20th October 2000   

Who owns Boundary Park?

ATHLETIC must storm the Northampton fortress tomorrow if they are to complete a quickfire hat-trick of victories. After morale-boosting wins against Swindon and Wycombe, manager Andy Ritchie will stick with his successful formula for the match at Sixfields Stadium. But Northampton have lost only two home games in the last 12 months and, after promotion from division three, they are still riding the crest of a wave. Ritchie predicts a "very difficult contest" against a home side who are on the edge of the play-off places. The good news for Athletic is that Tony Carss has recovered from a knee injury, allowing the luxury of an unchanged team.

Ritchie said: "It's the first time we have had a settled side since the start of the season and it's always a nice position to be in. "Other teams benefit from the same thing and we have had our best runs when no changes have been forced. "We will have to be on top form tomorrow because Northampton have a very good home record and have been going quite well. "Results breed confidence and we have made a start on that ourselves. But we aren't kidding ourselves — we still have a lot of work to do." Athletic have recorded two clean sheets in the last week, offering far better protection to goalkeeper Gary Kelly. At the start of the season, Kelly argued that 15 shut-outs could see them reach the play-offs. So far it is three down, a dozen to go. In-form Craig Dudley could be Athletic's main attacking threat, but Carlo Corazzin will be out to impress against the club he left in the summer. The only change to Ritchie's squad sees defender Paul Jones win a place on the bench instead of Mark Watson.

ATHLETIC: Kelly, McNiven, Garnett, Hotte, Innes, Adams, Duxbury, Carss, Eyres, Corazzin, Dudley. Subs: Miskelly, Jones, Holt, Boshell, Allott. 

Northampton have doubts over forward Steve Howard and on-loan Southampton player Richard Dryden. Captain John Frain is definitely out. 

NORTHAMPTON (from): Welch, Sampson, Green, Hope, Hughes, Hargreaves, Hunt, Savage, Hodge, Forrester, Gabbiadini, Sollitt, Morrow, Thompson, Gould, Wilson, Dryden, Howard. 

OLDHAM Council has taken action to quell speculation surrounding the ownership and management of Boundary Park. The move comes after it was revealed that Hiretarget, a Company in which the Council has a share interest, is still not listed with the Land Registry as the owner of the land — one year after paying £3 million to Oldham Athletic for the purchase of the site. Documents obtained from the Land Registry show the football club as the sole proprietors on the title absolute of the land. In a statement, the council's Director of Economic Development, Mr Keith Coates, said he was aware that some confusion had been caused because of the Land Registry records, and the council would like to set the record straight. "The reason for this is simple," he said. "Although the request for change in registration was submitted months ago, the Land Registry appears to have a very lengthy backlog in dealing with such requests."

A spokesman for the Land Registry said that it normally takes eight weeks to process applications. He added that they were currently running about two weeks behind schedule, but that some applications could be more complicated than others. Because of legal restrictions, he was unable to discuss anything specific to applications on the Boundary Park site. The site is currently leased back to Oldham Athletic, which pays rent for its use. As the lease-holders, it is still the club which is responsible for the day-to-day management and control of the site . Mr Coates said the newly formed Stadium Company had no involvement in the management or control of the Boundary Park site. "That company did not exist in October 1999 when the site was sold, and so could not have been involved in any negotiations about the use of Boundary Park," he said.

The controversy was sparked by the recent funfair that took place on the site. Residents were unaware who was in control of the site and who they could appeal to in order to prevent the funfair from going ahead. Mr Coates said: "The recent fair could not have been prevented by legal action on behalf of the council or the residents because of the limited time between the news of the fair's arrival and its opening. "Fortunately, in this case, common sense prevailed and all parties, including Oldham Athletic, have agreed that fairs and other similar activities will not be permitted on the site in future." 

Teamtalk Oldham

Oldham have handed trials to two Faroe Island internationals, midfielder Ossur Hansen and striker John Petersen, with neither needing permits. Both players are internationals and have recently starred in World Cup qualifiers and the 24 year-old Petersen has just finished playing in Iceland. Hansen had a spell at Boundary Park a year ago and boss Andy Ritchie said he would have another look at the 29 year-old. The Latics have received international clearance but there would be no need for work permits if they wanted to sign the duo as the Faroe Islands belong to Denmark, who are in the European Community.

Andy Ritchie has the luxury of naming an unchanged Latics line-up for Saturday's trip to Northampton, looking for Oldham's first away win. Northampton have an unbeaten home record but Oldham have been boosted for the task of breaking that as new-boy Tony Carss has been passed fit. He picked up a nasty knock on his knee in the midweek win over high-flying Wycombe but trained normally on Friday. Ritchie's strugglers will go into the game on the back of two wins on the trot which has seen them climb out of the relegation zone for the first time in eight games. In-form Craig Dudley has scored three goals in two games and will spearhead the attack alongside Canadian international and ex-Cobbler Carlo Corazzin.

Carss and second new signing David Eyres have not been on the losing side since they arrived at Boundary Park. Boss Ritchie said: "They have given us more balance and experience as well as leaving me with more options. While our two victories have done a lot for confidence and self-belief, I am not going overboard. "Northampton are a big strong side and they are always a handful on their own ground as their excellent record shows. "We have shown that we are capable of with the last couple of results and we must do everything possible to keep the run going." 

Northampton Chronicle

Marco Gabbiadini gets another chance to show the Sixfields faithful what he is made of when he starts alongside Jamie Forrester for tomorrow’s Nationwide League Division Two clash with Oldham Athletic. The Cobblers striker claimed his second league goal of the campaign with a stunning strike at Port Vale on Tuesday, and he also scored the winner at Millwall last month, but he has yet to open his division two account at Sixfields. He did score the only goal of the game as the Cobblers beat Fulham in the Worthington Cup in August, but the former Darlington man is desperate to get the goals flowing in the league. He makes his first Sixfields start tomorrow since September 16, getting his chance as Steve Howard has failed to recover from the groin strain he picked up at Bristol Rovers last Saturday.

Manager Kevin Wilson said: “Stevie Howard is 60-40 against playing, but I won’t be taking any risks with him. “We have to make sure that Steve is ready to come back, and it might be that if he is near enough ready then we might be able to get him on the bench.“We are also waiting to see who does come through from Tuesday night’s game at Port Vale. There were a lot of knocks and bruises picked up in that game, but I’m hoping most of them will be fit although Richard Dryden could be struggling with his hamstring, and we’ll also have to see how Ian Sampson’s back is.”  Former Cobblers striker Carlo Corazzin returns to Sixfields, and he is sure to get a warm welcome both on and off the pitch. Wilson said: “Carlo Corazzin’s an Oldham player now. He did very well here and we wish him all the best - after tomorrow’s game.”