At the start of the 1992/93 season, Oldham Athletic were looking forward to competing in the inaugural season of the newly formed Premier League.
Fast forward just under 30 years later and they sit 23rd in League Two as they prepare to face Forest Green Rovers this Saturday, a team who in 1992 were in the seventh tier of English Football.
But where has it all gone wrong for the Greater Manchester outfit and can they prevent National League football from heading to Boundary Park come May?
To tell this story, let’s take it back 1991, the year when Oldham were promoted to Division One for the first time unbelievably since 1923.
It was an incredible period for the club who endured success at times beating Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in that first Premier League season.
But after three seasons in the top flight and three seasons in the second division the Latics found themselves at a low point, in the third tier for the first time in 24 years in 1997.
The years that followed were those of stability as the club managed to remain in the third tier for a staggering 21 years, albeit going through only two play-off campaigns in that time.
But recent troubles have spread much further than just the action on the pitch and that really began back in January of 2018. When a certain Abdallah Lemsagam took ownership of the club.
Since he’s taken over the club has been in dire straits: a relegation to League Two, threats of administration and strikes, mass fan protests and a stadium in need of a revamp.
And lets not forget the fact the club have been through an unnatural amount of managers under his reign, including former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes.
Speaking to BBC Sport in September, Lemsagam stated, “I do not want to sell my ownership of the club. I am more determined than ever to make the club successful.”
Words the Oldham faithful would not have wanted to hear as they’ve rallied in recent months and signed petitions to get the Moroccan out of the club.
The situation at the club is torrid but unfortunately common in football at the moment.
But there have been small signs of improvement for the Latics under current interim boss Selim Benachour.
The former Tunisian international is currently filling in at the helm after the departure of Keith Curle a few weeks back.
The 40 year old comes in with experience of the club having worked as the under 18’s manager since 2018 and despite falling to two league defeats so far, they have put in some better performances.
In their recent 1-0 loss at home to Tranmere Rovers, they were almightily unlucky hitting the woodwork, having a goal disallowed and missing a host of chances before conceding in added time.
Admittedly a game against the flying league leaders in Forest Green Rovers is a tough task for anyone, but with massive games against fellow relegation candidates to come, this busy Christmas period is vital.
Oldham are a club in free fall and are staring down the barrel of 5th tier football and look to be the victims of another ownership mishandling in the EFL.
Only time will tell as to whether the Latics will survive this season, but hopefully we wont see another great club of English football fall out of the league all together.