The purpose of this section is just to keep you up to scratch with former Oldham Athletic players who are still playing professional football, or who finished very recently. You can find out who they played for before and after signing for Latics, and what successes they have had after leaving Oldham. The section is still in it's infancy, and I will have left out some players, but if you have any that I should have included here, please e-mail me through the "contact us" bit on the left hand side of your screen. Any players that have appeared for Oldham, whether on loan or on a one month contract, are included here.
I cannot obviously update the statistics every game - that would be too time-consuming - but I will make an effort to update them every few months or so.
Two sources that have been invaluable for me in compiling statistics, players etc are Garth Dykes's monumental work Latics Lads, and the statistics website www.soccerbase.com.
A final word on statistics. 45(3), for example, means 45 starts and 3 substitute appearances. And all appearance stats include both League and Cup games, unless specifically stated.
Happy browsing!
Cory
Wayne Andrews
Wayne had previously played league football for Watford, and during loan spells at Cambridge and Peterborough, before Oldham plucked him from non-league obscurity at St. Albans in May 2002. The rapid striker was an instant hit. Despite not being the most clinical finisher, Wayne found the net 12 times in his first and only full season at Boundary park, in 2002/03, when Athletic reached the Division Two playoffs. He was signed by Colchester for the 2003/04 season, and scored 16 goals in 56 appearances for the 'U's before he was united with Iain Dowie again, who signed him for Crystal Palace in August 2004. So far Wayne has made no appearances for the Premiership club.
Mark Allot
Middleton-born Mark signed for Latics as a 17-year old trainee in 1995. He would play for Oldham for the next 7 years and score 33 goals in 120(59) appearances. The striker was 18 years and 7 months old when he scored within 10 minutes on his Athletic debut, in the 3-1 loss to Bolton Wanderers. He would take a few more years to gain a regular first team spot, but in his first two full seasons he finished Oldham’s leading scorer in 1998/9 (with 8 goals) and joint top-scorer with Steve Whitehall (with 11). Mark was unexpectedly made available for transfer in 2001 for financial reasons.
He was loaned to Chesterfield with Mark Innes in exchange for David Reeve in December 2001, and was signed permanently by the Spireites in February 2002. In the 31 months he has been at Compton Street Mark has had a relatively lean time there, scoring just 9 goals in 96(19) appearances to date.
Chris Armstrong
Chris was Oldham’s most expensive teenage signing when they forked out £200, 000 for the 19-year old in October 2001. Chris, brother of Gordon Armstrong (who has over 500 appearances for Sunderland to his name) had only been a professional for Bury for eight months after signing from the Black Cats academy, but soon repaid some of the hefty transfer fee with mature displays at left-back. Chris was a target for bigger clubs for a while, before Sheffield United took advantage of Athletics’s financial peril by snaffling Chris for a bargain £100, 000.
However, a serious knee injury has meant Chris has only started 5 games, with 13 appearances in all, for the Blades since he signed in July 2003. The problem is so critical that Chris’s football career is threatened. If Chris was to retire than it would be a sad loss too early for a talented footballer.
Stuart Balmer
Falkirk-born Stuart is almost certainly the only player to represent all three English Athletics – Charlton, Wigan and then Oldham, for whom he signed on a Bosman free transfer in July 2001. He was the commanding defender Latics needed, and made 47 appearances for them in his two years three months there. However, after the 7-1 trashing by Cardiff City (in which Stuart scored Oldham’s only goal) he was one of many dropped from the starting line-up.
Loan spells at Scunthorpe (October to November 2002) and Boston (December 2003 to February 2004) ensued, before Boston signed him permanently from Latics in February 2003. In all he made 47(1) appearances for Boston, including his caps on loan, before going back up to Scotland this year. Stuart is currently at Scottish Division One side Clyde, where he has made 3 starts this season in both league and cup.
Nicky Banger
The forward started his career at Southampton, but could not get a regular spot at the Saints, so moved to Oldham as a 23-year old in October 1994 for £250, 000. Nicky lacked the physical strength needed to support his adept build up play, and it look him 21 games to score his first goal for Oldham. In his three years at Latics Nicky only scored 11 goals in 52(21) appearances.
Since leaving Oldham Nicky had a spell at Oxford, where he netted eight goals in 52(24) caps between 1997 and 1999. Over the next four years Southampton-born Nicky had brief spells at Dundee, Scunthorpe, Plymouth, Merthyr Tydfil, Torquay and Woking, whom he left in May 2003. Nicky has not played professional football since. In his professional career He had 189(132) outings and scored 48 goals.
Stuart Barlow
Stuart was bought by Latics for £450, 000 in November 1995 and linked up with former Everton team mates Graeme Sharp, Colin Harvey and Ian Snodin. He scored 32 goals in 89(17) games for Oldham, and after a below-par first season, was top scorer in the 1996/7 and 1997/8 campaigns. Sold for Wigan in March 1998 at almost 30, and for a tenth of the price Latics bought him for, scored 52 goals at over a goal every two games for Wigan. After a less impressive but still formidable goal scoring record of 19 goals in 62(32) caps for Tranmere in 2000-2003, and has been at Stockport since August 2003. Stuart is still scoring goals, and has scored 1 goal to date for Stockport this season.
Julian Baudet
The Frenchman signed for Athletic from
