New £20 million stadium a possibility

Last updated : 09 September 2004 By Dave Moore

Athletic are in the process of drawing up plans for a new £20 million stadium. The development would include at least 20,000 seats with shared facilities between the Latics, Oldham Roughyeds and the community. Higher crowds and off field activities must increase before the ambitious plans will begin. If the existing site is chosen the existing ground would be bulldozed which would mean that the Latics will be without a stadium for for up to 18 months.

Simon Corney said, “There's no timescale at present and obviously we would need planning permission, but we got a very positive response to the ideas we put forward. This is an ambitious scheme, but the town of Oldham deserves a new, exciting facility and is plenty big enough to warrant one. When Latics fans watch the team at places like Hull, Huddersfield or Wigan (all with fantastic stadiums) they must look around and ask, 'Why can't we have something like this?' That's what we want to provide here. It pains me to say it, but the current Boundary Park isn't the most inviting of places.”

“We're talking about a lot of money, but other towns have gone down the same road with great success. As owners of Oldham Athletic, myself, Simon and Danny would make a significant contribution of our own. And we would then look for private partners, plus any other funding to help make it viable. We know it would be inconvenient if we had to relocate for a while, but hopefully fans of both football and rugby will see the long-term view. We've got to be realistic at all times, but the ideal would be to have higher-division football, Super League rugby and a great venue to play them in.”