Ogden family become majority shareholders in Rochdale AFC

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

Cameron Ogden, Edward Ogden and Tiffany Chawner have each purchased just over 2,284,000 Ordinary A shares, nominally valued at 22 pence each, totalling £666,666 each.

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

Meanwhile, existing Rochdale AFC chairman Simon Gauge and director Richard Knight have converted their outstanding loans to the club into shares - totalling 1,991,697 shares and 152,205 shares respectively.

Mr Gauge's subscription price was £581,000 and he now owns 21 percent ownership of the club - while Mr Knight now owns two percent thanks to his £44,400 subscription.

A club statement confirmed that Cameron Ogden will join the board of directors as co-chairman, alongside current Chairman Mr Gauge, with Jamie Willoughby and Adam Saul also joining 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 to Rochdale, and we envisage the club becoming an integral part of the local community.

“We do not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead, and we will work tirelessly towards achieving our ambitions.”

The FA Licensing and Sanctions department has permitted all of the above to act as an Officer of the Club in accordance with 3.1.2 of the ODT (Owners and Directors Test) Regulations.

Jan Wormald has stepped down from the board, however, with the statement confirming that the board 'would like to place on record their thanks to 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, such profit would be held for the sole benefit of the Rochdale AFC Community Trust.

As indicated in their offer to the club, the Ogden family intend to introduce a Golden Share which will be held by the Dale Trust.

The introduction of this share will require changes to the club’s Articles of Association and these changes will be presented to shareholders for approval in due course.

The new Board has already met and established its key aspirations, which are:

1. To make the club 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, via the club and Community Trust

The club statement went on to add support for current team boss Jim McNulty, who guided Rochdale to an 11th-placed finish in the National League last season.

The statement added: "The hard work in relation to these aspirations has already begun.

"Although there are some hard decisions to be made to further cut costs, we see the route to sustainability primarily being through revenue generation.

"We have conducted the recruitment process for the newly-created director of commercial operations position.

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

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

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

"Season cards will go on sale on Monday 20th May and more details will be released in the coming days.

"On the footballing side, we very much believe in stability and building on the foundations of last season.

"We have indicated to Jimmy McNulty that we see him at the centre of our ambition to return to the EFL in the coming years, and we are working closely with him to put a footballing plan together to achieve this.

"There are many aspirations on the community front, but our immediate focus is to support and work closely with the Community Trust, to help achieve our mutual goals.

"Our main focus is on developing a Community Sports Hub and a business plan that can offer social mobility through education, alongside the sporting opportunity which the club can offer.

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

The Ogden family had been confirmed as the club’s preferred investor in the club in late March.