AN OLDHAM fans’ group say it is unlikely they will cancel a planned boycott despite securing a meeting with owner Abdallah Lemsagam tonight.

Push The Boundary have asked supporters to stay away from this weekend’s game with Carlisle United at Boundary Park, unhappy with the direction of the club under the Moroccan former football agent.

Having been frustrated in their efforts to sit down with Lemsagam, PTB’s four members will get a personal hearing this evening with the chairman, chief executive Natalie Atkinson and board member Richard Bowden.

Steve Shipman – who founded the group with fellow supporters Will Gough, Adam Keeley and Danny Taylor – believes however that whatever is said the fact that 423 people backed the boycott means it will almost certainly go ahead.

PTB have also being liaising with Avro FC about disaffected fans attending their North West Counties Premier Division game against Ashton Athletic and do not want to let them down. 

“I’d say it’s more likely to go ahead,” Shipman said.

“The meeting is only on Thursday and in the same way we can’t tell people to stay away, we now can’t just change our minds and tell them to go to the game now. With the way we’ve engaged with Avro and the strength of feeling we’ve had it’s a very difficult decision to reverse.”

The move follows on from a protest ahead of the game against Leyton Orient at the start of December and a call for fans not to buy food, drink and programmes inside the ground.

The moves have not been universally supported but Shipman believes it is job done as they will get the chance to talk directly to Lemsagam.

The owner did attend a question-and-answer session with around 30 supporters last week, with PTB looking forward to a more personal hearing.

“Some people haven’t agreed with everything we’ve done but we don’t expect everyone to support it fully,”Shipman said.

“If we hadn’t taken this course of action though we might not have got the meeting.

“In that respect it’s mission accomplished.

“We’re going in there with an open mind and can ask things in a bit more detail with four of us there.

“We can drill down more than in just a Q&A.”