16th February 2000
16th February 2000 INFLUENTIAL Athletic midfield player John Sheridan could make a return to first-team action on Saturday. Sheridan visited a specialist yesterday concerning a neck problem and the outcome provided a welcome boost to boss Andy Ritchie. The X-ray revealed no bone damage and Ritchie could have the 35-year-old back in the squad for the trip to Wrexham. Said Ritchie: “There is no visible bruising or swelling in the area. He’s been told to rest and we’ll have to see how he feels as the week goes on. Obviously, you’re always going to miss a player of his calibre. You can function to a certain extent, but we could have done with his control in the second half against Gillingham.
“It
would be great to have him back for the Wrexham game, but we’ve got to
try to make sure he will last 90 minutes and I’m sure he’ll tell us if
he’s not ready.” The weather put paid to Ritchie’s attempts to run his
eye over a possible loan signing last night. With Mark Allott (injured),
Matthew Tipton (four-match ban), and Craig Dudley (returning from injury)
currently out of contention, Athletic are looking to increase front-line
options. Said Ritchie: “I’m looking at
two or three players, with a view to bringing one in. “I know all about
the players, it’s a case of making a final check.” Ritchie
and his coaching staff are out again tonight, although the weather could
have the final say.
Soccer
ripping off the working class, says peer WORKING-CLASS
football fans are being ripped off by sky-high ticket prices, says Oldham
peer and Latics fanatic Lord Davies. The
former Oldham Central and Royton MP condemned the soaring cost of being
a football fan in a hard-hitting speech in the House of Lords. Lord Davies
said clubs were freezing out poorer fans, despite receiving large sums
of public money to upgrade their grounds. And
he said parents were being pestered by their children to buy ever-more
expensive replica kits, which they could not afford. Lord Davies — who
used to watch every Oldham Athletic home game while an MP —called for all
clubs to be forced to sell a certain number of cheaper tickets. And he
said fans should be given a voice in their clubs by being allowed to have
representatives on the board. The Government should act by setting up a
regulator with tough powers if football refused to put its own house in
order.
Lord
Davies said: "I resent the fact that football is drifting away from the
very people who gave it sustenance and from which it derives its roots.
"The vast majority of football grounds remain in working-class communities
in our towns and cities, but poorer people, particularly the unemployed,
cannot afford to attend matches. "It
is essential to have a wider range of ticket prices to make it possible
for the less well-off in the community to go to matches." The
Lords was discussing the latest report from the Government-appointed Football
Task Force on the game's drift away from its working-class roots. The Government
is thought to be cooling on the idea of a regulator with powers to force
down ticket prices and put fans on the board. Lord
Davies was a keen amateur footballer and captained the Parliamentary team
for 20 years. He last attended an Oldham match last weekend, when Latics
lost 1-0 at Millwall to a last-minute penalty.