Dear Fellow Supporters,

Welcome to another edition of the LSC programme. After the recent survey it was decided that status quo is in order. A mostly satisfactory result thus proving the point that you can please some of the people some of the time.......but a pencil must be lead! Unfortunately the team has not been as successful. They had taken one point out of fifteen before last Saturdays visit of Watford and the peasants were getting restless. The team had dropped from third place in the league to a season low of twelvth position. Three thousand leaflets were distributed by an independent group of fans known as 'Stop The Rot' (see front page) before the game against the championship chasing team. They are calling for a boycott of J.W Lees Brewery outlets. It is a protest against the the Latics major shareholders, who are refusing to sell their 48% stake to a consortium of businessmen who want to take over the club. The campaigners urged fans to bring banners to the game and mount a peaceful protest. The game itself was a thriller with the Latics finally getting the second equalising goal in the 90th. minute. The result still leaves the club 10 points adrift from a play-off spot and in eleventh place. The trip to Wembley is looking more and more improbable.

The following artice is from the Watford preview: If you check the unofficial Oldham supporters' web site, you'll find lots of unhappy supporters mainly calling for the head of Neil Warnock - the fans are unhappy with the lack of investment in the club and the very polite Canadian Latics site is announcing the distribution of 3,000 leaflets at the game calling for JW Lees Brewery to sell their major shareholding and pleading for new money to save the club from relegation . With the club currently at twelfth position in the league, this seems a bit gloomy but the reports of the last few matches show a lack of passion and invention in the boardroom which is being reflected on the pitch. Our web site is undergoing changes. We have introduced a joint message board which is linked to by the other ‘unofficial’ sites and we are hoping to introduce a joint ‘Chat Page’ soon. This should make communication between Latics fans better so try to drop by and leave a message.

The Chairman

Today we begin a new series of articles entitled Football Fanatics. The stories are all true and will tell the tale of that (not so) rare breed of supporter who will go to any lengths for his team. If you know of a football fanatic nominate him (or her) for future inclusion. It is fitting that the first in the series has some affiliation with Manchester United, a team so often left out of the limelight!

Old Moore's almanack gets a new chapter: The final whistle sounded and they danced in glee, punched the air and sang to the night sky. Victory against Manchester United, especially in the FA Cup, is a special event and the whole of Barnsley has claimed the glory as its own. Within the protocol of football support, however, there is a hierarchy of allegiance and the club's success - while shared by many - belongs to some more than others. Amid the celebrations on Wednesday night, a quiet reflective figure in Row H, seat 52, of Oakwell's West Stand afforded himself a smile.

Afterwards, he lingered in the vice-president's lounge, savouring the moment. It was, after all, the eve of his 93rd birthday and the euphoria of a win against United is not to be drunk quickly, like a glass of cheap wine. "It was a terrific match," Frank Moore said. "It was all about team spirit and I think every tribute should be made to our manager." Barnsley have many loyal supporters but it is unlikely that any can match the devotion of Frank. He first attended Oakwell in 1913. Since then, apart from periods away at boarding school, he has missed no more than six home matches in 85 years, and for much of the time he has lived more than 40 miles from the ground.

"He will get out of bed with flu to go to Barnsley," his wife, Mary, said. "He has missed weddings, christenings, all kinds of things down the years. I've never got angry about it. I've always been tolerant of Frank's football. I understand how much it means to him." The couple married on September 1, 1945, during a time when Football League matches had been suspended because of the Second World War. Barnsley were playing in the impromptu North League and East Midlands League, and, as Mary remembers, Frank was "horrified" that he would have to miss a Barnsley match. They live in a bungalow in Buxton, Derbyshire. They moved there when he became a safety officer at ICI, which has a plant in the town. Frank is a smart man, a tie is worn at all times and a spotted handkerchief pokes out neatly from the breast pocket of his jacket. He has a stick by his chair to help him walk and his hearing fails him occasionally. Mary, though, listens on his behalf, and will answer, as well, if he ponders for too long.

