Colin B Resignation

DenisSmithsWig said:
Myles out of interest what difference does it make if there isn’t a meeting between now and Wednesday?

OxVox have announced there will be a meeting on 2nd.
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That’s a committee meeting not a full members meeting.
 
harringtonsghost said:
I'm a Life Member of Oxvox and in recent times I have stuck up for Mark, Jem & Colin in turn even though I have sometimes disagreed publicly with one or other of them on various points. That's because we are a Trust which elects a Committee and the Committee then elects the Chairman. If the Chairman stands down then it is the Committee's role to elect another one. We don't need an EGM.
If the members don't like the way this Committee is running things then vote them out next year.
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Usually I would agree with you. I think current circumstances suggest something is needed sooner.
 
Colin, now you’re free to say what you think, do you have concerns about the current ownership of the club?
 
MarkG said:
Yes, I'd like to see the Oxvox mission, as well as the constitution. Before adopting the standard Supporter's Trust regulations, I thought there was some sort of mission statement as being a link between the supporters and the owners for the better of the club. This seems to have wavered across to ...
the Asset of Community Value application, which I think many people still doubt the merit of;
a big project looking at buying the stadium behind the then owner's back;
and also pissing off the owner by making statements concerning his running of the club with the "critical friend" approach.
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Excuse me Mark.

The ACV was a superb piece of work done by the then OxVox committee, which was then renewed successfully this year. People/supporters took a long time to understand it, Firoz got it straight away and took the decision to tribunal. It was a safeguarding exercise. It is one of the greater achievements of the Trust and has been lauded nationally ever since. Yes it got criticism because we did it quietly but we did it when London Welsh were serious about buying the stadium and making OUFC long term tenants with little future. Furthermore, it enabled the committee to have a productive relationship with Firoz - at a time when the board were more interested in arbitration, arguing about what a toad FK was.

A Big project looking at buying the stadium WAS NOT behind Daryl's back. In fact, Daryl encouraged the Trust to do it, so please don't re-write history because you clearly have little idea of what was going on. I'd say DE then got a little surprised when we started making meaningful progress. Had Daryl and his cohorts not started behaving like children by going to war with the Trust, all at a time when Daryl was wanting to sell the football club, then progress could well have continued. Probably the most shameful episode in Daryl's tenure. As a result, Firoz at that time decided whilst the club was in limbo and being touted about, it was no time to do a deal of any sort, including a Community option.

And again, for the umpteenth time, Daryl was well aware Juan Sartori was coming to an Oxford United game. Again, something he was made aware of and encouraged. He met a couple of people from OxVox, along with Stewart D and other associates. It wasn't a secret and Daryl was out of the country but gave it his blessing.

And finally, our Supporters Trust have always criticised when needed - in different tones I would accept - but being a critical friend is absolutely what an independent body should do.

As for the resignation of Colin, a shame it has concluded to this but I have every faith that the people remaining will sort themselves out. Give them a little credit folks, they're finding it very tough dealing with people who frankly, seem unable to or point blank refuse to answer questions.

Still waiting for the five magical new sites too OUFC.
 
Simon Bradders said:
Excuse me Mark.

The ACV was a superb piece of work done by the then OxVox committee, which was then renewed successfully this year. People/supporters took a long time to understand it, Firoz got it straight away and took the decision to tribunal. It was a safeguarding exercise. It is one of the greater achievements of the Trust and has been lauded nationally ever since. Yes it got criticism because we did it quietly but we did it when London Welsh were serious about buying the stadium and making OUFC long term tenants with little future. Furthermore, it enabled the committee to have a productive relationship with Firoz - at a time when the board were more interested in arbitration, arguing about what a toad FK was.

A Big project looking at buying the stadium WAS NOT behind Daryl's back. In fact, Daryl encouraged the Trust to do it, so please don't re-write history because you clearly have little idea of what was going on. I'd say DE then got a little surprised when we started making meaningful progress. Had Daryl and his cohorts not started behaving like children by going to war with the Trust, all at a time when Daryl was wanting to sell the football club, then progress could well have continued. Probably the most shameful episode in Daryl's tenure. As a result, Firoz at that time decided whilst the club was in limbo and being touted about, it was no time to do a deal of any sort, including a Community option.

And again, for the umpteenth time, Daryl was well aware Juan Sartori was coming to an Oxford United game. Again, something he was made aware of and encouraged. He met a couple of people from OxVox, along with Stewart D and other associates. It wasn't a secret and Daryl was out of the country but gave it his blessing.

And finally, our Supporters Trust have always criticised when needed - in different tones I would accept - but being a critical friend is absolutely what an independent body should do.

As for the resignation of Colin, a shame it has concluded to this but I have every faith that the people remaining will sort themselves out. Give them a little credit folks, they're finding it very tough dealing with people who frankly, seem unable to or point blank refuse to answer questions.

Still waiting for the five magical new sites too OUFC.
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Can I just pick up on something there Simon?

You say that significant progress was made in the community owned stadium attempt, initially backed by Darryl, but then he ‘went to war’ with the trust. Do you mean he actively blocked the attempt to acquire the stadium? If so, why the big u-turn?

I just wonder if he was in talks with a potential buyer at the time who wanted the stadium as well?
 
I’d be interested to know why Oxvox weren’t more overt at the time in stating that Darryl was at war with the trust?

1. It shows that as an organization and supporters group they are transparent. Fans can then make their own minds up based on facts.

2. It holds owners more accountable for their actions and means they have to face the collective fans body knowing their actions will be out there.

As a supporters group Oxvox have long cared about membership numbers. I actually think that’s reasonably irrelevant in the scheme of things as many non-members feel represented by them, and also once you take on the mantle of being the only fans group, you’re actually responsible to some extent for representing the wider supporters body. So as such, you have a pseudo membership of tens of thousands who are far more supportive of your work than you may imagine, regardless of a few critical friend comments on here.
 
