck to both of them.

In other off the pitch news, I’m absolutely delighted to report that there has been some sort of Justice for Bunkabin Man achieved. Get your t-shirts from the club shop. They’re fucking brilliant. Honestly, well played.

📷 Kev Leach

Today sees more than one triumphant return. Those of us of a certain age remember the Beyond The Boundary fanzine very fondly. It was a brilliant, witty, irreverent fans’ view of the club in the pre-Internet age, and it’s back. We’ll be handing out free copies of the Beyond The Boundary Park Alert System fanzine around the ground before the game today, keep an eye out for us.

📷 Shatics

At the last Football League game at Boundary Park, when our relegation had long since been confirmed, we left after 10 minutes. I was heartbroken. I didn’t know when we’d be back, or if we’d even have a club to support for much longer, never mind when or if we’d make it back into the League. I’ve been looking forward to today for three years. I can’t wait.

See you in the Rocky. I’ll be the giddy lass with the big bloke in the red Bunkabin t shirt. KTMFF.

📷 Chris G

Written by Arlene Finnigan