‘Football has stopped’ is the often-repeated moan from the Premier League hordes whenever an international break halts the superstars and their legions of fans in their tracks.
Football did not stop at Boundary Park on Tuesday night. On a filthy, howling beast of an evening close to 8,000 gathered at the stadium Joe Royle christened Ice Station Zebra to watch Oldham Athletic take on Notts County in England’s fourth-tier. That number would have been more had it not been for the weather, horrendous even by Oldham standards.
Regardless, it included more than 1,000 who had made the two-hour trip from Nottingham for a match which was being shown on Sky Sports. Many in the away end – who will have faced work this morning – will not have got home until well beyond midnight.
There is life outside the Premier League. There is life outside the Championship and there is even life outside League One.
Oldham are my team so I am biased. When I tell people that, they sometimes ask if I am from Oldham, which makes me smile. It’s not the kind of club you would choose if you were from somewhere else. But something is happening, not just here but across the EFL and beyond.
Consider this. Before Oldham were sold to a ludicrous owner I will not name, who oversaw two relegations in four years and the first exit from the EFL in our then 116-year history, we were in League One. Our average attendance for that final season in the third tier in 2016-17 was 4,442.
Fortunately, a brilliant local family, the Rothwells, saved us when we were hours from going out of existence. When we defeated Southend United in a 3-2 thriller at Wembley to end three years in the National League last summer more than 52,000 were present. This season, our average is 7,363 and climbing. Last year, no fewer than nine clubs in League Two averaged more than 7,000. Something is happening.
Matt Dean has a few theories on why. Pre kick-off, the lifelong Latics fan, who co-hosts the Boundary Park Alert System podcast, explains: ‘The price, the atmosphere and VAR is turning people off the Premier League. The price of top-flight football is ridiculous. Is it worth it?
‘A few years ago you’d say it was, but I’m not so sure now. I don’t think the atmospheres are anything like they are down here (in the lower leagues). Then there’s the fiasco of VAR – games stopping and starting every few minutes and the not knowing if a goal is a goal. Here, you look at the assistant ref. If their flag isn’t up, it’s a goal.
‘That moment in football is what it’s all about. To have that moment but to then have it taken away for a sliver of an offside goes against everything. We have some awful refs here but sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you and that’s just the way it is.’
Dean will be forever grateful to the Rothwells – patriarch Frank, wife Judith and children Su and Luke. They run Manchester Cabins, a portable cabin business, and have ploughed in more than £20m to repair decades of neglect and put the club back on its feet.
‘We’ve had a rebirth,’ he says. ‘You burn down a forest and it grows back thicker. We couldn’t ask for better owners. We’ve been waiting for this for decades.’
For a man with 400 people to serve (meat and potato pie and ‘proper chips’ followed by chocolate fudge cake) Mark Smith, head of revenue, hospitality and events, seems remarkably relaxed. ‘The entire season is sold out and has been for months,’ he says.
‘We’re expecting similar next season – we recently took on a new sponsor who’s coming to us from (Manchester) United. They’re leaving hospitality there and taking a table of 10 here because of the atmosphere and the fun we have on a matchday.
‘The place is like a big family. There’s a personal touch and everyone feels like they’re in it together and that comes from the owners. They’re big believers in making Oldham a better place and that’s what we all try to do here every day.’
Manager Micky Mellon is attempting to make it an awful place, for opposition sides at least, and appears to be succeeding. The Glaswegian made 490 league appearances for the likes of Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion and Blackpool and has now managed 829 matches across 18 years, delivering a win rate of 44.6 per cent and nine promotions. He is more than well-qualified to comment.
‘There’s an appetite to smell the grass, get up closer,’ he explains. ‘It’s a different experience here, it’s less corporate and you can really experience it. You can stand outside the main entrance and speak to all the players as they come in. You just don’t get that at the top.’
I tell him it angers me when people ask who my Premier League team is, apparently unable to grasp that there isn’t one.
‘That’s it,’ he says. ‘This is their team. This is their only team and they’re all in. And it’s growing. I look at our fanbase at the end of the game and it’s really young. Loads of people in their mid-20s. It’s really encouraging. And when we travel it feels like we’re selling out every week. I spoke to the staff at Chesterfield last week and they said it’s the best away atmosphere they’ve heard.’
That fanbase is powered by The Athleticos, a group of ultras whose popularity has surged from around a dozen in the dark times, to multiple sections of a raucous home end that sets the tone for the rest of the stadium.
They were at it again on Tuesday night, as were their team. Out of nowhere, Oldham are flying. The priority this season was to stay in the EFL, with the PTSD of the last exit still raw. Up until very recently, it appeared as though a lower mid-table finish was on the cards. But Notts County, in fourth, were facing a side that had won seven in eight to trigger an unlikely run at the play-offs.
Within five minutes Oldham were in front. With 20 minutes to go they were 3-0 up against 10 men who looked like Boundary Park was the last place on earth they wanted to be.
Twenty-five points out of 27. Eight wins and two draws in 10. Nineteen goals for, two against. Goalkeeper Mat Hudson, who joined from Buxton and is being monitored by Birmingham City along with a series of Championship sides, has now equalled a club record of 18 clean sheets in a season. There are eight matches to go and Oldham are one point from the play-offs.
After the game two-goal hero Mike Fondop heads to the banqueting room along with captain Tom Pett. They are there for half an hour, happily answering questions and posing for selfies. There are no bodyguards.
The matchball sponsor is a scaffolding company and the beaming owner hands over a bottle of champagne to man-of-the-match Fondop. He is also an old friend who I’ve not seen for years. ‘It’s brilliant, Keegan, isn’t it?’ he asks. It really is. Everyone is happy.
This is a scene that will repeat at multiple grounds outside the top two flights for the next few weeks, despite the fact there is no Big Six, no United, no Liverpool, no Arsenal. Get to your local club and give it a go. You may be surprised.
Football has not stopped.
