New stand £2m over budget

Oldham Athletic’s new stand: work in progress

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 TWO MILLION pounds over its original budget and with no finishing date set, Athletic remain determined to get every last detail of the new North Stand spot-on before it opens up to the public.

The cost has risen towards £6.5million from an original estimate of £4.5m. Weather delays caused problems and alterations are constantly being made to overcome problems made by rival clubs on similar structures.

But chairman Simon Corney hopes the extra revenue from the stand will to help to push Athletic’s spending power past that of the club’s near-rivals in the Sky Bet League One table.

But he says there is no dash to get everything in place for the coming 2014-15 campaign. And along with the extra costs comes the need to pay back creditors with cash from player sales.

“We lost six weeks in the winter,” said Corney. “That was nobody’s fault, it is just one of those things.

“We are pressing ahead but we take a patient, pragmatic view. We could rush it but that way, we would make mistakes. The main thing is it is there, it is visible and people can see it is happening.”

Work on the frame of the North Stand’s final bay is due to be finished soon, after drainage and block work on the ground floor have been completed.

Head of partnerships David Broadbent and commercial manager Jenny Warburton have been looking at existing similar structures at rival clubs so they could tweak fine details.

Broadbent said: “We have spoken to people at all sorts of places, not just football. There have been no specific tweaks as such, because we’ve got a blank canvas. We’ve learned a lot and some of our original ideas have been developed and amended, particularly around seat layout for the executive boxes and hospitality seating.”

Corney stressed that income from transfers — including the likely loss of Korey Smith — will help pay for an investment that will ultimately benefit the club for years to come.