Hats off to Oldham Athletic’s captain, Peter Clarke, for attempting to sweeten a dog’s dinner this week. A sprinkling of optimism is sorely needed around Boundary Park where the club’s chairman, Simon Corney, was in such a steaming funk after elimination from the FA Cup by non-league Lincoln City on 5 December that he cancelled the club’s Christmas party.
Oldham are bottom of League One, winless in seven league matches, subject to a transfer embargo and due to play at second-place Sheffield United on Boxing Day. But Clarke, keen to look up, ventured it could be to their advantage that few people expect them to win at Bramall Lane on Monday. Without riffing on anyone’s woe – in the interests, indeed, of helping a down‑on‑its-luck club – let us see if we can lower expectations for Oldham even further. A look at their Boxing Day history should do the trick.
Related: Sheffield United on the up thanks to Chris Wilder’s old school approach
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