IT isn't often that we are able t o give pride of place in the Boundary News t o our Cheshire League team but their recent feats have certainly earned special accolades.

At the moment the team are ong the leading group in the Cheshire League and pushing for the c h ~ ,lionship. We all believe that they can win it and, when you consider the relative youth of the side, that would indeed be a tremendous achievement.

They have won four of their five league matches to date and have also p progressed to the second round of the Cheshire League Cup.

And the lads could so easily have been top of the table by now. They are held in third place only because Burscough and Droylsden have played an additional game although both have lost one.

And the quality of Reserve team football at Boundary Park is catching the imagination of our supporters. Gates for all Cheshire League matches rhis season have considerably increased on last term and that, in itself, is most encouraging.

Under the guidance of team boss Ken Branagan, the Reserves have emerged as a bright enterprising side that looks full of potential.

They could well be the Oldham Athletic stars of the future and, if that is the case, our future will clearly be in good hands. Well done lads, keep up the good work and let's bring that Cheshire League Champion- ship Trophy to Boundary Park.

One young man who was a regular member of our Cheshire League side until a couple of weeks ago, GRAHAM BELL deserves a special men- tion in today's News.

Graham was offered the chance of first team football a fortnight ago and snatched it with both hands. We are sure that you would all like to juin us in offering congratulations to Graham on his first team success.

Two other young men who deserve special mention are PHlL MUL- LINGTON and A W N TAYLOR who, having completed two years apprenticeship have been offered full time terms with the club.

Both are products of the club's youth policy and have now joined the likes of Chris Ogden, lan Wood, Keith Hicks, lan Robins and, of course Graham Bell, in the professional ranks.

We wish both youngsters all the best for the future and look forward t o the day when they are challenging for a place in the first team.

A t the other end of the scale, we would like to send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to club chairman Mr. BILL SHORE who has re- cently been in hospital at Lytham.

il Mr. Shore is back home now but will not be able to come to Boundary

Park for a couple of weeks. Better news on the casuality front comes from winger GEORGE

McVITIE who has been having a lean time so far this season since suffer- ing from a virus infection in August.

George who played a major part in Athletic's championship winning run last season is now back in training and he too could be bidding for a first team recall very soon.

We will finish this particular Boundary News with two reminders. First don't forget our Texaco Cup match with Hearts at Boundary

Park on Tuesday night. Hearts, one of the premier teams in Scottish football are most attractive opposition and we shall be hoping to beat them, and beat them well, in the first leg of the competition.

Secondly don't forget that you too can air your views through the columns of Boundary News. We already have a steady stream of letters but we do like to keep in touch with what you, the supporters, are thinking.

Page 1

OLDHAM ATHLETIC

A.F.C. LIMITED Boundary Park, Oldham

Tel. 061-624 4972

Chairman: W. SHORE

Vice-Chairman: G. A. HUDSON

Directors: J. KERSHAW, R. SCHOFIELD.

I. H. STOTT, F. D. WHITEHEAD, H. WILDE

General Manager & Secretary: W. GRlFFlTHS Team Manager:

J. FRIZZELL Assistant Secretary:

T. FISHER Physiotherapist:

J. McGREGOR Club Physician: R. B. HOLLOS

Promotions Manager: B. JOYCE

Cover Design by Comprehensive Art Services

with ~ ic tu res supplied by Oldham Chronicle"

Printed by L V Lawlor, Oldhem

Front Row: P. Hart, J. Evanson, K. Dyson, G. James, T. Alcock, K. Bentley. w p v p w ~ - z - F +

welcome to Blackpool &AA

BLACKPOOL, victims of our pre-season assault on in December 1966 and is now Blackpool's second Texaco cup honours come to Boundary Park today longest serving player. A former under-23 inter- after a pretty useful start to the season. And, after national, Suddick scored his 100th League goal just missing promotion to Division One last year, during East season. they are all hoping at Bloomfield Road that they Another player in the squad with under-23 can make it this time around. honours is KElTH DYSON who, ironically, was

Not until Blackpool make it back to me First also signed from Newcastle and, of course the Division will they truly be able to claim that they name Welsh internatonal wYN DAVlES-for- have laid the ghost of a brilliant past which has merly with Manchester United - is nationally haunted them since the late, great days when they known. had four players in the England team. In defence Blackpool have GLYN JAMES who were Stanle~ Matthews, Ernie joined the club as a boy in December 1957 and is and and centre half Harry now their longest serving player and skipper with Johnston' The name of is' in fact' over 300 League appearances behind him. -He too synonymous with Blackpool football but is from is a full Welsh international. an era when the club sampled greatness.

