NICKY Adams hopes the new dawn of new ownership will help to inspire Oldham Athletic back to the Football League.

The Rothwell family takeover at Boundary Park was completed last week, with Frank Rothwell named the club's new chairman, while there is a place on the board for legendary former manager Joe Royle.

Adams experienced the turmoil of the Abdallah Lemsagam regime over the last two seasons, and he hopes it is a period that the club can put behind them quickly.

“Hopefully the club can move forward,” said the former Bury, Leicester and Carlisle man.

“I just wish the club nothing but the best and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the place.

“It’s a great football club and hopefully I’ll see them get promoted back to where they should be.”

Relegation was deeply regrettable for Adams, whose professional career began with Bury.

But he felt the game which consigned them to the drop encapsulated everything the club had experienced throughout the season in one game.

“It’s very sad what happened. I can’t be sorry enough. I love football and I take it personally. We gave it our all and it wasn’t good enough in the end,” he said.

“Things go against you at key times, which wasn’t ideal. Shez said we had a good 11 but if we picked up injuries and suspensions it was always going to be tough.

“I think the Salford game summed up the season as a whole, we played really well, should have been out of sight, goal disallowed, they had two chances, scored and the game got abandoned. That probably summed up the season as a whole.”

The game was ultimately completed behind closed doors. Latics needed a point a to continue their fight but could not get the necessary equaliser against Salford. A 2-1 defeat consigned them to drop.

Adams does not blame the supporters for events that day, though.

“I understand everyone’s frustrations, they’d seen that the other two teams were winning and you sort of get caught up in the emotion,” he said.

“I don’t think people realise we only needed one goal to take it to the last two games.

“But they had put up with a lot of stuff over the season, they’re passionate about the club and it just obviously boiled over at the wrong time.

“The day summed it up. We should have been out of sight and wasn’t.”

Adams turned down the chance to be part of John Sheridan’s quest to climb back up, rejecting the offer of a new contract in the summer, and in doing so calling time on his professional career at the age of 35.

But he insisted it had nothing to do with relegation, or Latics having been a crisis club, and everything to do with his family.

“I got offered a deal, I spoke to Shez and he totally understood it. I’m nearly 36, I’ve got four children and I’ve got to look after my mum as well,” explained Adams, who has gone part-time with Northern Premier League side Radcliffe.

“It was family reasons, but I couldn’t have come to a more perfect place. They’ve been brilliant with me here, I’m local, and when you get to a certain point - I love football but there’s nothing bigger than family and that’s the main reason I had to leave.”

Adams faced his former club in a pre-season friendly last week, which Latics won 2-1 at the Neuven Stadium.

“It was a good game, it was nice to see some old faces,” he said.

“I still keep in contact with a few. It was nice to see all the lads.

“It was a real competitive game, both teams had good chances. It was a good test for us. We’ve played a lot of teams at levels below but they’re the type of games that will stand us in good stead against really good players.

“I just wish the club all the best.”