Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.[3][4] The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system, and play home matches at Boundary Park.[4][5] Known as the "Latics", they traditionally play in blue shirts. The club has a rivalry known as the A62 derby with nearby Huddersfield Town, as well as rivalries with other local sides such as Bolton Wanderers, Rochdale and Stockport County.
The history of Oldham Athletic began with the founding of Pine Villa F.C. in 1895, a team that played in the Manchester and Lancashire leagues. When neighbours Oldham County folded in 1899, Pine Villa moved into their stadium and changed their name to Oldham Athletic.[6] They won the Lancashire Combination title in 190607 and were elected into the Football League. They won promotion out of the Second Division in 190910 and went on to finish second in the First Division in 191415, before being relegated in 1923. Another relegation in 1935 left them in the Third Division North, which they won at the end of the 195253 campaign, only to be relegated back into the following year. Placed in the Fourth Division, they secured promotion in 196263, and again in 197071 after another relegation in 1969.
Jimmy Frizzell managed the club from 1970 to 1982 and under his leadership, Oldham won the Third Division title in 197374. He was succeeded by Joe Royle, who also had a 12-year spell in charge, during which time Oldham reached the League Cup final in 1990, before winning the Second Division title in 199091, which took them back into the top-flight for the first time in 68 years. Oldham were founder members of the Premier League in 1992, but were relegated two years later and fell to the third tier by 1997. The club ended a 21-season-long stay in the third tier which encompassed numerous financial crises with relegation out of League One in 2018.