Oldham Athletic

Throughout the season we have been working through our A-Z of players in the matchday programme. Next to be mentioned is someone else who has served the club as a player and as a manager at Latics.

John Sheridan is regarded as a club legend for the contributions and achievements he made as both a player and manager at Boundary Park.

Sheridan was born in Stretford and played for Manchester City as a youngster before he moved to Leeds United in 1982.

The midfielder became a popular player with the fans at Elland Road and his best season with the club was the 1986/87 season, the Whites reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and finished fourth in the Second Division. Overall, in a seven-year spell, Sheridan made 272 appearances as well as netting 53 goals.

After a year at Nottingham Forest, he joined Sheffield Wednesday in 1989. The 55-year-old scored the winning goal in the 1991 Football League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium as Wednesday beat Manchester United 1-0. In the same season, Sheridan played a huge part in the Owls promotion under Ron Atkinson.

Ironically, Sheridan played for Sheffield Wednesday as Latics secured the Division Two title in 1991 and it was Shez who committed the foul inside the area which saw Neil Redfearn step up and slot past the goalkeeper to create fantastic scenes.

Following his time with the Yorkshire club, he had brief spells with Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Doncaster Rovers until in 1998 when Shez arrived at Boundary Park.

The central midfielder spent six-years as a player for Latics and made 163 appearances and scored 16 goals. He was an intelligent player and was an incredible passer of the ball also he played alongside his brother, Darren, in the heart of the midfielder.

In October 2001, Sheridan began co-caretaker for one match as well as a spell as caretaker in December 2003 until March 2004. After an impressive career in the game, Shez retired at the end of the 2003/04 season.

Sheridan also had a great pedigree in international football for the Republic of Ireland. He made 34 caps and netted five goals over a seven-year period. He was included in the squad for UEFA Euro 1988 and went on to play a game at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and four in the 1994 tournament.

After his retirement, he was appointed as the manager of Oldham Athletic in June 2006. He took charge of 151 games and had a win percentage of 40.40%. During his tenure, he guided Latics to the League One play-offs in the 2006/07 season.

He then went onto manage Chesterfield, where he won promotion from League Two as champions, Plymouth Argyle and Newport County before returning to Boundary Park to pull off what is described as the “Shezzurection” in 2016.

However, after producing this achievement, Sheridan departed the club that summer to join Notts County in League Two. After an unsettling start at County, Shez parted ways with the football club.

But it wasn’t long until he returned to the hot seat at Latics and against all odds, he completed the “Shezzurection” part two as he managed to keep the club in League One for the second season on the bounce.

Following this, the Latics legend has managed Fleetwood Town, Carlisle United and most recently Chesterfield before leaving this season.

Honourable mentions: David Shaw, Matt Smith, Dale Stephens, Sam Surridge, Carl Serrant, Stefan Stam, Graeme Sharp, Darren Sheridan, Korey Smith, Simon Stainrod, Robbie Simpson, Peter Skipper, Lee Sinnott, Deane Smalley, Ian Snodin, David Shaw.