Oldham to 'start again' ahead of League Two return

Oldham chairman Frank Rothwell celebrates with fans at Boundary Park

Oldham chairman Frank Rothwell has said the club "have to start again" after their dramatic promotion back into the English Football League.

The Latics were facing another season in the National League when they trailed Sunday's promotion final at Wembley in extra-time against Southend.

Two goals in two extra-time minutes from substitutes James Norwood and Kian Harratt, however, snatched an incredible 3-2 win.

The club had a celebratory event at Boundary Park on Monday evening and Rothwell said the hard work will start now.

He told BBC Radio Manchester: "In extra time we had to come back again and score twice and my faith was wavering at that point.

"I was thinking about doing another whole year to get promoted but we scored and I couldn't believe it. It looked like penalties which are the flip of a coin and then we scored again.

"It was unbelievable, it was only three minutes before that my son was looking very dejected. All of our plans for the future revolved around us going up and it was slipping away.

"We have to start again now."

Oldham were relegated from League Two in 2022 after a tumultuous spell under the ownership of Abdallah Lemsagam.

Rothwell took charge later that summer and said the club have learned from their mistakes in the past.

He said: "We are gong to build around the players who are under contract. The previous owners interfered too much with team selection, they did all the buying and selling of players.

"We have no input into the manager's strategy. I am sure Micky Mellon has people in mind for next season and is pondering his next move."