BILL QUINN has said that he will step aside as Oldham chairman while the conflict over Boundary Park continues.
The Championship club are currently not playing at their home stadium due to a contractual dispute with landlords Oldham Athletic FC.
Quinn has been banned from that ground for twelve months over unspecified allegations by the football club which the chairman has denied.
The two sports clubs are set to go to mediation over their disagreement, in which both claim the other owes money.
And Quinn is now promising to step aside from that process, in order to deal with his own dispute with Oldham Athletic over what he has called an “unenforceable” ban.
Providing an update to supporters on Tuesday evening, Quinn said: “Yesterday (Monday) one of our directors had a meeting with Oldham Athletic directors, and in his words it was a complete waste of time.
“They even brought out more allegations against me which are totally unfounded and untrue.
“It’s now having to go to litigation. We have done everything over the last two-and-a-half months to put this right. Our lawyers will now deal with it.
“I will be stepping to one side, and that will give me the opportunity to take legal action against Oldham Athletic, and for the club to focus on getting back to Boundary Park, adhering to the agreement that is in place.
“They say we owe them money, we say we owe them money, and that’s where the mediator comes in.
“We’ve always said that whatever their findings are, we will stand by that, and if we have to pay monies we will.
“But we won’t be bullied or blackmailed into paying monies, and you can’t ban somebody and try to use that as a lever.
“I will step to one side. It won’t affect the running of the club. There will be some announcements of people coming in.
“There’s nothing wrong with the club, and it is going to go forward.”
Oldham, whose director of rugby Mike Ford left the club on Sunday over a disagreement with the club’s “direction of travel”, are due in court on Wednesday, February 11, to hear a winding-up petition filed in December by HMRC.
The club insisted at the time that the case related to “a historic debt” which had “now been resolved”.
And Quinn said in his update: “The winding-up petition has been paid and it will be dismissed. It has been dealt with and we don’t have any issues.”
There were also recent media reports of unpaid medical bills and pension payments, which Oldham denied.
A statement on Monday insisted that “the club remains in a strong financial position and rumours to the contrary are totally false”.
Quinn added: “We’ve had a lot of bills coming through in the last week or two that an individual has been dealing with and that we weren’t aware of.
“We’re trying to deal with all those issues and we will deal with it.
“Last week, all players and staff were paid on time. We are trying to catch up with creditors and find out who is owed what.
“Everything is now going through the office in the proper manner as it should be and everybody will be paid.”
An announcement on who will coach Oldham will be made on Wednesday, according to Quinn, with Alan Kilshaw the sole remaining member of coaching staff after Ford and assistant Callum Irving departed.