Oldham have a long and proud history, and the area has long been a hotspot for rugby league. The club were founder members of the rugby league in 1895 and the Super League in 1996.
They famously reached four Challenge Cup finals in a row in the 1920s, winning two of them, as well as lifting the League Championship trophy in 1955.
In recent decades, the club’s loyal fans have been starved of major success.
Oldham-born players like Kevin Sinfield, Paul Sculthorpe and Iestyn Harris had to go elsewhere as Oldham fell down the pecking order.
Ford, who was also a player and coach at his hometown club, is determined to change that.
“We’ve got a purpose and that purpose is to connect with our fans who haven’t been for 20 years and try to get new fans to come here,” the former Wigan and Great Britain half-back said.
He wants to make Oldham “a rugby league town again, to reawaken it”.
He added: “We want to make it a club where there’s a pathway so that local kids can play for Oldham and can see that this is a club where they want to stay. It’s about building the whole club.”
Investment, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, has been pumped in to the Roughyeds since last year’s takeover, clearing debt and putting the club on an a stable footing.
The aim, through growth in sponsorship, commercial ventures and attendances, is for the club to be able to stand on its own two feet. The plan is to build a club fit for the Super League.
“The plans for the club are very ambitious. I wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have an opportunity to be that giant again,” Ford said.
“We are aiming for Super League and to compete at the very highest level. We don’t have to get to Super League in so many years though.
“It’s not about that. It’s about growing the club from the bottom up.
“We need everyone in the community to help us because it’s not my team… it’s our team, it’s our club, it’s our town. Together we’ll do it.”
A close working relationship with Oldham Athletic, revived under the ownership of the Rothwell family, has also been key.
The rugby league club’s motto ‘stronger together ‘ appears to be working so far, with their first game of the League One season at Workington Town on Sunday, 17 March.
Oldham fans will hope it provides further evidence that the Roughyeds really are on the rise.
