General Tim Davies - 5 minute fans forum

[Foley]

I do agree with you but it’s also a bit embarrassing that a group of billionaires and experienced C-level execs boasting extensive football CVs with spells at Manchester United & Inter Milan are being schooled in how to run a football club by a pair of American Hollywood actors.

The new stadium is their saving grace. Without that story running in the background (which they’ve leaned on regularly as a smokescreen for their failure to lead the club properly to date), their tenure has been nothing shy of an embarrassment so far and they are either invisible or talk complete shite in unchallenged environments. I do cut some slack to Thohir and Bakrie because they are what we thought they were - money men. I don’t care what their motives are, they’ve invested in us in places it’s needed all the same and we’re reliant on them. They’ve stood up to that. The problem is they’ve asked the clangers to run it for them. Manning is going to have to prove to be much more than a coach for us because the people above him will not get him any further. They are still the same people who felt Karl Robinson was the future of OUFC until he crashed them in to rock bottom and for that reason alone I still feel a proper football person in there as a DOF would do us the world of good. They will hopefully have learned an awful lot and we’ll be better for it but they have a huge amount of ground to make up with the fan base. Wrexham fans, by comparison, will pay whatever the asking price is for their ST’s because there’s a trust there, an enjoyment and a fear of missing out.

The stadium is the big issue ( hardly a snokescreen)
I think you miss a lot of other long term investments.
The training facilities seem to be exceptionally good at this level.
The youth team made the QF of the Youth Cup for the first time ever.
The Women's team has been in the Top 2 all season.
We all know that the first team has massively underachieving and it would be awful to go down, but the owners seem to be getting a lot of the investment right

 

[Foley]

I do agree with you but it’s also a bit embarrassing that a group of billionaires and experienced C-level execs boasting extensive football CVs with spells at Manchester United & Inter Milan are being schooled in how to run a football club by a pair of American Hollywood actors.

The new stadium is their saving grace. Without that story running in the background (which they’ve leaned on regularly as a smokescreen for their failure to lead the club properly to date), their tenure has been nothing shy of an embarrassment so far and they are either invisible or talk complete shite in unchallenged environments. I do cut some slack to Thohir and Bakrie because they are what we thought they were - money men. I don’t care what their motives are, they’ve invested in us in places it’s needed all the same and we’re reliant on them. They’ve stood up to that. The problem is they’ve asked the clangers to run it for them. Manning is going to have to prove to be much more than a coach for us because the people above him will not get him any further. They are still the same people who felt Karl Robinson was the future of OUFC until he crashed them in to rock bottom and for that reason alone I still feel a proper football person in there as a DOF would do us the world of good. They will hopefully have learned an awful lot and we’ll be better for it but they have a huge amount of ground to make up with the fan base. Wrexham fans, by comparison, will pay whatever the asking price is for their ST’s because there’s a trust there, an enjoyment and a fear of missing out.

The stadium is the big issue ( hardly a snokescreen)
I think you miss a lot of other long term investments.
The training facilities seem to be exceptionally good at this level.
The youth team made the QF of the Youth Cup for the first time ever.
The Women's team has been in the Top 2 all season.
We all know that the first team has massively underachieving and it would be awful to go down, but the owners seem to be getting a lot of the investment

It’s those based at the £3m training ground that I am critical of. They have been much, much too passive on football matters. It’s easy to brush all things Karl Robinson under the carpet but that decision to stick with him took us to the brink of L2 and we’re now doggy paddling back to the surface. I make no apologies for holding them to that until we are out of trouble. The point is they have massively, massively underachieved with the support and resource provided to them by the owners.

I expect that even the owners would agree with you on that.
An awful season based on the investment made

 

[Swaby39]

The stadium is the big issue ( hardly a snokescreen)
I think you miss a lot of other long term investments.
The training facilities seem to be exceptionally good at this level.
The youth team made the QF of the Youth Cup for the first time ever.
The Women's team has been in the Top 2 all season.
We all know that the first team has massively underachieving and it would be awful to go down, but the owners seem to be getting a lot of the investment right

It is a big issue in itself in terms of our long term future and the owners have given us that fantastic (and essential) opportunity for longevity. But at club level it shouldn’t be an excuse for our capitulation as a football team with our biggest ever budget. It’s one thing if they said ‘we have restricted the budget to deliberately consolidate for a year while we focus on the stadium’. I.e. no rushed spending, essentials only and nobody out. All fans would accept that. They didn’t. They spent and spent hard and failed - let’s call it what it is, a failure from those responsible day to day considering the resource at their disposal to take us forward now - not next year, not when the stadium is built… Now.

