Athletic have completed the signing of former player Mark Allott. Allott is 29 and rejoins the club after a successful six year career with Chesterfield, who were relegated to League Two last season. Mark is now a midfielder but was a striker in his previous time at Boundary Park and he has signed a two year deal with an undisclosed transfer fee going to the Spireites for his services. He made a total of 243 appearances at Saltergate and now has an impressive total of over 400 senior appearances.Local boy Allott could not hide his feelings at the thought of coming back and told Latics World, "I'm really excited about this, and its great to be back. The time was right to come back. I'd been at Chesterfield for six years and luckily enough the chance came to move back to Oldham. Once I knew about that I never wanted to go anywhere else. There's not too many people I know here now from my last spell. I just can't wait to come down tomorrow, get to know the lads and get stuck into training."
"I just think I need a new challenge. I've got some great friends at Chesterfield. It's a real family club and I wish them all the best. There's some fantastic people at Chesterfield and I hope they do well next year. However, I'm not getting any younger and I didn't think dropping into League Two would be the best thing for my career. I grew up not far from here and I'm really excited at the prospect of playing for Oldham again."
"Myself and Richie Wellens are totally different players. He's a great player and has all the accolades to prove it, but at the same time I'm confident in my own ability and I want to do well for this club. I've learnt a lot over the last few years and I'm consistent in the way I prepare for games. I'm comfortable playing in either a defensive or attacking role, it just depends on where the manager wants me. I can get the work done in the midfield and if people want balls dinking over the top I can do that too. I really don't see any reason why we can't go one better than last year. We've got a good blend of youth and experience, and I'm here to add a bit more experience to that mix."