In terms of bums on seats at games and membership numbers, I'd think they are very important for dealing with the club - from a perception point of view. I do agree it's not the be all, but as a collective voice, numbers as they are positive. The age old "are they saying what I think" perspective is very valid but of course, it's a chicken and egg if people aren't members.

I can only think the trust took a long term view with DE knowing that they would be there long after his time as owner and retaining a consistent message with the club and its various owners was more important than a short term PR campaign. Are they damned if they do, and damned if they don't?

My concern is Tiger still doesn't quite get it in regards to releasing puff pieces with little detail. If you struggle to pay your bills...
 
Sure but owning the stadium is one of the most critical things we could ever achieve. Any obstruction of that by a speculator trying to improve his sale price should surely be irrelevant (and unforgivable).

Agree about the potential for damned if you do or don’t potentials but there’s also the danger of sleepwalking into obsequiousness.

Ps I don’t think membership numbers are a complete irrelevance I just think there’s been too much focus historically
 
Agree on the stadium, and as such it's a bit of pain for OxVox. I don't envy the balance they have to keep with the club while trying to help them sort of the stadium conundrum with being critical when they don't pay the bills. I suppose the hard part of OxVox is knowing the battles to pick and Colin's resignation is a good example of it.

I certainly don't think the Sartori stirring helped either the club, DE or fans as it rather cleverly divided people in the short and medium term. It's easy to forget how toxic it all got for a while. I don't entirely blame DE for seeking a better price though.
 
Ricky Otto said:
I’d be interested to know why Oxvox weren’t more overt at the time in stating that Darryl was at war with the trust?

1. It shows that as an organization and supporters group they are transparent. Fans can then make their own minds up based on facts.

2. It holds owners more accountable for their actions and means they have to face the collective fans body knowing their actions will be out there.

As a supporters group Oxvox have long cared about membership numbers. I actually think that’s reasonably irrelevant in the scheme of things as many non-members feel represented by them, and also once you take on the mantle of being the only fans group, you’re actually responsible to some extent for representing the wider supporters body. So as such, you have a pseudo membership of tens of thousands who are far more supportive of your work than you may imagine, regardless of a few critical friend comments on here.
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I absolutely agree with your final paragraph. 100%.

DEC/JAN 2017 we had a relationship where Daryl's chums were slagging off OXVOX to whoever listened (Peterborough away/Northampton away from memory), we had the club send out stupid statements about the Supporters Trust on the official website.

The best one was this https://www.oufc.co.uk/news/2017/january/oxford-united-directors-issue-statement/ when it became apparent to me that the urgency was about selling a football club & how a new stadium deal may well help achieve that. And the 'while we are supportive we don't understand why we're not party to discussions' jibe, again, I refer back to the point where the club had encouraged the Trust to get a deal done, yet hadn't achieved f**k all themselves and simply were goading and infuriating the landlord - who I might add, had a deteriorating relationship with the football club.

And this little gem - "As a Board, we stand as one on this issue. We also call upon all supporters of the club to back the Board¹s stance in seeking a speedy resolution of this matter" - 1) the board were not as one I can assure you 2) they tried to divide and conquer and for a time it looked like it worked. Fast forward a few months and I recall some of the committee received an apology for that 'episode'.
 
I don't think Juan Sartori caused any issues, other than it became obvious to FK, that the club was well and truly being made available.

Stewart, JS and others went through a process. Daryl, decided against it. They didn't do anything wrong. OxVox were invited to meet him at that fixture - I get irked by the innuendo that Daryl wasn't aware of Juan coming to an OUFC game - when he openly encouraged the Supporters Trust to meet him, gave both us and Stewart our blessing, who in turn kindly hosted him in his box.

Daryl, like it or not to some, had every right to sell who HE wanted too. Much like IL had every right to sell to Daryl when others were interested then.

The behaviour of Juan in the days/weeks after the 'collapse of his bid' was highly professional and courteous.
 
Simon Bradders said:
I absolutely agree with your final paragraph. 100%.

DEC/JAN 2017 we had a relationship where Daryl's chums were slagging off OXVOX to whoever listened (Peterborough away/Northampton away from memory), we had the club send out stupid statements about the Supporters Trust on the official website.

The best one was this https://www.oufc.co.uk/news/2017/january/oxford-united-directors-issue-statement/ when it became apparent to me that the urgency was about selling a football club & how a new stadium deal may well help achieve that. And the 'while we are supportive we don't understand why we're not party to discussions' jibe, again, I refer back to the point where the club had encouraged the Trust to get a deal done, yet hadn't achieved f**k all themselves and simply were goading and infuriating the landlord - who I might add, had a deteriorating relationship with the football club.

And this little gem - "As a Board, we stand as one on this issue. We also call upon all supporters of the club to back the Board¹s stance in seeking a speedy resolution of this matter" - 1) the board were not as one I can assure you 2) they tried to divide and conquer and for a time it looked like it worked. Fast forward a few months and I recall some of the committee received an apology for that 'episode'.
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Oh what a happy time that was Simon!

I love the line that says "although we support the talks, we don't know why we aren't included in them." This was at the very time when I had set up meetings for Darryl Eales, with the stadium architects, that he cancelled the day before. Bit difficult to cancel a meeting that you don't know you're involved in!!!
 
And I might add @Colin B those stadium architects you met several times in Oxford and in London, would have done a good job of turning this stadium into something special. Meanwhile, we now wait for the five magical sites, four of which I suspect would curtail any ambitions we have.
 
Simon, is it your view that 4 sites would be outside of Oxford and would hinder any ambitions we have, or are there wider issues?
 
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