--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-08-23T23:24:34.082Z data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/stoke-city/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3Rva2VzZW50aW5lbC5jby51ay9zcG9ydC9mb290YmFsbC9mb290YmFsbC1uZXdzL3N0b2tlLWNpdHktb2xkaGFtLW1hcmstcm9iaW5zLTExMDk2MzE3 --- # Mark Robins: from Boundary Park Juniors to launching new Stoke chapter vs Oldham - **Source:** - **Club:** Stoke City - **Original URL:** https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stoke-city-oldham-mark-robins-11096317 Mark Robins grew up so much in the shadow of Oldham Athletic that his junior team was called Boundary Park Juniors. Robins will start his second full season as Stoke City manager tomorrow (3pm) with a Carabao Cup first round tie against his old local club. It is fair to say that his heart was down the road with Manchester United, where he went on to make his breakthrough as a striker, but he can reflect on happy times as a kid learning the game in Chadderton. “I followed them because they were my local team,” he said. “They used to give free tickets away to the school – but I never went. I was a United fan so I went there. But it was on my doorstep and I played for a Sunday team called Boundary Park Juniors, which was closely affiliated with the club although we played quite a bit of a distance away from there. “Growing up in Oldham was good. There used to be a running track right outside Boundary Park called Westwood Park which we used to go to and I used to go running there in pre-season and we did train there at times with the Sunday League team. There’s an area outside called Clayton playing fields which I believe is still there now and we used to train on there. “I used to go North Chadderton Comprehensive School until I went to Lilleshall at 14. I went back to live there and then left when I went to Norwich in 1992 and I’ve not been back really since then.” FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest Stoke City news, analysis and more via the Sentinel Oldham were on a 17-year stretch in the second division when Robins was a boy before spending six seasons in the top flight while he was a player. They have had some tough times since then, slipping into non-league in 2022 and struggling before Micky Mellon arrived as manager in October 2023. They won promotion via the play-offs in 2025, finished in the top half of League Two last term and are thought of well enough by Stoke that they have sanctioned a loan move for young winger Favour Fawunmi, who is not eligible this weekend. “They have an identity,” said Robins. “Micky has done really well. He was at Tranmere a few years ago and he got them promotion back to back and did really well there, then he went to Scotland – to Dundee United – and he came back down again and ended up at Oldham and got them promoted back into the league, which is no easy task. “It looks like they’re building. They look like they’ve got some good players in there who are capable of handling themselves physically and they’ve got some good players in their own right and obviously Favour has gone there. “I saw Micky at the manager’s meeting at the EFL the other week and he was excited about taking him and assured me he’d play games and that’s fantastic. It’s down to Favour and I’m sure they’ll like him. “Favour came back this summer and he looks ready to play. I think the spell at Leyton Orient has done him the world of good. The injury curtailed it but I think it was good, working with Richie Wellens there and that stands him in good stead for this season.” By chance, another name from Robins’ childhood has appeared at Stoke this summer: Mark Sertori, who has joined the medical department. The former England and Manchester City masseur has arrived following a spell as head of performance at Roma to work alongside Damian Roden. Robins said: “I’ve known Mark for a long time but not known him, known him. I played at that team, Boundary Park Juniors, with his cousin Peter, so we’re going back a long, long way, back to teenage years.” The hope and expectation is that Sertori’s experience and approach, plus Matt Radcliffe and Roden, will drive standards at Clayton Wood and start a long-awaited new chapter at Stoke. “The players love it,” said Robins. “You watch them working and they’re doing everything they possibly can. Standards are driven by the staff and taken by the players once they’re into that rhythm and routine and it can only be a good thing. It’s good – and that’s why the feel of the place has changed. “You’re in a magnificent building at a magnificent training ground and everyone is working really hard to ensure we are in the best place possible for this season.” What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate Get the best Stoke City news and analysis straight to your Inbox courtesy of The Sentinel! To get it, it's a quick and easy one-two: