I’m not being obtuse, but can you outline for me how the Conservatives - who aren’t in power and have no say over this - have been ‘behind this from the start’? Has Colin gone through this somewhere?
I’m not saying I know different, but I would be interested to know how they have managed that.
And again - and I’m not deliberately labouring the point - other than Gant and Levy’s objections (which as I’ve said elsewhere you’d expect from local councillors on a local issue) what else have the LDs done to have earned the tag of ‘trying to destroy our club’?
I have said here, and I have been told from a reliable source - that the Greens are attempting to throw spanners in the works, but what have the LDs done to be grouped in with them?
Are there other examples beyond Gant and Levy that I’m not aware of? And again, this is a genuine question.
I absolutely defended your right to post, and believe that you are a genuine Oxford United fan. But on this issue I believe that you are being obtuse.
You are incredibly naive about the links that some local councillors have and how they cut through party lines. The Lib Dems and Greens have been in bed for sometime in Oxfordshire as part of a "Progressive Alliance". A few years ago the Lib Dems were almost wiped out as a political party on a national level. The only way they could compete was to join with the Greens or Independent councillors to form an alliance that would be taken more seriously than their individual numbers would allow.
As a consequence, deals were done, campaigns were joined and agreements made not to sit in opposing seats. It would be naive to think that these deals were purely "gentlemen's agreements" and there are indications locally that there were also financial arrangements that crossed parties but here is not the right place to expand on this.
We have then seen the collapse in the Conservative vote and, with it not being a traditionally strong region for Labour, the Lib Dems are hoping to capitalise and consequently other members of these alliances are calling in their favours.
Again, this isn't the place to go into too much detail, but I can 100% link Lib Dems and Green members who have actively worked together, and these members are directly linked to FoSB and other protest groups, often with the same key members.
Others are fully aware of these links and have been targeted by them. Liam Walker and Nigel Simpson are two councillors who have not only represented their local communities across numerous issues but have also stood up to the Lib Dem/Green campaign to fight for the future of our football club. It would have been easy to keep away from some of these battles, but they have addressed them head on and have also help build links across all councils. There are many to thank if our planning application is successful, but I would not undervalue the roles these two councillors have done for little personal gain.
I appreciate that not everyone is aware of some of the issues behind the scenes. But there are others who I would hope people will trust when they talk about what is happening, even if not everything is being shared across public forums.
