Keith Curle is heading into his first full season as manager of Oldham Athletic looking to repeat the feat he realised with Northampton Town in 2019/20, earning promotion to League One.

He spoke to the Oldham Evening Chronicle, outlining the atmosphere in the dressing room: "I’ve always said that to be a successful team you need to be a welcoming team, and the changing room is a good place to be at the moment. There’s a good mix in there, a good buzz, a good vibe in there and it is very welcoming for the new lads.

"We want to build that team ethic here, and that team mentality that will help us win games. I’ll back myself to bring in the right players. I think I can bring them into an environment whereby we’ll go on to become successful.

“I am big on creating environments, and the way players want to work."

The 57-year-old has worked the Latics squad hard this summer, striving to improve on last season's 18th placed finish.

He continued: "We came back a week earlier than everyone else, but we’d designed it that way so that there’s a continual graduation of the physical demands on the players.

"The attitude from the players towards the challenges we’ve set them has been excellent so far, but I think that’s because we told them it was going to be difficult."

The managerial merry go round has been very turbulent at Oldham Athletic in recent years, Curle is ensuring he makes his mark.

The Verdict

If Curle can piece together a side in his name at Oldham as he did with Northampton Town, then the Latics will be horrible to play against in League Two next season. The bar has been set relatively low in recent years but that will not deter Curle's focus away from looking at the top seven.

Their top scorer from last term Conor McAleny has joined Salford City but if they can keep hold of chief creator Dylan Bahamboula, they could still be one of the surprise packages of the 2021/22 season.