Soundtrack to this post.
The fixture list came out in June and I have had this date in my head ever since. Saturday 15 August, half twelve, Boundary Park. Oldham v Port Vale, one of the two games chosen to start the whole EFL season off, which means it is on Sky Sports+, which means it is on in my living room in Paisley.
Second season back in the Football League. It is still worth saying that out loud, because for three years it was not true. Tenth place last time out, which reads like a shrug on paper and absolutely was not one. Ten games unbeaten through February and March with two goals conceded in the lot of them, the table doing something lovely, and then April arrived and took four games off us in a row. The play-offs went from a live prospect to a thing we talked about. Micky Mellon signed on until 2028 anyway, and that felt like the more important result of the spring.
Port Vale come up the road as one of the sides everybody expects to go straight back to League One, which Mellon has more or less said himself: we will find out quickly where we are. September is derbies almost all the way through, Rochdale included. So the answer is coming whether I want it or not.
But none of that has happened yet. Nothing has been conceded in the 89th minute. Nobody has been sent off for something daft. Right now, at half twelve on the fifteenth of August, we are level with everyone and it is all still in front of us.
Time for the emotional rollercoaster to start again.
Come on you Latics.