Blackpool's best ever season in the Football Former Bolton skipper DAVE HATTON is also League came in 1955-56 when they were runners included in the defence alongside the experienced up in the First Division. That was only a couple IERRY ALCOCK who joined Blackpool from Port of years after that never-to-be-forgotten Wembley Vale in 1967. final when they beat Bolton Wanderers in a game Others to look out for are goalkeeper JOHN that goes down as the Matthews final. BURRIDGE, signed from Workington in 1971, in-

More recently-and perhaps a sign that Black- side forward ALAN AINSCOW who has pro- pool are not far from finding the formula that could gressed through the junior ranks at Bloomfield

d

I win them national recognition again - was the Road and BILL BENTLEY who was formerly with I

team's 1971 triumph in the notorious Anglo Italian Stoke City and is a schoolboy and youth inter- I Cup. They were runners-up in the same compe- national.

tition the following year. Those then, are some of our visitors this after- Manager Harry Potts has got together a strong noon and we take this opportunity of welcoming

, and effective side that is littered with players who all the players, officials and supporters of

I have great individual skill and flair. Blackpool and look forward to an enjoyable game. Perhaps foremost among them is the brilliant Certainly i f it is as good as our Texaco Cup meet-

ALAN SUDDICK who was signed from Newcastle ing last month it will be a match to remember 1 Page 3

Despite the fact that we lost against Oxford United on Saturday, 1 was far from displeased with the overall performance of the side. And, although defeat was disappointing, i t did have its more encouraging side.

For viewed logically, a 1 - 4 defeat at the hands of a Second Division team that is unbeaten this season does not cast too long a shadow over the future.

In fact my immediate reaction after the match was that if this was Second Division football then we have nothing to fear.

We accept that there is a need to improve our first team pool but the quality of our football at Oxford was such that the future looks bright indeed.

At Notts County we lost by the only goal of the game after putting up a brave defensive display which had looked likely to earn a point.

A t Oxford we outplayed the home side for much of the game and produced several magni- ficent individual performances before falling victim to a solitary goal.

I would be the first to admit that results are vital; that winning is what the game is all about.

1 p. ; But I would like to say that from our two away games so far, I believe it cannot be long before we achieve our first away win of the season.

And once we have overcome that barrier we will, I bel.ieve, go from strength to strength.

Remember that Oxford are unbeaten in the League this se.ason and remember too that they came closer to losing against us than they had in any of their previous matches

We suffered from a failure to take our chances and also because three of our players were not up to their usual form. But despite that we did play some excellent football and I was especially impressed with the form of young Graham Bell who w,as having only his second senior match but performed like a veteran.

Graham has got a tremendous degree of skill and the performance he turned in on Saturday must have done wonders for his confidence.

He looks to have a tremendous fut i re in the game and is yet further proof that the youth policy we have at Boundary Park really works.

And so to today's game against Blackpool. We met and overcame the seasiders in a Texaco Cup match before the League season started in what was a memorable and truly entertaining game.

If today's match is as good you will all leave Boundary Park feeling that you have had good value for money. In fact, in all our matches this season, we have been praised for our entertaining qualities.

Even after last Saturday's match at Oxford we were openly and warmly congratulated for our contribution to the game.

Everyone agreed that we had the right attitude and approach to the game and the general feeling was that we had nothing at all to fear from Divi- sion Two.

It was, of course, a great pity that only just over 6,000 people turned out to watch this match. It was the sort of game that deserved a bigger and better crowd and, perhaps when our reputation for attacking and entertaining football really grows, we will start to draw more supporters to opponents' grounds as well as to our own.

The home gate for our last home game-against Bristol City-was most disappointing as we had expected at least as many as turned up for the match with Sheffield Wednesday.

And yet somewhere along the line we lost 5,000 supporters despite the fact that we had beaten Wednesday and were bringing to Boun dary Park a Bristol City side which captured a lo of headl-ines last season.

