Update from director Simon Winnard

On his return to the club, Simon Winnard has reflected on his first few days back.

“Firstly, I’d like to say thank you for all the kind messages of support and goodwill I’ve received since Friday. To be honest, it’s been quite overwhelming and I’m looking forward to seeing everybody at the Widnes game this Friday.

It’s always amazed me the way that us Oldham supporters always go over and beyond to support our team. Whether it’s travelling down to Cornwall, Toulouse or London in numbers or packing out our end of season nights like no other club does. There’s something very special here.

A perfect example of this is the Yeds Supporters group’s work to help get fans across to Bower Fold to back the lads. The group has come up with a car share initiative, which has seen some wonderful offers of kindness.

There is also a minibus running from The Bulls Head, as well as the club subsidised coaches running from the excellent Fox and Pine. It’s great to see club and supporters working together. It’s times like these that make me extremely proud to be a Roughyed.

It’s perhaps fitting that our opponents on Friday are Widnes, including two key players who both played pivotal roles in our progress over the last couple of seasons.

We welcome back both Adam Lawton and Jay Chapelhow; the latter playing against his twin brother Ted (now that should be interesting). I would personally like to thank them both for all efforts, and we wish them the very best of luck for the season (apart from the games against us of course). Once a Yed…’