The former winger, who played for Latics for 18 months from January 2021, came back to Boundary Park towards the end of his playing days as he looked to embark on a career in coaching.

Adams was initially involved with the youth team but worked his way up to become part of Micky Mellon's backroom staff, as the first team homed in on promotion from the National League.

He left just days after Latics earned their place back in the Football League with a Wembley play-off final win to take up a first team coaching role at Wigan Athletic with Ryan Lowe.

But Adams left the League One club soon after Lowe's dismissal in February, and after a spell on the coaching staff at Radcliffe - including taking interim charge before the appointment of Grant Shenton in early October - the 40-year-old has returned to OL1.

And he could not be happier about it.

"It's good to be back. Really good to be back.

"I was so pleased - over the moon - because I've got so many good relationships with people at the club. Everyone welcomed me straight away," he told The Oldham Times.

"Obviously when I left the club (in the summer of 2025) everyone wished me all the best.

"I got the opportunity to go and coach in League One. Micky was unbelievable. He said 'we don't want you to leave but for your own development do it, go and learn'.

"I left on such a high, you can't get much higher than winning at Wembley.

"It was an amazing day for the football club and it was such a high, and then everything happened so quickly for me.

"But to come back was a real no brainer."

Adams added: "I can't thank Micky enough for how he's been with me.

"In hindsight I shouldn't have left, but hindsight's a wonderful thing isn't it?

"I've said that to Micky and all the staff. Sometimes you have to go somewhere to learn, and learn from your mistakes at times. I feel like it's made me a better coach from those experiences.

"But I'm just glad to be back in a really familiar setting, the club's in a wonderful place on and off the field, so I think it's the right time for me to come back and give everything I've got for the football club in terms of the coaching.

"You look at all the new facilities, everything that's going on in and around the ground, I think there's a real positive energy around the place."

Adams' role will be a mixture of working with the Academy and the first team in a developmental capacity.

"I've done bits with the first team in the day and then coming and overseeing the Academy in the evening, it's the perfect role for me. I get to see everyone involved in the club and both sides of it really.

"It's long days but I'm a young coach and I want to work hard at my job and just be the best I can be.

"I think everyone knows what I was as a player, I am as a coach, which is nothing but hard work and give everything I've got.

"I'll be doing a bit of everything, wherever and whatever's needed I'll be doing, helping out with the young lads and there for midweek games and as many Saturdays as we can, and we'll just go from there and do whatever I can do for the football club.

"I've had some great experiences, ones that I think have really made me a better coach in this last 12-18 months. But now I'm back at Oldham Athletic, I think it's about stability, being at a place I know well, I've got a good rapport with everyone at the football club and somewhere I can build myself as a coach."