Born in Manchester on 3rd October 1977, Mark Stephen Allott joined Oldham's footballing ranks as a 9 year old, going on to make over 170 first team appearances for The Latics, scoring 33 goals, including his first on his debut on 12th October 1996 at Bolton Wanderers. "It was at their old ground, Burnden Park," remembers Mark, "I wasn't sure if I was due to be in the squad until my name went on the team sheet on the Friday and the Manager said I was going to be a substitute." He came on for David McNiven when Bolton were 3-0 up and just seven minutes into his League bow, he scored. "I was warming up, just hoping to come on, which I eventually did, and then I scored. Just playing with the likes of Andy Ritchie and Stuart Barlow was good, you'd learn things from them everyday in training and playing alongside them. They were a different class."
A few more sub appearances followed that season but Oldham were relegated into Division Two and then, in August 1997, Mark got his first start. "I played right midfield that day at home to Bournemouth, Neil Warnock was the Manager and starting the game was good for me, a great experience." The Latics, thanks to a double from Sean McCarthy, won 2-1. Mark was replaced in the second half and he continued to either be a sub or be subbed until December that year when, in the LDV competition, not only did he play all 90 minutes, there was golden goal extra time as well. At 0-0, the game went beyond regulation playing time, "It was nice and cold that night! There was massive relief when we got the golden goal, you hope to score during the 90 minutes but those golden goals really lifts everyone." Gary McAlinden was Oldham's golden boy that night.
Mark's second Oldham goal was an important one, a last minute leveller at home to Watford (who got promoted that season) in a 2-2 draw, he'd come on as a late sub in that and he'd scored in a keenly fought local Derby against Burnley, The Clarets were 3-1 up with 15 minutes left and Oldham were down to 10 men after Shaun Garnett's red card. Paul Rickers pulled one back before Mark levelled for a memorable 3-3.
His first pair as a first teamer came on Boxing Day 1998 at, of all places, Saltergate. "That was another freezing cold day, raining, windy, the worst it could have been. We really needed the points at that time, we all worked hard and got the result after being a goal down very early on."
The final game of that season saw Oldham needing the points to steer clear of relegation, as featured in the Port Vale programme, Mark Innes scored early for Oldham, his first ever senior goal (and only one for Oldham), "Mark Innes played well that day. We were really relieved to win, we didn't deserve to go down that season, we played some decent football."
By that time, Mark was a regular in Oldham's line up, he was a regular scorer in 1999-2000 and again the following season and he started 2001-02 with a goal in the opening game at Wrexham (3-3) and he followed that up with Oldham's first home goal in a 1-1 draw with The Spireites, Roger "Harry" Willis scoring for us. "I got that one from a corner, it was very pleasing."
By December that year, Mark was generally on the bench, Mick Wadsworth arrived as Manager and included Mark in his first game, "I played against Cambridge and scored, it was 1-1, then we played an FA Cup game against Barrow and I didn't play after that, I just wasn't featuring, so I thought I'd get my head down and work my way back into the team, but one Monday Mick called me into his office and asked if I wanted to go on loan at Chesterfield and I just said yes, it was just before Christmas so there were plenty of games due, so I thought it would be a good move."
Mark's first outing in the Blue of Chesterfield was in the 2-2 draw at Brighton, after we'd been 2-0 down, then Notts County were beaten 2-1, Mark grabbed the winner, Nicky Law moved on to Bradford meaning Dave Rushbury's first game as caretaker was at home to Oldham, who took a 2-0 lead early in the second half but Mark pulled one back before Glynn Hurst levelled and then Jamie Burt and Hurst scored to make it 4-2 in a terrific second half showing. "It was a weird feeling playing against your mates, but Chesterfield were paying me at the time and me and Mark were really up for it."
Last season, much of Mark's football, as it is now, was in midfield, his best moment coming scoring the winner at Grimsby in the Worthington Cup to get a televised tie at home to West Ham in Round Two, but that lead to his worst moment, missing a penalty in the subsequent shoot out! "It was strange, I took the third penalty, the others had both gone in, so I thought I'd place it but it went wide, I didn't expect that, but we showed everyone how well we could play that night. We need to do that a bit more consistently now."
As of his former team, Mark's view, "I loved Oldham, I always look for their results, I used to watch them a lot during the Cup runs and when Joe Royle was Manager," but he's now very much a Spireite, "We need to climb up the League, get a few more wins, we want to play good football but we mainly need the wins to get us away from the bottom four because I don't think we deserve to be there." We all agree with that Mark!