Although he has few souvenirs, aside from the odd press cutting in an envelope marked "Oakwell Memories", Frank can recall the past in piquant detail and provides a fascinating snapshot of football's past. During his first season as a supporter, Barnsley's league rivals were teams such as Glossop and Leeds City. Fans would take pigeons to games and release them at regular intervals with score updates fastened to their legs. Frank was also used as a messenger when, aged 14, he was told to relay the news that Barnsley had beaten West Bromwich Albion in the first round of the FA Cup. A mighty cheer rang out in the Strafford Arms Hotel in Stainborough when he arrived and, after he had drawn breath, he added: ". . . and Brough Fletcher scored the goal." Players would leave the Oakwell pitch after games via a roped-off path through the crowd and make their way to the dressing-room past piles of coke that were used to heat the laundry room. There were two notices in the home dressing-room. One appealed for clean living and fitness, while the other read: "Please don't ask for complimentary tickets. If your friends will not pay to see you play, how can you expect strangers to?"

The legacy of supporting Barnsley was handed down to Frank by his father, Copley, a colliery secretary and commercial manager, who was a director and later president of the club for nearly 50 years. During one of the club's financial crises, Copley mortgaged the family home so that the players could receive their wages. Frank has seen thousands of players in the red of Barnsley and they come alive once more as he describes them in appropriate terms. Arthur Kaye (1950-58) was a "little wasp at outside right"; Gordon Pallister (1938-51) "could have had the telegraphic address, 'stylish Barnsley' "; Danny McGarry (1938-39) was "a peach of a left winger". Danny Blanchflower arrived at Oakwell from Glentoran, the Northern Ireland club, in 1948 and became a crowd favourite immediately. "We were playing Chesterfield one time and they had a brute playing centre half," Frank said. "Blanchflower had been fouled about five times and kept bouncing off him. I was sat in the directors' box and I said to one of our directors: 'He's a nasty big rough devil, isn't he?' He said: 'Yes . . . I wish we had him!' "

With Mary, Frank attended many away matches, driving to the south of England when road journeys were fraught and could take a whole weekend. "We stopped for a cup of tea once in a layby on the way to Bristol. The team coach past and when they saw the Barnsley registration number on my car, all the players began to wave," he said. Barnsley is now a buoyant, successful club, but Moore can recall vividly the times of financial distress when survival meetings were held throughout the town and he regularly manned stalls at jumble sales. There were also the bleak days in the 1970s when Barnsley spent seven seasons in the fourth division, with attendancies sometimes below 2,000. "When we got promotion last year it was a reward for the disappointments we have had over many years," Moore said. "I didn't shed a tear of joy when we beat Bradford to go up, but I sat back and really enjoyed it once we went two goals in front and the anxiety had lifted."

He still attends every home game, and although he drives, he prefers not to deal with the heavy traffic around Oakwell on match days. His car is driven by Roy Pickles, another Barnsley fan living in Buxton, a "young chap" in his fifties. Moore will watch the FA Cup quarter-final at Newcastle United on television with a glass of sherry at hand. After that, it will be business as usual and the return to the fortnightly pilgrimage to Oakwell. "He has gone there in two feet of snow and when it's been thick with fog. He's not going to change now, is he?" Mary said. She already knows the answer.

Footnote:
General Interest Result from The European Cup (Quarter Final)

MAN UTD 1 (Solskjaer 53)
AS MONACO 1 (Trezeguet 6)
53,683
(1-1 on agg; Monaco win on away goals rule - shame!]

Here are some anagrams of football related stuff.

Alex Ferguson Sex Organ Fuel
Andy Gray Randy Gay
David Ginola A Livid Gonad
David Lee Evil Dead
Dennis Bergkamp Pink German Beds
Fabrizio Ravanelli Evil Brazilian Afro
George Best Go Get Beers
Gudni Bergsson Undressing Bog Guns on Bridges
Jamie Pollock Joke Coma Pill
Karlheinz Reidle He Killer Red Nazi
Maine Road I Am A Drone A Dire Moan No! I Am A Red
Manchester City I'm Shy, Can't Erect Synthetic Cream
Manchester United Urine Detachments The Entrained Scum Stained Hen Rectum Scum Need The Train
Leicester City Electric Yetis
Match Of The Day They Of Mad Chat
Nathan Blake An Ankle Bath
Neil Cox Lexicon
Peter Beardsley Beery Plastered
Peter Shilton Enter Hot Lips
Scott Sellars Let's Toss Carl
Stan Collymore Measly Control
Wolverhampton Wanderers Old Woman Perverts Raw Hen Worst Ever Home Drawn Plan

In a recently taped conversation Douglas Hall (Chairman of Manchester City) allegedly claimed that football shirts, which are sold to fans for £50, are made in Asia for £5.

