Kick-off is at 7.45 tonight, and you’ll find Oldham Athletic’s fine stadium about a mile to the north of the town centre.  

If you’re coming by car you need to leave the M62 at Junction 20 and take the A627(M) towards Oldham. Take the second exit off the A627(M) and at the roundabout at the top of the slip road take A663 turn off towards Royton . You will then be able to see Boundary Park over on your right. Take the next right hand turn into Hilbre Avenue which will take you up to the large Club car park, which is situated behind the Lookers Stand and costs £2. This accommodates a few thousand cars but is a problem after the game as you can be nose to tail for a good hour or so, so if you can you should get there early and get a quick getaway space. 

On the official Oldham website they boast that Boundary Park is “One of the best located stadiums (sic) in the UK”, but it’s location for public transport services could be better.  At the moment it’s not possible to catch a train to Oldham, as the line through the town is closed while they convert it to a Metrolink tramline. So the only option is to catch the train to Rochdale and then a number 409 bus to Oldham. 

There is a pub called the 'Clayton Arms' on one corner of the ground, which serves decent Lees beers and reasonably priced food, but it’s a bit small and gets extremely busy on matchdays. The usual  'away fans pub' is the BlueBell, a small friendly little place which is just out of the Car Park and right and across the road. Another option is ‘The Old Grey Mare’ on Rochdale Road, which you can get to by walking to the top of Sheepfoot Lane (The big road on the opposite side of the big car park) and turning left at the newspaper shop. And if you take the bus from Rochdale (see above) you’ll pass the ‘Rifle Range’ pub, which is reputedly friendly and accommodating, with good local ale.

Food-wise, there aren’t too many good old-fashioned take-aways nearby, but you can find several food outlets at the nearby retail park, owned by various horrible American multinationals. If that doesn’t suit, you can make do with the standard football ground fare inside. Pies, hot dogs and burgers, that sort of stuff. 

Boundary Park is quite high up and exposed, and when I first came to town in the 1980s we had a good view of the distant hills from the open away terrace, and there always seemed to be a cold wind blowing right into our faces.  It’s an urban myth that it’s the league’s highest ground above sea level, but in fact that particular honour goes to WBA’s’ Hawthorns’ stadium. Since our last visit they have demolished the old main stand (built in 1904), so it’s now a three sided ground.

The current away end is in the same part of the ground, but these days we get some protection from the elements, as in 1994 the terrace was replaced with the covered Rochdale Road stand, when Oldham had to go all-seater to comply with the Taylor Report. The facilities are good, as you would expect from a modern stand, and there is an excellent view of the pitch. The Rochdale Road stand has two sections, with away fans getting a minimum of 1,800 seats, but bigger clubs can get the whole end (4,609 spaces in total) and thankfully we have the larger allocation for this game. 

The total capacity of Boundary Park is currently 13,273. Hopefully you’ve managed to get your ticket by now, as there will be none on sale on the day, either for the home or away sections of the ground. They have charged us £18 for adults, £12 for OAPs, Under 16s, and only £3 for Under 12s. They have been selling home tickets on line, but only to fans who were already registered before the draw was made. 

Last year the Club announced plans to re-develop Boundary Park into a new 16,000 all seater stadium, as part of the 'Oldham Arena' project, but now it looks as though they will be selling the site for housing and moving on to pastures new. There was talk of them groundsharing with Rochdale, but the latest plan is to build a new stadium in the Failsworth district of the Oldham Borough. The proposal is at the pre-Planning stage, and they have a consultation meeting with their fans next week, but it could be ready for the 2011/12 season.

  Some of this waffle came from www.footballgroundguide.com.         

Photo: Action Images

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