Autumn Update from Mike and Bill

Chairman Bill Quinn and managing director Mike Ford have spoken exclusively to Roughyeds TV this week, offering their considered reaction to Oldham's latest IMG grading, an update on recruitment with more big-name signings on the way, plus news on season tickets and a big-money redevelopment of our Melrose training facility.

The Roughyeds hierarchy joined George Riley on a special episode of The Boundary Line on Roughyeds TV - available free to all our YouTube subscribers - with the three giving an in-depth insight into our IMG score of 7.00 - a grading of C and slightly down on last year's "indicative" score, but poised to jump up notably with more hard work in the year ahead.

The scoring system currently being used by IMG covers a three-year time period, with Quinn and Ford having had control of the club for just 19 months.

"We knew we would be around the same score, or have gone up a bit. We are still getting our heads around it all, as I think IMG are as it is all brand new," said Ford.

There will be tweaks in it all as we go along, so we want to stay fully informed, but we are on the right lines. We asked IMG to give us a score for this year only as the score of 7.00 is based on the last three years. Our score for 2024 is just short of 9 points which is a decent grade B. There are some easy fixes to take us into double digits and over 10 points.

For us the two key things remain the performance on the field and the crowds. Recruitment, performance, winning and going up the table and getting Boundary Park as full as it can be - both of those things are massive for IMG going forward.

Our linear is very much up into the sky and there have been some real positives. What we have done with our social media for example I don't think we could have done any better. Our media has been transformed in the last year. But we do need all our fans to make sure they are following us on X, Facebook, Instagram and You Tube as all of that counts towards IMG too.

On the pitch the fans come because they want to watch and be proud of a winning team. That is massively important no matter what anyone says - what happens on the field will ignite everything else. Unless you have the product on the field you will struggle. I can see kids with shirts on now and wanting to play for Oldham and we are only just scratching the surface of building our pathways."

Chairman Quinn reiterates Ford's stance and shares the distinct and positive vision for where the club is heading.

"My mind has not changed in any way whatsoever and I look at it as a challenge," said Quinn.

"IMG will be doing a lot of tweaking as they go along and they will have to. We just have to look at where we are, where we can go, what we can achieve and make sure we are doing the right things on and off the field. We will keep going as we have done and keep producing, with getting bums on seats the most important thing.

Because when the time comes, whether this season or the season after, we want to be banging on the door of Super League and saying 'come on this is where we are'.

This is the aim for us and all our fans, and this IMG is just another pathway to that dream. I certainly don't think the door is closed, we just have to do our bit and keep going."

In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion on this brand new episode of The Boundary Line, Ford also updates fans on signings, recruitment and retention, with more big news on the way.

"We have signed some great players in Gil Dudson, Adam Milner, Lewis Baxter and Ben Forster, and keeping PLT is massive. We have at least two if not three to announce yet after a few final negotiations," he said.

The squad has got better again as it needs to because we are in the Championship. We are going to be a very difficult team to beat. Look at our defence last year going seven games without conceding a point is incredible. Then we have a little bit of stardust in PLT and Riley Dean. We are very, very excited and we are now based at a fantastic facility at Melrose which has had a big redevelopment."

Also discussed is the high-profile move of one of the stars of our 2024 season George Hirst to Super League champions Wigan. The plan is for the forward to do a full pre-season with the Warriors before rejoining Oldham on loan for our 2025 Betfred Championship campaign.

"We think we did good business with George Hirst," said Quinn.

"People may say we are letting our young talent go but everything has to be done in degrees and we are moving towards retaining as much young talent as possible going forward.

"But we are not there just yet, so why should we take that opportunity from George Hirst who has a chance to play Super League? We are here to build and if they have to go somewhere else so be it, but in the future we will keep hold of them. The business we have done is good for George and good for Oldham."

Another big piece of news for fans over the off-season has been the investment in and redevelopment of the club's Melrose training facility, thanks to some healthy investment from club partners.

"Melrose is fantastic and a major goal for me and Mike to get young kids somewhere to play rugby," said Quinn.

"Melrose has had hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on it and our sponsors have got involved in that. It is fabulous there now and is only going to get better until one day we have state of the art facilities up there with the best in Super League. It takes time, we are building and what we have done in 19 months has been fantastic but we will never stop."

Season tickets meanwhile have been selling well and fans are urged to continue buying early to avoid disappointment. Quinn thanked supporters for their patience in requesting Blue Lights and Pie & Peas Season Ticket offers.

"The Blue Lights and Pie and Peas tickets will be out this week. We have so much call for these so I would urge everybody to get on to it as quickly as possible as the demand so far has been tremendous - I don't want anyone to miss out!