Gerry Oldham, Cheltenham Town’s new full-time kitman, played his first game of adult football at the age of just 13.

It was for Cheltenham Saracens, a club that has always been close to his heart.

He was head of football at the Hellenic League Division One club before linking up with Cheltenham Town, one of many roles that the 61-year-old  has enjoyed in and around Gloucestershire.

Oldham, who lives in Cheltenham, is a football man through and through. He played the game, he’s been a manager, assistant manager and a coach, and he’s also worked in top-level academy football at Aston Villa.

The one-time St Benedict’s School pupil played football from an early age – he was a central midfielder – but everything stepped up a level when he and his good friend Steve Cotterill, the current Cheltenham Town manager, got their chance with Cheltenham Saracens.

“It was a Sunday League game, we used to watch Cheltenham Saracens play,” Oldham recalled.

“They were short and Bob Attwood asked us if we’d play, we wouldn’t be allowed to now.”

Cotterill was a striker and they must have performed pretty well because they were soon playing on Saturdays for the club’s 3rds in the Stroud League.

“Looking back I don’t think I was as good a player as I thought I was,” Oldham said.

And while Oldham may not have rated himself, Attwood, the driving force behind Cheltenham Saracens, certainly did because he was soon recommending both him and Cotterill to Cheltenham Town.

“We played for the youth team and the reserves. Roger Thorndale was running them,” Oldham continued.

“Bob Attwood said that out of the two of us it was me who was more likely to make it, how wrong was he!”

Cotterill went on to play for Cheltenham, Burton, Wimbledon, Brighton and Bournemouth, before enjoying a stellar career as a manager, and Oldham added: “We’re still good mates today.”

Oldham, meanwhile, followed Thorndale to Smiths Athletic when he left Cheltenham, winning both the Northern Senior League and the County Cup.

He moved on to play for St Mark’s and Jasper Cook before linking up with Denzil Brisland at Moreton Town who were playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division.

Oldham was a player in demand and he said: “I used to talk on the pitch non-stop, I was always organising things.”

After leaving Moreton he returned to St Mark’s as player/manager.

“That was an eye-opener. I was chucked in at the deep end,” he said.

“I was there for three years and we did quite well.”

A couple of years as assistant to Ian Ford at Cheltenham Saracens followed and after taking a break from the game for 12 months, he returned to the club as manager.

“I was manager for 10 years. In my fourth season we won promotion to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League,” he said.

“That job was a challenge because I wasn’t just a manager, I was a mum, a dad, a therapist, I was there for everyone.”

It was also a time which coincided with him taking on the role of coach with Hester’s Way Hawks. 

“My son Jack played for them, he started with the under-7s,” explained dad of-three Oldham, who has been married to Hannah for 43 years.

Young Jack was a good player, playing in a good team, and he was soon invited to play academy football.

“He went to Aston Villa, he was there until he was about 15,” said his dad, who was working at Spirax Sarco in Cheltenham at the time. 

“That was a big commitment, going to Aston Villa. I also worked for the club as a coach at their development centres at Bentham and Worcester and I went on to coach at their academy.”

That was full-on but very rewarding because two of the players he coached – Gabby Agbonlahor and Marc Albrighton – went on to enjoy top careers in the Premier League.

“I was with Villa for 10 years, I was part-time but they were brilliant,” he said.

And after leaving Cheltenham Saracens, also after a decade, Oldham had a great time at Cinderford Town as assistant to John Brough, winning the Southern League Division One South title, and as assistant to Paul Collicutt at Evesham United.

“I loved working with both of them, they are so passionate about the game,” he said.

So is Oldham, of course, and it’s that passion for the game that ensures will make a big impression in his new role at Cheltenham Town.