The simple truth is that we need more thah, 9,000 supporters to give us backing f.or our future plans and I hope that we will get them today.

Here's hoping that you~enjoy today's game and will return to Boundary Park on Tuesday for our Texaco Cup match with Hearts.

G B?

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DATE FIXTURE RES

Aug. 17-SHEFF WED. W 2-1 24-~otts County L 0-1 31-BRISTOL C. W 2-3

Sept. 7-Oxford U. L 0-1 IGBLACKPOOL 17-NOTTS C. 21-Hull City 24-Portsmouth 28-FULHAM

Oct. 5-ASTON V. 12-Orient 19-YORK ClTY 22-Bolton W. 26-Cardiff C.

NOV. , 2-MILLWALL &BOLTON W. 9-Notts. Forest

IGNORWICH C. 23-Southampton . , 30--West Brom

Dec. 7-BRISTOL R. 14-Sheffield W. 21-S'NDERLAND 26-Blackpool . . 28-MAN. UTD.

Jan. Il-Bristol R. 18-WEST BROM '

Feb. 1-NOTTS. F. 8-Millwall

15-S'TH'MBTON 22-Norwich C.

Mar. l-Bristol City GPORTSM'TH

15-Fulham 22-OXFORD U. 25-Sunderland 2&HULL ClTY 31-Man. United

Apr. 5-CARDIFF C. 12-Aston Villa 19-ORIENT 26-York Cky

Texaco Cup Aug. 3-Sheff. U. ... H

6-Blackpool ... A

10-Man. City ... A

Sept. 17-Hearts ... H Oct. &Hearts .....A

League Cup Aug.

F.A. Nov. Dec. Jan.

Feb. Mar. Apr. May -

v OXFORD UNITED Pictures by Martin Smith.

Oldham Evening Chronicle

Colin Garwood (above) off target when, after reaching a centre from Alan Groves he steered his header over the empty goal.

Alan Groves (right) also got in on the missed chances act when he hoisted a shot over the bar from six ya

Page 13 1

How .I endorse the comments made on football hooliganism in your Boundary News for the match with Bristol City.

When you po~nted out that the louts and thugs that infest our football grounds are keeping gen- uine supporters away, I reckon you brought out a point which is not generally considered.

A t a time when football is crying out for sup- port - we are told that 500,000 less people watched League football last season-the game can.ill afford to have anvone driven away by fear of being beaten up.

One immediate ans r to the problem-actually it is as much a socia ckness as a football dis- ease-is to ensure that no football grounds have any standing accommodation.

It is difficult if not impossible to strike an aggressive pose while sitting down and the money spent on fitting stadia with seats would surely be recouped with more people coming to watch in both comfort and, most important, safety.

Anti-Vandal

MICHAEL LOWE (Sheffield). A former part- time professional with Scunthorpe United whose playing career was ended by a motor bike accident. Began refereeing in local Sheffield leagues and graduated through the Central League on the The League line and into the middle in 1972. Was on the line for the 1970 F.A. Amateur Cup Final and had a line appointment In a European Cup tie in Sweden in 1973. Married with three children, he is a newsagent. Played for Bomber Command during national service in the R.A.F. and enjoys playing tennis during the summer.

I half -time scoreboard l BIRMINGHAM v. DERBY .......................................... BURNLEY v. LEEDS UNITED .................................... CHELSEA v. ARSENAL ............................................. EVERTON V. ,WOLVERHAMPTON .............................. LUTON TOWN v. IPSWICH TOWN ......................... MANCHESTER CITY v. LIVERPOOL .... ..'?I.:-.~j ........ NEWCASTLE UNITED v. CARLISLE UNITED ............... SHEFFIELD UNITED v. MIDDLESBRDUGH .................. STOKE CITY v. COVENTRY CITY .............................. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR v. WEST HAM ..................... BOLTON V. SHEFFIELD WEDS. ................................. BRISTOL ROVERS v. ASTON VILLA ........................... CARDIFF CITY v. BRISTOL CITY .............................. MILLWALL v. OXFORD UNITED ................................. NORWICH CITY v. NOTTS COUNTY .......................... NOTTS FOREST v. HULL CITY ................................. ORIENT v. FULHAM . r .............................................. SOUTHAMPTON v. PORTSMOUTH .......................... W E T BROM. ALBION v. MANCHESTER UTD. ?.-I ..... YOR 'CITY v. SUNDERLAND ....................... ...

