Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham says he will not abandon Oldham Athletic fans as they bid to save their football club following relegation from the Football League.
Oldham's problems have been well-documented in recent years, with fans unhappy at the ownership of Abdallah Lemsagam and his brother Mohamed, the club's sporting director. In the last 12-months, fans have stepped up protests against the Lemsagams, with on-pitch disruptions, boycotts, and planes flown overhead to keep up the pressure on the club.
After relegation from the EFL for the first time in the club's history was all-but confirmed in April as defeat to Salford loomed, hundreds stormed the pitch at Boundary Park with banners reading 'GET OUT OF OUR CLUB', with relegation later rubber stamped as the game was completed behind closed doors.
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Fans are now stepping up efforts to raise money to secure the long-term future of the club, with the club's Supporters Foundation launching a fundraising drive to try and raise £6m to potentially buy Boundary Park. Now, Burnham has given those efforts a boost by launching a new taskforce to give fans an active role in the future ownership of the club.
The idea of the taskforce is to bring together fan groups to help with a community share offer, where fans would be able to buy a stake in Oldham - or any other club.
The group, involving Co-operatives UK which is supported by Co-operative Bank, and the Football Supporters' Association (FSA) are calling for a number of reforms that would give fans more of a say in how their clubs are run, including giving them a right to invest meaning they are afforded the protection of company law as shareholders.
"I’ve had discussions with supporters groups who obviously are trying to do what they can to protect the club for the long term," Burnham told the Manchester Evening News .
"I’ve had a couple of meetings with them, it’s not just come out of the blue, it’s something we’ve been talking about. Why now? There’s some jeopardy regarding the club’s future, we all lived through the Bury experience and it was too far gone before everyone tried their best but it was so difficult.
"We’re trying to learn from that and come back with a plan that helps the supporters take a decisive stake in the club, thereby protecting Boundary Park and the club for the future and potentially create a model we can take elsewhere working with the FSA and Co-ooperatives UK.
"I'm not trying to push anyone in any direction. I’m simply facilitating and supporting the Oldham public and community who overwhelmingly want to see their club in the hands of the supporters."
Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK, added that the taskforce will allow supporters groups access and support to the expertise and financial help that would be needed if the opportunity to launch a bid for the club every arose.
"These deals are always done at the point of crisis which is never the time to do a deal," she explained, adding that the hope is for Oldham to be a national example of how a club can be successfully supporter-led.
"This isnt about anything other than organising, and getting the fanbase ready that should it be required we’ve got a structure that will enable a community share offer so that this is a possibility.
"It’ll be the Autumn we start inviting fans to start participating, which will be very much led by the FSA, they were instrumental in Bury, they set up FC United. This is a growing opportunity. In Greater Manchester, Wythenshawe FC was the last club we did this with and they put out a community share offer, wanted to become fan-led, sort drainage, put in a new stand. They raised £50k, Co-ops UK boosted that by 50k with our community shares booster, and it enabled all the actions they needed., We’re looking to do a similar thing in Autumn and will be led by the FSA and fan groups.
"Both Co-ops UK and the FSA are national bodies. Andy’s passion for football and supporters is brilliant for this task force to enable everyone in the UK to learn, but Co-ops UK have funding through the Hive and the Co-operative Bank, you need experts to create something like a community benefit society, you need expertise. Every situation is different.
"Now we’ve got devolved powers, how can we show other areas how to use these opportunities with things like the community share fund that Bury have used? This would be big money we’d need to organise, if some of it is public money we need to put structures in place to make sure that local economic and social impact is achieved. Communities like Oldham with a brilliant club at the heart of it, is such a big opportunity. If we cant make it work there I don’t know where we’d make it work."
There is an acceptance that Lemsagam or Oldham Athletic have every right not to engage with the taskforce, but Burnham says he feels that would present an opportunity for supporters.
Boundary Park is not owned by the club - a matter at the heart of an ongoing dispute with the landlords - while the club's newest stand, the Joe Royle Stand, houses the Oldham Event Centre which is owned by a third party. Oldham have decided not to open that North Stand for fixtures next season, citing safety concerns, as the disagreements over ownership continue.
"It sounds involved and messy, and it is to a degree, but it’s actually an opportunity because of the separation of ground and club," Burnham explains.
"I’ve dealt with many of these situations over the years. It’s when there’s not a separation between owner and ground where you have some difficulty. This situation actually gives the taskforce an opportunity to move in and help secure what’s most important to Oldham fans which is Boundary Park first and foremost. You’ve got to secure that before securing the club. It sounds messy but might not be as overwhelming as it looks.
"We can’t force any particular outcome, we’re just standing behind supporters and strengthening their arm and making sure they’ve got all the backup and tools they need. In this case it’s not necessarily the club owner, it’s the ground that’s the first important thing. You could take a step to secure Oldham Athletic by working through other parties. You’re not just negotiating with one person.
"It’s a step-by-step process, you can’t say this can be solved quickly and do a deal and it’s all magically solved. I don’t think this will be like that. This is not a short-lived endeavour, it’s about patient, long-term support. I want the taskforce to be a long-term thing, there and waiting and supporting people. You never know when that moment arises when you can move in and make something happen.
"I set up Supporters Direct as a national body, I see this as a Greater Manchester Supporters Direct, available to any club around the Football League, or non-league to see if they can promote supporter ownership to secure community benefit. It’s about learning from Bury, it was a crisis too far gone, we’re coming at it a different way and create a go-to place for any supporter in Greater Manchester who wants to do something before the storm clouds gather."
And making a promise to Oldham fans, Burnham vowed that his new taskforce will be there for the supporters for as long as it is needed - although there was one thing he joked was non-negotiable for the future: the return of Oldham's famed plastic pitch from the early 1990's during the club's 'glory years' under Joe Royle.
"We’ll do our best to bring back the glory days but I’m not bringing back that plastic pitch, I can tell you that!" he said. "I don’t think I’ll ever forget winter on that pitch, you’re not having that back!
"This will be a long-running thing. I know people might be cynical but there’s no promise of a quick fix. The only promise I can make is that we will be there for the long-haul. We will be there throughout and ready to help.
"That’s the promise, we can’t promise when something will happen or what it is, but we’ll be available to help as a taskforce all the way through the next few years as Oldham Athletic tries to navigate that and tries to secure its future."
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