Rudderless Oldham can only look on in envy at Dale Vince and Forest Green

Sitting 15th in League Two, Oldham Athletic, one of the 22 clubs that participated in the opening season of the Premier League in 1992, appear to be heading in only one direction.

Since former agent Abdallah Lemsagam purchased the Latics in January 2018, he has overseen a relegation to the fourth tier for the first time since the early 1970’s, seven different managers have come through the door, and there have been a series of winding up orders from HMRC that resulted in the club fighting for it’s survival in court rooms.

Lemsagam, who appointed his brother Mohamed as the club’s sporting director soon after taking control, has targeted promotion to the Championship but last season Oldham finished 19th in League Two and they currently sit eight points shy of the play-offs in one of the most open promotion races in recent memory.

Current Salford City boss Richie Wellens was the first manager to be dismissed under the current ownership, and Paul Scholes’ 31-day, seven-game stint in charge in February 2019 raised eyebrows on a national scale.

Several managers who have been employed by Oldham in recent years have complained about interference from above.

More concerning than the managerial uncertainty has been the regularity with which financial ruin appeared to be just around the corner at Boundary Park.

Oldham were served with winding up orders in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and even though administration was staved off thanks to the payment of an outstanding debt in June last year, player and staff wages have regularly arrived late. The club have admitted to receiving several letters from the EFL in regards to the delayed payments.

A semblance of financial security off the pitch has done little to improve matters on it though.

A hap-hazard recruitment policy has seen a number of costly arrivals provide little in previous seasons, and manager Harry Kewell has largely had to rely on younger players and free agents since taking over in August 2020.

Kewell was represented by Lemsagam during his playing career, and although he won just two of his first nine league games in charge, he has managed to get the best out of exciting youngsters like Zak Dearnley and Davis Keillor-Dunn to help stave off the immediate threat of relegation.

On Tuesday night they will make the journey to Gloucestershire to take on a Forest Green Rovers side that could hardly be in more different shape off the field.

Since environmentalist Dale Vince bought the club in 2010, Rovers have reached the football league for the first time in their history in 2017, made the League Two play-offs in 2019, and are currently in the automatic promotion spots heading into the business end of the current season.

Not only has Vince provided the backing for manager Mark Cooper to assemble one of the strongest squads in the division, his approach to running Forest Green has made them one of the most sustainable football clubs not only in the United Kingdom but the world.

Whilst Oldham were battling for survival in court, Rovers were named the first club in the world to be completely carbon neutral by the United Nations, following on from their owners’ eco-friendly decisions to not sell meat products at the New Lawn Stadium and to use organic fertiliser on the pitch.

The impressive steps Forest Green have taken to help the environment even encouraged Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin to become the club’s second-largest shareholder in September of last year.

The decision to change the colour of the club shirts from black and white to green in 2012 was controversial, but Vince has in no way put the club through the sort of turmoil that has engulfed Oldham in recent years.

This fixture was originally scheduled for the first weekend of January but was abandoned early in the second half with the score level at 1-1. Forest Green had much the better of proceedings but a thick fog severely limited visibility and eventually caused referee Robert Lewis to bring the game to a halt.

The winter weather has been no kinder to either side in recent weeks.

Forest Green saw Saturday’s home game against Barrow postponed due to a frozen pitch on the back of an away fixture at Mansfield being called off, and Oldham are yet to kick a ball in anger in February thanks to games against Scunthorpe and Exeter being postponed – denying them the opportunity to build on impressive wins against Newport and Salford at the end of January.

Forest Green will be favourites to continue an impressive run of home form that has seen them lose just twice at the New Lawn this season, but regardless of the outcome on the pitch, it is clear which side is in a better place off it.

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