LATICS fans have expressed their frustration that the three-year plan controversial owner Abdallah Lemsagam pledged to issue before the end of October has failed to materialise.

Following protests against the regime and pitch invasions at Boundary Park in the early part of the season, Lemsagam insisted he had no intention of selling the club and said that he wanted to work with fans and the Oldham Athletic Supporters Foundation, not against them.

As part of a 3,000-word open letter to supporters Lemsagam made a commitment to five projects, including "a new three-year plan to be produced before the end of October".

In May 2019, Latics’ owner delivered a three-year plan in which he made a “commitment to try to achieve League One status within three years, and hopefully sooner”.

He added that the Championship was also on his radar, but that would be a longer term ambition “best considered as realistic within a five year plan rather than in the short term”.

Ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup first round tie at Ipswich Town, Latics are currently kept out of the League Two relegation zone on goal difference.

Also within his initial three-year plan, Lemsagam intended to “stabilise the football club, financially, organisationally and in football terms”.

As it stands, Latics have just come out of a double embargo after settling debts with other clubs, but are still hampered by the loan they took out with the English Football League. While it lessened the financial burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the 2019/20 season was abandoned and the 2020/21 season played behind closed doors, it has restricted them in the transfer market, with head coach Keith Curle only able to sign loans or free transfers for a limited period.

Amid early season protests, Latics fans called for more communication from the club’s hierarchy.

In response, the club published an open letter from Lemsagam to supporters, in which he wrote: "I am not leaving. I am not selling. I want to work with the fans and with OASF and continue forward.

"I want to work with the fans and not fight with them.

"I commit to:

- Meeting the OASF every month with a Board member present. The meetings should have an agenda and have minutes circulated.

- Appointing a new Fan Director, to improve communication between the Club and fans.

- Continue to progress with more financial information being made available.

- Attend a fans forum with all the Board present twice a year.

- Commit to a new three-year plan to be produced before the end of October.”

None of the above actions have materialised, leaving fans frustrated.

Matt Dean, who runs The Boundary Park Alert System! Podcast and is a director of OASF, said: “It’s not unexpected.

“He makes this grand gesture with this open letter but it’s always got to be us chasing them.

“They have made no effort to reach out to us.

“It can’t be that we keep putting pressure on them and then they respond.

“In the situation that we are in if he puts out a public letter saying there’s going to be a three year plan by the end of October and he can’t deliver that then explain that you can’t deliver it and says it’s being postponed. It’s a very simple thing to do and then fans’ expectations are managed. But he’s just ignored it.

“It doesn’t fill you with a massive amount of optimism.”