It has been revealed that Oldham Athletic are in negotiations to make Boundary Park, their home for over a century, their permanet home. In a surprise move, Oldham Council are rumoured to be in the stages of offering the club a total of £5.7m to redevelop the crumbling ground. If the move comes off it will scupper all the rumours that “it is Failsworth or nothing,” and would finally end any plans to move to another park or even move the club out of the Borough.
A crucial meeting will take place on Monday when it is hoped that the plans will be rubber-stamped and the cash injection will be used to build a new north stand. Council leader Jim McMahon said, “We don’t want the club to leave the town on our watch. This mess has been going on for 10 years. It’s now down to Oldham Athletic to make this a success. We wanted to keep the club in the town and we have done that.”
The club have already spent around £5m acquiring land in Failsworth to prepare for a move that was destined to failure after the Charity Commission ruled a stadium could not be built on the site because of a covenant dating back to the First World War. The deal will include the council buying the Lancaster Club from the Latics. Oldham Athletic officials are remaining tight lipped after the verbal agreement and some scepticism remains due to previous delings with the Council.
McMahon continued, “We have been working hard since regarding control of Oldham Council to resolve the long running saga of Oldham Athletic. The deal reached will give the council an asset we can develop and allow the club to redevelop Boundary Park. We made this a priority. We have been impressed at the dedication shown to the club by Simon Corney and we are hopeful a new stand complete with conferencing and other commercial activity will secure the long term future of Oldham Athletic for the town. It is vital that fans and the people of Oldham rally behind the club, this is an important part of the social fabric of our borough and we have done what we believe is the right thing for the borough.”