Blitz blasts sale rumours

Oldham co-owner Simon Blitz has rubbished suggestions that he is ready to sell the club.

Blitz is part of a three-man consortium that took over the North West outfit and saved them from chronic debts but last season's failure to claim a play-off spot and disappointing season tickets led to speculation about waning interest.

Reports of this kind were given more credence when allegations of an imminent sale were leaked, in a letter from a club director, that was printed in a local newspaper.

Blitz had previously championed ambitious plans for a £80 million regeneration of Boundary Park, but has subsequently been disappointed by the lack of support he has received from both the council and local businesses.

He has, though, now moved to categorically deny he is planning on walking away from the League One club and instead, has reiterated his desire to keep pushing Oldham in the right direction.

"The club is not for sale - that is absolutely not the case,'' he told the Oldham Advertiser.

"We've had people making offers, but if I ever did sell - somewhere way down the line - it would only be to somebody who could drive the whole project forward.

"If anyone offered £20 million for the club tomorrow, I would listen to them.

''But I don't want someone to come here and cream the site off for housing - what would be the point? We could have done that ourselves."

Meanwhile, Oldham defender Guy Branston has confirmed he will definitely be leaving the club after rejecting their last contract offer.

''I wanted to stay, but it isn't going to happen,'' he told the Oldham Chronicle.

''I'll be packing my bags because there has been no change to the deal which I was offered and turned down.''