When asked in forums etc about our regression, TW would normally answer with ‘yeah but the stadium’ or ‘yeah but the rest of the club’… That’s poor. They set the expectations they’re measured against, not us! So he shouldn’t distract from that.

I’m delighted the youth teams are flourishing, the women’s team is growing. This is a great club doing some great things. There’s no reason that shouldn’t happen alongside a properly run men’s team is all.

 

[Scotchegg]

It is a big issue in itself in terms of our long term future and the owners have given us that fantastic (and essential) opportunity for longevity. But at club level it shouldn’t be an excuse for our capitulation as a football team with our biggest ever budget. It’s one thing if they said ‘we have restricted the budget to deliberately consolidate for a year while we focus on the stadium’. I.e. no rushed spending, essentials only and nobody out. All fans would accept that. They didn’t. They spent and spent hard and failed - let’s call it what it is, a failure from those responsible day to day considering the resource at their disposal to take us forward now - not next year, not when the stadium is built… Now.

When asked in forums etc about our regression, TW would normally answer with ‘yeah but the stadium’ or ‘yeah but the rest of the club’… That’s poor. They set the expectations they’re measured against, not us! So he shouldn’t distract from that.

I’m delighted the youth teams are flourishing, the women’s team is growing. This is a great club doing some great things. There’s no reason that shouldn’t happen alongside a properly run men’s team is all.

Can you provide a quote where TW has deflected on the pitch issues this season towards the stadium project or success elsewhere? Because I've not heard a single occasion where that has happened.

He has been defensive of certain people and certain decisions, and he has been wrong, and partially acknowledged that. This season has been a failure, all have agreed on that, including TW. There is plenty of work to be done to steady the ship and repair the damage, let alone to build to where we need to be. Again, no one is denying that. But some of the language used to criticise those at the top is unnecessary.

 

[Swaby39]

Can you provide a quote where TW has deflected on the pitch issues this season towards the stadium project or success elsewhere? Because I've not heard a single occasion where that has happened.

He has been defensive of certain people and certain decisions, and he has been wrong, and partially acknowledged that. This season has been a failure, all have agreed on that, including TW. There is plenty of work to be done to steady the ship and repair the damage, let alone to build to where we need to be. Again, no one is denying that. But some of the language used to criticise those at the top is unnecessary.

There’s no need to be ultra-PC about the language used making me or anyone else out to be some sort of bully. Christ - you’re talking as though I’ve got him by the throat demanding his dinner money. Nobody is getting personal I’m just of the opinion that up to this point, he’s been a poor choice as CEO and there isn’t much information available to me that suggests otherwise. With regards stadium comments, his regular defence (almost rehearsed) to offset anger among fans is to point to things going great that we can’t actually see yet. Maybe we will soon but for now, we have to take his word for it. Maybe in 12 months time, the penny will drop with me and it’ll all make sense what he’s been doing this year. Stood here today, I’m at a loss as to how he’s progressed the club. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, it’s just my perception.

I’m not going back over every interview and you know that.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Re: this interview.

I do hope the club will be talking to OxVox as well as OUSP about season ticket prices.

 

[Trevor L]

Re: this interview.

I do hope the club will be talking to OxVox as well as OUSP about season ticket prices.

Yes they are.

It's quite possible that Tim Davies is unaware of the discussion OxVox held with Adam Benson on 23 February which was reported as follows in an email to OxVox members on 3 March, and is also on the trust website:

Season Tickets

We spoke at length with Adam about various issues surrounding last year’s season ticket problems. Adam is still working hard on getting to know both the club and our supporters and was keen to hear our feedback. We spoke at length about a number of issues including ‘hidden charges’, the loss of loyalty schemes and club shop related rewards, the 1893 Club, the recognition of fans for their covid loyalty and a number of other issues. Adam listened and was positive in his comments. Many of the issues he was hearing for the first time, and we have been in contact since and will arrange to meet again as the season ticket package is finalised. He did mention some of the ideas he hoped to implement and we were encouraged by some of the ideas but until they are ready to announce them it would be unfair of us to repeat them here. We will continue to update members as we meet again with Adam but early signs seem encouraging.

On the wider subject of marketing and sales we did bring up the problem of late shirt release. While it was explained that most clubs had suffered with the same problem over supply chain issues, the club did say they were working hard to ensure they could be released much earlier this time round.

The OUSP meeting Tim mentions at the end is tomorrow (Thursday) and OxVox will be represented as usual.