Following the announcement that revealed which teams would be promoted into Super League next year, some clubs were full of delight, whilst some were met with disappointment.
Bradford Bulls were the first new team confirmed to be in the top flight, after finishing 10th in the IMG rankings. It wouldn’t be until the following day that the 14-team league was confirmed, as York Knights and Toulouse Olympique made up the competition, meaning that there were four other Championship teams that applied who were left waiting at least another year.
One of those teams to miss out on a place in the top flight was Oldham, who’s meteoric rise in the last couple of years has seen them go from League One winners to the Championship playoff places in just two seasons, and they aren’t stopping there.
Their climb up the English divisions has been incredible, however a back-to-back promotion proved just too much for them, with both timing and the strength of other applicants playing a factor.
Despite their Super League rejection, both Chairman Bill Quinn and Managing Director, Mike Ford, have said they remain positive, and are proud of the progress they have made during their time at the club.
As part of a wider interview for the club’s social media channels, the pair sat down to discuss last week’s proceedings, with Quinn believing that whilst it was the correct choice of teams to go up, the rapid nature of the decision means the trio will be on the back foot.
When asked for his feelings on the decision, he said: “You have that slight disappointment because you’re in it to win it. You’re in it to be in it and you want to progress. So from my point of view, you get that slight bit of disappointment, but at the same time, I do think personally that the three teams that have gone up are the right teams to go up and that was pleasing, and I wish them all the best for next season.
“As I’ve always said, none of us were ready. I don’t believe they [Toulouse, York and Bradford] are ready. We weren’t ready, but obviously we would have jumped at it and I’m sure they’re going to jump at it as well. For me, there’s a slight bit of comfort in the fact and knowledge that we will now progress this season. We will go forward as we always have done. It will give us another year to put plans in place and we’ll be in a better place and better standing for what we need to do to go up.”
Ford, who agreed with his colleague over preparation and timings, revealed what the process for the two extra teams to be added looked like, and said just how close Oldham were to securing top flight status.
He said: “Basically, they had five rounds, and I suspect clubs got chopped along the way. We were in the last round, so my understanding is that we were with Toulouse and York and that’s phenomenal in the short space of time that we’ve been working together on this project at Oldham to be in that position.
“I just think it shows the ambition of the club, and the smartness of the club… and what we’re doing on the rugby side of things. To be able to be in that position and get to the last round after two and a half years, I think it’s phenomenal.”
Adding on to Quinn’s point, he said: “I’m not too sure we were ready. Bill’s already said that the other teams are not ready, but had we have got that slot then we would be in chaos right now trying to sort things out. We would have done it and it would have been exciting, but we’ll just keep building slowly, taking our time and possibly look to go full time next year.”
Championship club give recruitment update after prior “pause”.
Oldham revealed last month that they had “paused” their recruitment, as they waited to see which division they would be competing in next year.
Now that has been revealed, and they can start to build ahead of the upcoming season, with announcements set to be revealed as early as this week.
Ford has said what the current state of affairs are in terms of incomings and outgoings, and confirmed some players will leave the club to take up opportunities in Super League.
He said: “We had a list of players, but some of those dropped away on Friday because they had Super League offers. They wanted to stay with Oldham, but they obviously wanted to play in Super League as well.
“We’ve got other options that we’ll be announcing soon – hopefully a couple this week if we can get the timings right. Before they start back up on the 10th November, we’re going to look to have about 25-26 players in or squad that we can announce. We’ll have our media day again, where we announce our squad and stuff.”
Oldham brought in former Salford Red Devils duo Ryan Brierley and Jack Ormondroyd at the back-end of the last campaign, and those two signed a two-and-a-half year deal at the time, keeping them at the club until the end of 2027.
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