Oldham have appointed Simon Blitz as their new chairman after Barry Chaytow stepped down from the position.

Chaytow is preparing a takeover bid for the Boundary Park club and felt his role at the helm represented a "conflict of interest".

Blitz, who took over the club in 2003 with Simon Corney and Daniel Gazal, said: "I would like to thank Barry for all the hard work he has put in since we became owners of the club three years ago.

"However, Barry has expressed an interest in acquiring the club from us and developing the stadium and land along similar lines to our own plans. Because of this it was felt he should step down from the Board so that there was no conflict of interest.

"We can confirm that since the day we took over the club we have had approaches from various interested parties but we can assure fans that if we ever sold the club it would only be to someone who could safeguard the future of Oldham Athletic."