Where Are They Now? Oldham Athletic 1989-90 League Cup Finalists
JOE ROYLE called it is his “pinch me season” when the Latics reached the semi-final of the FA Cup – taking Manchester United to a replay – and the League Cup Final.
Royle plundered the reserve teams of bigger clubs to build a side that was hard to beat.
His side faced a punishing 19 cup ties in 1989-90, which created a backlog of fixtures and in the end they were left empty handed as fatigue took hold.
Oldham drew the FA Cup semi-final with United 3-3 before losing a replay in extra time to a goal from childhood Latics fan Mark Robins. Then, in the Littlewoods Cup Final after reaching Wembley for the first time, they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.
“We had a lot of class players,” remembers midfielder Rick Holden. “Joe Royle raided Leeds United, Everton and Man City reserves and got some class acts on frees. He couldn’t believe his luck.
Tough
“Joe put us all together and we were all hungry. It was a lot of young players from the old Division One ready to take a chance.
“We played something like 19 cup ties that year. We got an appetite for the cup. We played pretty uncompromising football and decided whoever we played we were going to have a go.
“We were very tough to beat because we never stopped attacking – it was to hell with the consequences and it spooked a lot of these top sides. It was like trying to stop a tide coming in at times.
“We played something like 65 games that season. I think I played 64 of them and Denis Irwin played all 65. It was so hectic, we didn’t have time to get our heads around all the exposure.
“One of my biggest memories of that season is of enormous fatigue. We reached the League Cup Final that season as well, losing to Nottingham Forest.
“If we had played them in February or March we would have murdered them. Instead we played it at the end of a very physical season and we all walked off Wembley feeling very drained.”
BACK ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
1. Tony Barlow: Worked at Oldham as the Community Trust’s LATICS project co-ordinator and coached at Manchester City.
2. Frankie Bunn: Has coached at Wigan, Manchester City, Coventry, Rochdale, Newcastle United and is now an Academy coach at Huddersfield Town.
3. Paul Warhurst: Lives in Disley, Cheshire and is a football consultant.
4. Mark Stewart: He lives in Ramsbottom, Bury and plays cricket for Greenmount.
5. Andy Holden: He went into coaching and was on Everton’s back room staff until last July.
6. Jason Allen: He returned to live in the Ballymena area and has worked as a manager for an industry cleaning company.
7. Andy Woodcock: Injury ended his career. He is thought to be living in the Manchester area.
8. Andy Ritchie: He has managed The Latics, Huddersfield Town and Barnsley, and is now a radio pundit for Leeds and MUTV.
9. John Kelly: His father Noel managed Tranmere. John lives in Bromborough on the Wirral and works in the sports wear industry.
MIDDLE ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
10. Billy Urmson: He spent 27 years coaching at Oldham before being made redundant. Returned to the club in a scouting role.
11. Ronnie Evans: He has been a physio at Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday and now runs a sports injury clinic with Ian Liversedge in Radcliffe.
12. Steve Bramwell: Now lives in his home town of Stockport.
13. Simon Mooney: He is living in Heywood, Greater Manchester and is a full time house husband.
14. Steve Morgan: He was last known to be living and working in Mold, Flintshire.
15. Andy Rhodes: The father of Blackburn Rovers striker Jordan, he has coached at Oldham, Ipswich and Preston, and is now Sheffield Wednesday’s head of goalkeeping.
16. Jon Hallworth: He settled in Springhead, Oldham and has run his own recruitment business and has been a property developer.
17.Clark Wood: The son of Latics legend Ian, he is a partner in Anglo Heating and Maintenance, in Radcliffe.
18. Andrew Gayle: He has coached at Rossendale United and workedc as a taxi driver.
19. Norman Kelly: He has coached in the USA and Northern Ireland where he is a Sports Development Officer for Sport NI and assistant manager of Ballymena.
20. Neil Adams: He is now U18 coach at Norwich City 21. Willie Donachie: He has held a number of coaching posts including a spell in charge of Millwall. He is now development coach at Newcastle United.
22. Ian Liversedge: He has been a physio at a number of Football League clubs and now runs a sports injury clinic with Ronnie Evans in Radcliffe.
FRONT ROW FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:
23. Mike Milligan: He returned to East Anglia and went into the building trade with his father and was head of player recruitment at Yeovil. Is now a sports consultant.
24. Nick Henry: He has managed Scarborough and then became a publican in the town at the Albert.
25. Earl Barrett: He was an events organiser at Manchester City before coaching at Oldham and Port Vale. He now works in Stoke City‘s academy.
26. Denis Irwin: Since retiring in 2004 he has been doing media work for MUTV, RTE in Ireland and the Sunday World newspaper.
27. Ian Marshall: Splits his time between the UK and Pasadena, Newfoundland, Canada where he runs soccer camps, academies and a tour company.
28. Joe Royle: He went on to manage Everton, Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Oldham for a second time. He also works in the media.
29. Andy Barlow: He became an academy coach at Huddersfield but since 2000 has worked for the PFA in Manchester as a regional coach.
30. Tommy Wright: He became assistant manager to John Sheridan at Oldham and then Chesterfield but left the club in April 2013.
31. Roger Palmer: The Latics all-time leading goal scorer is living in Sale, Manchester.
32. Gary Williams: After running a shop and then a pub in Bristol he moved to Malaga, Spain where he was worked in the restaurant industry.
33. Scott McGarvey: He ran his own company which sold sand to sports clubs and agricultural concerns. Later worked as a football agent and a business consultant.
NOT PICTURED
Rick Holden: He has returned to the Isle of Man where he runs his own physio practice.
