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Second club sponsor has gone bump

by Carl Marsden
9/ 7/2008

OLDHAM Athletic’s finances have taken a further blow after another of the club’s major sponsors entered voluntary administration.

The Horners Group, which had Skoda and Mitsubishi branches in Greater Manchester, was one of the UK’s largest privately-owned motor groups.

Company MD was Greenfield-based Latics’ fan Richard Haytack, who had been a long-standing sponsor of the club for over ten years.

Horners had one year to run on its sponsorship of the Main Stand at Boundary Park and also supplied vehicles for officials and management to use in its capacity as the club’s official car partner.

Horners became formally known as Horners MG Rover in 1999 after Mr Haytack’s involvement in a consortium to save Rover from extinction. However, it later relaunched as Mitsubishi after MG Rover finally went under in April 2005.

News of Horners’ troubles comes hot on the heels of Latics’ main sponsors – Hillstone Developments Limited – also entering administration.

An official club statement thanked Horners for its past support and said the news was "further evidence of the worsening situation in the UK economy".

It added: "This will certainly have an impact on the finances of the club in the short term and, when placed alongside the increasing operating costs the club is facing in regards to fuel, electricity, gas and general maintenance, the effect is substantial.This season the club held season ticket and admission prices for the third year running and is now faced with spiralling costs plus the loss of sponsorship.This means the club is going to be forced to look at other ways of bringing in revenue to balance the books."