(Redirected from Oldham Athletic F.C.)

Oldham Athletic Association Football Club are an English football team currently playing in Football League One.

After some months in Administration (near-bankruptcy) on 3 February 2004 a group of American-based backers bought the club, forming a new company Oldham Athletic (2004) Association Football Club Ltd, which will hopefully be on a sounder financial footing than the old company.

The current manager is Ronnie Moore formerly of Rotherham United. In late February 2005, the previous manager, Brian Talbot , left by mutual consent after a run of heavy defeats.

Contents

1 The Joe Royle Era

2 The Post Royle Era

2.1 At a glance
2.2 Key Players
2.3 Records
2.4 Honours
2.5 External Link

The Joe Royle Era

One of Oldham Athletic's greatest ever managers to date is Joe Royle (born 1949), who took charge of the club just before the start of the 1982-83 season when they were in the old Second Division. He created a talented squad well known for attacking football and two impressive cup runs in the 1989-90 season confirmed Oldham's status as a top Second Division side. They reached the F.A Cup semi finals and only lost to Manchester United after a replay. Oldham went all the way in the League Cup but lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the final at Wembley.

At the end of the 1990-91 season, Oldham Athletic finished champions of the Second Division and gained promotion to the top division of English football for the first time since 1933. Key players in that side included goalkeeper Jon Hallworth, defender Earl Barrett, midfielder Mike Milligan and striker Andy Ritchie. In 1991-92, Oldham finished 15th in the First Division and booked their place in the new Premier League.

In the first ever season of the Premier League (1992-93), Oldham Athletic gained 51 points from 42 fixtures and a final day home win over Southampton ensured they finished above Crystal Palace and avoided relegation.

Oldham reached another F.A Cup semi final in 1993-94, again facing Manchester United. The match, at Wembley Stadium, looked to be going Oldham's way until Manchester United's Mark Hughes scored a last gasp equaliser. Defeat in the replay at Maine Road ended Oldham's hopes and a month later they were relegated from the Premier League after three seasons of top flight football.

The Post Royle Era

Joe Royle was lured to Everton in October 1994 and 34-year-old striker Graeme Sharp was appointed Oldham's player-manager. Sharp was unable to turn Oldham into genuine promotion contenders, despite most of the Premiership era squad still being on the club's payroll, and he resigned during the 1996-97 season.

Sharp was succeeded by Neil Warnock, who had previously achieved promotion success with Scarborough, Notts County (twice), Huddersfield Town and Plymouth Argyle. But he was unable to repeat the same success with Oldham during the 1997-98 Division One campaign and left after just one year in charge.

Andy Ritchie took over from Warnock in the summer of 1998 but he too was unable to turn things around, leading to relegation at the end of the season. Ritchie in turn was sacked in October 2001 (one of the worst months ever for managerial sackings) to make way for Mick Wadsworth. Wadsworth, who had managerial and coaching experience with several other clubs, lasted until the end of the 2001-02 season when he was also sacked, making way for Iain Dowie.

In 2002-03, Iain Dowie guided Oldham Athletic to a Division Two playoff place but they lost to Queens Park Rangers in the semi finals. Shortly afterwards, chairman Chris Moore announced that the club was losing £50,000 a week and on the verge on liquidation. But the club was saved just before the start of the 2003-04 season by a takeover deal. In December 2003, Iain Dowie quit as Oldham manager to take charge of Crystal Palace, and his successor Brian Talbot did enough to secure Oldham's Division Two survival.