Ritchie in for Tree's

 Steve Whitehall must rank as one of the Latics' unluckiest players of recent years, but he is hopeful of a better time next season. The veteran striker has been plagued with injuries following his £40,000 move from Mansfield in the summer of 1998. His contract is up at the end of next season and the 33 year old is hoping for a clean bill of health to prove he has been no misfit. Whitehall finished joint top scorer with eleven goals last season but would surely have done much better had he spent more time off the treatment table. He found the net only once in ten appearances from mid-March onwards - but he did emerge as a super sub earlier in the season. In three successive home games - against Chelmsford, Wycombe and Millwall - Whitehall climbed off the bench to add a goal in the final six minutes. Whitehall is the first to admit he has not always shown his true form in his two years at Boundary Park.
He arrived with a superb CV of a goal in every three league starts but he insisted: "To say it has been a frustrating time would be an understatement. "I hurt my ankle the summer before last, but as I was a new boy I was keen to carry on playing. In hindsight that was not the best thing to have done. "Initially I got through games without too much trouble. But it got progressively worse as the season went on and, in the end, I missed the last two games because I had to undergo surgery. "I also hurt my other ankle and then had a hamstring strain so it wasn't the best of times. "What makes it so much harder is that before joining the Latics I had hardly ever missed a game through injury. "I was an ever-present in three-and-a-half years at Rochdale and was ruled out of only one match in five years with Mansfield. "It has been hard to get used to and sometimes I have wondered if there is ever going to be an end to it." Whitehall will be aiming to end those doubts when next season gets under way.

 The Latics could be ready to offer Huddersfield Town winger David Beresford a chance of regular first team football. Beresford joined Town from Boundary Park club for £350,000 at the end of the 1996-97 season. But after making an early impression with his high-speed surges, he lost his way after the departure of former manager Brian Horton six months after Beresford's arrival at the club. He suffered a series of niggling injuries from then on and rarely played during Peter Jackson's two years in charge at the McAlpine. And he has clearly failed to impress Steve Bruce since the former Manchester United defender succeeded Jackson last summer. His only senior appearance came as a substitute in a Worthington Cup-tie against Notts County way back in September. Beresford, 23, did well during a loan spell at Preston earlier in the season and was expected to join the Deepdale club, but the deal never materialised. And since then he has been forced to kick his heels in the reserves and hope that a chance comes along to move elsewhere. Don't be surprised if Andy Ritchie makes an early move to bring him back to Boundary Park.

 There is good news concerning three of Oldham Athletic's injury victims who hope to be fit for the forthcoming season. Winger Neil Adams, who missed the last 13 games of the season with a foot injury, is well on the mend. Midfielder Paul Rickers is also making good progress after a hernia operation, whilst striker Mark Allott is over the hamstring problem which kept him out of the last eight matches of the campaign. All three should be ready to join the rest of the squad when they report back for pre-season training on July 7.

 The Latics have agreed to send an Under-16s side to Northern Ireland for the well-established Foyle Cup competition. Full details are not yet available but are expected to be released in the next few weeks.

 Oldham are preparing to have talks with defender Ronnie Trees, who has been told he can leave Bristol Rovers on a free transfer. Trees has been released despite still having a year left on his contract, and is set to speak with Andy Ritchie when the Oldham boss has sorted out his budget problems. The 22-year-old defender was picked up from Manchester United by Bristol Rovers two years ago, having been at Old Trafford since he was a boy, and in his first season made nearly 30 league appearances. However, it all turned sour for Trees at Rovers and he did not make the first team start this season until January. He then came in for praise from Bristol boss Ian Holloway, but trouble behind-the-scenes saw him loaned out to struggling Conference side Altrincham. Trees was unable to force his way back into the first team at the Memorial Ground but says that he will be sorry to leave Bristol Rovers. The player is hopeful of landing a deal with Oldham but, if that falls through, he will continue to look for a club in the north-west of England.