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Latics fans in Penney protest
Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date online: 06 April 2010
PROTESTING Latics fans took their complaints to the top when club director Barry Owen met with them on Saturday.
But only 25 Oldham Athletic fans gathered outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of a planned march to oust Dave Penney as club manager.
The protest, organised on social networking site Facebook, had promised 143 fans attending, with another 99 as “maybes”.
The march was set to leave from the civic centre at noon and make its way to Boundary Park for the 3pm kick off against Gillingham, a game Latics went on to win 1-0.
In the end, a small group of fans walked to the ground.
Despite the small turnout, disgruntled fans were able to voice their concerns to Mr Owen.
One season ticket holder Luke Butler (15) from Springhead said: “Protesters are marching to Boundary Park to get rid of David Penney.
“We don’t want him. He has been signing and selling the wrong players.”
Another fan said the club should have sacked Penney, as they had done with former manager John Sheridan, and they should do it before the season was out.
Fan Tom Byrnes, from Chapel Road, said it was the club that was at fault, not Mr Penney.
He said: “I think it is a disgrace what they are doing to Mr Penney, he deserves a chance.
“The club should have given him more money.”
Mr Owen, chairman of the supporters’ group Trust Oldham, said fans were entitled to feel the way they did but the survival of the club should be the main focus.
Mr Owen said: “We know how upset people are and the fans are.
“If you feel that strongly about Oldham and the survival of the club, then get behind them.
He added: “Dave Penney is one of the hardest working managers I’ve met.
“There is no suggestion of him being sacked. Oldham will fold if we keep sacking managers.”
Mr Owen admitted the club was languishing in the relegation zone of League One and the football had not been the best ever.
But he remained positive about the future of the club. He said: “I do believe the manager has got the players behind him, I’m strongly of the belief that it will survive.
“Dave has got on with his job, he is a strong manager and has a strong work ethic. We’ve got good owners and board of directors. We’re one of a number of clubs at the bottom, it doesn’t mean we should be panicking.”
Comments
can't even get enough interest to do a protest properly...club should be re named Oldham Apathetic FC...
Barry Owen you are a disgrace to Trust Oldham, you said you would meet with fans and hear what they have to say and take it to the board and in your next breath you are saying Dave Penney is the right man for the job and will not be sacked and that we have a good owners and directors. You are a joke just like the rest of them, good luck with season ticket sales for 2010/11 season you will certainly need it.
I agree the club should not keep sacking managers, they should appoint the right one in the first place. Did no one check the type of football he played before he came to the club.
If the club do not get rid of him at the end of the season I would think a lot of fans will not be renewing their season tickets.
I have no doubt that Penney is hardworking & conscientious and has endeavoured all in his eforts to bring some success to the club. One could wax lyrically all day long about his ethics BUT it has been the quality, nous & tactics that have been sadly lacking hence our current position. To give an even more open view of the shocking decline in standards and attendances one has only to look at the poor quality of players brought into the club this season. The buck has to stop somewhere......!!!
Surely this is the end of the debate.
25 feel strongly enough to protest .Pathetic!
Stop whinging now and get behind the team now
"...only 25 Oldham Athletic fans gathered outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of a planned march to oust Dave Penney as club manager"
Speaks volumes about the apathy of Oldham Athletic fans, when only a small group of school children turned up for the march.
Lowest crowd for a league fixture 25years against Brentford on tuesday.....
Ronnie more was sacked because of poor season ticket sales, my guess is that Penny will get the same. But what we need to do now is get behind the players for the rest of the season(and that means the boo boys aswell) and help us beat relegation.
Off to Hudderfield tonight to cheer on the blues
COME ON OLDHAM!
Maybe the Chron will now change it's policy of treating internet message board gossip as news. A quote from a 15-year old?? That's what I call a credible source. The headline should've been:
'Burberry-clad Facebook keyboard warriors make mugs out of Chron'
The comments you make don't sound like the voice of the fans on the board Mr Owen, and I'm beginning to think that the aim of Trust Oldham is just to service one person's ego who wants to be on the board of a football club. You are right when you say Oldham will fold if we keep sacking managers, but it will fold a lot quicker if DP is in charge next season, as there will be hardly any fans left at BP.
i was one of the sorry 25 and (as I knew it would happen) the majority of the so called 'fans' who really cared about the club didnt show up, but yet continue to whinge and moan on here and other websites, without putting their money or time were their mouths are. Do us all a favour and go and support another football team because you are an absolute disgrace. The fans could of massively influenced penney being moved on or sacked on saturday yet didnt show there faces.i hope your proud.
