Owners still committed to success

Athletic's owners have reassured the public of Oldham that they are still committed as they ever were to Athletic. With the redevelopment of Boundary Park on hold due to the economic crisis, chairman Simon Blitz told the Oldham Chronicle, "We are here for the long term and determined 100-per-cent to see it through, but we have to wait for the right time as the whole world is on hold at the moment so far as such developments are concerned. We are in the same boat as everybody else, and I hope the fans understand that. We don't have a magic wand and we have to wait until credit loosens up and banks start to talk to people again."

"I think you will find that a lot of budgets across the leagues will be reviewed. If we are still in this division and season-ticket sales are down we will cut our cloth accordingly. We are determined the club will stand on its own two feet. We are looking to be as near to being self-financing as early as we can, possibly by next season. We are healthy financially and are not carrying a lot of long-term debt."

"We suffer in that we have lower gates than we should have considering the position we are in. We can moan until we are blue in the face, but the fans who come week in, week out are the ones we appreciate."