OAFC moments

[Scapegoat]

I do feel blessed to have been supporting the club in those early days.

 

I was in my early teens when I started to follow Latics more than the occasional game - remember the Play-off heartbreak and then the 'Pinch Me' season.  Then my first fully committed world cup in the summer (watching every game, filling out the wall-chart, collecting the Pannini stickers) saw England progress to the semi-finals.  The following season was truly amazing, never out of the top 2 all season, playing some absolutely superb football home and away, and then to win the title in dramatic fashion.

 

A comfortable 1st season in the top division, followed by the great escape and then finally last day relegation and another FA cup semi-final replay defeat.

 

A few seasons later as a young adult England host a remarkable home Euros (ending in another semi-final defeat) and I was convinced that Latics would continue to be a good team with a chance of going back up.....

 

 

Looking back on those early days of being a football fan - I realise how lucky I was.  Both club and country played good football and seemed competitive and had hope....

 

I have never given up my ST and my newborn son will (if I have anything to do with it) become an Oldham fan - but I don wonder if I'd been born later and started to try and watch football in the last 20 years would I have caught the bug??

 

 

As for memories of those times - there are many (as much based on the Season videos I watched to destruction as the games themselves)....

 

The titanic 3 match battle with Everton

Getting locked out of Southhampton replay game

Marshalls Hattrick away at Wolves first day of the season

A jam-packed away end at Barnsley in the early season sunshine

Finally seeing defeat against Port Vale and feeling crushed at the time

2-2 at Hull - seeing all of Fillary's 13 minute Latics career and two late goals to snatch a point from nowhere

2-2 away at Sheffield Wednesday in front of a packed house - at the time felt like the biggest league game I'd been to

Barlows coach racing the Team coach on the way home after securing promotion away at Ipswich

Queuing all night to get a Liverpool ticket - and celebrating Earl's early goal

Seeing us beat Chelsea 3-0 at home on 'grass'

Getting beat 4-2 away by Leyton Orient in the cup

The draw away at Everton that seemed to kick-start of run to safety

Beating Man Utd when we were bottom of the table

The Great Escape run in - and the longest stoppage time in history (not a fact)

Watching MOTD and seeing Latics every week....(albeit almost always last on)

The feeling when Pointon scored at Wembley (not going to discuss the rest of that game)

And (i think) still feeling we had a chance at half-time on the last day the we led at Norwich and other results were going our way...