This Is How It Feels

Hard shoulder, M62 eastbound, June 1982 …

Britain is on the verge of taking the Falkland Islands back from the Argentine invaders and for the first time since the 1930s, three million people are unemployed with the nation reeling from recession. One of those searching for a job is stood on the motorway which links the north of England’s east and west coasts.

The newly-retired former Everton, Manchester City and England striker Joe Royle is forced to hitch a lift to Boundary Park for what he thinks is an interview at backwater Oldham Athletic after his car has broken down.

After jumping out of a lorry cab, Royle is told that the job is his – and that he will have to sell a player or the club will go bust.

Later that day, bailiffs drop in and eye up his office furniture. That night he is in his own garage, stencilling the players’ initials on training kit as the reality of what he has undertaken hits home.

What happened next is one of the great, untold football miracles of all time.