Boundary Park buy out

[deyres42]

4 minutes ago, wiseowl said:

This "Trust have a seat on the board" thing is tiresome. From the fans' persepective, it's a complete waste of time; always has been and always will be. In the past it has only helped to feed personal egos and assist self-serving personal agendas. I will never understand why the Trust do not relinquish their 3% shareholding (or get some decent money from AL for the 3%) and focus their energy where they can make a real difference for the fans. 

I'd wager most supporter trusts would give anything to have the level of involvement we (should) have.

[Dave_Og]

13 minutes ago, wiseowl said:

This "Trust have a seat on the board" thing is tiresome. From the fans' persepective, it's a complete waste of time; always has been and always will be. In the past it has only helped to feed personal egos and assist self-serving personal agendas. I will never understand why the Trust do not relinquish their 3% shareholding (or get some decent money from AL for the 3%) and focus their energy where they can make a real difference for the fans. 

In what universe do you think he would have any motivation to pay decent money for the shares? 

He'd have to be even more insane than we imagine. 

[kowenicki]

1 hour ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

As director will he not also be liable for what goes on at OAFC?

 

Liable how? 

[GlossopLatic]

5 minutes ago, kowenicki said:

 

Liable how? 

 

Im asking the question? What kind of responsibility or liability will he have as a director?

Edited July 18, 2019 by GlossopLatic

[kowenicki]

2 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Im asking the question? What kind of responsibility or liability will he have as a director?

 

To act as a director should. His financial liability is EXTREMELY limited unless he is guilty of grossly negligent or illegal behaviour. 

[HarryBosch]

1 hour ago, maddog said:

 

What about the residents of the apartments in the corner at Leyton Orient who stand in their balcony and watch the game? 

 

Exactly. It's more bollocks from the "can't sell booze in the Chaddy End" envelope.

 

I wonder if that baby,/toddler, has drank in sight of the pitch yet.....? 

[laticsmarra]

7 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

Its actually a criminal offence and can see the company directors brought to court. I'm not totally sure how long it is before criminal prosecution occurs but it will be interesting to see how this currently plays out.

Criminal prosection is not the route that Companies House take they usually apply to have the company struck off which is akin to liquidation

[singe]

3 hours ago, leeslover said:

When he came in he said he was focusing on getting the playing side right first, so I presume he hasn't given his full attention to the property side yet

Probably why he is late with the rent.

[OAFC1984]

2 hours ago, maddog said:

 

What about the residents of the apartments in the corner at Leyton Orient who stand in their balcony and watch the game? 

 

I assume they live there, arent paying wont need stewards or policing or a safety certificate which is currently in the clubs name only 

 

plus its a requirement to know attendance numbers for which the club use a turnstile counter - for a non OAFC entity to allow peope through the Nirth stand doors would need the clubs agreement.

 

now if they want to build a scaffold in the car park that’s another matter

Edited July 18, 2019 by OAFC1984

[Bristolatic]

1 hour ago, oafc1955 said:

At the last trust/fans meeting Darren seemed to be relishing the involvement of the FLG. It will be interesting to see if he carries his support for them into the boardroom and if he does what the reaction of AL & Co will be....

 

As he says it will be his first board meeting as the official trust representatives. If AL has a stroppy fit I have a feeling it could very well be his last he could be out on his ear within the first five minutes!!

FIFY

[yarddog73]

Take it Lemmy and Baz will be back in their old seats in the Main Stand for the foreseeable.

[singe]

21 hours ago, Kusunga_Is_God said:

I think it’s worth noting that Abdallah now has fans he has wooed with free tickets and a bit of inside information to be his propaganda arm. You’ve got Michael Halliwell and Stephen Partington running a 1.2k member strong facebook group endorsing Abdallah’s ideas to move the football team out of boundary park.

 

Over on other platforms Rhys Parsons and a few other of the young lads are being invited to club events to help spread that Abdallah is a good and fair owner.

