Speculation has become rife in the past couple of days that Dale have given consideration to groundsharing with Oldham.

It started on Monday, following an interview by the current Oldham bosses which stated that they had given serious consideration to an approach from a local League Two side which would see the Latics move to that club's ground.

He followed this up by saying that the thought of a new ground being built between the two towns which would see it shared by the two sides was something that would have to be given serious thoughts, with the two Milan sides cited as an example of how the teams could co-habit in harmony.

With speculation mounting that Dale were the League Two side referenced in the article, Dale chairman Chris Dunphy released a statement on the OS playing down the speculation, admitting that a conversation had taken place but the approach had come from Oldham rather than from ourselves, but it hadn't progressed beyond the hypothetical conversation stage.

Since the statement on the OS, it has been picked up by the newsfeeds, with headlines of "Dale considering Ground Share with Oldham" on regular rotation on Sky Sports.

Whilst the idea might make financial sense, even before the feelings of the fans are taken into consideration, there would be implications about our possibility to actually do this, without having 100% ownership of Spotland making any sale of the ground awkward.

There were similar stories doing the rounds about ten years ago, when an informal conversation on a train made back page headlines when then Oldham chairman and one time Dale director Ian Stott announced plans for a Manchester North End.

Those plans had Dale, Bury and Oldham all merging as a way of combining forces to allow the unified side to compete in the higher echelons of the Football League.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters

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