Oldham Athletic march to playoff final on Royle road back from oblivion

The Guardian

29-05-2025

Darren Royle was at Wembley when Mark Hughes broke Oldham Athletic hearts in 1994, scoring a 120th-minute equaliser in an FA Cup semi-final. That day Royle's legendary father, Joe, was in the dugout with the club at their peak in the Premier League but within weeks they had their Cup dreams dashed in the replay and were relegated.
That started a first steady and recently drastic decline for the club but 31 years later they are back at Wembley, where on Sunday they face Southend, another club that have come back from the brink, with a return to the Football League at stake and Royle watching on as the club's chief executive. The past three decades have seen Oldham drop down the divisions, culminating in relegation to non-league in 2022, against a backdrop of financial problems and protests against the then owner, the deeply unpopular Abdallah Lemsagam.
Coffins were carried outside Boundary Park to mark the death of the club, tennis balls were thrown on to the pitch and invasions stopped matches. Many feared the club would cease to exist. Heading to the National League felt like oblivion, but in stepped Royle Jr and the local businessman Frank Rothwell, who bought Oldham and Boundary Park in separate deals and plotted a course back.
'It's mad, isn't it?' says Royle. 'We're in the fifth division and in '94 we were playing Man United at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final. It's hard to say what's the most important day in the club's history. This does feel like that because getting into the EFL, it's an exclusive club of 72.'
Royle Sr's reign began in 1982 – and Darren's association has lasted equally long – and he was at the helm when they were founding members of the Premier League. The recent rises up the pyramid of Stockport and Wrexham gives hope that momentum and careful investment can continue the upward trajectory. Most importantly, the town has a team it can again be proud of and will be in existence regardless of the result at Wembley.
'The club means a massive amount to us, which probably spurred me on when it was in trouble,' Royle says. 'Its culture, spirit and infrastructure were broken. There was a desperation by everybody to try and change things and change the direction of travel and us coming in and Frank being such a great guy, he's the local business ambassador, a successful self-made businessman, we were really well received. I think what everybody wants, ourselves included, is success as quickly as possible. Sometimes disappointment does turn into frustration but on the whole, we were really welcomed and it was a celebration as much as a relief.'
When Royle and Rothwell arrived they struggled to find a replacement for the manager, John Sheridan, who decided to depart early in their first season in charge. Few were interested in the manager's role at a club that had seemed to be spiralling. David Unsworth steadied the ship and Micky Mellon has taken it forward over the past 19 months.
There is a wider picture beyond Sunday, as plans are in place for the Sportstown development around Boundary Park that will mean a sport campus, 3G pitch and netball stadium constructed as part of a £70m investment.
'It's very important to point out it's Oldham, not Oldham Athletic,' Royle says. 'We're bigger than a club. We've got an effect and an impact on the local community and you can see that now with the sense of civic pride with Oldham Athletic reaching Wembley. We're aware of our responsibility, but it's a wonderful opportunity and tool to change the direction of travel for the town as well.'
After finishing 12th and 10th in the past two seasons, Oldham finished fifth this year, before brushing aside Halifax and York, the latter who finished second with 96 points, by a combined score of 7-0 in the playoffs. There is plenty of Football League experience within the squad, led by the captain, Charlie Raglan, and confidence is high.
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One upset for Oldham is the limit on tickets available at Wembley, capped originally at 17,500 for each club because engineering works are closing Wembley Park underground station. Demand has been severely underestimated, as no one involved in the discussions of attendance has understood Southend and Oldham have the two biggest fanbases and average attendances in the division, leaving the Latics hierarchy deeply frustrated. Eventually the authorities, after much lobbying, relented slightly, increasing the availability by 4,000 per club.
'If you're out and about, in shops and stuff, people are buzzing, there's smiles on faces, there's excitement. And it's nearly 20 years since we were in the playoffs. And it's 30 years since we were at Wembley, so that's how long people have had to put up with stuff. You could say there's clubs with other sets of supporters that haven't had anything for similar periods of time.
'I think in terms of underachievement rankings, we head that up from where we were to where we are now after three years of progress and rebuilding. It's like the analogy is a big ship, you turn the wheel and eventually it starts turning. It's not something that's instant.'
The Royles will, health dependent, be sat together at Wembley. What does Dad think of his son and the Rothwells bringing Oldham back from the brink? 'Very proud,' Royle Jr responds. 'The thought of his legacy [being lost] … the club could be liquidated was the worst case scenario, and it was close to that, very close.
'I'm absolutely delighted for the Rothwell family. They're a wonderful, close-knit family who really care about the football club and the community, which is such a huge thing to get owners like that. So to be there in the first place is amazing. It's going to be a really tough game. If we get the victory, it will be a very emotional time for the family.' Royle means his own but it feels like Oldham is a united family once more, too.