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OLDHAM ATHLETIC are a club who are very similar in many ways to Luton Town - they were relegated from the top flight in the early 90s and only a few years later found themselves in the Second Division - and, like the Hatters, they also reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1994... 

The Club and The Ground

OLDHAM ATHLETIC, like Luton Town, endured a torrid period in the early 2000s as they spent time in administration and almost went out of existence when chairman Chris Moore decided he would no longer bankroll the club.  The fans rallied together and helped save the club, who had only narrowly missed out on promotion through the play-offs during the 2002-03 season as ex-Hatter and manager Iain Dowie, who later joined Crystal Palace, performed miracles.  It was a sad state for a club who had been founder members of The Premiership and who had been in FA Cup semi-finals in the late 80s and early 90s.

Brian Talbot, who had led Rushden & Diamonds into the Football League, took over as boss, and he stabilised the club and will be hoping he can continue to take The Latics forward.

The ground is fairly compact, but is more than adequate.  At one end of the ground, Boundary Park, is the comparatively new Rochdale Road End, a good sized all-seated covered stand with an excellent view of the pitch. It has windshields to either side of it and an electric scoreboard on its roof. Part of this stand is given to away supporters.  The other end, the Seton Stand, is a medium sized all-seated covered stand. Again there are windshields to either side, but the elderly nature of this stand is apparent from the supporting pillars running across the front of it. On one side there is an old two-tiered Main Stand, now named the Pukka Pies Stand. This used to have terracing in front, since filled with seating. There is still some old unused terracing on one side of this stand. On the other side is the small Lookers Stand. This is a covered seated stand that doesn't quite run the full length of the pitch. Again there are a number of pillars in the upper tier, where there is also a television gantry suspended beneath its roof. The stand is unusual in giving the impression of being on a slope - the lower tier has more seats on one side than the other. Part of this stand has a Police Control Box, whilst on the other side there is a strange single storey executive box like structure, built on stilts. The ground also benefits from four large floodlight pylons, leaving the visitor in no doubt that this is a football ground. The Club has a mascot called 'Chaddy The Champion Owl'.

Hatters fans are housed in the Rochdale Road Stand at one end of the ground, where the normal allocation is 1,800 seats. This can be increased to over 4,000 if required. Dependant on numbers, the Rochdale Road End is either given totally to the away support or is shared with home fans. If the latter is the case then away fans are kept separate from the home fans by a large moat like gap in the stand, which certainly makes for a lot of banter. The facilities in this newish stand are fairly good, as are the acoustics. If you get chance, make sure to try a Pukka pie (£1.50). Some fans reckon that this is the best part of a visit to Boundary Park.

Ground Guide courtesy of the excellent Internet Football Ground Guide.

History - Oldham Athletic Football Club

GEORGE Elliott became the first president, Mr. F Marland the treasurer and Mr. W Platt the secretary.
 
Like any other infant, Oldham Athletic had teething problems, but George Elliot and his committee dug deep into their own pockets several times to keep the club alive.

Despite this, they never thought of giving up and, having applied to join the Manchester Alliance League, they collected a good team of amateurs around them and set off with a vengeance.

Their first match of 1899-1900 was against Berry’s Reserves, the second team of Berry’s Blacking Works, Blackley, Manchester.

The “Latics” as they were nicknamed, won their first match and in their first season maintained the tradition of Pine Villa by finishing as runners-up in the League.

They had truly answered an article which appeared in the local newspaper, the Oldham Evening Chronicle, shortly after their formation, which commented:- “It is really surprising that a first-rate Association Football Club cannot be run in Oldham for there is plenty of room for one without crippling the leading rugby club and, in addition, there is demand for good soccer”.

With their taste for success hardly satisfied, the ‘Latics’ were now ready for bigger game and the following season joined the Manchester League.

Their first match was at home to Middleton and drew a sizeable crowd to set the trend for encouraging shows of support for the Oldham side.

However, halfway through the season came a setback. Trouble arose with the ground landlords over the rent and terms of lease.

No compromise could be reached and the only answer was for ‘Latics’ to find another ground to play on.

Hudson Ford enclosure was chosen but the move proved to be a costly one. A stand had to be erected for members and for a time it seemed the task would be too great and that the club would go down.

However, plenty of willing helpers were found and although a struggle, the job was finished and the club kept alive.

In all, the ‘Latics’ spent four years in the Manchester League and for much of the time the club’s energies were devoted to fund raising, with schemes such as summer band concerts and factory and workshop competitions all bringing in money.

The frantic off-field efforts didn’t seem to disturb Athletic’s traditionally high standards of football and in 1902-03 they won the Manchester Junior Cup. The foundations were laid for success, but the ambitions of the eager committee were nowhere near satisfied.

Season 1904-05 saw a period of further advancement with Athletic securing a place in the ‘B’ Division of the Lancashire Combination.

Alderman J Crossman took over the presidency from George Elliot while Mr. W C Brierley became chairman and Mr. J Schofield secretary.

Promotion was again achieved at the fist attempt and, in retrospect, it is clear that this was the time when the club began to have serious thoughts about League soccer.

Christmas time of the following season saw two major, important decisions taken.

The first was to engage Jimmy Hanson as trainer and the second was to form the club into a Limited Liability Company was a capital of £2,000 divided into 10-shilling shares.

Mr. E Thompson, an accountant, was appointed secretary pro tem and the new company was floated at his offices in Union Street, Oldham.

It was at this time that J.W. Lees Brewery, from nearby Middleton Junction, began an involvement with the club.

They leased out the present site of the ground at Sheepfoot Lane to the club – and that was the beginning of an association which blossomed when J.W. Lees became the major shareholders.

The first directors of the new company were Messrs. J.W. Mayall, A. Barlow, S. Carter, A. Pellow, W. Shone, T. Johnson, H.M. Jones and A. Tetlow.

During the summer months other influential Oldham businessmen were invited to join the board and before long, Alderman J. Grime, W. Heath, H. Cooper, T. Hilton, G. Morton and C.E. Sutcluffe had enlisted in the club’s cause.

A referee from Watford, Mr. David Ashworth, became the club’s first manager and, with results going well in the Lancashire Combination, a determined campaign began to get Athletic in the Football League.

Every town now visited by Oldham supporters began to boast small stickers declaring “Oldham wants League football”.

More legitimately, canvassing of all the League clubs began to secure votes for their annual election. So promising were their reactions that success seemed certain for Athletic.

However, when it came to the day of voting, Athletic were in for a rude surprise. They missed election by just one vote.

Undeterred, they embarked on the 1906-07 season in the Combination in high spirits. A fine side was gathered together, including five players retained from the previous season – Fay, Hodson, Shadbolt, Stafford and Wright.

It was in this season that a memorable half-back line of Fay, Walders and Wilson emerged and, if they couldn’t succeed in winning votes, Athletic certainly could succeed in football.

They ended the season winning the Combination championship and managed to survive all the qualifying rounds to reach the second round proper of the FA Cup.

Followers of the game began to take notice of Oldham Athletic. All the celebrating was tinged with sadness, however, as a highly successful season closed with Athletic amazingly winning fewer votes than the previous year at the Football League election.

They say every cloud has a silver lining – and so it proved for Athletic.

Resigned to spending another season in the Combination, Athletic suddenly found their dreams of League soccer turned into reality.

Sadly, it was at the expense of Burslem Port Vale who were forced to resign from the Second Division because of financial troubles.

Into the Second Division for the start of the season 1907-08 in place of Burslem, came Oldham Athletic. By default it may have been – but nobody really cared.

It is incredible to think that only thirteen years earlier, John Garland and his son Fred had held that fateful first meeting to start a football team in the Featherstall and Junction Hotel.

Who could have guessed that in just a little more than one decade the embryo that was Pine Villa would hatch into a team preparing for their first match in Division Two of the Football League?

The Great Adventure was about to begin.

THE TAYLOR REPORT AND OLDHAM ATHLETIC FC

FOLLOWING the Hillsborough Stadium disaster on 15th April 1989, the Government ordered an inquiry to be chaired by the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Taylor and in his final report he recommended that the following should be implemented:

1. Closed circuit television at all football stadiums.
2. Membership cards should be introduced.
3. Proper segregation of rival supporters.
4. More seating at football grounds.
5. Encouragement of supporters clubs.
6. A ban on alcohol.
7. Involvement of the clubs with the community.
8. Heavier penalties.

The effect of the above recommendations and the announcement by authorities that all Premier and First Division stadiums should be ‘all-seated stadiums’ by August 13th 1994 was immense on Oldham Athletic Football Club.

In order to comply with the Taylor Report, action was taken at Boundary Park on the 8th May 1990 when the Chadderton Road covered standing area was demolished and replaced by a new all seated stand “The Seton Stand”.

The immediate effect of this was a reduction in capacity at Boundary Park from 24,723 to 19,432 but increased the seating available at Boundary Park from 2,899 to 6,553, an increase of 3,654.

The cost of the new development was £1.4 million which was funded by a grant from the Football Trust of 60% (£840,000) with the remainder being self-financed.

The following year a new all-seated stand was built at the Rochdale Road End of the stadium, building commencing on Monday 4th May 1992 and completed on Tuesday 18th August 1992.

The new complex contains 4,583 public seats and 31 disabled spaces, four emergency personnel seats, two disabled toilets, two gents toilets, two ladies toilets, two refreshment areas and one camera point.

The cost of the Rochdale Road stand was £1.9 million once again financed with a 60% grant from the Football Trust (£1,140,000), with the remaining £760,000 being self financed.

