Marked for Ryan Woods
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad2 Aug 2027
26 days out for Jordan Bowery after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oldham Athletic will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with AFC Wimbledon; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Oldham Athletic asked and Millwall said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jordan Bowery and Oldham Athletic agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Oldham Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harry Mills is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Ryan Woods gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Hull City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Fee done, terms next for Iliya Gruev
Oldham Athletic and Leeds United have settled on $6.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad26 Jul 2027
35 days out for Jordan Bowery after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oldham Athletic will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Oldham Athletic is running low.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oldham Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
Business is business: Kian Harratt goes
Barnsley paid $790.0K and Oldham Athletic took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Wigan Athletic this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Oldham Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derek Mazou-Sacko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Andrea Bertoncini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oldham Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Watford this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Oldham Athletic have gone to Bristol City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Reading is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Manny Monthé
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Oldham Athletic will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Oldham Athletic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lennon Wheeldon has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Oldham Athletic have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charlton Athletic have kept their man, and Oldham Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mathew Hudson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
Josh Hawkes hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oldham Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 May 2027
Mathew Hudson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Oldham Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Calum Kavanagh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 May 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ryan Woods gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adam Forshaw commits to Oldham Athletic for another 2 years.
The dugout10 May 2027
Calum Kavanagh knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oldham Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
Experience through the door at Oldham Athletic
Adam Forshaw arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout10 May 2027
Dynel Simeu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Oldham Athletic may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oldham Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Layton Love falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Apr 2027
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Jamie Robson
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match24 Apr 2027
A goal on 86 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 7.70. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oldham Athletic told Jamie Robson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Apr 2027
Josh Hawkes hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oldham Athletic can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mathew Hudson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Oldham Athletic. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Oldham Athletic know it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Calum Kavanagh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
The crowd has taken to Layton Love
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
The afternoon belonged to Josh Hawkes
A mark of 7.58, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oldham Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oldham Athletic can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mathew Hudson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Layton Love was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathew Hudson, and the manager let it.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jordan Bowery has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oldham Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mike Fondop was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Layton Love was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Ryan Woods gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Matthew Carter left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Mar 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Oldham Athletic will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Manny Monthé knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oldham Athletic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Oldham Athletic would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Tom Conlon: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oldham Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oldham Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Layton Love was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Oldham Athletic are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Oldham Athletic are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Mathew Hudson dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ryan Woods
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ryan Woods.
Market22 Feb 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oldham Athletic has been clear about where Donervon Daniels stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Luke Hannant: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oldham Athletic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$390.0K settles it between the clubs for Taeneal Brandy
Nottingham Forest have accepted the money. What Oldham Athletic do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match9 Jan 2027
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Oldham Athletic can tell you which week it ends in.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Josh Nichols is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mike Fondop and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Oldham Athletic asked and Birmingham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Layton Love was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oldham Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Taoufik Ijrouten falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Oldham Athletic can tell you which week it ends in.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
The crowd has taken to Dylan Moody
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Dylan Moody gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match22 Dec 2026
Tranmere Rovers left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Díaz and Oldham Athletic agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mike Fondop was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taoufik Ijrouten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Cheltenham Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Josh Hawkes beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Matthew Carter left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Luke Hannant
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ryan Woods’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oldham Athletic needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Taoufik Ijrouten
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oldham Athletic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kane Taylor is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oldham Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Swindon Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Something was said to Nikola Jojić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Matthew Carter to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Dylan Moody
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Newport County next, and one man in the Oldham Athletic dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Josh Landers rejects the move
Oldham Athletic had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at West Ham United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mike Fondop in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oldham Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Moody, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Oldham Athletic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manny Monthé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ryan Woods is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ryan Woods has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Layton Love behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Oldham Athletic will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan move for Joshua Ajala is in the works
Oldham Athletic have made the call to West Ham United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ryan Woods goes up and wins it — 7.70
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Blackburn Rovers, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mathew Hudson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and Oldham Athletic go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ryan Woods scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Chesterfield, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.