Ronald and Richard, two devoted City fans, were walking round Manchester one day when Ronald spies a United season ticket nailed to a post. "Wow! Look!", he exclaims. "What? What?", enquires Richard. "A three inch nail!", says Ronald.

Q. Why does a United fan have T.G.I.F printed on the front of his shoes?
A. Toes Go In First!

Q. What's the difference between a United fan and a citrus fruit?
A. One's yellow, bitter and best twisted, while the other's a citrus fruit!

Q. What's the difference between a United fan and a coconut (part one)?
A. You can get a drink out of a coconut!

Q. What's the difference between a United fan and a coconut (part two)?
A. One's thick and hairy, and the other's a tropical fruit.

Have you heard the one about the United fan who bought a 'Golden Goal' ticket and found the word "October" written inside when he opened it!?

A bloke rings up the speaking clock and gets the following message. "If you are a police officer or a member of the armed forces then the time is 14:10. If you are an ordinary member of the public it's ten past two in the afternoon, and if you're a United fan it's Wednesday".

Have you heard the one about the United fan’s wife who fell out of the window ironing her curtains?

Q. What's the difference between a United fan and a broken clock?
A. Even a broken clock is right twice a day!

Q. What's the difference between a United fan and a computer?
A. You only have to punch information into a computer once!

United manager Alex Ferguson fined two of his players recently after it was discovered that they'd broken club rules by having sex on the night before a big cup match. The United boss admitted that the fines would have been heavier if a woman had been involved!

Q. What did the United fan say when the doctor told her she was pregnant?
A. Are you sure it's mine?!

D is for Dowd. Harry Dowd (1970-74) will be remembered as the goalkeeper who loved to dribble outside the box. He was a great favourite of the Latics fans and was first-choice until he lost his place to Chris Ogden in the championship year of 1974. He once scored a goal for Manchester City. Harry now works for John Willie Lees' brewery.

D is for Dennis. Dennis Irwin was a member of Joe Royle’s famous promotion team. Signed (or was it stolen) from Leeds United in 1986 he went on to become a firm favoutite with the Latics fans. The Irish international was renown for his deadly dead ball strikes. He was unfortunately snapped up by ‘that red team’ from Manchester and is almost an ever present in the Premier League.

D is for Division Four goalscoring record. On December 26th 1962, in front of 14,662 (including The Chairman) fans at Boundary Park, Oldham beat Southport 11-0, with Bert Lister scoring six times. The other goals in this emphatic victory were scored by Bob Ledger, John Colquhoun and a hat-trick from Colin Whittaker.

D is for ........Dan, Danielle and Dave

Yes folks! It’s competition time again. Take a look at the enclosed picture and see if you can identify the seven possible answers. You will need to know your nicknames of English football teams. As usual a prize of one unit will be awarded to the first successful answer.

Tie Breaker: Which football team is nicknamed The Latics?

Case 1
Name: Deb Hillier (Member Standing: 3 years)
D.o.B. : 5th. July 1958

Offence: On 6th. March 1998 Miss Hillier did, without consideration or feelings, ask the Chairman to pass the nuts in the following manner, “Will you please pass the nuts, Mr. Chairperson”. This is a serious breach of club protocol and did cause acute embarrassment to the Chairman and as a result he had to gulp his beer. This is the second serious offence as it is that, in itself, is a rare case of alcohol abuse.

Action: Miss Hillier was shown the yellow card and relegated to the Privvy Division. Miss Hillier did send a written apology and as a consequence, and in consideration of her previous good character, was reinstated without loss of seniority.

Case 2
Name: Bruce Jupp (Member Standing: 3 years)
D.o.B. : 17th. August 1943

Offence: On 13th. March 1998 Mr. Jupp, after carefully considering that the time was 7:20pm., assuming that the meeting was concluded, and thinking that the remainder of the evening would be spent in The Chairman’s company, did blatantly address The Chairman with a preponderance of abusive language, too severe for publishing.

Action: Mr. Jupp was immediately shown the yellow card and relegated to the Privvy Division for an unknown period of time. Mr. Jupp did buy The Chairman copious amount of anaesthetic to dull the severe shock, but all to no avail. The dirty deed was done!