Oldham’s rugby league club "has not paid any rent on its ground virtually all season," according to Neal Keeling of the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS. Now the club "has surrendered its lease to the owners, Oldham council," to which it owes £70,000 ($93,300). Negotiations as to whether the debt "will be written off or paid in full, or partly, are still ongoing." The Oldham Roughyeds "have agreed to give up the lease on Whitebank Stadium at Limeside," but insist the move is "part of a plan to improve facilities on the site" and they plan to submit a planning application for the ground imminently. After getting promotion to the championship the club currently plays its games at Stalybridge Celtic FC "as Whitebank does not meet the minimum standards for the higher division." A town hall report said, "Whilst the club has been successful in securing promotion to the championship they have continually failed to meet their rent obligations to the council, with sizeable rent and business rates arrears accruing." Oldham Chair Christopher Hamilton "failed to address the club’s hefty debt" (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 9/12).
