Oldham Athletic facts & figures

[DWShamen]

On 10/11/2024 at 10:14 AM, Bobby and Bert said:

Alan Boswell, Shrewsbury Town, was I believe the only keeper to save a Bobby Johnstone penalty. He dived early to his right (illegally then, as the keeper had to keep his feet planted until the taker had made contact with the ball).

Was this the game we ended up losing 4-2 at home?   I believe he also had a penalty saved against Lincoln in the 1962/63 season in a game we won 4-1.

[Summerdeep]

On 10/9/2024 at 11:07 PM, DWShamen said:

Pretty sure he had one saved at Chesterfield in the FA Cup, but that's the only one he failed to score.

 

I also used to think Whittle had never missed a penalty for Latics except for the one in the 1971 FA Cup tie at Chesterfield, but a couple of years ago I did some research with old Chronicle match reports, and it seems that Whittle missed three times from the spot in the first half of the 1971-72 season. Apart from the Chesterfield miss, he also failed to score versus York at home (31 August) and Blackburn (home, 11 Dec). 

 

In fact, Whittle actually quit as penalty taker after that Blackburn game ('No more penalty kicks for fullback Whittle' was the headline in the 'Green Final'). Ian Wood took over the role for the rest of that season, and scored from the spot at Tranmere (4 March) but missed against Mansfield (home, 8 April), though he fired home the rebound off the keeper. Whittle resumed spot-kick duties some time in the 72-73 season, and from then on I don't recall him ever missing one.

 

It was a good job that Latics finally found a reliable penalty taker, as it had been a real problem prior to that. Bebbington and Fryatt had been tried in the role, but neither had been entirely satisfactory, and I've a feeling that Alan McNeill might have taken a penalty as well.

[Summerdeep]

On 10/11/2024 at 10:54 AM, Bobby and Bert said:

That game v Man U on Boxing day 1975 Latics won 2-0. But as we all know Ronnie Blair's diving header in the 1st half hit the stanchion inside the net and rebounded into Utd's keeper's hands (Alex Stepney). I met Stepney in the late 1980s and I asked him about that "goal" and he told me that as he had the ball in his hands and the Ref hadn't blown for a goal he quickly booted it down the pitch before he had the chance to change his mind.

 

That incident is also of interest because of the tricks something like that can play with people's memories. I read a YouTube post not so long ago from a Man Utd fan who was standing behind the goal at the Rochdale Road End on that day, and swears that the 'disallowed goal' was 'scored' by United. Here's the YouTube reference - the post takes a bit of finding as it's hidden among 7 replies to a post by one 'nialloneill5097' quite a way down the page:

 

https://youtu.be/CKysA_rndTA?si=Zk7LPUlpAc-x8Fic

 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

On 10/22/2024 at 5:53 PM, Summerdeep said:

 

That incident is also of interest because of the tricks something like that can play with people's memories. I read a YouTube post not so long ago from a Man Utd fan who was standing behind the goal at the Rochdale Road End on that day, and swears that the 'disallowed goal' was 'scored' by United. Here's the YouTube reference - the post takes a bit of finding as it's hidden among 7 replies to a post by one 'nialloneill5097' quite a way down the page:

 

https://youtu.be/CKysA_rndTA?si=Zk7LPUlpAc-x8Fic

 

 

This reminds me of a time about 20 years ago where I spent all afternoon arguing with a work colleague that the Cure's first singles collection was "Standing On A Beach" whereas he was adamant it was called "Staring At The Sea". In pre-smartphone days, we had no access to the internet to solve our debate, so I eventually called my mate who worked at a record shop. Turns out we were both correct with the LP version (which I owned) called the former and the CD version (which he owned) called the latter.

 

Anyway, fuck all to do with Oldham. But to keep it [very] tenuously linked, Matt Chambers who used to be the Latics reporter in the Chron is a cousin of Robert Smith apparently. 

[TheBigDog]

7 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

This reminds me of a time about 20 years ago where I spent all afternoon arguing with a work colleague that the Cure's first singles collection was "Standing On A Beach" whereas he was adamant it was called "Staring At The Sea". In pre-smartphone days, we had no access to the internet to solve our debate, so I eventually called my mate who worked at a record shop. Turns out we were both correct with the LP version (which I owned) called the former and the CD version (which he owned) called the latter.

 

Anyway, fuck all to do with Oldham. But to keep it [very] tenuously linked, Matt Chambers who used to be the Latics reporter in the Chron is a cousin of Robert Smith apparently. 

The new album by the Cure ‘Songs of a Lost World’ due out on Nov 1

* also fuck all to do with Latics but they did play ‘Pictures of You’ pre match once way back…