Baxter - 'It's great to be back'

Jose Baxter is determined to get the football ‘bug’ back, and that’s got to be good news for Athletic fans.

Returning hero Baxter officially signed a one-year deal today, almost five years since his last appearance for the Boundary Park outfit.

Baxter has had his well-documented off-field problems since, but after spending last season involved with Everton’s under-21s set-up, he is now raring to go ahead of the forthcoming Sky Bet League Two campaign.

“It’s great to be back,” said Baxter, who scored 15 goals for Athletic during the 2012/13 season.

“Once I heard there was interest, and given how much I enjoyed my previous time here, it was a no-brainer really.

“I had a special bond with the fans, and I did play some good football when I was here.

“I want to get the bug back, I want to get back out there and play week in, week out. I do feel as though I’ve got a point to prove.

“It was great of Everton to get me back in among the football environment again for 12 months, and I am still only 26.

“I’ve got a good few footballing years ahead of me yet.”

Despite Athletic’s heart-breaking final-day relegation from League One in May, Baxter reckons the club can now move swiftly forward under an enthusiastic and still relatively raw management team.

“We’ve got a young, hungry chairman who wants success and a hungry young manager,” added Baxter (pictured, below, in action for Athletic in 2013).

“He’s a winner.

“Everyone here is working from the same page, and that’s to get the club back into League One.

“The manager has told me he wants to get the club back into League One where it belongs, and he is very ambitious. He was like that as a player.

“I think he’s taken that quality into his management career. He wants the best, and I believe he’ll get it.

“Sometimes in life in general, a step backwards can be a good thing.

“It’s a chance for a clean start, for the fans too. It’s a chance to wipe the slate clean and really go for it.

“The target is to get Oldham back into League One, however we can do it.

“It doesn’t matter if I get two goals or 30, it’s about the team and getting promotion.”

Baxter admits it’s been a tough spell out of the limelight lately.

On May 16, 2015, he was suspended by his then club Sheffield United after failing a drugs test. 

In July, 2015, the FA handed him a five-month suspension (three of which suspended) for testing positive for ecstasy, which he claimed was ingested in a spiked drink.

He was suspended by the Blades again in February 2016, before being released in May of that year.

“It’s been difficult, but I’ve had good people around me and that’s made things easier,” said Baxter.

“It’s time to wipe that now, forget about it and just move forward.

“I’m more hungrier than ever now, due to being out of the game for so long.”