Unhappy Quinn ready to sell up

OLDHAM Roughyeds’ chief benefactor Bill Quinn says he is ready to sell his majority shareholding - and he feels he is continually being left in the dark about important club matters.

Having been struck off as chairman of the club by the Rugby Football League - a verdict he claims to have known nothing of until reading about it in the Chronicle - Quinn says he has no intention of taking back his place as a club director until a number of “issues” are ironed out.

These include the circumstances surrounding the sacking of club captain Robert Roberts, the staving off of an Inland Revenue winding-up order thanks to a personal payment believed to total £55,000 and a perceived lack of support for the club from the people of Oldham.

While Quinn denies that his relationship with chief executive Chris Hamilton has broken down, he is seeking urgent talks with the Roughyeds’ sole remaining board member.

“The reason I haven’t signed back on as a director is that there are a number of issues to be sorted out and I will be talking with Chris to find a way of resolving them,” said Quinn, who originally cited an administrative error as the reason for his stepping down from the board in May.

“On the ruling about me not being chairman, the RFL have never spoken to me about it and Chris has had a couple of meetings with them recently yet has never spoken to me about it either.

“And when Two Bobs (Roberts) was sacked from the club, I again had to read about it. I wasn’t told about it first - and in no way was I involved in disciplining or sacking him.

“Recently there was a tax bill to pay — and I wasn’t happy about it — but I showed my commitment to the club by paying it off.

“Yet again I was forced to pump money into the club, which shows that it cannot survive in its present form.

“In the time I have been here, it is only me that has put money into the club. Nobody else has.

“This is among the issues that need to be addressed, as is the lack of support from the people of the town.”

Quinn, who has a 75-per-cent shareholding in the club, admitted he was prepared to sell up given the right offer.

“I have always said that I only ever came here to help. I never came in to run the club. Chris Hamilton does that on a day-to-day basis.

“There are lots of things going on that I can’t divulge, but nobody else would have put up with what I have had to over the past six to eight months.

“I came to provide some financial input - but that has been 100-per-cent of the total going into the club.

“If someone came in who could push the club forward, I would sell. I showed by paying off the Inland Revenue bill that all I want is the best for the club.

“If I wanted to run the club, I would do. But I don’t.”