Darren Royle has called Micky Mellon, the new manager of Oldham Athletic, a “serial promotion manager” and the one who can lead the team back into the Football League.
Throughout his management career, the former head coach of Tranmere Rovers, Shrewsbury Town, and Dundee United has received five promotions, including two from the National League. And as Latics attempt to end their EFL ban, Royle has tipped the Scot to add another to his excellent total. Royle said, “He’s done it before, many times, why wouldn’t he do it now?,” while acknowledging that the appointment was extremely important.
“We have to do it correctly. Since there were many applications and it was a big appointment, we had to carefully review everything before creating a pro forma for the kind of candidate we were looking for.
“You draw up not a job role as such because it’s quite clear what the job is, but a person type and the role type and the competences around that, and we had to find someone who is experienced at getting promoted out of this league and knows the league.”
After a three-year hiatus, Tranmere’s Football League status was reinstated in 2018 thanks to Mellon, who won the Conference National title with Fleetwood in 2012. Royle continued, “There are a lot of similarities with Tranmere, probably more profound here with having no success in terms of winning promotions and being part of the Premier League and the expectations that we’ve all got.” Respect for where we are also goes hand in hand with that. Some of this division’s best clubs shouldn’t be written off.
“To find Micky with the promotions he’s got, as a serial promotion manager, is unbelievable.”
Even though he and his family were chairman and owner of Latics, Frank Rothwell disclosed that he was not involved in the hiring process and that he had only met Mellon after the Scot had decided to join Latics.
“My involvement was zero because I don’t know enough about football,” he said.
“We have two employees who are more knowledgeable than me: Darren Royle, our chief executive, and Peter Norbury, our legal counsel. Both of them went through the hiring procedure. “We wanted to make sure we got somebody who was perfect for Oldham and where we want to be, so it was a much longer process—six games. The place where we must be.” Rothwell also expressed his happiness that Mellon was chosen for the position out of more than 60 applicants.
“There isn’t a better candidate than us. And I think we’re going to do big things from here,” he remarked. “He sees where we are headed. “Darren and Peter have done a fantastic job and I have thanked them for that.”
