After recent stories of administration, Push the Boundary have sent the following letter to the club:
Following the news of the Winding Up Petition being issued , reports of wages being paid late and a notice of application to the court to appoint administrators issued, we have today emailed the club and the content can be viewed on our website in the interest of being totally transparent. We acknowledge this will be a testing period and will no doubt result in troubling times ahead but there is an opportunity to rebuild should the administration process take place. We will be contacting the EFL and FSA to raise our urgent concerns.
Email:
Good Evening Natalie/Richard,
Once again we are writing to express our deepest concerns and extreme disgust at the events that have unfolded over the course of today.
Winding Up Petition:
We are faced with another winding up petition, reported to be in excess of £70,000 and published in the Gazette this morning. Although, we have received these in the past and raised concerns both in our meeting regarding the club’s financial position, supporters were told by the Finance Director Shahed Alam, in no uncertain terms, at a recent Q&A:
“Oldham Athletic would never appear in the Gazette again”
We find ourselves here yet again, less than 2 months after fans being “reassured”. This is abhorrent, it shows a clear lack of respect towards the ever dwindling support of our beloved Latics and shows once more how the current regime is continuously treating its supporters with contempt. Sadly, once more, the warning signs have been apparent for a number of months now and with season ticket sales projected to fall even further, it is clear to see that supporters are rapidly losing any faith in the current regime to reverse the worrying trend that Oldham Athletic is in. This is quite simply not good enough and raises the question ‘why should we support this regime?’
Reports of Late Wages:
We have seen reports from both Mike Keegan and BBC RM Sport that “staff and players at Oldham have been told payments of this month’s wages could be up to a week late”. Once again, this is appalling and we express not only our disgust at this story being reported but the disappointment and concern of the impact it could have on the staff and players currently at the club.
Lack of wages or late payment of wages could/will impact both players and staff at Oldham Athletic and we implore this to be sorted as a matter of urgency. The staff there don’t earn ridiculous amounts of money and players are playing at League Two level and as such late payments may have an impact on their personal lives as we have seen in the recent past at both Macclesfield Town and Bury Football Club.
Notice of application:
We have tonight seen reports in the press that an application to appoint administrators has been submitted by Brassbank. This is utterly devastating for the supporters of this club and there has to be someone who takes responsibility for this within the club. Goading a landlord to put us into administration, not paying rent and a refusal to engage in talks regarding the North Stand have left us in a powerless situation.
Once more, we have been reassured, verbally not evidentially, that our club is not in danger of immediate collapse yet today’s events are not consistent in the words spoken in both Q&A’s and our meeting with Mr Abdallah Lemsagam.
Shahed has rejected the chance of Push The Boundary and Kieran Maguire viewing the accounts, maybe we are now starting to see the reason behind this.
We are no longer interested in explanations, excuses or talks, we have wanted action and evidence for far too long, something to show that you are fit to take this club forward. We have requested this in every discussion we have undertaken with yourselves and still nothing seems to have changed. It is not just supporters who are affected, it is the staff also. The club can no longer continue to operate in this way. We feel the current ownership leading us into our 125th year is a step too far.
This is our club and will not be taken away by custodians.
PTB