 

What this man doing is disgusting and is not only conning the people who are blindly following him for a free meal ticket, but he is creating a very damaging divide within the fan base. 

If it was 1.2k (and I recall that figure myself) they are doing as g ood a job as the owner because they are down to 927 now.
About the same loss rate as the season tickets.

[unsworthlatic]

Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.

 

The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.

 

Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.

 

My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.

 

Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4^th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).

 

During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.

 

Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14^th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.

 

Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.

 

Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.

 

How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27^th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”

 

Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.

 

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!

 

How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!

 

However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.

 

What are everybody else’s thoughts?

 

Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.

[League one forever]

2 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:

Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.

 

The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.

 

Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.

 

My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.

 

Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4^th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).

 

During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.

 

Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14^th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.

 

Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.

 

Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.

 

How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27^th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”

 

Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.

 

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!

 

How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!

 

However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.

 

What are everybody else’s thoughts?

 

Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.

Good post. 

 

I think the most important/interesting part of that is, 

 

‘They can afford to buy the lot, but running at league 1/2 level would be tricky’

 

Which begs the question at what level could the FLG operate the football club at? An would fans be happy that while it is was all one club again, it’s in say the conference? 

 

Personally, I couldn’t care less what division we play in. The greater good of the club is far important than wether we play Bradford, or Solihull motors IMO. 

[Bristolatic]

4 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:

Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.

 

The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.

 

Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.

 

My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.

 

Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4^th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).

 

During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.

 

Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14^th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.

 

Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.

 

Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.

 

How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27^th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”

 

Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.

 

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!

 

How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!

 

However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.

 

What are everybody else’s thoughts?

 

Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.

Probably qualifies as post of the year. Well thought out, well considered and well written. If anyone is unsure about who wants or does what and why, I think it's all in there.

[boundaryblue80]

5 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

Mixed opinions on the piece due to the re-writing of the 2017/18 (Corney was potless, the OAFC accounts were frozen and AL was being begged to put money in even before he had bought OAFC. Only took over late Jan 2018...Corney was wholly to blame for the relegation season). Also no mention at all regarding the hidden debts off OAFC books that surfaced (LED perimeter boards, the pitch company that was unpaid etc), the Necarcu loan Corney was meant to pay that continued to hang over the club etc. which has totally hampered AL's plans from day 1. Nor that AL has intentions to sue Corney over it. Rightly so. Doesn't mean AL isn't an idiot for some of the things he has done. It does put greater context to why some decisions have been taken tho so I wouldn't class you piece as wholly balanced.

 

However...

 

The best point you raised in your piece is that I've quoted above....very very crucial this point. And whoever is part of the FLG will know this. You look over social media and all you hear is "smoke him out"...this is the plan. It's hostile. I pointed out the other day that there's too many now with their own vested interests. It won't end very well this.

 

Edited July 19, 2019 by boundaryblue80

[al_bro]

5 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:

Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.

 

The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.

 

Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.

 

My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.

 

Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4^th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).

 

During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.

 

Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14^th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.

 

Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.

 

Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.

 

How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27^th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”

 

Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.

 

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!

 

How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!

 

However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.

 

What are everybody else’s thoughts?

 

Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.

Well written, that must have taken ages.

 

The question is, would AL sell to the FLG, or would he throw his toys out and relocate elsewhere. I think, the way he has behaved so far, he would opt for the latter, and do everything possible to stop the FLG getting their hands on his team. 

 

What can be done to stop him I don't know, other than someone else coming along who he would be willing to sell to in order to cut his losses. 

 

It could get to the stage where BP is going to get very ugly this season if the results go against us, and AL will have to pay for added police cover.

[Gaz_Oafc]

I've no idea how he'd fund it, but wasn't there talk of AL looking at potential sites for relocation when he first arrived? (One being counthill iirc)

[Dave_Og]

8 minutes ago, Gaz_Oafc said:

I've no idea how he'd fund it, but wasn't there talk of AL looking at potential sites for relocation when he first arrived? (One being counthill iirc)

And people think Boundary Park can get a bit chilly! 

It's Baltic up there. 

[Lags]

Regardless how good, bad or indifferent someone runs a business, if that someone see's a hostile (in their opinion) move upon that business they will act in manner you would expect. Why is it seen as toys out of prams? I guess it depends on who's flavour of the month. Just as in Corney's era two parties taking or expecting a return out of one football club doesn't go, unless you're the world's biggest club where there's plenty to go round. I don't care who the one entity is that runs OAFC, but whilst this current set up prevails it will never work. 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Lags

[latics22]

We start winning, people wont be interested in the FLG. Big problem with the plan, they then plan to sell to someone who can take the club forward. Who is this knight in shining armour, that corney couldn't find? Admittedly a whole club is a more attractive proposition. 

[Dave_Og]

2 minutes ago, Lags said:

Regardless how good, bad or indifferent someone runs a business, if that someone see's a hostile (in their opinion) move upon that business they will act in manner you would expect. Why is it seen as toys out of prams? 

 

Because going public in that way is dismal. 'Purported'? Pathetic

[ghostofcecere]

7 hours ago, unsworthlatic said:

Okay, so after letting the dust settle and having quite a rant on twitter against one side in particular, I’ve decided to try, TRY and do a piece that is balanced and fair. Despite it being balanced though, it will show my opinion throughout as I do, as many others do, feel passionately regarding Oldham Athletic. So here goes.

 

The club inevitably was in major crisis following the Moore era back in 2003/04. The Three Amigos (“TTA”) came in and saved us…celebration Sunday was a great day against Grimsby and all of a sudden we had a future again. I’m sure they came in for their own benefit which would come off the back of the club benefitting. Not a problem in itself to me. The proposed move to Failsworth ultimately didn’t come to fruition and what happened thereafter has contributed massively where we find ourselves today.

 

Corney decided to sell the club, well, what I mean by club, is the badge, players and staff to the ‘right person’ in Abdallah. Again no issue. At this stage, anything was better surely than the club being starved and slowly being taken into oblivion. I did however question, why has he only bought the club as it is and not the rest of what the club should be (in my opinion, everything) and that still remains to today.

 

My theory – Abdallah believed in his players and the players that he could showcase in England. Not a problem. He brought a few, then more and more and more. If they are good enough, they can give us 6/12 months, help Oldham Athletic progress and move them on for a decent sum of money before doing this again. After all it’s a pool of players no other League One/Two club delve into. Not a bad business model in itself. This however, has not worked. We haven’t sold any of them on and to my recollection we have had 14 including the current crop.

 

Now, over the past 18 months, Abdallah has apparently tried to agree a price to purchase Boundary Park and the Car Park but stated that the asking price was too high in his opinion. I’d love to know what he offered. Since he came in 18 months/2 years ago, the club has gone backwards. Literally speaking too, suffering relegation back to the 4^th tier of English football for the first time since 1971, even Corney didn’t manage this (more by luck than judgement granted!).

 

During his tenure of 2 years as I believe he was pulling strings at the start of 2017/18 season whilst the sale was going through, we have had 5 different managers (6 if you include Banide) as well as staff being hired and fired at what seemed a weekly basis! Since then, we have seen a countless number of outcrys on social media regarding how poorly he treats his staff. This was clear with treatment of players such as Davies, Gerrard, Fane, Byrne, Hunt and seemingly in the end Peter Clarke as well as staff such at Steve Cross and Tony Philiskirk taking the club to an Employment Tribunal over the reasoning of their dismissals.

 

Abdallah, to my knowledge, still hasn’t published the accounts, season tickets are down by 800+ from last year and we limped to a pitiful 14^th placed finish in League Two during our first season in there. There is, to my knowledge, no finance option available anymore to purchase a season ticket (I have bought one in blind faith up front so not required for myself!) and we currently have 17 players which includes 2 first year pro’s, 2 players who didn’t go with the club to Morocco leaving us with the only striker at present being Urko Vera. Sadly, this is nothing short of laughable.

