Experienced free agents, Billy Clarke and Chris McCann, took part in a behind closed door friendly for League Two Oldham Athletic yesterday according to journalist Alan Nixon.
Nixon is usually a reliable source of transfer news, and he tweeted the story this morning.
https://twitter.com/reluctantnicko/status/1179345535767109633?s=20
Clarke is a striker released by Bradford City at the end of last season. He scored one goal in fourteen League One appearances after arriving for his second spell at Valley Parade from Charlton Athletic in January. He left for Charlton from Bradford in 2017 after scoring twenty-five goals in one hundred and twenty-two outings across all competitions for the Bantams in a successful three-year spell.
The thirty-one-year-old is much travelled around the bottom two leagues of the EFL, having also turned out for Crawley, Sheffield United, Blackpool and Brentford amongst several others.
McCann is a versatile performer able to play in midfield or full back. He is perhaps best known for his spell at Burnley, where he came through the Clarets youth system and went on to make two hundred and sixty-nine senior appearances across all competitions, many of them in the Championship.
He then spent three seasons at Wigan before trying his luck in the MLS. His most recent EFL experience was with Coventry City, making thirteen appearances for the Sky Blues on loan from MLS outfit Atlanta in the first half of the 2016/17 campaign. The thirty-two-year-old had his contract with DC United terminated by mutual consent in July.
Oldham have had a poor start to the campaign and currently sit twentieth in League Two after registering only two league victories so far. They recently replaced Laurent Banide with former Stevenage boss Dino Maamria whose won one and lost one since he took over.
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If Nixon is correct, then Maamria has had a look at the squad at Boundary Park and decided he needs reinforcements before the January transfer window opens.
Both players have seen better days and fitness will be a concern, but if they do join the Latics, then they will undoubtedly bring much-needed experience and know-how to the dressing room.
Maamria has talked about taking the club back to the Championship, but under the current ownership, fans will not be holding their breath.
However, bringing in experienced EFL campaigners should help is the first target that must be to guide Oldham up the League Two table.
