“THE Royle family is back,” declared legendary former manager Joe after the takeover by local businessman Frank Rothwell was completed.
Joe has been elected to the board of directors at Boundary Park where son Darren is the recently appointed chief executive officer.
“He is my boss,” declared Joe whose son will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the club.
“It’s not an issue as we have never had a disagreement in the 40-odd years he has been on the planet.”
And Joe, who was director of football at Wigan Athletic when Darren was chairman and a director, added he will not be getting involved in the playing side …. unless he is asked for advice.
He said: “I have spoken to John Sheridan and told him I am not here to sit on his shoulder. I will let him get on with the job.
“If John wants an opinion, I am here. But if he has no wish, I will not be offended.”
“I am a director and will be restricting my activities to the board room and the running and life of the club.”
Joe is immensely proud of Darren’s drive in finding a new owner for the club he managed between 1982-94.
“Darren went to Frank with a vision and all credit to him for buying into it,” he said.
“When I managed Latics, the directors were fans. Frank is slightly different as he is a fan of Oldham, though now he will become a fan.
“He loves Oldham and did not want the club to lose its football club.”
Joe added that without Frank’s investment, reported in some quarters to be about £12million, the club on a more secure financial footing than for many years.
He said: “But for Frank’s wealth, there is a possibility the club might have gone out of business.
“There were problems to say the least. Money was owed and the club was close to going into administration but is now debt free and the money he has found is extraordinary.”
Joe described Frank as obviously a shrewd businessman.
“I found him a lovely, warm, if not slightly eccentric man as we saw when he stood up in the middle of an interview and started singing,” he said.
For the club, founder members of the Premier League 30 years ago, to slip into non-league has been an almighty fall from grace.
“We are effectively in the fifth division and there is a lot of improvements needed, both on and off the pitch,” explained Joe.
“Shez (Sheridan) is enthusiastic and fair play to him for wanting to take it on.”
Joe would like to see the spirit from when he managed the club rekindled when it was renowned for being a family club.
He said: “I looked at the success of my relationship with the board and we were friends, and still are to this day.
“Only days ago, I was at the White Hart for Rosemary Brierley’s birthday (husband David was vice-chairman when Joe was manager) and former directors Pete Chadwick, Rod Adams and Norman Holden were also there.
“The club has had a turbulent time, so it would be nice to have some tranquility and staying power.
“Look at the number of managers, players and staff the club has had in recent years, it is terrible. We need to get recruitment right and both the club and town needs stability.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.