I would work hard as our manager..the fact that I dont have the skills for the job means that I am not the right man. If we are looking at a future wherby DP stays regardless of results because he "tries hard" then we will have crowds of less than 2,500 next season because a huge chunk of season ticket holders will not renew to watch his style of football. I am coming to the conclusion that relegation might be a blessing as another season scraping along the bottom of league 1 will kill our club
How is this for a serious idea, scrap the money back on season tickets if England win World Cup, that isnt gonna get any one buying, and replace it with a BOGOF, it will get people on the terraces, and get intrest at least again in the club, its amazing what gettin something for nowt will do for season ticket sales. Or is this too much of a good idea ?
@chaddyender, just because someone does not agree with you, that makes them a disgrace to Trust Oldham. Barry Owen is entitled to his opinion just as much as you are entitled to yours or I am entitled to mine.
As for the ahem 'march', fair play to the 25 who actually did turn up but as for the hundred or so who said they would and didnt, all mouth no substance.
Lets just get this season out of the way, then let the inquest begin.
History shows that a change of manager at this stage of the season is unlikely to alter much in terms of results on the pitch or promotion/relegation issues eg Warnock couldn't save us a few years back, so I guess we'll have to tough it out and see what the last 8 games brings. If we were going to change, it needed to happen in Jan. to give the new bloke a chance. So it's down to the Galpharm tonight (oh God!) Best thing is that it's only a 10 minute trip for the Yorkshire Latic! Keep the faith!
Because hayside horse, the club can't afford to do that, and can't sustain that. I agree the free season ticket if englnd win the world cup offer is not the promotion I would have gone with, but buy one get one free would lead to a huge decrease in revenue.
not on facebook didnt know of any march didnt see anything on here to inform us.
must admit though prob wouldnt have turned up anyhow.
belting idea of the BOGOF horse, though what bradford do would be better.
£100 season tickets and £50 would be better value having endured this seasons shambles.
OASIS we will prob go down anyhow our run in is horrible trouble is there is nothing to say going down will revitalise the club
It's got to the point where most fans just don't care anymore. That's a terrible indictment of the way the club has been run.
...C'mon, if Penney strings a run of, say, 5 wins on the trot together next season (if he is still there), then the crowds would go up, there would be talk of promotion and he would be the best thing since sliced bread...football is fickle, the fans even more so.
thanks for you comment superlatic, but how much do you think the insurance is that latics have had to fork out for the world cup idea, i dont think the money would be far behind, and there would be more in the stands gettin behind the lads, a much better atmosphere for all. they could even up the cost of a ticket, which Im sure there gonna do anyway, to £350 - £400, but if your gettin one free I wrekin they would sell a good few more. Something has to be done, not many will renew at moment.
So the club are happy to go into league 2 with Penney in charge and no ticket sales?
A better organised protest would have drawn numbers but noticing the people there it looked liked it was run by chavs
Spoke to a Doncaster supporter when on holiday and he wouldn't hear a wrong word about DP. Must have done something right there. Better players to work with maybe???
Third rate manager creating a third rate team.
You get what you pay for. Reap what you sow etc......
They way Latics have been playing I couldn't be bothered to turn up and watch or protest. They numbers attending the matches speak volumes for the poor quality Latic performances.
New stadium. What for? You be playing on ground like Chaddy FC soon, so why waste the time and money and brass off so many people?
Well, it's looking more difficult by the day - defeat at Huddersfield, a sending off and the 'games in hand' become just one and only two points off the relegation places. Says it all. As for Barry Owen's comments he obviously isn't the voice of the fans and his comments are a 'kick in the teeth' to genuine supporters.
Penny's insulting remarks just show how little he regards the club.Sack him immediately the season is over.
I think the turnout at the protest was simply because supporters are disillusioned and know that BO, AH and TTA would just ignore the obvious discontent amongst fans.
Last night goes to show just how Latics fans feel about DP and TTA, only 580 Latics fans turned up, when Sheridan was in charge we filled the away end with upto 3000 fans.
If DP had any self-respect he'd go now and we could struggle on until the end of the season. We couldn't do any worse than the dross served up by DP's managerial team.
On a positive note i took my 3 year old daughter saturday and took her in the clubshop and purchased a scarf for her and a chaddy the owl teddy. she was then given a free necklace and calender she was made up. she then had a photo with the real chaddy the owl and was over the moon. well done latics for making her very happy.
Barry Owen should step down he does not represent the fans.He sits in the directors box and hears the fans comments each match day.He is not interested in the fans opinions he is looking after number one.
Well, Mr Owen's career was in a job where you listen and still ignore (allegedly).
Have Your Say
With due respect, it looks like most of 'the protesters' are just about old enough to be in the Boundary Blues club from the picture, most of whom get a FREE Season Ticket with their club membership package.
However I guess they're still entitled to express their views but would not have been surprised if they'd asked for their money back !....
What is happening to Oldham and it's people ?....the whole town appears to be going to the wall... not just Latics.
When I lived there pride came 1st.
By Latics Observer @ 06/04/2010 12:16:05