Bluffers' Guide to Oldham
Thursday, 18th Aug 2011 10:00 by Col

Derby day this weekend, and in case you didn't know enough about Oldham, here's our Bluffers' Guide so you can blag your knowledge on the Latics.

Oldham Athletic FC in a nutshell..... Like Joe Bloggs T-Shirts, Trev and Simon and record breaking Bryan Adams' songs, Oldham were quite big back at the start of the early 1990's after the most successful period in their history had led them away from the being lower division strugglers much like ourselves. A combination of an excellent manager, some key hard working signings, and a plastic pitch to take advantage, Oldham lived the dream and went all the way to the top flight, becoming found members of the Premier League enjoying trips to Wembley. Unfortunately one 119th minute Mark Hughes equaliser later, and it was a case of reverting to type and their stay within the current division is starting to resemble the residence that we enjoyed ourselves in League Two. That spell dining at the top table must make it difficult for supporters who grew up watching the Latics competing with the likes of United, City, Liverpool etc and now finding themselves struggling against the likes of Dale, Bury and Tranmere. Unfortunately, the biggest struggle in recent months has been financially as the club's owners unsuccessfully pinned their hopes on a move to a new ground.

The current lot..... With just two wins from their final nineteen games of last season, the Latics must have gone into the new season with one of their worst runs in form in recent years. Obviously things weren't helped one bit by players not being paid, but they went from being in the Play Off places in February to worrying about relegation in late April. Indeed, they went on a run of eleven games of which they failed to score in ten of them. The early signs from this season do not promise much better things. They were hardly prolific in the transfer market over the Summer, and whilst the February Play Off place might have been more representative of their squad than that dismal run towards the end, there's not been much to break that momentum. That said, a win away at Scunny on Tuesday could provide a great platform for them to launch their season.

Who's the gaffer..... This will be Paul Dickov's second season in charge, and his first as full fledged manager rather than Player Manager. It's early days to judge Dickov's career as what looked to be a very promising start before the off the field problems kicked in, with Latics suffering that second half slump. He got the backing recently of celebrity Oldham supporter Paul Scholes and he seems to have retained the backing of the majority of Oldham supporters, tho' after the dire nature of predecessor Dave Penney's time with the club, anything would appear an improvement.

Played for both Dale and Oldham...... Given the large number of players to have featured for both clubs over the years, we've managed to club together two sides for an imaginary derby day clash between two Dale / Oldham teams.


	Martin Hodge

Kelvin Lomax	Keith Hicks	Richard Jobson	Andy Barlow

Jon Bowden	Ernie Cooksey	Neil Redfearn	John Ryan

	Steve Whitehall	Tony Ellis


	Ian Gray

Marcus Holness	Neal Trotman	Kangana Lord N'Diwa	Martin Pemberton

Kallum Higginbotham	Dale Stephens	Jason Taylor	Les Chapman

	Steve Taylor	Chris O'Grady

Youtube Golden Moment.... Given he now works at Dale, we thought we'd pick Franie Bunn's finest moment in an Oldham shirt when they beat Scarborough 7-0 in the Littlewoods Cup where Frankie got six of them.

class="storytext">He was a bit good..... By rights, he should have been ours. Rochdale born and bred, Earl Barrett could have been a massive signing for us back in the 80's following his release from Man City, but in all honesty, there was a gulf in difference between the two sides back then, and it was probably the best decision he ever made in his life when he signed for Oldham. And he probably didn't want to compete with the likes of Ian Johnson and Geoff Lomax for that right back berth. Barrett became a vital part of Joe Royle's Oldham side that progressed to the top flight and cup finals and it shows how good he must have been that despite playing for an unfashionable club, he received three caps for England. He later on played for Villa and Everton, and whilst he didn't add to his England caps, he came incredibly close to a League winner's medal as part of that Villa side which came so close to winning the inaugural Premier League.

Try not to mention..... Boundary Park. Whilst it will no doubt invite snotty comments from disgruntled Oldham supporters but even the most blinkered amongst the support will acknowledge that their ground has seen better days. The more honest would admit that the ground is several years past its sell by date and has become something of a wrench around their necks in recent years. Even this weekend in the middle of August, the ground will resemble a trip to a big fridge, albeit a three sided fridge, and it must be ten years at least that we've heard about possible moves away. The Oldham board continue to make noises that Boundary Park costs them money but its probably more likely that the lack of a new ground is costing them money. The fact that we're paying £23 for the privilege says it all.

Oldham's famous five: