Vital Statistics
Founded: 1895
Chairman: Simon Corney
Last Season: League One - 17th
Nickname: The Latics
Rivals: Manchester City, Stockport County, Bury
Major Honours
None
Scheduled Matches
Portsmouth vs Oldham: Saturday, September 30th (3pm)
Oldham vs Portsmouth: Saturday, March 17th (3pm)
Oldham Athletic: A brief history
Formed as Pine Villa in 1895, the club changed its name to Oldham Athletic in 1899 n would embark on its most successful period before World War I, losing out on the league title by a single point as well as reaching the F.A. Cup quarter-final.
The Latics were relegated in 1923 and continued to suffer relegations with the odd promotion until Jimmy Frizzell got the club moving in the right direction with promotion to Division Two in 1974. In 1982 Joe Royle was appointed as manager and he took them to the League Cup Final in 1990 and ensured Oldham were founding members of the Premier League in 1992.
Two F.A. Cup semi-finals were also reached in this time where Oldham were a minute away from reaching a final until Mark Hughes' late equaliser for Man City forced a replay which the Latics lost 4-1. That result marked a decline which saw Oldham relegated to Division One in 1994 and then again in 1997 to Division Two amongst financial uncertainity. Whilst the club has stablised, they have remained in the third tier ever since.
The Manager: John Sheridan
The 52-year-old spent his early playing career as a midfielder for Leeds United in the 80's and Sheffield Wednesday in the 90's. He ended his playing career at Oldham Athletic where he was appointed manager in 2006 after a couple of spells as caretaker.
Despite signs of promise he was sacked in 2009 and appointed as Chesterfield manager where he won promotion to League One only to experience relegation the season after followed by his resignation early in the 2012/2013 season.
His next destination was Plymouth but he failed to get Argyle promoted despite signs of promise and left the club in the summer of 2015 only to turn up at Newport last season with the Welsh side struggling. No sooner had he made an impact there had he decided to return to Oldham to rescue them from relegation but rather than stay there he took the job at Notts County in May 2016.
After being sacked from County last season following a terrible run of results, Sheridan once again returned to Boundary Park to perform his rescue act, staving off relegation from Oldham once again.
The Ground: Boundary Park (Capacity: 13,500 - Away: 3,750)
Being blunt, the town of Oldham is a dive, at least from what Pompey fans saw of it when driving through. Many places had smashed windows and the place looked like it was stuck in 1972. It's always freezing cold there too, it seems.
As for the ground, it's not so bad. It's as traditional "Old Skool" as they come although the new stand has modernised it a bit. The Chaddy End Road held home fans last time Pompey were at Boundary Park in 2012, but this is now the away end.
The Main Stand certainly has a 90's feel to it with its old terracing areas and the seating on the lower tier blatantly bolted on as like Pompey's own Milton End.
As previously mentioned, Boundary Park has a new North Stand which opened in 2014. Previously, it was just this:
The Jimmy Frizzell Stand is where the away fans used to be and this stand offered an excellent view of the game as well as the Pennines if you like your mountains.
