Championship club slash wage bill after major overspending claim

Oldham chairman Bill Quinn has admitted the club will be scaling back on its player spend, revealing the club has been paying ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds more’ than they should have.

The Roughyeds have seen senior signings like Jack Ormondroyd and Matty Russell leave in recent weeks, with Quinn admitting that there is a need to bring down spend to make the club sustainable.

In a 19-minute video posted on the club’s social media channels, Quinn covered a variety of topics, from the club’s ongoing issues with Boundary Park to plans for the squad.

“First of all, you will see players going out on loan, players coming. What you all need to understand and I tried to put you right, the RFL are aware of it, a lot of people out there are aware of it, Oldham has been spending money over the last few years and that’s the reason why there’s a cap coming in because of your likes of Featherstone, and Halifax and Salford overspending, and I agree with it 100%.

“We were supposed to have a year of consolidation this year and instead what we’ve done is gone and signed players at huge amounts of money but what I wasn’t aware of is some of these, you finish in the top 10 you get a bonus, you get so much an appearance, all these other things added on which I wasn’t aware of.

“Because it was handled by somebody else at the club who’s no longer here and the bottom line is that the club has been put into a position financially which has been very, very difficult to deal with and it was done in a manner that was to make Bill Quinn walk away and same with the Oldham Athletic situation, it was also done and I have the evidence that Bill Quinn will walk away if you put the pressure on him.

“So what Bill Quinn did was Bill Quinn went and found another ground for us and I know that doesn’t suit a lot of people but you either want a team and you want rugby or you end up being a Featherstone or somebody else and the bottom line is I’m here to make sure that this club stays and this club is viable and this club goes forward. So the positive is that I am here, I’m working hard with the team of people that’s here.

We now have got a huge situation on our hands where there’s a value that we’ve got that we should have played for the players and we’ve paid hundreds of thousands of pounds more. So yes I’m looking at things, I’m trying to make it stack up because that’s what the RFL have required me to do and it’s called good business. So you may see a top end earning player going on loan or going down the road and so far I think we’ve done some very good business because we’ve had players here this last couple of years that have never even played a game for us but it’s cost us money.”

Quinn continued: “In fact three months ago we could have been doomed but I’ve stuck in there and I’ve put a lot of money in and the difference is that I’ve been putting money into this club and the person that’s been spending it has never put a penny in. In fact we’ve uncovered numerous things where money’s been going out and where things have been done and the bottom line is I now have to and want to stop going on about all that and what’s gone on and what I want to do is focus on the future and what is the future?”

Addressing the club’s Super Leagu ambitions, Quinn insisted that can be achieved at Bower Fold, which is based in Stalybridge.

“If we want Super League, well we can still have Super League at Bower Fold because we’ve only got to make some changes. Some of the changes we’d have to make at Boundary Park for Super League.

“I’m already looking at getting another 75 car parking spaces at the back of Bower Fold to make it better for our fans. There’s lots of things that could be done. Will we end up back at Boundary Park? Who knows that’s in the hands of the lawyers.

“At the end of the day we have had to instigate lawyers because we were getting stonewalled and there’s a lot of things that will come out and will prove and I want everything to come out because I’ve got nothing to hide. I want the full story to come out what’s gone on at Boundary Park and it isn’t what you think but the bottom line is we are where we are.

What I need is I need the backing from the town I need the backing from people. Now when we were at Boundary Park last season we only got 1,400 not at least now when we’re at Bower Fold we’re saving a lot of money on the Boundary Park situation. We talked about Super League so much nobody knows even Super League don’t even know what’s going on these days.”

Quinn ended by confirming the club’s plans to produce homegrown talent. “Now for me going forward I am going to announce to you that in 2027 we are going for an academy licence because in 2027 and there on in I want to see Oldham-born and bred players playing for their hometown.”