New Owners for the new season?
Team to play Sheffield United

A consortium of business men -three of them with strong local connections - have been in discussion with brokers for majority shareholders John Willie Lees, and are satisfied with the price.

The six individuals will now make personal decisions on their involvement, before agreeing to buy the controlling stake.

The group has signed a confidentiality agreement with the brewers over the actual cost of the shares, but a spokesman has already said the group is happy with the price.

George Thompson, who is one of the six and is based in Glasgow, added that they are now working to a time-scale of between seven and 10 days.

He is acting as spokesman for the group, which includes Oldham-born business man Dominic Grudzien, who revealed to the Chronicle last month that he may be interested in buying Oldham Athletic.

A third member of the consortium has close ties with Glasgow Rangers Football Club, while two more are retired individuals who sold their respective businesses three years ago, and live In the Oldham area.

Mr Thompson said: "We are now at a stage where we are analysing the information.

"All the members have yet to make their personal decisions. But the price is definitely within the budget of the consortium. In fact it is within the budget of one of them alone."

· Mr Thompson added that while the group would have the majority shareholding, they have confidence in the current chief executive, Alan Hardy, and would be interested in the human side of the club should they go ahead. He said: "It is such a large chunk of the club that we do not expect anyone to block our investment."

"We are certainly not in it for capital gains or tax dodges, it is purely for football reasons. In recruitment, we are more interested in human nature and motivations."

Mr Thompson said that they have not yet spoken to the council about the potential move to a new stadium on Clayton Playing Fields, but added that they have monitored the development's progress, and believe it would add value to the town

Mr Grudzien said that while he believes Oldham will never be a Manchester United, he has taken heart from Athletic's record and the rise to the Premiership of similar size. teams like Bradford and Watford.

The Evening Chronicle exclusively revealed that JW Lees had put its controlling interest on the market last month. The Middleton Junction brewers own 48 per cent of the shares, totalling around 19,000, with the current board holding 10 per cent and the remaining 42 per cent spread thinly among hundreds of owners. Michael Yarwood of the Oldham Evening Chronicle writes,

Athletic's plans for the new season have thrown into turmoil again following an official approach for Junior Agogo by his native Ghana. If the l9 year-old agrees to make his international debut in a friendly next Saturday, Athletic will have only two senior strikers available for the league opener against Preston

Agogo who has already suggested he would prefer to stay in England has promised to make a final decision within the next 24 hours. Ghanaian officials contacted Athletic by fax, having made a last minute decision to call up the on-loan striker.

They want to groom him for the team which will bid for a place in the Sydney Olympics next year.

Agogo is already out of Athletic's Worthington cup tie at Stockport a week on Tuesday as Sheffield Wednesday don't want him cup-tied.

If he decides to miss the Preston match. his initial one-month spell would include only one competitive game - the trip to Brentford on August 14.

Andy Ritchie has been pleased with the teenager's impact so far and is likely to want him at Boundary Park for at least another month. He said: "This is the first contact we've had with Ghana, but I'm hoping Junior will play for us as he said he would."

With the Agogo situation in mind, Ritchie has called up Ryan Sugden for tomorrow's visit of Sheffield United.

The teenage hotshot came off the bench twice at the end of last season after an excellent in the reserves and junior teams.

Matthew Tipton is pushing for a place in the starting line-up, but fellow forwards Steve Whitehall (ankle) and Craig Dudley (bruised toe) are still on the injured list. Though Ritchie believes continuity will be crucial in the new campaign, he is expected to make a change or two for the final friendly of the summer.

As Stuart Thorn is suspended next Saturday, the manager may well experiment with a defence which has conceded only one goal in five games so far.

That could mean a taste of the action for Mark Hotte, a recall for central defender lain Swan or a switch inside for Andrew Holt.

ATHLETIC (from): Kelly, McNiven, Holt, Garnett, Thom, Duxbury, Sheridan, Adams, Innes,Allott, Agogo, Tipton,Salt, Rickers, Hotte, Miskelly, Swan, McLean, Sugden

The 19 year old Sheffield Wednesday star has now been officially invited to join up with the Ghana under-23 squad for the Olympic Games qualifier on August 7th.

A fax from the Ghana FA has been sent to Boundary Park requiring the player's services but the Latics don't want to lose him so Andy Ritchie will try and get things sorted out this weekend.

Ritchie said: "Obviously we don't want to lose Junior but, at the moment, everything is up in the air. The fax containing travel arrangements is also very sketchy, and we really need more details of when he has to go and how long he would be out there for."