, John Sheridan joins Notts County: An emotional fan’s perspective

John Sheridan joins Notts County: An emotional fan’s perspective

There can’t be many more football clubs in the country who are more difficult to support than Oldham Athletic.

After one of the most dismal 12 months on record was resurrected by the return of club legend John Sheridan in January, the same man has left the club for League Two Notts County just under five months later.

It’s difficult to describe to people who don’t support Latics just what Sheridan’s return meant for the club. At a time when fans had been put through the wringer after managerial changes, delays and false promises regarding the new North Stand and PR disasters such as the ill-advised pursuit of Ched Evans, Sheridan offered real hope. Fans were apathetic at best, angry at worst. But Sheridan’s return signalled that things might just be getting better.

Indeed for the past five months, supporting Oldham has gone back to being quite fun. On the pitch, the team strung together a remarkable set of results which saw likely relegation aborted with two games to spare. Off the pitch, the love-in with Sheridan continued and the ‘oafc’ hashtag on Twitter was filled with genuine positivity and optimism about the season to come.

But all that has now gone; all optimism shattered once again.

For fans of my generation, League One obscurity is all we’ve known. Sure, we’ve had two cracks at the play-offs in 19 years and a couple of decent cup runs but it’s largely been pretty bleak. It’s been so bleak in fact that the players whose names still get belted out by supporters stopped playing for the club over 20 years ago.

Genuine legends have been hard to come by but Sheridan looked set to fill that void. As a player he was inspirational and as a manager he looked set to return for a second crack of the whip and offer real hope for the near future.

Never did I think he’d choose to leave a club he had a self-confessed close affinity with for a club in the division below. What about all the fist pumping and badge thumping? What about the ‘unfinished business’ (his words, not mine)? Perhaps I was naive, but I was actually taken in by it all, as I’m sure were so many others.

Worse than the emotional side of this departure however is where it leaves Oldham Athletic as a football club.

If a team in a division below with a history of sacking managers on a whim and currently aiming to break their way out of a transfer embargo are more attractive to an ex-club legend (and believe me, it hurts to write that) than Oldham, what does that possibly say about us? We know that we don’t have a proverbial pot to p*** in, but are we truly that skint?

Whatever the situation is, Oldham are on the hunt for a sixth manager in little over a year. And with just two regular players contracted for next season, the new man will have some job on his hands.

On top of this, the club will have to deal with the disappointment and anger of fans who are quite rightly at the end of their tethers. Chairman Simon Corney reckons that they tried to stop Sheridan going but couldn’t stand in his way. This on the same day that Bristol Rovers boss Darrell Clarke signs a new deal to warn off interest from Leeds United.

It’s tough to know who to direct the upset to. What I do know is that Sheridan will no longer be regarded a legend like before and Corney will have to face some tough questions as to why Oldham are such an unattractive prospect to manage.

The old adage that no one man is bigger than the club is true but it doesn’t stop the feelings of downright disappointment that this news has induced. I thought it was impossible to feel more disillusioned than I did before Sheridan came in but I was wrong. Where on earth do Latics go from here?

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