Sports Editor Tony Bugby brings us the latest from Oldham Athletic FC.
IT IS not the first time that Oldham Athletic has been written off as their 2015/16 Sky Bet League One campaign is finally up and running.
All the betting firms are united in their belief that Latics will be relegated after spending 18 years in the third tier of English football.
That ought to provide added motivation for the players and management to prove them wrong as they have done previously when they have been tipped to be demoted.
Certainly, Latics are already ahead of last season’s points total following their opening-day draw at Walsall where they had lost on their previous three league visits.
And it was a performance that provided grounds for optimism as they were clearly the superior side, even though they were behind for 75 minutes.
Jonathan Forte’s late equaliser ensured they didn’t leave the Banks’s Stadium empty handed.
The recent additions of David Dunn, Jonathan Burn and Gavin Gunning appears to have completed the team building of new manager Darren Kelly.
The capture of Dunn on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers is without question the marquee signing.
Dunn may be 35 years of age, but he oozed quality when he came on for the last half hour at Walsall.
That should not be a surprise as Dunn has played most of his football in the Premier League for Blackburn and Birmingham who paid £5.5million for him in 2003. He is also a full England international.
Midfielder Dunn’s best days are behind him, but he ought to be a force in League One as he showed last Saturday with his cameo in the West Midlands.
Central-defender Burn, captain of Middlesbrough’s under-21 side, has been signed on a six month loan deal while Gunning, also a centre back, has been given an initial one-month deal.
Those three players join goalkeeper David Cornell, midfielders Lee Croft and George Green and striker Jake Cassidy as the seven new arrivals at SportsDirect.com Park in Kelly’s reshaped squad.
