Short Review of Oldham Athletic’s Season
As Oldham Athletic’s 2020/21 season draws to a close, it’s time to review it. It was a season that started badly and offered little hope, then began to offer significant amounts of hope, before that hope was depressingly snuffed out and ended today with a miserable 0–3 home defeat to Forest Green.
Oldham haven’t finished in the top half of a league table since 2009 in League One, and as the team took to the field at Boundary Park on Boxing Day against League newcomers Harrogate Town, they could have harboured reasonable hopes they might do so this season — and maybe better, maybe a pitch at the playoffs?
At that point, they were in 14th place, on the back of three wins in four league matches, including the memorable 4–2 win at then leaders Newport County.
As an uninspiring first half drew to a close with the scores level, Latics front man Bobby Grant led with an elbow in a challenge and was handed a straight red card. A moment of madness from one of Oldham’s perishingly few experienced professionals.
Entire seasons aren’t swung on moments like that (the overall performance to that point had given little indication that Latics would get much out of the game), but it neatly encapsulated the entire season. Reckless enthusiasm. Surely a result of having such a young and inexperienced squad, and a relatively young, relatively inexperienced head coach. Relative to the rest of League Two, only Scunthorpe and relegated Southend had less experience — see below, data from Soccerbase.
The team on the field wasn’t reshuffled to solidify the defence — more to maintain an attacking threat which, while laudable, surely cost Latics a point on that day, and at many other points during the season. After levelling the scores against Walsall, Forest Green, Morecambe at home (and away for that matter, though that was under new manager Curle but with Kewell’s squad), and numerous others, rather than taking stock and building from there, the gung-ho attacking press continued, and in all of these cases the next goal was by our opponents, and the game lost.
Latics did have a remarkable record of gaining points from losing positions because of that attacking prowess, undoubtedly, securing 25 points. But it’s hard to make the case that that attacking strength, good as it was, came at the expense of such defensive frailty, such in-match naivety that meant that the team never got above 14th place all season.
So, is there any reason for hope? It’s another season plumbing the depths of the Football League, and that for a team that was a founder member of the Premier League. No clubs has a right to success, but neither does any club even have a right to exist. Football is a fiercely competitive business, and one that requires good management, and not a little bit of financial backing, to be successful. Oldham’s ownership situation remains a massive bone of contention for the fanbase, not without justification given two very poor seasons.
Nonetheless, if current head coach Keith Curle can be retained, there are some small crumbs for comfort, and reasons for hope. Curle has talked much common sense in his short time at the helm, and while the results have not been great, Curle has the track record and experience at this level to justify backing him for the season ahead, and giving him a (relatively) free hand at recruitment in the coming couple of months.
