City & Leeds for pre-season

ATHLETIC fans will be given a mouth-watering taste of the Premiership as the club has finalised two home pre-season friendlies against Leeds United and Manchester City. Leeds visit Boundary Park on Saturday, August 5 while City are entertained three days later. It is a coup to land two such prestigious fixtures, with Athletic's close links to both clubs undoubtedly being influential. Athletic are awaiting the football authorities' approval for their ground-breaking link with Leeds, while they have long had good relations with City, ones forged even further through Joe Royle. "Premier League clubs are always in demand so to get two of them is magnificent and something for our supporters to look forward to," enthused Athletic chief executive Alan Hardy. 

It is also something for Athletic's long suffering fans to relish — it is hard to believe only six years ago they were playing those two teams on a regular basis. Supporters have also had few pre-season friendlies at Boundary Park in recent years as pitch problems have usually forced them to play most away to give the surface extra time to recover from close-season repair. The two matches will also provide a pointer for manager Andy Ritchie as to the progress his side is making. They come after Athletic return from the Isle of Man where they have three fixtures. Athletic play Burnley on Sunday, July 23 and the Isle of Man national team 24 hours later. They will also compete in either the final or play-off match later in the week. There is a chance Athletic, who return to pre-season training on July 7, will play a non-league team as part of their preparation before leaving for the Isle of Man. 

As Athletic wait for a ruling on their link-up with Leeds, it has emerged the Elland Road club wants to establish further satellites. Leeds are apparently exploring similar ties with Carlisle and Peterborough, two clubs also with successful youth policies. 

 Oldham have been rocked by the news that their proposed move to a new all-seater stadium near to Boundary Park is off. It looks like the club may have become embroiled in a game of political ping-pong after the local Labour council was replaced by Liberal Democrats last week. Labour were firmly behind the new, state of the art ground on the nearby Clayton Playing Fields. But new council leader Richard Knowles has stunned club officials by revealing he will do everything in his power to block it, even though the Latics were to move into the stadium with the local rugby league club. Knowles said: "We will come to a view with Oldham Athletic and the rugby club about different sites. It is not going to be Clayton Playing Fields, that is clear."

 The Latics will have to look at alternative ways to gain a new stadium now that the Clayton Playing Fields option has been rebuffed. The options are to find a new site on which to build, redevelop Boundary Park or scrap the scheme altogether, at least for the time being. Council leader Richard Knowles said: "If land is left in trust, it is very important and very valuable. If we take it, what message does that send out to today's generation thinking about leaving land for people - they have to have trust in the council." The Liberal Democrats have always supported a new stadium and will now meet council officers to decide what progress can be made. It is understood that two other sites big enough to take a new stadium have been identified, but both are in private ownership. That could send costs soaring and Cllr Knowles has warned that there will be no charge on council-tax payers and no bailing out with subsidies.

 Oldham are set to begin contract negotiations with Richard Graham as the 25 year-old defender is out of contract in the summer. Graham has had a terrible time with injuries in the last two years and has missed more matches than he has played. He arrived at Boundary Park as a promising 16 year-old and made his debut in a 1993 home game against Manchester United. But his career was put on hold after he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury and that has seriously affected his first team opportunities and it remains to be seen what type of contract he will be offered.

“It is a dagger to the heart that in the 91st minute we were 10th and in the 92nd minute we were 13th. That’s the single most costly error since I’ve been here in terms of position and what was at stake. “The ball was in their corner at the other end of the pitch. If it stays there, they would not have got the last attack. They did because of unprofessional play. “Then there was a speculative cross, communication nil, panic, a lack of composure, handball and a penalty. “The self-destruct button was pressed and it would concern me if one day we’re playing for high stakes with the same individuals. My overwhelming feeling towards the players is one of congratulations because we’ve done very well this season but today’s going to nag at me for a while. It really has slaughtered me and ruined my day completely.” About White’s part in the penalty, Lawrence fumed: “I don’t know what he was thinking about – nothing probably.”

White’s error cancelled out Gray’s opening goal. The former Northern Ireland international escaped his markers and rose to head Matthew Spring’s corner into the roof of the net. Paul McLaren then displayed clever footwork to weave his way into the penalty box before curling a shot wide and Liam George, lively in an out-and-out striker’s role, was twice denied by alert goalkeeping from Oldham’s Gary Kelly. In an end-to-end first half, Oldham also threatened on numerous occasions. Marvin Johnson cleared Mark Innes’ effort off the line seconds after Gray’s goal and Danny Boshell thudded an excellently-curled free-kick against the bar before flashing a better opportunity wide. But Oldham rarely tested substitute keeper Abbey after the break. In fact, Johnson went closest before the penalty, another breakdown in communications seeing the Hatters skipper head just past a post with Abbey stranded off his line. At the other end, McLaren sent a bobbling effort wide and Spring had a 20-yard drive saved by Kelly before Oldham issued a warning to the Hatters that the season was not over yet, Innes volleying wide after 88 minutes. Three minutes later, McNiven’s hopeful deep cross from the right sailed over the head of Julian Watts and hit an unchallenged White on the hand. Substitute Tipton made no mistake from the spot, sending Abbey the wrong way and sidefooting coolly into the keeper’s bottom left-hand corner. Lennie's verdict "They didn’t look like scoring in a million years unless we gave them one, which we did. It is a dagger to the heart that in the 91st minute we were 10th and in the 92nd minute we were 13th. It was the single most costly error since I’ve been here.