THROUGHOUT the history of English football, it is hard to find a team that has had more ups and downs than Oldham Athletic.
Now competing in the National League and out of the EFL altogether, it is easy to forget that this team even had a spell in the Premier League in its time.
We’ll have a brief look at the Premier League era later as we explore who has the most goals for Oldham in this competition, but we’re mainly focusing on the all-time, top goal scorers.
It is important to differentiate from the top scorer each season. Oldham has had many seasons when people score 30 or more goals but have then left the team.
Those who are partial to placing a bet on football might know that the season’s top goal scorer is a popular market, and people are often trying to predict who will score the most goals over the course of a season.
The betting market gives those who want to place this kind of bet more choice than ever, including casino betting and sports betting, but no market covers all-time scorers, as it could take decades to change!
Oldham’s varied history
Oldham was initially founded under the name Pine Villa FC in 1895 – that means 129 years of history and some serious ups and downs. They still play at Boundary Park, and it is impressive to think this was once a Premier League ground.
In recent years, the club has slipped down to the National League, which is a low point for a team that has spent most of its history in the first, second, or third tier of English football. During these recent years, none of the crop of players has threatened the all-time record, and the top scorers of all time are from some of the more fruitful periods the team had.
We don’t want to focus on the relatively poor seasons that have come recently for Oldham. Let’s hope they’re a club on the up once again, and today look at something positive – the top goal scorers for the club.
Oldham’s top scorers
Let’s get into the top scorers! Last year it was James Norwood, and fans will be hoping he can fire them to promotion in the upcoming season, but it would be some going for him to get anywhere close to the all-time lists.
Roger Palmer
Fans who were watching the team in the 80s might well remember Roger Palmer, who was something of an understated hero for the club. He was the top scorer in a season on three separate occasions and managed to make himself the all-time leading goal scorer in a 12-year stint.
During Palmer’s era, he played in attacking midfield, but mainly as a striker, and scored an amazing 157 goals for the club. His incredible service spanned more than 400 games and he only ever played for one other team: Manchester City. During his time at Oldham, they won the Second Division (this is now called the Championship), and even had a League Cup Final fixture, finishing runner-up at Wembley Stadium.
Palmer is said to be a modest man and doesn’t enjoy too much attention, by the looks of it. He is still chanted about at Oldham games, but in his time away from the spotlight, he was the subject of an appeal for information about where he was.
Eventually, Roger did return for a game against Charlton Athletic, and is said to live in the Greater Manchester area, so is still local to Oldham. Palmer is a cult hero in many different ways and is still fondly remembered by the fans.
Eric Gemmell
This is a name not so many people remember. Gemmell was born over 100 years ago and played for the team in the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, his stints at Manchester United and Manchester City had to be cut short so he could serve in World War Two.
After the war, he played for Oldham then had spells at Crewe and Rochdale, before slipping into lower leagues and semi-professional football.
109 goals were his total for the team by the time he left, and it could have been many more if he had stayed. In 1952, he even managed to score seven goals in a single game. In both 1955 and 1956, he was named as the season’s top scorer for the team.
Not too much is known about Gemmell other than his football career, as this was a time when people didn’t focus so much on off-field aspects of the game, but we do know that his service to Oldham was mighty impressive, and not many people have 100 or more goals for the club.
Premier League top scorer: Graeme Sharp
Thinking about those Premier League years can bring back a lot of memories for those who saw it unfold, as well as the Second Division title.
Though many players have scored more goals for the club than him, Graeme Sharp deserves a mention for being the all-time top goal scorer for Oldham in the Premier League. Granted, this isn’t a huge sample size, but he managed 16 goals over the golden era of Premier League Football for Oldham, including nine in the season when he dramatically helped the team to stay up on the final day of the season. This is remembered as one of the Premier League’s great escape stories.
Interestingly, Sharp isn’t on the top goal scorers list for Oldham but is for Everton, where he scored more than 100 goals before his move to Oldham Athletic.
Conclusion
It is unlikely that anybody in the current squad is going to get anywhere near these players in terms of their goalscoring feats (well, plenty will score more than 16, but perhaps not in the Premier League).
Oldham, for now, could just do with a goal scorer to do enough to fire them back to league football and try to ensure that they are back on the right path.
