As the UK continues to adhere to lockdown and social distancing, whilst marvelling at the work and sacrifice being undertaken by our amazing NHS and key workers, determining when football and other sports may be able to return remains a delicate and uncertain planning challenge.
It has been, against this backdrop, magnificent to see Oldham fans and groups posting their memories of the amazing feats we achieved in 1990 and 1994.
Firstly the re-run of the 1990 FA Cup Semi-Final, when we took Alex Ferguson's Man Utd side to a replay following a pulsating 3-3 draw. Only losing in the replay to a late Mark Robins goal, after Nick Henry’s ‘goal that never was’.
Then, the 30-year anniversary of our Littlewoods Cup Final appearance at Wembley, after a remarkable run of results and top-level scalps. Hearing from Joe Royle with his memories of the day and the experience reminds us all what a special period for the Club that was.
And finally, being featured in a BBC poll for the greatest Premier League escape has precipitated more memories of defying the odds, as we went into our final three games of the season in the inaugural Premier League (including at title challengers Aston Villa and against Liverpool), needing to win them all! To cap a remarkable final week, we came back from the brink to survive on the last day in a heart-stopping 4-3 win against Southampton.
Well, it doesn’t stop there. 2020 is a landmark year in the history of Oldham Athletic, marking 125 years since our formation.
Over the course of the next two months, in the run-up to the anniversary date of 4th July 2020, we want to celebrate the history and memories of our great Club with all our fans – even though it now looks unlikely that we’ll be able to schedule the events we had planned for the end of season awards and our final home matches of the campaign.
Despite the lack of working staff right now, we are committed to celebrating Latics' amazing history together and who better to come up with what would best commemorate the 125 year anniversary but you, our fans. So we’d like to open this up to and ask that you send in your ideas, memories, videos, photos or indeed anything at all you’d like to contribute. We’ll be regularly reviewing the suggestions and submissions to create output, competitions and features.
In the meantime, we are planning podcasts with former players on Saturday's at 3pm, with more information to follow.
There will also be a very special 125 anniversary kit for the new season, produced by Hummel, that will be released at the end of June.
We wish everyone the very best and hope you stay safe and healthy with your families. Let’s leave you with that heart-warming message from the great Joe Royle again…
3️⃣0️⃣ years ago this weekend, Latics took on Nottingham Forest at Wembley Stadium in the Littlewoods Cup Final.
— Oldham Athletic AFC (@OfficialOAFC) May 2, 2020
Here's a message from the one and only Joe Royle. 💙 #oafc pic.twitter.com/m8Xe5lwqic