“I could cry I’m that happy!”

Amid a mixture of elation and scepticism there was a common thread. Emotion.

After years of disappointment and footballing heartbreak there was finally a reason to have hope for the future of their club.

“Abdallah Lemsagam and Simon Blitz have agreed to make significant compromises to enable the sale of Oldham Athletic Football Club and Boundary Park Stadium to be consolidated under one single ownership.”

It was the first line of a bullet-pointed statement released at 2 o’clock on Thursday, June 30.

Latics fans will remember the date. They will probably remember where they were when they heard the news. For the vast majority of them, it has been a long time coming.

They would have settled for the change in ownership having grown disillusioned and distant from the club over four disastrous years.

The opportunity to reclaim the stadium and land as well was the cherry on the cake.

Some welcomed the news with nothing but optimism; some celebrated, but at the same time erred on the side of caution.

Some refuse to believe it until they see it, and the deal is signed and sealed.

But the chance for a fresh start is being widely embraced, and fans took to social media to react to the news.

Mark Thompson tweeted: “Glad it’s happening hope for once we have decent committed owners to move us forward.”

Dan Lund wrote: “I’m so happy!”

Phil Hurst tweeted: “Cautiously elated….this has the possibility of being the new beginning we’ve all been so hopeful of…..I’m going for a celebratory pint!!”

Jack Adcock wrote: “I literally cannot put it in to words how much this means. WE HAVE OUR CLUB BACK”.

“A combination of emotional and deeply cynical. Maybe it’s a defence mechanism!,” was how Richard Clegg summed up his thoughts.

Mark Widdop was of a similar mindset, writing: “Ecstatic and nervous about the next four weeks to ensure that this is actually real.”

Jenny Tither tweeted: “The nightmare appears to be over. Hallelujah!”

One fan took his excitement to extremes by saying: “I’d go every game on a space hopper if Abdallah sold tomorrow.”

Phil Taylor tweeted: “Never thought we would see the end of this awful regime. Four long hard years wasted by an abysmal leadership! Hopefully can rebuild the club now and be what we all want to be....our lovely Oldham Athletic again. Long way to go but delighted nonetheless.”

Many fans have stayed away from Boundary Park since 2019 in protest against the ownership. Following a second relegation in four years under the Lemsagam regime, and excruciating exit from the Football League, more had vowed to back the boycott next season.

To that end, MAK summed up their collective mood on Twitter by saying: “We can come home now.”