On This Day for 19th October takes a look back to 1991/92 – the last year of the old First Division – and reviews Oldham Athletic’s programme. Read our review below and see all the 1991/92 Division One issues here.
Oldham’s programme for the 1991/92 season was a 40-page effort – only Arsenal and Tottenham offered more pages that season – but a high advert count meant only 23.5 pages of content. Nevertheless, there was some worthwhile reading included within the programme, with some historical features catching the eye.
‘Where Are They Now?’ provided a profile of former Oldham goalkeeper John Fitton, who appeared briefly for the club in the late 1960s, making his debut for the club as an 18-year-old, before spending most of his career playing non-league football for Mossley.
‘Flashback – This Day in History’ offered recollections of Latics matches from 19th October down the years, with notes also included on opponents West Ham’s fortunes on those days. Among the latter was an 8-0 win against Sunderland from 1968, when Geoff Hurst equalling a club-record with six goals.
There were also a couple of decent opinion pieces in the Oldham issue. ‘Talking Sport’ with Tony Bugby asked whether away fans were getting a raw deal, often being charged higher admission prices for matches than home fans. The writer asked whether beam-backs to home grounds would prove to be the way forward, with 3,000 Oldham fans having watched a recent game at Manchester United back at Boundary Park.
‘From the Touchline’ with Tony Pullein asked whether the Football League was really the best in the world. It was noted that the Football League provided more players for international duty than any other league, with the bulk of the home nations’ squads made up of England-based players. At the time, 60 players from 27 English clubs were representing 10 different countries at international level.
The programme also offered all the usual content. Manager Joe Royle had a brief column; there was coverage of recent matches in the shape of ‘Latics in Action’; ‘Club Gossip’ provided two and a half pages of news; and ‘Reserves and Youths’ covered Oldham’s other teams. The centre pages of the programme were devoted to ‘Personal View’, which featured an interview with Latics striker Andy Ritchie, while ‘North of the Border’ covered developments in the Scottish game.
West Ham United were given the best part of four pages worth of coverage, with an introductory article covering the club’s squad and recent transfer activity alongside a team group picture. There were also profiles of Hammers’ boss Billy Bonds and ‘Danger Man’ Stuart Slater, together with a fact-file and squad list. The visitors section also included an article on ‘Star Player’ Tony Gale and a ‘Thanks for the Memory’ feature on the legendary Bobby Moore.
Despite the high proportion of the programme given over to advertising content, the Oldham issue contained several decent features. Covering all the basics and offering historical articles and plenty of visitors’ content, this was a commendable effort from the Latics.