Oldham Athletic owner and chairman, Frank Rothwell, has told BBC Breakfast that he needed the supporters in his mission to save the club.
The Oldham businessman bought the club at the end of the season in July 2022, after it fell into financial turmoil under the ownership of Abdallah Lemsagam and the club was threatening to go out of existence altogether.
The club became the first former Premier League team to be relegated from the English Football League when they moved down to the National League in 2022.
However, three years after Frank’s takeover, in partnership with his wife, Judith and their two children, Luke and Susan, the team managed to win the play-off final at Wembley on June 1 and will return to League Two next season.
This morning (June 3), Frank spoke to BBC Breakfast’s Sally Nugent and Jon Kay about all things Latics, following the club’s promotion party last night (June 2).
The 74-year-old opened up on how he pulled off the rescue of Latics, saying that the club needed the supporters.
He told presenter Jon Kay that he ‘had to correct him’ on labelling those who follow the club as fans.
He said: “We don’t have any football fans in Oldham.
“What the Rothwell family are, we are supporting Oldham Athletic Football Club.
“And we can’t do that without other supporters.
“Whether it’s the council, Oldham Council has been absolutely fantastic with us, or the government.
“But also, the people who come to watch Oldham Athletic and buy a season ticket.
“They are supporters, they’re not fans, fans are fickle people.
“Supporters stay with the club forever and I’d like to thank them.”
Frank then looked to the camera and said: “Thank you very much to the supporters.”
On the key steps he needed to meet to ensure the club’s success, Frank said he ‘knew nothing’.
He said: “I’m a businessman, I know nothing about football.
“But there are three elements to business; first of all, when you start a business or you buy a business, you have to survive.
“Survive that first year, once you’ve survived your first year, you’ve got to consolidate your position.
“Get yourself strong and ready to move on, and once you’re in a consolidated position and you’re strong, you can then look for expansion.
“And in football, expansion is getting promoted, and that’s what we’ve done, we did it in three years.
“Absolutely fantastic.”
He’s also confident for the club’s time in League Two and said they are ‘stronger than most clubs’.
He said: “I think we are stronger than most clubs in division two, because it’s really hard to get out of the National League.
“There are only two teams that get promoted from the National League up into division two, whereas all the other divisions have three up.”
Leave a Reply