JORDAN Clarke says the feelgood factor enveloping Oldham Athletic since the Rothwell family takeover has not gone unnoticed in the dressing room.

The defender joined Latics for what proved to be a chaotic final season of the Lemsagam regime, which was dominated by a Boundary Park boycott, demonstrations, pitch invasions, transfer embargo and a two-month period with an inexperienced caretaker manager, and ultimately culminated in the club being relegated from the Football League for the first time in its history.

The rebuild has started with the Rothwell family saving the club, leading to 3,700 taking up the early-bird season ticket offer before Sunday night’s deadline. And in turn Clarke says that he brought stability among the players.

Asked what difference to the general mood that the players had noticed since last month’s takeover, headed by new chairman Frank Rothwell, Clarke said: “I can only speak for myself, you just feel more secure and you feel more relaxed. And with the fans being a lot happier, it’s just a good feeling.

“It was a good feeling on the way down to Torquay, we saw the owner.

“He’s a great character, he’s full of energy and that’s what I think it should be like, and that just gives us confidence on the pitch.

“We want to go and perform for him and we want to go and perform for the fans.

“All in all it’s a good feeling around the place.”

And Clarke said he was amazed by the 800-plus following at Plainmoor - a round trip in excess of 500 miles for most.

“It was unreal. Last season they were unreal, but that was ridiculous if you ask me,” he said.

“That’s a long old trip and the numbers they turned up in and they were so loud the whole game.

“It was amazing. Even one of the new lads said ‘how good are the fans?’.

“I said ‘get used to it because it will get better’. That’s why we just want to keep being solid and start putting the chances away.”

And that is where the disappointment lay for Clarke in an opening day goalless draw.

“Overall it was a good, solid performance, but for me and pretty much every one of the lads we’re a bit disappointed because we thought the three points were there for us,” said the former Coventry and Scunthorpe defender.

“They had a short stint in the first half where they created a couple of chances and hit the bar but after that it was us. We created a few chances in the first half of which I think we should have taken two.

“In the second half, Magnus (Norman) didn’t have anything to do, they were pushing up the pitch but they didn’t create anything. We kept our shape solid. But again we had probably about four or five attempts at goal but we didn’t hit the target. If we hit the target it’s a different game.

“The overall feelings in the dressing room are we’re a bit disappointed because we thought the three points should have been ours.”