This is an ambitious scheme!A multi-million pound stadium, which includes a Sport City. Leisure, banqueting and conference facilities. It has the support of Oldham Council, the people selling the land, the people buying the land, and Trust Oldham. Is it too good to be true?
It is certainly great. The site is four times larger than Oldham's current location, Boundary Park, and the proposed new stadium would have a 15, 000 to 20, 000 capacity for both Oldham Athletic and Oldham Roughyeds rugby club. As well as the stadium, the proposed "Sport City" would include an athletics track, tennis courts and cricket nets.
Oldham owners say that the local area lacks these sporting facilities. This area being the Ferney Field Farm site, near Broadway. The farm has been owned by John Blakeman and his family for the last 98 years. Mr Blakeman said that after discussions with his family they felt it was "time to move on. Although it will be sad to leave, the way the farm has been going means there isn't much future." Mr Blakeman added that he felt the plan sounded "good for the area".
There are, of course, some snags. It will cost a little bit of money. And the law is, naturally, another snag. Planning permission has to be granted to the new site yet. However, the agreement that Athletic have made can be terminated for any reason. So Latics won't pay millions for the site, only for that money to be wasted when planning permission isn't given to the land. Oldham co-owner Simon Blitz said that it may take two years to "go through all the different processes and actually build a new stadium." Also, Boundary Park could still be bulldozed and rebuilt if the scheme was rejected by the local council, though the Athletic director Ian Hill says that building a new stadium on the site is their "preferred option."
However, these snags should hopefully be minor ones. This is an ambitious scheme from our new(ish) co-owners, which would appear to show that they are committed to Latics for the long term. And it's supported by just about everyone you could name. Including me.