Welcome
to today's issue of
BOUNDARY
BULLET-zine
The
Daily On-line e-zine for 229
Oldham Athletic Supporters
Worldwide
Today's
Edition for
6th June 2000
Welcome to a
new subscriber in Melbourne
Today's
Headlines
Oldham
Evening Chronicle
Graham
may be Warnock target
RICHARD
GRAHAM, whose future with Athletic is still under a cloud, has become a
transfer target for former manager Neil Warnock. Warnock
is now in charge of first-division Sheffield United and is looking to strengthen
his squad during the close season. The
extrovert boss is renowned for signing players from his old clubs and,
when at Bury, swooped on Boundary Park to recruit Steve Redmond, Adrian
Littlejohn and Paul Reid. He is planning
an assault on the Premiership after reviving the Blades' fortunes last
season _ and sources confirm that Graham is high on his shopping list. The
25-year-old, who plays in either defence or midfield, can leave on a Bosman
free transfer at the end of this month. He becomes a free agent when his
contract runs out and, despite a poor fitness record, a number of clubs
would be willing to take him on.
As
no fee is involved, the cost of signing Graham would amount to a signing-on
fee and a wage-and-bonus package. Clubs like Athletic can't even afford
to risk that much, but Warnock is on the look-out for bargain buys and
has already spoken to a number of players. According
to his girl friend, who contacted the Chronicle last week, Graham has been
"hurt" by the offer made to him after nine years with Athletic. The
length of the contract has been upped from six months to a year, but the
player would have to take a cut in his basic pay if he stays at Boundary
Park.
Teamtalk
Oldham
Hotte's
high praise
Oldham
boss Andy Ritchie has labelled Latics' defender Mark Hotte's re-emergence
as "one of the bonuses from last season". Hotte has terrific pace but is
rather small for a centre back at just 5'8" and he had to be patient before
his break came along. Both Shaun Garnett and Stuart Thom were injured at
the time and suddenly Hotte was propelled into his first team chance. Hotte
said: "I replaced Stuart towards the end of the Luton game and it was great
to get on the pitch, even for a few minutes. "I had an idea I might be
playing in the next game at Cardiff but I wasn't told until we reached
the ground, so I didn't have time to be nervous. "There is a saying that
it gets easier with every game, but I didn't find that. I was more nervous
than ever for my full home debut - and that was my third start." Ritchie
has been very happy with the overall participation of Hotte throughout
the campaign. He said: "Mark took his chance with both hands and
he turned out to be one of the bonuses from last season."
Star
reveals first game nerves
Mark Hotte
has revealed the time when he thought that he was going to be sold by Oldham,
prior to getting his break at the club. The defender had been training
with Bury and he thought his days at Boundary Park were numbered. Hotte
said: "The previous season it looked as though I was going to be released
The Latics let me train with Bury for five weeks and I thought they may
offer me a contract. "But the gaffer called me back and offered me a twelve-month
deal. It was a tremendous relief because I had never wanted to leave the
club." Bradford-born Hotte joined the Latics straight from school despite
plenty of offers from elsewhere. West Ham, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield
Town and hometown club Bradford were keen to sign him too. Hotte added:
"The Latics were in the Premiership at the time and Joe Royle, the then
manager, persuaded me to choose them. "The fact that a number of other
Bradford boys were there, in Carl Serrant and Martin Pemberton to name
two, also had a bearing on my decision."
Season
tickets selling well
Oldham
have released figures which show that rising season ticket sales are creating
a 25% increase in income. The club had sold 1,920 season tickets up until
the end of May, which was the deadline for the 15% discount, an increase
of 234 tickets at the same stage last season. Fans are reminded that they
can take advantage of an easy-payment plan which spreads the cost of the
ticket over nine months.
More
pitch battles
It looks
as if Oldham will need to have more work done on their troublesome Boundary
park pitch than at first expected. The experts who checked it out on Monday
are now compiling a report on exactly what needs to be done before the
start of the season. Much work is planned on the surface before it can
be ready to host second division football next season.
Contributions
and letters should be sent to Gary
Davies by e-mail at [email protected].Boundary
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