Goal-den handshake!

SHAKE on it... Latics chairman Simon Corney, left, and council leader Jim McMahon

Latics and council on brink of £5m deal
LATICS and Oldham Council are on the brink of striking a deal worth over £5 million which will secure the future of the football club at Boundary Park for the next 40 years.

Cabinet last night approved a package which will see the club remain at its historic home, the Broadway Stand rebuilt, and the three remaining stands replaced within the next decade.

It will also see the Lancaster Club site in Failsworth bought by the council from Oldham Athletic, and potentially turned into a new sporting, leisure and retail development, and a £700,000 “one-off” grant from the council to allow Latics to continue its work in the community.

Council leader Jim McMahon and Latics chairman Simon Corney, hosted a joint press conference following the meeting to deliver the good news.

But they refused to be drawn on specific costs, saying they were commercially sensitive, and complex negotiations were at an advanced stage to finalise financial technical and legal matters.

Councillor McMahon spoke of the “vital importance” to Oldham in having a League One club, and said last night’s announcement signalled an end to a decade of uncertainty for the club and its fans.

He said: “The choice is pretty simple — keep it or lose it,” and he said if the club were allowed to go, Oldham would never get it back.

A report to Cabinet estimated the financial benefit to Oldham as the home of Latics as in the region of £1.3 million.

Mr Corney said: “We have agreed a 20-year lease with my two former partners, with an option for a further 20 years, and this has secured the future for the next 40 years.”

He added: “I will own the shares in the football club along with the trust. It is in good hands and for the first time I am confident in ploughing more money into the football club.”

The football club had been looking to sell up and move to a new 12,000 seater stadium in Failsworth.

The option was considered after initial plans to redevelop Boundary Park fell through, but 10 years on it is back to the original plan, one which Mr Corney said he was “very comfortable” with, and he hoped work would begin within a year.

Councillor McMahon said: “I am confident that this scheme gives the town value for money which reflects the vital support Oldham Athletic gives to our community and I believe it is the right deal for the club to build a foundation for the future.

Mr Corney commended the resolve of “Jim (Councillor McMahon) and his team,” to bring a conclusion to a long-running “difficult and frustrating process, saying: “It’s been a long time coming.”

He said: “We knew the football club needed a new stadium and facilities or it would be in danger of disappearing.

“I am comfortable with what has been agreed and looking forward to getting on with it.

“Eventually we would like to knock down the building, but the first thing is to rebuild the stand we knocked down three years ago. Another older stand needs knocking down, and I would hope all four stands will be rebuilt within seven to ten years.”

Refusing to talk money and a purchase price for the Lancaster Club, Councillor McMahon said the scheme was subject to independent valuation and a commercial process where final figures had yet to be resolved.

He said: “The vast majority of the money we are handing over is a commercial arrangement and there will be a minimal effect on the bottom line of council tax.”

Acknowledging the council’s finances had seen “better days” he said: “We still have money to invest in the things that are important to Oldham.

“As with all these things it’s a judgement, and our judgement is it is the right thing at the right time to secure the future of Latics in the borough.”

Last night’s announcement is the culmination of lengthy negotiations between the two parties, and the Labour leader said an end to a decade of uncertainty for the club and its fans had been achieved within 100 days of his party being in office.

He said he was delighted to have reached “an agreement in principal” to keep Latics in the borough, with an added benefit of kickstarting regeneration projects at both Boundary Park and the Lancaster Club.

And he said a further update would be given at the end of commercially sensitive negotiations, but only when both parties felt able to give details of the proposed next steps.