ABDALLAH Lemsagam has backtracked on his stance that he will not sell Oldham Athletic.

Fans have appealed for the controversial owner to end his three and a half year ownership of the club, and resorted to protests to emphasise their point.

But in an open letter to supporters Lemsagam wrote: "I do not want to sell my ownership of the club.

“I am not leaving. I am not selling."

However, in a rare interview just two days later, he suggested otherwise.

"Maybe, if we stay like this. Every business is for sale," he said when asked on national radio if he was going to sell.

But the Moroccan businessman is not anticipating any interest in the club because of the recent protests.

"If I want to sell now do you think if someone is watching (the protests) do you think they are going to come in? They see the fans coming on the pitch. They are giving a bad image," said Lemsagam in response to pitch invasions against Tranmere Rovers and Accrington Stanley in the Carabao Cup, Salford City in the Papa John's Trophy, Colchester United and Barrow in the league - with tennis balls also thrown onto the pitch after four minutes, disrupting the cup game against Accrington.

Lemsagam did, however, insist Oldham Athletic will NOT go into administration on his watch.

The Latics are operating with the lowest budget in League Two, are under a transfer embargo in accordance with an EFL loan agreement, and have previously been late paying staff and other bills.

But, speaking publicly for the first time since November last year, owner Lemsagam is confident the club is in safe hands with him.

"Trust me I will never let this club go into administration. I promise you," said the Moroccan football agent.

"I admit it, I don't think that I am the best owner. I make a lot of mistakes. I learn from my mistakes.

"Why were we late for payment? Because we must have been fixing something else.

"When I took over there were a lot of things - the taxes weren't being paid on time.

"We aren't like other clubs like Bolton , there were not getting paid for one and a half months, Bury didn't get paid for two and a half months. We have never been more than one week, three or four times.

"I admit it's a big mistake but I learn from it."

Asked in the interview with talkSPORT whether Oldham was safe under his ownership, Lemsagam said: "We are very safe.

"We have only learnt from the event and we are going to fix it. I try to fix everything."