Lawton faithful to Latics cause

GORDON LAWTON: various roles behind the scenes at Boundary Park.

GORDON Lawton has been a figure of consistency behind the scenes for Athletic in the past quarter of a century.

While the club have in that time fluctuated between the highs of promotion to the top flight and an appearance in a cup final at Wembley through to the low of almost going out of business, the likeable 57-year-old has seemingly dropped anchor at Boundary Park after a hitherto varied working life.

Born in Castleton, Lawton worked for an engineering firm in Rochdale before taking on roadie duties for a rock ‘n’ roll band.

Then, after working for two-and-a-half years in Rugby League with Leigh, he switched to soccer in order to help build up Athletic’s new club lottery, working under then-commercial manager Alan Hardy.

“At Leigh, our lottery numbers were up to 10,000 people and not too long after I joined Latics, the “Blue Band Club’ had a membership of around 11,500,” recalls Lawton, who has been nominated in the professional category in the Pride In Oldham awards.

“As soon as I arrived at Latics, we started winning, too.”

Now programme editor, the man behind the microphone for the official website’s live commentary and club historian and statistician, Lawton has had the pleasure of watching plenty of terrific matches with Athletic.

But he shuns the obvious when it comes to picking out a few choice cuts.

“Of course, everyone remembers the Wembley experience but the game that really sticks out in my mind is the 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Maine Road in the semi-finals of the FA Cup,” he said.

“It was the most exciting game I have ever seen.

“As for the best players I have seen here, there are the obvious ones like Andy Ritchie and Roger Palmer but the ones that stand out for me are Richard Jobson and Lee Richardson.

“Richard made the game look so easy and I always liked Lee’s style of play. His cheeky penalties were great.”

Two years ago, Lawton’s commitment to the cause was acknowledged with a long-service award from the Football League.

Chairman Lord Mawhinney said at the time: “We wouldn’t have a league without unsung people like Gordon which is why we like to recognise the work done by these less-visible people.”