IF the early 1990s were the Pinch Me years, then this must be the sequel.

Not in the Rothwell family’s wildest dreams, according to new Oldham Athletic chairman Frank, did they envisage so many people turning out to watch the first home game since completing their takeover.

More than 8,300 of them basked in the Boundary Park sunshine, and to put the icing on the cake more than 30 per cent of them are estimated to have defied the heat to give their new owners an even warmer welcome and participate in the pre-match procession led by the Rothwells and club chief executive Darren Royle, who has been instrumental in establishing this new era at the football club.

Quite what would have happened without his intervention, the Rothwells’ willingness to invest and the relentless efforts of organisations including the Oldham Athletic Supporters’ Foundation, Push The Boundary and The Athleticos, who grabbed Frank Rothwell’s attention and won his heart with the beat of their drum and goosebump inducing atmosphere that they generate, does not bear thinking about. So let’s not.

Let’s celebrate the here and now, and the start of what seems set to be a remarkable new chapter in this club’s proud history.

This did not feel like a football club setting out on a path post-relegation. Not in the slightest. Quite the opposite in fact.

The beer was flowing in the new fan bar which had been a shell on Tuesday night but by Saturday had a big screen and a queue that stretched well outside of the door, and was almost drunk dry some 1,100 pints later.

The stand which is now home to the brilliantly named Bar Station Zebra would have been shut under the old regime.

Instead, after a clean-up operation involving 60 volunteers - as well as Darren Royle and Frank mucking in, there were plenty of bums on those polished seats in the Joe Royle (North) Stand.

Build it (clean it and care for it) and they will come.

Equally, in the Rothwell family, Latics supporters have got more than they would have ever dared to hope for.

Not only have these local business people ploughed considerable amounts of money into a football club that was on the brink, they have poured their heart and soul into it too. Not least the head of the family, Frank, who grabbed the cymbals of Greenfield Brass Band and bashed them with joyful abandon to the delight of a packed Boundary Park.

His infectious and boundless enthusiasm and all round joie de vivre has inspired a feelgood factor that was practically impossible to imagine at the end of last season.

There are, of course, aspects on the field that need to be addressed as shipping two goals to a part-time team that travelled from Surrey on the morning of the game and still had plenty of staying power will testify.

Dorking, who were a start-up team 23 years ago by manager Marc White, who still serves as chairman and owner, are one of only a few part-time teams in the National League, had more possession. Thankfully for Latics, there was more precision as Ben Tollitt’s brilliant goal proved decisive.

It should not have come that, and that will alarm manager John Sheridan.

Oldham were 3-0 up and cruising, thanks to strike partners Hallam Hope and the returning Chris Porter getting off the mark - each with a clinical finish in either half.

Whether complacency set in, or energy preservation in soaring temperatures kicked in, only the players can answer that. But they grew increasingly careless in possession and twice allowed left wing crosses into the box for two carbon copy headers for Josh Taylor and Alfie Rutherford in the space of four second half minutes.

It wouldn’t be Latics without a bit of drama, would it?

But let’s look to the positives, not least Latics picking up their first win of the season - willed to it by those 8,300-plus fans - while the three points put them on a par with Notts County, who top the table on goal difference.

This club has been in the doldrums for years, lurching from one crisis to the next and near catastrophe under a Lemsagam regime that oversaw two relegations in their four-year stewardship, had a mountain of debt and ostracised supporters. Indeed, the last time there was a procession down Sheepfoot Lane towards Boundary Park, just under a year ago, someone dressed as the Grim Reaper, another a clown and a coffin with the plaque RIP OAFC placed at the front door - a peaceful but visually impactful protest that drew national and even global attention to their plight.

From the depths of despair, Latics fans are high on hope.

What a difference a takeover makes.