An on-going dispute means Oldham Athletic’s North Stand could be closed for the start of the season.

Latics released a statement on Wednesday announcing it would not be open for the friendlies against Rochdale and Bolton Wanderers claiming the club were being held to ransom by the Fan Led Group which runs the Oldham Events Centre that operates the stand.

The group then hit back however saying the club had failed to respond to requests for meetings to resolve the outstanding issues.

“The North Stand is privately owned and those purported fans running the OEC have made unrealistic and unreasonable demands upon the club for use of the North Stand,” Latics said in a lengthy and strongly-worded statement.  

“As the OEC is a separate entity to the club, fans should be aware that it appears to be the OEC’s intention to hold the club to ransom.

“In addition, they have failed to honour existing liabilities towards the club from previous seasons.

“Simply put, due to unreasonable commercial terms, it is not financially viable or possible for the club to utilise the North Stand for the upcoming friendly matches without suffering financial loss.

 “The chairman, directors and management team are committed to bringing the fans success this season and will not allow anyone to attempt to deviate from the goal of promotion.

“We urge this supposed ‘fan led group’ to rethink their stance, put the fans and the club first and join the rest of the town in supporting Laurent Banide and the lads ahead of the new season.”

There was a swift retort from the Fan Led Group who insist their terms are reasonable and that they have been doing all they can to ensure the smooth running of the stand ahead of the start of the new League Two season.

“Over the last two months, the Fan Led Group have contacted senior club officials on a number of occasions to request a meeting ahead of the new season to agree the details of the SLA (Service Level Agreement) for the 2019/20 season, an ongoing annual agreement.

“The club has failed to reply to any of these requests. The first that the Fan Led Group knew of the closure for the friendlies was through the club’s website story on July 11 detailing this. 

“In terms of ‘unreasonable demands’ the proposed SLA for the new season has the same commercial terms applied to it as the previous 2018/19 season agreement, with a four per cent increase to cover a rise in the minimum wage and food costs over the last 12 months.

“The club have also been offered a guaranteed income from the kiosks, something that in previous season’s hasn’t happened.

“The Fan Led Group do not exist to hinder the club in any way. As has been well documented, the people involved are long standing Oldham Athletic supporters. We prefer to deal with commercial agreements in a wholly professional manner.

“The club have refused all attempts to arrange meetings regarding the agreement for next season since it was sent on the May 9.”