Roughyeds boss Chris Hamilton said, “I can’t stress enough how appreciative we are. The rent we were paying was not negotiated by the present owners of Athletic – it went up after Chris Moore took over the club and that’s why we went to Hurst Cross for the 2002 season. We met the Latics new owners recently as part of our overall look at where and how we could reduce our overheads. It is no secret that one of of biggest costs is stadium rental and meeting the cost of stewarding. Latics were aware of our financial difficulties and how we were struggling to pay the rent on a match-by-match basis. We asked Simon Corney if there was any way we could negotiate a rent reduction to enable us to carry on playing at Boundary Park in the future. He got back to us to say they would reduce it to what we paid in 2001. That’s a saving to us of £1,250 a game or at least £15,000 a year based on current fixture formula - a massive help given our financial situation and our battle to pay off big debts. The saving will form an integral part of our financial planning as we look to move through our current predicament and then surge ahead to what will hopefully be brighter times. Our sincere thanks go to the Latics owners for helping us out in these difficult times.”
The new fees will come into force immediately and will conclude when the existing agreement runs out in 2009.