Owner Frank has put the Latics back on right road

EFL return is ‘dream’ next step

By Tony Bugby

FRANK Rothwell’s two previous visits to Wembley to watch Oldham Athletic were on supporters’ coaches run from his local pub.

It will be far removed for Rothwell, now the club owner, as he and his wife Judith, son Luke and daughter Su journey to London for the National League play-off final.

Rothwell, 74, and his wife often travel to away matches on his Grinall R3T, an iconic three-wheel motorcycle, but won’t be doing for Sunday’s match.

“Will I hell? I will be in no fit state to come back on it! I will be going down on the players’ coach,” declared Rothwell, who saved the club from extinction with his £13m takeover in July 2022.

And instead of being just a rank-and-file supporter, Rothwell will take in the action from the Royal Box where he will view a sea of blue and white from 21,000 supporters.

He said: “It is going to be emotional. Everyone there will have the same will, same want, same dream.

“It is going to be absolutely fantastic, especially as we haven’t won anything for 34 years.”

It was almost three years ago that the colourful and charis-matic Rothwell, a world record holder as the oldest person to row solo across the 3,000 mile Atlantic having done so twice aged 70 and 73 and raising around £1.5m for Alzheimers Research UK, bought the football club.

ON-SONG: Mike Fondop celebrates in Oldham’s play-off Eliminator win against FC Halifax and delighted owner Frank Rothwell

Extinction

“When we took over the club it was on the verge of extinction, within minutes of going the same way as Bury and Macclesfield,” explained Rothwell, who in 1979 founded Manchester Cabins, a business which today has an annual turnover of between £15-£20m, a phenomenal achievement for somebody who left school aged 14 with no qualifications.

Buying the football club was a complex operation negotiating with the controversial Abdallah Lemsagam, who owned the debt-ridden football club, and Simon Blitz, the owner of the ground and surrounding land.

“If it were not for Simon Blitz and his attitude, I don’t think there would be a club,” he said.

Son Luke carried out complex negotiations with Lemsagam which he revealed were ‘very difficult’ before a deal was struck.

“The football club had massive debts, and we had to make sure those debts were satisfied when we bought it,” he continued.

For Rothwell, who had only previously paid at the gate to watch Latics, it represented a huge investment.

It was his commitment to the town that he wasn’t prepared to let the football club die as it is a huge part of the community.

“Oldham is special, somewhere I have lived all my life. My children were born 200 yards away at the hospital (Royal Oldham Hospital),” he explained.

Learning curve

Rothwell added it has been a steep learning curve, though he does not interfere with football matters.

He said: “It is not like a business where you can change things. You cannot do that at a football club where a lot is down to luck and what other people do.

“You see Premier League clubs getting beaten by lower teams.”

Three years on and Latics are one game from being promoted back to the EFL which has been the immediate goal.

Rothwell praised manager Micky Mellon for his part in transforming fortunes on the pitch.

He said: “Micky has put together a fantastic team and got us to Wembley. In our two playoff games, we beat Halifax 4-0then went away to York, who finished miles ahead of us in the league, and won 3-0.

“How disappointed they must be by that spanking as they fancied their chances.”

Rothwell is aiming high and maintains Latics can continue to rise.

“I believe Oldham can sustain a club that is at the top of League One or bottom half of the Championship, maybe more,” he said.