The under-20 side from England's century-old club will begin their campaign today when they meet local giants Mohammedan Sporting Club t the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

They will face the Bangladesh U-23s in Sylhet on May 10 and return to Dhaka for the last match against Abahani on May 12.

The two matches to be held in the capital will be telecast live by satellite channel ATN Bangla.

Apart from playing, the Latics will also be involved in promotional work with local players. It is likely that a number of Bangladeshi youngsters would be selected to visit the UK for further intensive training at a future date.

The club's CEO Alan Hardy informed at a press conference at BFF Bhaban yesterday afternoon that they have brought a number of coaches among the 18 officials.

The coaches will work with players to test their skill as well as local coaches to exchange modern technique. The programme will be held at BKSP tomorrow.

Players with satisfactory skills could well be trained at the Oldham Academy.

Although team captain Mike Pearson expressed his worries about the weather, coach Tony Philliskirk was confident that the local conditions would not reduce the team's performance.

"My players are professionals. Professionals are built for all conditions, so the heat won't be a problem," said Philliskirk.

He also said that six of his players have already played for the Latics senior team in the Coca Cola League 1, the third highest ranked league in England after Premiership and the Championship.

"It would be a valuable experience for the boys to play in these difficult conditions," told the coach adding that goalkeeper Ryan Smith has made most appearances for the senior side among the party to comer here.

"We will play positive football against Bangladesh," said captain Pearson, a central defender.

He said that they are looking forward to win all three friendly matches they and have a fair chance to do that as they have some talented booters.

"But the local weather is very hot, which may create some bad impact on our performance," said Pearson who admitted that he and his teammates were completely in the dark about Bangladesh football.

With most of the Bangladesh Football Federation out of town to join the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Kuala Lumpur, the federation held a rather poor show in arranging the press conference. BFF senior vice president Monir Ahmed was present.

Oldham, who crashed 2-0 to Championship (First Division) side Wolves in the FA Cup third round this year, were part of the inaugural Premiership season in 1992-93 and avoided relegation after winning a 4-3 thriller against Southampton in the last game. Eventually, the club whose home is Boundary Park within close vicinity of Old Trafford and Manchester City's new stadium City of Manchester were relegated in 1994-95.

Formerly known as Pine Villa FC, they started their journey as Oldham Athletic in 1899 and joined the Football League in 1907-08.

Oldham have never won a major trophy, but reached the League Cup final in 1990 (losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest), finished league runners-up in 1915, and were FA Cup semifinalists in 1913 (losing to Aston Villa), 1990 and 1994 (losing both times to eventual winners Manchester United).

The tour is being supported by Royal Bengal Airlines, Shamoli Lifestyle, Dhaka Regency, Millon restaurant, Blue Tiffin restaurant, Shireen restaurant, Blue Ocean restaurant, Balti Taste, The Better Gym, Tricon Product Sourcing, G10 Design and Print and Marlboro Express.