 

Now, onto the FLG. Do I think they provide all of the answers? No, I don’t sadly. Their intentions sound too good to be true. However, the club has and is being run in a shambolic manner, I can’t see how anybody can disagree. Now, I am aware of at least 1 person who is involved in the FLG and know that he is a staunch Latics fan who attends both home and away games. He loves the club just like you and I do. As I’ve stated before, I’ve been told by Pete Wild, who knows what both parties has to offer that FLG is the way to go and to support them in their quest.

 

Brings me on to my next point, what is their quest? – Well, I’ve been advised (this may well be incorrect, only going off what I have been told) that their quest is to bring Oldham Athletic from a broken football club back to ONE entity. This means its entirety including badge, pitch, stands, floodlights, car park, players and staff. This to me can only be a positive. I have also been told that they could very well afford to buy the lot but running the club to a L1/L2 level may be tricky. As such, I am of the understanding, that they would buy the ground first, acquiring the land before offering “x” amount for the club (part that AL) currently owns. At this stage, they would look to sell to a person/party that they believe could take Oldham Athletic forward. This person/party would then own the lot, everything, but surely that is a better prospect from a business point of view than owning this or that.

 

How long will this take? – Remains to be seen. However, the 27^th July event I am hoping will outline their intentions with a plan of how this will work and timescales to boot. Again, I was told by Wild, after the Northampton game “Support the FLG, they are good people who love the club. They have the club’s best intentions to heart. The next 18/24 months will be extremely tough but stick with it, they will and the club we all know and once fell in love with will return”

 

Now, this is where it has got/could get/will get tricky! AL is rattled by this. I would be too, if somebody threatened my business model. He is being asked to pay rent on a building that allows his business to function/live (shouldn’t be this way in the first place but it is) after deciding not to take up the option on acquiring the ground when offered it. As with any tenancy agreement, rent has to be paid. Has it been? Debatable. Some say yes, others say no. Who knows? But ask yourselves this, Why do the FLG exist? Do you believe they exist to make money on the back of Oldham Athletic Football Club despite being lifelong supporters? Do you believe that they are being unreasonable? I’m not sure I do.

 

The issue here is. Abdallah paying rent to have use of the North Stand. He doesn’t want to do this. Understandably so. Why? Because, he is then funding the next part of FLG’s plans. There is a purchase agreement in place to buy not only the North Stand but the ground, car park etc so why would he want to do that when the FLG’s initial plan is seemingly to buy the club at the end of all of this.

 

This could force an issue of Abdallah taking us away from Boundary Park. This suits absolutely nobody. The FLG will be left with a ground that nobody uses other than the North Stand hospitality etc. The fans lose out as we lose a major part of the club as we’d have to choose whether to watch Oldham Athletic at Spotland/Gigg Lane every other week and AL would have to pay rent to Bury/Rochdale to use this facility. Nobody wins!

 

How does this get resolved? I have absolutely no idea!

 

However, what I will say is that, I am glad that we have a FLG in place preparing for the worst. It is clear Bolton nor Bury had this and that very nearly and possibly should have cost them their respective clubs! They do care about the club, I am certain of that.

 

What are everybody else’s thoughts?

 

Sorry this is ridiculously long but there’s been a lot to cram in.

The bit I’ve highlighted was exactly what I was told in January by someone who I believe knows, or perhaps maybe even part of the FLG. Interesting your source has said the same thing

[Lags]

5 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

 

Because going public in that way is dismal. 'Purported'? Pathetic

 

I've seen full page ad's taken out in National newspapers before today by companies. Just the same thing. Would I blame someone reacting to a hostile bid? no I wouldn't. That is anyone or any company, before the vitriol starts.

[Dave_Og]

2 minutes ago, Lags said:

 

I've seen full page ad's taken out in National newspapers before today by companies. Just the same thing. Would I blame someone reacting to a hostile bid? no I wouldn't. That is anyone or any company, before the vitriol starts.

Yes, but saying what? 

It looked like it was written by a bitter person whose first language is English. Answers on a postcard.