When I think of Oldham Athletic in the 90s, so many things come to mind. The plastic pitch, (before plastic pitches got all fancy and almost looked real), underdogs taking Man United to a FA Cup semi final replay, the bald head of Andy Ritchie, the long mane of Ian Marshall. Earl Barrett, Roger Palmer, Joe Royle, Mike Milligan, Gunnar Halle. They were fun to watch, they upset the apple cart many times and they crashed the biggest financial party in English football, becoming one of the founding clubs of the shiny new Premier League in 1992.
Sadly it didn’t last long, just two years in fact and the slow decline of Oldham has been painful ever since. They now sit in the fourth tier of English football, at the wrong end of the table, they’ve have been hit hard by the pandemic and just like their more illustrious neighbours, 21 miles away, have their own issues regarding ownership.
Steve Shipman is a die hard Latics fan and co founder of the independent supporters group “Push the Boundary“. Also like me, Steve likes to make up for the fact that his team are rubbish and spends a lot of time traveling the world ground hopping and has some great experiences under his belt with many more to come.
Steve, why Oldham and for how long?
I’m a Stopfordian born and bred so I guess supporting Oldham is a strange one! It was my grandad that played for Latics in the 1930’s and as a result my Dad spent most of his life in Oldham so the stories were passed down and I gradually got more and more interested as I got into football properly. It helped that at the time we were a seriously entertaining team to watch and getting national attention as a result. My first game was Roger Palmers testimonial that was a few days after we won the Second Division title. I listened to the commentary on the radio and to win the league with the last kick of the game after being 2-0 down was amazing. We were going crazy in our kitchen next to the radio listening to Stuart Pyke’s now legendary commentary. The testimonial was the last game the Chaddy End was all standing so looking back I feel fortunate to have gone and that really was where the love affair started for me.
Stadio Junkie: Roger Palmer‘s testimonial. Ironically, after retirement Roger Palmer lived on the Racecourse Estate in Sale near me and I use to see him at the shops all the time while I chanted “Ooh Roger Palmer” quietly under my breath.
Greatest moment watching Oldham?
I think it probably has to be the win in the FA Cup against Liverpool, when we beat them 3-2. We had been on a terrible run in the league and when we saw the team sheet with Sterling, Surridge and Suarez in there, we felt our chances of any kind of result were down the pan. It was gutsy and I just recall from start to finish that it was one of the most uncomfortable matches to watch. Each time they bombed forward your heart was in your mouth and you just felt sick. The relief at the end was unreal and I couldn’t move from my seat. I just wanted to take it all in. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to us all the time and when you’ve not had any promotion in the last 30 years you cling on to days like this with everything you’ve got, as you don’t know what’s around the corner.
Favourite players(s)?
It’s easy to name a few club legends but in reality, I was never fortunate to see them at their peak. It was great to watch Andy Ritchie but he was at the latter end of his career at that point. Some players that I loved watching were people like John Sheridan, David Eyres, Andy Liddell, Sean Gregan, Luke Beckett and Jose Baxter. I remember watching Lee Croft and Neil Kilkenny in their loan spells with the club and they were both players you really wanted to go and watch.
Best away days watching Latics?
Fulham away in the FA Cup has to be up there in 2018, we had a caretaker manager in charge (Pete Wild) and we really had no hope. I went down the day before (groundhopping) to watch West Ham v Birmingham and Crystal Palace v Grimsby. Grimsby played really well despite being down to 10 men for most of the game and it made me think “you know what, we may have a chance here. If they can put up a fight, why can’t we?!”. The atmosphere from start to finish was mind blowing, we fought so hard and even when we went 1-0 down it just felt like something could happen. We had a few players who you knew could make a difference and loanees Sam Surridge and Callum Lang really made a difference.
After a turbulent few weeks it was just what was needed and it’s hard to describe the emotion at the final whistle. Seeing so many Latics fans with massive smiles on their faces, hugging each other and taking over that pocket of London for the day. It really reminds you how special this club is and they can never take days like that away from us.
What’s happened to Oldham since the heady heights of the Premier League?
It’s been a really slow decline since those halcyon days to be honest. I guess the potted history is that we had two relegations in four seasons and found ourselves in League One in the late 90’s. Andy Ritchie took over and stabilised us, we then kicked on under Iain Dowie for a season but when Chris Moore (a previous chairman) did a runner on us we went into administration and were incredibly close to liquidation. In 2004 we got new chairmen and Shez took us to the playoffs again, only to lose to Blackpool in 2007/08. Since then it’s been a slow death, and we went from looking upwards to looking over our shoulder every season. We had a few dogfights but John Sheridan saved us again. The reasons behind it all are probably due to a stagnation and the wrong mentality at the club from top to bottom.
We are now in the darkest period in our clubs history (in my opinion). Our reputation is in the gutter, fans are walking away and under the current owner, it really feels like there’s no hope and either relegation or administration is inevitable.
Tell us about “Push the Boundary” and what your concerns and goals are.
Following on from the above, myself and three other disgruntled fans got together as we could see what was happening and we didn’t want to sit back and do nothing. As fans we felt like we had no voice and we had an ineffective Trust so we had to do something ourselves. We just wanted to give fans a platform to try and enforce some change. We did a protest and did gain some traction with the club. We feel as though we have been a go to point for fans and also shone a light on the perilous state the club is in. There’s still lots more to do though if we are to really make a difference but if us being around makes the club even think remotely differently when it comes to their decisions, then we are happy with that. They haven’t been scrutinised in this manner for too long now and it’s good that they are feeling the pinch from long suffering fans and are being sent a message that we won’t roll over and accept all this.
