Fans bid to protect stadium

Oldham Athletic new North stand

LATICS fans' organisation Trust Oldham has today made an application to Oldham Council to nominate Boundary Park (Sportsdirect.com Park) as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) under the Localism Act (2011).

A successful listing will mean, should the owners of the stadium propose to sell the ground, Trust Oldham and Oldham Council must first be notified.

Trust Oldham can then exercise a right to bid which would place a pause of up to six months on any sale to enable the Trust to put together a bid for the stadium.

Whilst there are protections in place regarding the use of SportsDirect.com Park, its listing as an ACV is seen as an important further step. It will mean that fans will be in the driving seat if there is ever a future decision to be made about a sale of the ground.

The application follows almost 10 months of work by Trust Oldham and extensive discussions with the current stadium landlords Brass Bank, who are said to be supportive of the application.

It is understood that this would be the first ACV in the borough of Oldham.

Oldham Athletic currently sit in the relegation places in League One and current owner Simon Corney has made no secret of the fact that he would sell the club if the right buyer came along.