WHEN A lifelong Oldham Athletic fan jumped at the chance to write for his club’s matchday programme, little did he know it would spark a labour of love for the next 25 years.
Tony Bugby, the Saddleworth Independent’s Sports Editor, was invited to help out with the publication ahead of Latics’ FA Cup Third Round replay against Birmingham City in January 1990.
He was given the break by Alan Hardy, Latics’ former Commerical Manager and Chief Executive from Delph, who also edited the programme as well as heading the commercial team at Boundary Park.
Alan was under intense pressure and needed assistance as it was Latics’ “pinch-me” season in which they reached the final of the Littlewoods Cup, semi finals of the FA Cup and narrowly missed out on promotion during an epic 63-match campaign.
And now, approximately 2,500 articles and 650 publications later, Tony is still a key contribution to the programme.
He explained: “The commercial manager at the time was Alan and he also edited the programme. They had so many games because of cup runs that he was struggling to keep up.
“At the time I was working for the Oldham Evening Chronicle as a sports reporter and Alan asked me to get involved in helping produce the programmes.
“I was working during the day for the Chronicle then going down to the football club to work long into the night producing programmes.
“When I started out during the cup run, I never envisaged it’d last this amount of time.”
Tony began supporting Latics 40 years ago and has followed their progress ever since as a fan from the stands, as a reporter for local papers and with the club.
He continued: “It’s very rewarding and I’ve done all sorts of features with players past and present, celebrity fans and all sorts of angles.
“I’ve covered virtually every aspect of the club and, after being involved this long, it feels like a part of me.
“When we had Exeter City I tracked down Uri Geller and had an interesting conversation with him and put him in touch with then chairman Ian Stott after he expressed an interest to buy a football club..
“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to track down ex-players. I’ve found players in Canada and Australia, and it involves quite a lot of detective work.”
Tony has also written numerous books covering Latics’ colourful history, including ‘Pinch Me Not’ and ‘Oldham Athletic: A Pictorial History’
He recalled: “To have the three years in the top division was brilliant. When we got to Wembley in the League Cup and the FA Cup semis Joe Royle called it the ‘pinch me season’ because nobody could believe what was happening to the club.
“The most memorable time was the great escape in 1992/93. We had to win our last three games to stand any chance of staying up, but we hadn’t won three games all season.
“We beat Aston Villa, Liverpool and Southampton in the last week of the season to stay up on goal difference.”
And after chronicling so much for Latics over the years, Tony revealed he has no plans to stop just yet.
“I’ve always enjoyed writing and it’s nice when people say they enjoyed what you wrote,” he said. “It gives me a great thrill knowing your work has been appreciated.”
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