Sat, Jun 9, 2018
Read in 2 minutes
A review of the relegation season of 2017/18, when Oldham Athletic were relegated out of League One and out of the 3rd tier of English Football for the first time in 21 years.
Firstly, a season review. The Latics started the season poorly only picking up 4 points, before then-manager John Sheridan was sacked after a 5-1 defeat to Rotherham United away from home in late September. Assistant manager Richie Wellens was placed as the caretaker and managed to pick up points against high flyers Peterborough and Portsmouth.
After a 1-1 draw against Bradford away from home on 17th October 2017, Wellens was handed the job. It looked like Latics were on the rise, after a fairly quiet period, they thrashed Northampton Town 5-1 at home. Form then started to slump, a shock loss to at-the-time relegation strugglers Plymouth Argyle away from home. This sent the blues on a downward spiral. January came along with many signings such as Jack Byrne ,a former loanee, on a permanent basis following an impressive start with the club. Eoin Doyle and Kean Bryan also signed deals, but this only kept them at the club until the end of the season. We also gained new owner Abdallah Lemsagam who is ambitious and fully focused on the football club.
Then came February, an impressive 2-1 victory over Bradford City and a 2-2 draw against Blackburn Rovers seemed to revoke confidence that the club could stay in league one. Another notable game was a 1-0 win over MK Dons thanks to an Anthony Gerrard header. March saw an impressive comeback against local rivals Bury to come from 2-0 to 2-2 away from home. However, just one week later, Latics fell to defeat against Portsmouth 0-2 at home. In strange fashion, the game was up held for 11 minutes due to snow on the pitch.
In April, we gained 3 points by beating Blackpool 2-1 at home and gained valuable points from Rochdale ( Johny Placide saving a penalty) and Doncaster Rovers, both were 0-0 draws.
Finally, on the 5th of May 2018 it was do or die; Northampton Town away. All we needed to do was match Rochdale’s result. The game started off well following a goal from youth academy graduate George Edmundson, sadly the blues conceded two quick goals, sending them in 2-1 down at half time. Ten to fifteen minutes after the restart Tom Hamer headed the blues into a draw meaning Oldham were staying up as Rochdale were drawing. Unfortunately Rochdale ended up winning their game 1-0 against promotion seeking Charlton Athletic. Oldham could not find another goal, thus being relegated to Sky Bet League Two.
Now, we search for a new manager as Richie Wellens was sacked on 8th June.