Oldham RLFC have given an update regarding their Super League ambitions, as they discussed a heap of topics following their exit in the Championship playoffs.
The Roughyeds lost in disappointing fashion to Halifax Panthers, in one of their worst showings of the season – an unfortunate end to what had been a great first season back in the second tier.
Former Super League players such as Josh Drinkwater and Kieran Dixon have helped them across the year, with Salford stars Ryan Brierley and Jack Ormondroyd joining them towards the end of the season.
Oldham were one of seven Championship teams to submit a bid to be part of the expanded Super League competition in 2025, and after finishing fourth in the league, their on-field performance backs up their improvements off-the-field too.
Chairman Bill Quinn and Managing Director, Mike Ford, sat down for an in-depth interview with the club’s social channels to discuss the plans going forward.
The first thing that came up on the agenda for looking ahead was recruitment, and who they would be targeting to bring to the club. However, due to the current ambiguity over where they will be playing next year, it has put a halt on recruitment, in what has been labelled a “calculated risk”.
Ford said: “Recruitment is probably the number one thing [for us]. With the Super League bid being put in, we’ve actually paused recruitment until we know which league we are in. It’s a bit of a risk, but it’s a calculated risk and we are confident that once we’re in the league, we can start then putting our final stages of the squad and all the fans will know then the new players that might be coming in.
A lot of things have got to fall in place for us to do that. None [more] so than the 16th October when it gets announced about Super League.
On the decision to pause proceedings, Quinn added: “They don’t give you a crystal ball, do they. Like Mike said, you’ve just got to pause things really. You’ve got to pause them and just assess and wait. I mean, this is a unique situation with obviously Super League expanding to 14 for ’26 and basically, it’s the 16th October as we all know. So, it’s not that far away in a sense. It’s better to pause, better to see where we are because then we can go out and do [some business].”
Another key talking point was the IMG scorings, and Director Ford believes their score will be rising, albeit not by a lot.
“Our score is not going to jump massively but it is going forward,” said Ford.
“They have changed some of the criteria and standards so although we have doubled our media engagements for example our score has gone down a little bit so you can imagine what that has done to the other clubs. Speaking to the IMG people we are one of a few clubs to go up – we have gone up a bit but the others have come down.”
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Super League promotion and relegation vital says Oldham Chairman
If Oldham are to get to Super League, their fate will be decided by the independent panel led by Lord Caine, that will oversee all the applications and hand-pick who gets into the top tier based on on-field performance, the ability to raise a competitive squad and being able to be financially stable to stay in the league.
Quinn believes that league positions should be decided purely on-field with promotion and relegation, as it would take away all controversy and uncertainty.
“There has always been promotion and relegation,” added Quinn. “Imagine taking it out of football, it’s just crazy. There has to be that tangible situation, not just for the winning but for the investment in the game. As an investment you have to be able to see there are going to be fruits of your labour and investment.
It is about being able to climb the divisions and being able to do what Leigh has done. Look at where they are now – I would be so proud to be in that position.”
