Oldham Athletic have appointed Keith Curle as their new head coach, initially until the end of the season.
Owner Abdallah Lemsagam moved swiftly as Curle was ratified only 24 hours after Harry Kewell was sacked with Latics 16th in Sky Bet League Two.
The 57-year-old, who becomes the eighth head coach/manager to serve Mr Lemsagam in little more than three years, mastermind Northampton Town’s promotion from Sky Bet League Two in the last campaign through the play-offs and has vast experience in management across two decades.
After a lengthy career at the highest level as a defender, most notably at Bristol City, Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, he also represented England briefly in 1992 winning three caps.
Curle had managed Mansfield, Chester and Torquay before assisting Neil Warnock at both Crystal Palace and QPR, helping guide the latter to the Premier League as a first team coach, ahead of joining Notts County and Carlisle United.
He became the Cobblers’ boss in 2018 and won his first promotion in the EFL with Nicky Adams as a part of his successful squad. He parted ways in February but now returns to management to try and help finish the remainder of the campaign strongly.
Paul Butler, who has been helping out recently, has now returned permanently and will become his assistant.
Butler was on the coaching staff when Paul Dickov was Latics’ manager and his past two roles in particular have enabled him to gain excellent knowledge, becoming the assistant to Thomas Christiansen at Leeds United in 2017 and most recently joined Alan Pardew and Chris Powell at ADO Den Haag.