LA ladies spaff £9,000 to see The Latics get beaten

*Actual cheerleaders involved in this story were not this hot or drunk

After getting chatted up by meeting some Oldham Athletic players while on holiday in the Cayman Islands this summer, Californian cheerleaders Sara Mathew and Amber Allen were inspired to see the Latics play.

After slaying the dragon named common sense, the 23-year-olds decided to Fly 11,000 miles from the glamorous surroundings of Beverly Hills to the slightly-less-glamorous surroundings of Greater Manchester. They made a pilgrimage to a rain-sodden Boundary Park before heading down to Bermondsey, with tickets to see last month’s League One clash with Millwall.

Oldham lost the match 2-0, but the girls were clearly undeterred by the result and the £9,000 price tag. Sara said:

“Being welcomed into the community of Oldham fans was like being part of a family we’ve never had.”

The girls are planning to return in December, and as a thank you to their impressive commitment. Oldham have promised to “roll out the red carpet” upon their return.

[Spotted in The Sun, who thoughtfully included a diagram showing the distance between America and England]

Mark Ward makes good use of his time behind bars

During a career that spanned through the eighties and nineties, Mark Ward notched up an enviable list of achievements: he played in Wembley cup finals, scored in Merseyside derbies for his hometown club Everton, and came within a few points of winning the league with the lauded West Ham team of 1986. Stuart Pearce once singled him out as the trickiest opponent he ever face, and after a game at Nottingham Forest, Brian Clough declared: “Take Ward to the [1986] World Cup.”

After being relieved of his duties as Altrincham player/manager in 2001, however, Ward’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. Playing in an era where professionals weren’t set up for life with ridiculous pay packages (his biggest contract earned him £2,000 per week), Ward was getting by on handouts and income support. After accepting an offer to rent out a house in his name and hand over the keys to a third party who would pay him a weekly wage, Ward found himself on the wrong side of the police, who raided the property

It’s that chap who killed a pensioner

Lee Hughes, the striker who fled the scene of a car crash in which he killed a man, is clearly no stranger to controversy, and has landed himself in hot water once again.

The Oldham Athletic hitman and ex-convict - pictured above in the club’s natty pink charity kit - attended a ‘meet the players’ evening at Manchester’s Belle Vue greyhound track, when a row over form and tactics with manager John Sheridan turned physical.

Around 150 supporters were treated to a brawl between the player and his gaffer, which resulted in the 44-year-old Irishman being placed in a headlock. Security staff and keeper Mark Crossley (who must be at least 150 years old by now) had to

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