Rochdale News | Sports news | The Ogden family becomes majority shareholders of Rochdale AFC

Rochdale AFC has today (Thursday) confirmed that the Ogden family are now majority shareholders of the National League club.

Cameron Ogden, Edward Ogden and Tiffany Chawner have each purchased just over 2,284,000 A shares, nominally valued at 22 pence each, for a total consideration of £666,666 each.

Cameron, Edward and Tiffany are the children of Sir Peter and Lady Ogden and now each own 23 percent of the club.

A club statement confirmed that Cameron Ogden will join the board as co-chairman, alongside current chairman Mr Gauge, while Jamie Willoughby and Adam Saul will also join the board as directors. They both work for the Ogden family business.

Cameron Ogden said: “I am delighted to join the board of directors as co-chairman of this great club.

“Our family has a deep connection with Rochdale, and we envision the club becoming an integral part of the local community.

“We do not underestimate the challenges ahead and we will work tirelessly to achieve our ambitions.”

The FA’s Licensing and Sanctions Department has authorized all of the above to act as Officers of the Club in accordance with 3.1.2 of the ODT (Owners and Directors Test) Regulations.

However, Jan Wormald has stepped down from the board, with the statement confirming that the board ‘would like to thank Jan for his contribution to the club’.

Cameron, Edward and Tiffany are the children of Sir Peter and Lady Ogden, and have jointly committed that if any profit is ever made from the shares, these profits will go solely to the Rochdale AFC Community Trust.

As stated in their offer to the club, the Ogden family plan to introduce a Golden Share which will be owned by the Dale Trust.

The introduction of this share will require changes to the club’s articles of association and these changes will be submitted to shareholders for approval in due course.

The new board has already achieved and recorded its most important ambitions, namely:

1. Make the club more sustainable within five years, with or without sporting success
2. To achieve promotion to the EFL within three years
3. To significantly increase the social value they bring to the local community, through the club and Community Trust

The club statement then added support for current team boss Jim McNulty, who guided Rochdale to an 11th-place finish in the National League last season.

The statement added: “The hard work on these ambitions has already begun.

“While some tough decisions need to be made to further reduce costs, we see the path to sustainability primarily through revenue generation.

“We have completed the recruitment process for the newly created position of Director of Commercial Operations.

“The successful candidate will start at the beginning of June and will be responsible for managing this.

“In the meantime, we urge existing season ticket holders to renew, and supporters who are not currently season ticket holders, to consider purchasing this summer.

“We have reluctantly increased prices this year after several seasons of price freezes, but we are confident that they will still be among the most competitive in the league.

“Season tickets go on sale on Monday 20 May and more details will be announced in the coming days.

“On the football side, we really believe in stability and building on the foundations of last season.

“We have indicated to Jimmy McNulty that we see him central to our ambition to return to the EFL in the coming years, and we are working closely with him to put a football plan in place to achieve this.

“There are many community ambitions, but our immediate focus is on supporting and working closely with the Community Trust to help achieve our mutual goals.

“Our main focus is on developing a Community Sports Hub and business plan that can provide social mobility through education, in addition to the sporting opportunities that the club can provide.

“An opportunity for the fanbase to meet the new board will be organized in the coming weeks, where we look forward to explaining more to supporters about the club’s plans.”

The Ogden family were confirmed as the club’s preferred investor in the club at the end of March.