14 years of hurt

[roughyedspud]

http://www.roughyeds.co.uk/latest-news/roughyeds’-future-secured-within-the-borough/

Oldham Council and Oldham Rugby League Club are set to conclude a groundbreaking deal to confirm the club’s future in the Borough.

Jim McMahon, Council Leader, and Chris Hamilton, Club Chairman, met this week for talks about the Championship One outfit’s home at Whitebank Stadium.

The negotiations followed the completion of a complex deal between Oldham Council and two landowners at the Limehurst Village venue to bring together two parcels of land. The Local Authority has now:

Acquired the Freehold interest in 4.85 acres of land owned by Molson Coors Brewery Company (UK) Limited;
Sealed agreement to lease the adjacent 2.28 acres of land owned by Enville Estate.
A formal legal agreement will now be signed between the Council and the club within days which confirms a long-term lease on the site.
Jim McMahon, Council Leader, said: “Our discussions with Chris Hamilton were extremely positive and we are delighted to have been able to reach agreement on the way forward.”

“As with the recent talks with Oldham Athletic it was vital for us to be able to find a solution to what has been a long-running problem that has held back this club’s development for around 14 years.

“The Council has had an agreement in principle with the club for some time about Whitebank but that was always dependent on the success of these complex legal negotiations about the site.

“Now that these have been concluded we are happy to commit to a more formal partnership agreement with the club – and one which will be key to their future.

“This deal not only gives the Roughyeds security of tenure – and ensures they stay within the Borough – but also enables them to look ahead with renewed optimism.

“The club can now potentially access grant funding from the Rugby Football League to progress plans to develop the stadium, for example, and also focus on proposals to expand their fan base and income sources with greater confidence.”

Chris Hamilton, Oldham Roughyeds’ Chairman, said: “We are naturally pleased that the conclusion of this deal is now in sight.”

“The problems the club has endured since its formation in 1997 have been documented on many occasions, so to have secured the long-term future of the club in the town is an achievement of which I am personally very proud.

“It is also one which will give the club renewed vigour to take forward into the future.

“The fans who have remained loyal to the club since 1997 have played their part by demonstrating that they were not prepared to allow the club to wither and die, and I thank them for that.

“We are also grateful to Oldham Council for their help and assistance in this matter and we are looking forward to working closely with them on a number of projects involving the ground as we move forward into a new era.”

7.13 glorious acres :crazy:

 

[langpark]

Wow! Spud I hope you had a fresh box of tissues ready whilst reading that one

Great news...

 

[roughyedspud]

using google earth a few of us oldham fans reckon 7.13acres represents roughly all the area within the red line

and this is what could be achieved

a small community stadium,a community astro turf pitch with changing facilities..we could even get the NHS involved and put a doctors surgery on the site.....all of which will benefit the local community,which for those that are'nt aware of that part of oldham, limehurst & limeside is quite deprived,its almost 100% social housing, lots of bored kids running round the street,i know this as my cousins lived there and i spent many a summer down there....a big community facility like that would do wonders for the place imo

 

[WireMan]

Looks good. Its very nice of the council to put some money into improving the area. ;-)


Looking at those plans i'd replace the plastic pitch with a few smaller 5 a side ones, and expand the small stand at the bottom to include changing areas for those pitches. These then get hired out to the community to make some money. You could also incorporate a fitness centre into it as there looks like some good space there. Maybe a gym, Beauty (Sauna etc.) and a community hall. Basically instead of two seperate buildings like you have there, make one big one. Crowd access into the stand won't be to difficult as it will be a small end so the turnstyles can go at the side with a walk way round the back.

This along with a NHS drop in centre will really help it become a hub for redeveloping the area and have good year round usage to make the the rugby and football club some money.

 

[nadera78]

Don't they owe you a ground from 1997?

 

[roughyedspud]

yep....from 1995 actually......when we went bust in 1996 was pretty much all super league debt...which was some going lol


in 1995 we sold watershedding to the council with the understanding the council would build us a new stadium...the thing is we,ORLFC,had already arranged to sell the watershedding site to a property developer for £3-4+million...which at the time would have cleared our debt and bought us somewhere new to start again....but the council said "hang on, sell the land to us,to clear your debts and we'll build you a new stadium.....so we sold the land to the council for around £1.something million...to clear our debts and then waited for the council to build our new stadium...our beloved council then sold on watersheddings to the same property developer the club was originally going to sell the site too for around £4m.....making a huge profit....and f**ked ORLFC off telling us to just stay at boundary park..costing us £100,000's...what you've gotta understand about watersheddings is it was the site was absolutely huge....it comprised of the actual stadium,a greyhound track,training pitch and a huge car park with a social club in the middle of it...it was probably the biggest RL complex in the country....and it was squandered

over the last 10 or so years our council has screwed over sport in oldham..when it used to have a huge influence in the whole country...in just the last 10-15 years we had 3 players in the england RL team,sinfield,bridge,eastmond at the same time....not to mention the likes of scully,barrie mac,chris joynt etc...every single club in super league has done well out of oldham.........then theres paul scholes and david platt in football.....and michael atherton the england cricket captain....all oldhamers....and our council forgets all that and drives the towns sporting facilites into the ground......oldham used to be known for producing sports starts and actors...that was our thing...and the council chose to negligent it


the annoying thing is over the last 6-7 years our council bought bounday park off oldham athletic for £4.5m to save latics from folding....then the council sold boundary park back to latics for £4.5m...effectively a interest free loan....and they found another £5m+ last month to bail latics out again .....thats £10m+ they've found for latics in less than 10 years....and we've had f**k all


its actually guilt thats forced the council into finally resolving our issue....if only they could find another £5m and we could achieve the plans i've outlined above...thats all it would cost