12th October 2000  

Two signing's complete

PAUL RICKERS steps out on the comeback trail tonight in the Manchester Senior Cup tie against Manchester United at Bury.

Midfield player Rickers has recovered from the thigh-muscle injury which was sustained five games ago against Bristol City. Manager Andy Ritchie does not envisage an immediate first-team return for Rickers, whose thigh muscle was ripped by the studs of an opponent. 

“Paul has not been able to do any training because of the nature of the injury so will probably need a couple of reserve-team games,” explained Ritchie. 

Rickers only resumed training this week and Ritchie believes Saturday’s home game against Swindon will come too soon for him. Nevertheless, the return of Rickers will be a lift as Athletic have missed him and John Sheridan in the middle in recent weeks. Sheridan, recovering from knee surgery, is likely to be out for another month. He has not played since the opening match of the season. 

Athletic field an experienced side which includes Paul Jones, Chris Lightfoot, Danny Boshell and Mark Allott who are all expected to feature on Saturday. Striker Ryan Sugden is involved having hardly played all season because of an Achilles problem. 

The Athletic side also includes trialist Colin Pluck, a left back/central defender previously with Watford. Pluck, who was hurt in a friendly against Crewe, was recommended to Ritchie by Toddy Orlygsson as he had done well for the Icelandic side the former Latics player now manages. 

Reserves (from): Campbell, Jones, Pluck, Lightfoot, Futcher, McLaughlin, Rickers, Walsh, Allott, Boshell, Sugden, Haining, Doran, Smith, Otto. 

United field what is effectively a youth team with no senior players in the squad of 16 they have named.

Teamtalk Oldham

The Latics have lost out in the race to sign Manchester City's reserve striker Danny Allsopp who has joined Bristol Rovers on loan instead. The club were believed to be in talks with two players today, one thought to be the 22-year-old Australian who stands 6ft 1ins and has certainly shown that he has an eye for goal playing for City's second string this season with a couple of hat trick's to his name. However, the Latics have missed out and so it would appear that Andy Ritchie and Co. will be focusing their attentions elsewhere in order to add new faces to the squad.

The club are currently talking personal terms with two - as yet unnamed - players, although one may be Man City striker Danny Allsopp. Both players are having a medical and discussing terms but the club are refusing to identify them until the deals have been completed. Manchester City's Aussie striker Danny Allsopp is known to be a loan target for the Latics as well as being courted by Bristol Rovers. The City second-string forward has been in fine goalscoring form after recovering from a hamstring injury which sidelined him at the start of the season. Oldham of course have the edge as far as securing Allsopp on a month's loan goes, given the geographical location, and former Latics manager Joe Royle is hoping to set up a deal for the 22-year-old. It will be for an initial month but should he impress Andy Ritchie there is the possibility of a longer term loan deal. "It will be up to Danny if he wants to go," said Royle. "He needs to play League football again and I think a loan period would be good for him. "We do have lots of front players at the moment, so it would be good for him to take this opportunity of regular League football."

Official Latics Web Site

Latics have today completed the signing of two players and both are expected to make their debut in Saturday's game at Boundary Park against Swindon Town. However the identity of the players cannot be released until Friday morning at the request of the clubs concerned so this web site will carry the news of the identity of the players soon after 9 am on Friday.