EXPECT smiles in Saddleworth and grins in Greenfield if Oldham Athletic win at Wembley and achieve promotion back to the Football League.
For while manager Micky Mellon and his players would have done the business on the pitch, it would not be without the support of owner Frank Rothwell and his family off it.
Sunday, June 1 sees Latics go for glory against Southend United in the National League Promotion Final.
Three years after becoming the first former Premier League side to be relegated into non-league football, more than 20,000 fans hope to cheer them back into League Two.
Among them will be Greenfield-based Frank and his family, who Mellon cannot praise highly enough.
He said: “Frank’s an amazing guy but he would be the first to say he does not get involved in the football at all.
“The Rothwell family and Frank are right at the head of everything we do. They’re fantastic, and they’re local people. They absolutely love the football club, so it’s in magnificent hands.
“He’s tremendous. He’s an example to anybody. I work a lot with Kevin Roberts, who speaks about not letting the old man in.
“That’s the best thing you can say about Frank, he’s not going to let the old man in. He’s going to keep going and going and going, which is a great inspiration to everybody.
“He’s a fantastic fella, and the whole family are. I’m just delighted Oldham have them as their custodians at the minute. They’re in very, very good hands.
“They’re so transparent. There’s no hidden agenda. There’s no standing in front of you and telling you one thing but meaning another.
“And when they’re happy for you, it’s because they genuinely want you to do really well. They’re delighted for you, and that makes you want to work so hard for them, which we do.
“We work really hard for them and we don’t give anybody an inch that doesn’t represent their values or what they give to this football club.
“We don’t give anybody an inch and if you step out of line, you get moved out. That’s because of them, because that’s how good a people they are.
“It’s tremendous to see that that family, regardless of what happens, is going to get their day at Wembley, which they absolutely deserve. I’m delighted for them.”
The transformation at Oldham Athletic under Frank Rothwell since he bought them in July 2022 has been huge.
After the darkest of days under Abdallah Lemsagam, which saw them eventually tumble out of the Football League, Boundary Park is full of hope and expectation.
And Mellon does not have to look far for an example of what the owner has achieved, a huge portrait of him as he completed one of two solo rows across the Atlantic Ocean adorns the corridor in the old Main Stand.
Ask Frank, though, and everything has been done on the basis of hard work, something hs manager takes with him.
And there can be no mention of, ‘Well, what have you ever done?’
Mellon added: “I didn’t come in because the club was top of the league. I came in because it had unfortunately gone to a situation where people believed there needed to be a change.
“We’ve had to make a lot of changes. We had to fix an awful lot of stuff that people will never know about.
“People will never know some of the stuff that went on. We’ve had to get on with and fix an awful lot of stuff and take an awful lot of stuff.
“We set about getting on with that and we’ve had great support from the board, who knew and recognised things had to change.
“We never lost our focus and knew what had to be done to try and get this club into the right place, with the right people in the right positions.
“There’s still an awful lot of work to be done but we’re definitely heading in the right direction.”
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