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Page 15

this week: IAN WOOD

There could be no better way t o kick off our News Profile series than with the club's longest sewing player, IAN WOOD. Woody seems to have been around for ever but, in fact, he is still only 26.

He joined Latics as an amateur at the start of the 1965-66 season after being spotted scoring a lot of goals in junior football in Radcliffe.

And during his early days at Boundary Park, Woody was recognised as a striker with a great future. He allied a powerful shot m either foot to tremendous pace and a hunger for goals that really caught the management's eyes.

He made his debut with Athletic on May 25 in a Division Three match against Queens Park Rangers. Needless to say he played centre for- ward.

The next date in the Wood diary was December 26, 1966 when he made his second appearance ~ u t December 28 was a real red-letter-day as lan ;cored his first League goal for the club on that date against Workington Town.

It wasn't until the following season that lan played his first match at full-back.

Ironically he wore the number two shirt for the first time at Oxford-we were there last Saturday --on Wednesday, October 4, 1967.

Since then he has played more games at centre forward and has also appeared at right half, left half, left back and in both inside forward positions. Obviously versatility is very much a part of lan Wood's game.

And today lan makes his 310th Football League appearance for the Latics and looks a pretty safe Det to establish new appearance records at Boundary Park.

A t the moment the record stands at 369 and is obviously well within lan's sights. It was set, for the historically minded, between 1907 and 192'1 by David Wilson and has been unchallenged ever since.

Present manager Jimmy Frizzell at one time looked likely to break it but he was still 40 games short when he retired from playing.

And so now it is up to lan . . . will he break the record or won't he? We will just have to wait and see but his remarkable consistency has been such over the past few seasons that our betting would be that he will pass the 53-year record sometime during the course of next season.

lan's career at Boundary Park, has not, of course been without its distractions. Newspaper stories have linked his name, at various times, with Liverpool, Manchester City and several other First Division clubs.

And, as a young man with high ambitions he has always fancied life in Division One with all the glamour and excitement that g q ~ s with it.

But lan is first and foremost a good club man and all the rumours and stories have never had

the unsettling ~nrluence upon him that they do on some players.

And now it looks as though his patience may be rewarded for it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that he could be playing First Division football with Athletic in the not too distant future. What a fairy tale ending that would be t o a re- markable football story.

If lan has one small crib-a secret wish h&- haps-it must be that his career did not develop as a striker.

For even though his duties now are mainly defensive he still has the same old hunger for goals; the same love of sudden, swift bursts into offensive positions.

There are not many finer sights at Boundary Park than watching Woody break on a devasta- ting run down the right flank.. . the aggression, the spirit and the enthusiasm are all still there.

An honest and dedicated professional lan puts as much effort into his training as he does into matches and we are sure that we speak for all Athletic supporters everywhere when we say: "WELL DONE WOODY.. . HERE'S TO THE NEXT THREE HUNDRED GAMES."

PERSONAL FILE

NAME-IAN WOOD. BIRTHDAY-1 5 January, 1948. WIFE'S NAME-Brenda. CHILDREN-Gary (7), Clark (4). PREVIOUS CLUBS-None. FOOTBALL AMBITION-To play in the First

Division. FAVOURITE PLAYER-Norman Hunter of Leeds

United or Tommy Smith of Liverpool. FAVOURITE CLUB-Manchester United. HOBBIES-Golf and a boutique business. FAVOURITE FOOD-Fish and chips. FAVOURITE DRINK-Lager. FAVOURITE COLOUR-Blue. FOOTBALL DISLIKE-The press and TV who stir

up a lot of trouble by giving too much pub- licity to the bad minority of people in football. Basically there i~s nothing wrong with the game.

BEST MOMENT IN FOOTBALL-Our Third Divi- sion promotion clincher. To come back after being relegated was tremendous and that was a really great side to play in.

MY HOPES FOR LATlCS-To see them consoli- date in the Second Division for a couple of seasons and then make a bid for promot io~ to the First Division.

IF NOT IN FOOTBALL-I would be a central heating engineer.

'1 ' I . ,