BOLD Chairman Bill Quinn has urged the Oldham public to get behind his ambitious bid to guide the club to Super League, saying: “I don’t want to be knocking on the door, I want to kick it down.”
The north-west businessman returned for a second spell at the helm as part of the group fronted by former player and coach and now club managing director Mike Ford, who took the club over in May 2023.
While Oldham Bears played in Super League in 1996 and 1997 before hitting the financial buffers, the current version of the club had yo-yoed between the second and third tiers, playing at a number of different grounds, some outside the town.
Now the Roughyeds are back at Boundary Park, sharing with Oldham Athletic, who have just won promotion back to the Football League, with Quinn eager to continue the Rugby League resurgence and so add to the sporting feelgood factor.
Against the background of an average league attendance at Boundary Park of around 1,750, he wants to win back supporters, explaining: “We have a great following of diehard fans who we really value and who are as desperate as us to be successful, but we need more.
“We need to top 3,000 on a regular basis and show this is a Rugby League as well as football town.
“From where we were when we came in, we have made real progress, building things off the field, coming up from League One, recruiting smartly in my view and challenging near the top of the Championship.
“I see Super League increasing to 14 clubs next year or the one after and our aim is to keep building the club and be in contention for a place. But we need people to back us as fans and volunteers.
“Everything else Mike and I can control, but not the number of people coming through the turnstiles, so let’s not give an excuse not to let us in.
“We’re setting a campaign of a journey to Super League for Oldham and I’d love a few thousand extra fans to back us on it.”