The capacity at Boundary Park once again dropped from 19,432 to 16,839 due to the new development.

During the summers of ’91 and ‘92 work was also carried out on the safety barriers in both standing paddocks at the stadium and the local authority fixed capacities in the two paddocks at 2,640 in the Lookers Paddock and 2,904 in the George Hill Stand Paddock.

In addition £25,300 was spent on closed circuit TV surveillance equipment and a further £10,200 on updating the Police Control Box, with £15,000 being spent on First Aid/Emergency Medical Centre within the stadium.

The work continued during the summer of 1994 when the George Hill Stand Paddocks were re-terraced and seating installed, the existing stand roof being removed and replaced by a flat extension to cover the new seating, the cost of the work came to £460,000, with another £22,000 being spent on seating the Lookers Stand Paddock, this now means that Boundary Park is an all-seated stadium with a total capacity of 13,514.

In addition the Board of Directors at Boundary Park decided to build two new First Aid rooms in the Seton and Rochdale Road stands at an extra cost of £6,000 and provision for a further 12 elevated wheelchair spaces with special raised ‘helper’ seats has been made in the Seton stand at Boundary Park.

Oldham Athletic Football Club did agree in principal with much of the Lord Justice Taylor’s findings but did feel that the time span allowed for conversions to all-seated stadiums was somewhat severe, also the directors of the club feel that restricted standing space should still be allowed, i.e. paddock areas of the grounds.

Luton Town vOldham Athletic...

A full rundown of all of the past meetings

Home Matches   Mar 19 1921 D3S D 1 1 9000 Sep 24 1921 D3S W 1 0 10000 Oct 21 1922 D3S W 2 1 11000 Feb 23 1924 D3S L 0 2   Jan 24 1925 D3S D 1 1   Dec 28 1925 D3S D 1 1 9717 Dec 18 1926 D3S D 3 3 8175 Apr 7 1928 D3S D 1 1 10451 Mar 11 1929 D3S D 2 2 8289 Mar 15 1930 D3S W 5 2 9051 Apr 9 1938 D2 D 1 1 11516 Jan 21 1939 D2 L 3 4 13120 Feb 1 1947 D2 L 3 4 15165 Sep 27 1947 D2 D 0 0 19244 Dec 25 1948 D2 W 3 1 17109 Dec 3 1949 D2 D 1 1 13273 Dec 20 1952 D2 W 1 0 13055 Jan 2 1954 D2 W 2 1 9694 Oct 16 1954 D2 W 3 1 15059 Jan 14 1961 D2 W 3 2 13873 Dec 23 1961 D2 L 0 2 8410 Apr 27 1963 D2 W 3 0 6853 Dec 21 1968 D3 W 2 0 10971 Jan 17 1970 D3 L 0 2 12358 Sep 24 1975 D2 D 1 1 9226 Mar 12 1977 D2 D 1 1 12793 Feb 8 1997 ND2 D 2 2 6827 Oct 11 1997 ND2 W 3 0 4931 Feb 2 2002 ND3 W 2 0 9585 Report Feb 26 2002 ND2 W 1 0 7589 Report Statto's Corner

Away Matches   Mar 12 1921 D3S L 0 1 10000 Oct 1 1921 D3S L 0 2 19000 Oct 28 1922 D3S L 0 4 10000 Feb 16 1924 D3S D 0 0   Sep 20 1924 D3S L 0 4   Apr 10 1926 D3S L 3 4 12641 May 7 1927 D3S L 0 1 8142 May 2 1928 D3S L 0 4 4719 Apr 20 1929 D3S L 0 2 8484 Nov 9 1929 D3S L 1 6 15073 Nov 27 1937 D2 W 4 2 18969 Sep 17 1938 D2 L 1 4 15083 Sep 28 1946 D2 L 1 2 27535 Feb 14 1948 D2 W 3 1 22175 Dec 27 1948 D2 D 1 1 32241 Apr 8 1950 D2 D 0 0 16977 Aug 23 1952 D2 L 1 2 28836 Aug 29 1953 D2 D 2 2 22574 Mar 5 1955 D2 L 1 2 25975 Sep 3 1960 D2 D 1 1 21408 Aug 26 1961 D2 W 3 0 15299 Dec 8 1962 D2 L 1 3 9029 Oct 19 1968 D3 L 0 2 12659 Sep 27 1969 D3 W 3 1 14111 Feb 24 1976 D2 L 0 3 13927 Oct 2 1976 D2 L 0 1 12187 Nov 2 1996 ND2 D 3 3 7134 Feb 28 1998 ND2 W 2 0 4846 Sep 29 2001 ND3 L 1 2 5782 Report Aug 17 2002 ND2 L 1 2 10973 Report Sep 13 2003 ND2 L 1 2 9894 Report Statto's Corner

• Stats taken from Lutonfc.com's 'Statto's Corner'

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