How has the pandemic affected your club and clubs at your level?
It’s been surreal really. Not having fans in stadiums is very strange and absolutely not what the game is about. The intensity of it all is taken away so the sooner fans are back in their rightful place, the better. The influx of money has more or less dried up but from a personal perspective, I think it’s hurt us more because it’s given our owner more leeway to make terrible decisions without having to feel the wrath of the fans. And I think he has taken full advantage of that to be honest. I think we are yet to see the full extent of this and there will be casualties in the coming months, which after the demise of Bury, will be really tough to take. I just hope that we’re not one of them!!
What is your view on the recently proposed ESL and the subsequent fallout and reaction?
A mixture of emotions to be honest. It didn’t feel real when it was announced and I almost didn’t believe that it would happen. Then it started to sink in what it could mean for football as a whole. It was great to see fans rally and take a stand. I think the English game has been diluted so much and the passion has gone out of it, even if you look back 10-15 years the atmosphere inside grounds is vastly different. So to see fans protest in the manner they did gives me some hope that there is still a fire burning!
I think as fans we have a job to not stop here. We need to push on and ensure that this never happens again. Not only that but show that it can lead to reform in the game, for the good of the entire footballing pyramid. If we don’t do it now, we never will. The Football Supporters Association have been pushing for a fan led review of the game and this needs to happen...quickly.
The ESL has been spoken about for years but it’s never got as close as this to happening. It won’t be the last we hear about it sadly, so we really have to be on our guard. Money dictates what decisions are made these days and it’s sad that the common fan is being left behind. I often get on my soap box about this but I do feel passionate about the fact that without fans, football is pointless and if one good thing comes from this pandemic, it’s that clubs will realise this.
What does the future hold for clubs like Oldham and what changes if any would you make to the structure of the game?
A club like Oldham has so much potential in terms of a fanbase and facilities at the stadium that could generate revenue. I just hope that a knight in shining armour can come along and put everything under one umbrella (stadium and club) and really fulfil that potential. With new ownership you feel there are a huge number of fans that would instantly come back, and being part of PTB, I’d love to be able to instigate that.
I’d like to see a more even distribution of wealth in the game. I approved of the salary cap at the time but this has sadly since been removed. We need to stop unscrupulous owners coming in and running long standing, community clubs into the ground by wanting to play football manager in real life with a pipedream of promotion to the Premier League. I’d also like to see a cap on squad sizes to avoid the stockpiling of players (like Chelsea, for example). This would allow better quality to filter down through the divisions so that we would inevitably see good English talent get a chance earlier in their careers, rather than rotting in academy football, which for me really isn’t the answer.
If I get one more wish, it would be safe standing in stadiums. I think this would make a massive difference in terms of higher attendances, cheaper tickets as a result of being able to fit more people in stadiums, and most importantly, a better atmosphere.
Tell us about your ground hopping. Best experiences and any underrated gems we might not have considered?
“The first one is always special” says Steve on the left at Olympiakos vs Malmö, Champions League, 2015.
Too many to really mention, but one standout one was Sparta Rotterdam in 2016. They were in the Eerste Divisie (2nd division) in The Netherlands where all the games were on a Friday night. We had spent 2 nights in Amsterdam so were a little worse for wear but the atmosphere brought us round. The game was fantastic (it finished 2-1 to Sparta) and as they were champions elect, the party in the fans bar after the game was something else. There was a DJ on and it went on until the early hours and it never paused for breath. It made me realise that we have very little of that in our footballing culture these days so it’s refreshing to know it’s still out there. I think that was the first real moment I knew that groundhopping was for me.
Steve with his mates Dick and Gerben at another Dutch ground, the home of Zwolle. A place he has been back to multiple times.
We also went to Freiburg v RB Leipzig (1-4) and despite the result, the atmosphere during the game and the fans bar afterwards was unreal. We had to remind ourselves that they actually lost 4-1! I love how you can find these games as an interim but you end up really falling in love with the team. I still look for their results to this day.
In March 2019 I went to Milan for the AC v Inter derby (Derby della Madonnina). There was a buzz around the city the whole weekend and we did it all, got the coffee reading the La Gazzetta Dello Sport and soaked up the atmosphere before the game. When you walk out of the station you are confronted with the stadium and your heart skips a beat, no matter how many games you’ve done in your life. I mean, it’s the San Siro! It’s a travesty that they are demolishing it and moving elsewhere. While it’s not the most comfortable stadium, you really don’t care. It was an atmosphere where you couldn’t talk to the person next to you it was that loud. You love for moments like that. There was tifo, pyro, it had that smoky atmosphere in the ground, it was just how you imagined it after watching it on tv for years.
Probably the biggest tick for me was standing on the yellow wall at Dortmund for their game versus Bayern Munich. They lost the game but to be part of that experience is something I’ll never, ever forget and I have to say a massive thanks to my good friends there that made it happen.
Ground hopping has allowed me to visit places I’d never usually go so it’s not just about the football, I’ve made good friends and had some fantastic experiences and hopefully once things return to normal, there will be many more to come.
Sion vs Basel in the Swiss league.
A trip to Camp Nou in 2016 saw Neymar score four as Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano.
Steve can be found on Twitter @steshipman and his fight for the club he loves the most continues at www.pushtheboundary.co.uk