Promotion winners can band together and build on the achievements of 2024/25 in the Football League.
With 20 players out of contract and five more returning to their original clubs after loan periods, the National League play-off-winning side could disband and need to be rebuilt ahead of the League Two season.
However, manager Micky Mellon has demonstrated his desire to build on last season’s success by meeting with the majority of those whose present contracts expire at the end of this month.
Raglan, vice captain, joins goalkeepers Mat Hudson, Tom Donaghy, and Scott Moloney, top scorer Mike Fondop, Wembley goal heroes Joe Garner and James Norwood, Mark Kitching, Josh Lundstram, Jesurun Uchegbulam, Dan Gardner, Will Sutton, Corry Evans, Oli Hammond, and Joe Pritchard.
Meanwhile, Jake Leake (Hull City), Jordan Rossiter (Shrewsbury Town), and Tom Pett (Cheltenham Town), all loan players who finished the season with Latics, were released by their respective clubs this summer, making them free agents.
Mellon was quick to take advantage of Pett’s availability, signing the midfielder on a two-year contract, while last season’s loanee Kane Drummond has been added on a one-year deal with an option.
And defender Raglan hopes those who ended more than three decades of adversity by securing Oldham Athletic’s first promotion in 34 years can face League Two together.
“The football club and the manager will have their own ideas, but it’s good to have a core group that can bring everyone else along with it, that can grow with the club and what the manager’s doing,” added Raglan, who described the unity in the dressing room.
“We’ve discussed over the previous year or so that we had work to do, dreams and ambitions that required planning and a bit of strategy for how we were going to achieve them.
“One of the things the manager told me last season was that he wanted me to do more to help the team, perhaps off the pitch, in ways that people don’t see.
That’s not just me; it’s Tom Conlon, Dan Gardner, Jordan Rossiter, Tom Pett, Mike Fondop, and everyone. “We all worked hard to create that.
When it comes to fruition, it is lovely.
“It’s the conclusion to a lot of work.”
Raglan, who has an option on his two-year contract signed in 2023, added: “There’ll be no time for sentiment, I understand. I understand it’s not always possible, but I’d want to see a lot of the guys stay.”
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