SPECULATION linking the owner of Boohoo.com with an Oldham Athletic buyout is wide of the mark, The Oldham Times understands.

Members of Latics fans' groups have been actively looking for new investment in an effort to encourage current owner Abdallah Lemsagam to sell, with a succession of protests against the regime this season so far falling on deaf ears.

It has been rumoured that billionaire businessman Mahmud Kamani, the co-founder and joint CEO of online fashion retailer Boohoo.com, had come to the table and expressed an interest in a takeover.

However, The Oldham Times understands Kamani will not be buying out Lemsagam, leaving Latics fans looking elsewhere.

Steve Shipman, of the Push The Boundary independent supporters’ group, has been proactive in the search for potential new owners and said: “We have been looking for alternative ownership more recently, this can’t just be about protests off the pitch, as important as they are in gaining attention and momentum.

“We have to have a plan in place for if he decides to walk.

“Given recent decision making, we can’t allow him to hand pick another owner without input from fans (and fan groups) otherwise it’s just frying pan into the fire.

“This is why we want to try and help facilitate his exit from the club by bringing people to the table so that a reasonable middle ground can be found over what someone is willing to pay and what Abdallah is willing to accept. Then everyone, including the fans, win.

“The club are aware of this and conversations have taken place already with individuals.

“It’s up to us to show the potential that this club has, but that something fundamental needs to change, and soon.”

The Boohoo no-go will come as a blow to supporters who are desperate to see a change of ownership after over three years of turmoil under Moroccan businessman Lemsagam.

The Dubai-based Latics owner returned to the club last month for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, meeting head coach Keith Curle for the first time since his appointment last March and subsequent longer term deal that he signed in the summer.

Boohoo have recently been linked to Bolton Wanderers, but it is more likely that any investment at the Macron would be a sponsorship opportunity and nothing on a greater scale for the company, or sister companies including PrettyLittleThing, another fashion company.

Boohoo Group plc is a UK based online fashion retailer founded in 2006 with a target global market of 16-30-year-olds. In 2019 they recorded sales of £856.9million.

It has since acquired the brands and online presence of defunct high street retailers, including Debenhams, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Warehouse, Oasis, Karen Millen, Coast and Wallis.