Fairytale won’t happen again

ATHLETIC legend Joe Royle reckons the "fairytale" period he enjoyed at the helm will never be surpassed.

Speaking on the EPL Talk podcast, two-time Boundary Park boss Royle reflected on the glory days of the early 1990s, which he believes are now out of the reach of clubs due to the vast amounts of money needed to be competitive at the game's top level.

“In my first game at Oldham, the crowd was around 3,000," Royle recalled.

"Then, 12 years later, we had crowds near 18,000, international players, and we were in cup semi-finals and finals.

“We had a great time and it was fairytale stuff.

“It will never be repeated as it can't happen that way because of the changes in the game in England.

“What we had was a group of players who just wanted to play football.”

THE Football League have paid tribute to the work of Athletic's Community Trust Team.

The Street Cheer squad enjoyed success at the recent National Street Games.

Representative dance teams The Blue Crew, The Blue Army and The Masters all came first in their categories.

Football League director of external affairs, Gavin Megaw said: “Communities are the lifeblood of Football League clubs and this is yet another great example of clubs working hard locally.”

The squads were coached by Wendy Noble from the Community Sports Trust.

She said: “We are extremely pleased with all the girls who took part — especially The Masters, who only had eight weeks to train.”

ATHLETIC'S reserves are at home to Blackpool tomorrow night.

The game takes place at Ewen Fields, with a 7pm kick-off.