Town supremo has been lifelong a Latic
If anyone dares accuse Shrewsbury chief executive Matt Williams of not knowing what it's like to be a football fan, they need to look no further than Oldham.
He's Oldham Athletic born and bred and a lifelong Latics fan.
From leading the team out as a mascot to having coins and golf balls thrown at him at Elland Road and standing on the Kop abusing Graeme Sharp, he has experienced it all following his team.
Williams said: "I lived in Oldham all my life until I moved to Blackpool 13 years ago. It's a cliche, but it's the first result I look for on a Saturday.
"Unfortunately, my dad treated me for my eighth birthday. He could have taken me to Old Trafford, Maine Road, Anfield, Goodison or Elland Road – but he took me to Boundary Park for a game against Newcastle.
"It finished 2-2. Newcastle had Kevin Keegan and Terry McDermott playing, but I was more excited about seeing Ged Keegan play for Oldham. It started and went downhill from there!
"I had some great times. Jimmy Frizzell was coming to the end of his era and Joe Royle came in. The first time I cried at a football match was in 1986, the first year of the play-offs.
"Oldham got beat 1-0 at Elland Road and I was in the little pen, getting pelted with coins and golf balls with nails in.
"In the second leg, Oldham were 2-0 up in extra-time and I remember Andy Goram standing up in front of the 'Chaddy' End celebrating.
"Keith Edwards popped up in stoppage time to score an away goal; Leeds got beat by Charlton in the final.
"It was the days of the plastic pitch and at the age of 12, I was mascot for a game against Huddersfield.
"Denis Irwin was my favourite player. Denis was brilliant, but Andy Goram was giving me loads of stick before the game asking me why I had someone boring like Denis as my favourite player!
"Denis told me I was the first mascot to have him as their favourite and I'm still dining out on that now!"
Given Oldham's stunning success under Royle, Williams struggles to pick out a favourite memory.
He said: "There are so many – in the 1989-90 season they got to the semi-final of the FA Cup and the final of the League Cup and narrowly missed out on promotion.
"That season we beat Arsenal, Villa, West Ham 6-0 in the semi-final first leg.
"The following year we got promoted and the last day of the season we beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 and the crowd were on the pitch.
"Seeing Oldham in the Premier League was great – I actually stood on the Kop at Anfield and was abusing Graeme Sharp.
"I wasn't a Sharp fan and all the Liverpool fans around me appreciated that, given he used to play for Everton!"
Sadly for Williams, although Oldham were inaugural members of the Premier League in 1992, their stay ended in 1994 when they suffered the first of two relegations in four years.
Williams said: "It's sad to see them outside the top division, because I'd grown up with them in the top two divisions.
"They probably made the mistake of trying to compete. There was a lot of money being spent. Joe was brilliant when he had no money but when he had funds, he bought badly.
"He bought the current Blackpool manager Neil McDonald for £500,000, Brian Kilcline for another half a million, Ian Olney for £750,000.
"They got relegated, then they couldn't afford to pay the wages so they dropped down the leagues."
Things changed for Williams when he started seeing the game from the inside, first at Blackpool, working his way up from press officer to secretary.
He said: "Oldham played Blackpool in the League One play-offs and I was sat in the press box working.
"I got a pay rise if Blackpool got promoted and it was a case of 'what's more important – your love of a team or the fact you get a rise?' Blackpool won 2-1 at Boundary Park and 3-1 at Bloomfield Road."
Having progressed to Shrewsbury chief executive, Williams admits he has thought about returning to Boundary Park in a professional capacity.
He said: "There's part of me that thinks if I went there I could wave a magic wand and make it better, but there's another part of me that thinks, if I went there, would I really enjoy it?"
"They can't afford me now anyway!"
So will Williams have divided loyalties tomorrow? He said: "I'll have none at all. I've got to be proud of myself and the football club here.
"If Oldham win I'll be gutted – I'd like an emphatic Shrewsbury Town victory. But you don't always get what you wish for!"
