It's very different at Oldham - Windass

Oldham's new signing Dean Windass, who will be at Edgar Street tomorrow, writes an occassional column for the Daily Mail.

Last Saturday he wrote about his intended debut for Oldham (before their game was postponed)

This morning I thought I’d be waking up with a hangover after celebrating the 15th birthday of my son Josh before having a quiet afternoon watching Jeff Stelling and the Sky Sports boys.

A trip to Goodison Park with Hull City was never on the agenda. Instead, the family have put the balloons, cake and beers on hold and it was an early night and a light breakfast before I head down the M62 to play for League One Oldham for the first time.

In his latest article he starts by speaking about his new manager John Sheridan.

'Don't call me gaffer,' said the new gaffer. 'The lads call me "Shez".' It's a first but that's what Oldham manager John Sheridan is called. I must admit I've been uneasy with it.

I always have the respect to say 'manager', 'gaffer', 'boss', whatever he likes. Shez likes Shez, so Shez it is.

Of course, it's very different to the pampered life of the Premier League but I'm loving every minute, particularly the buzz of playing again - although it's a bit weird that Tommy Wright and Lee Duxbury, the assistant managers, are younger than me.

I was gutted my debut was postponed last Saturday, but it gave me two days to train and get to know the lads before Monday's game against Hartlepool.

Shez wanted me to build up my fitness and I'll feel the benefit at Hereford today.

As you'd expect from a John Sheridan side, they like to get the ball down and play. They're all comfortable on the ball and quickly grasped my strengths and started to try to read the passes.

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