Oxford Ultras - Over & Out

[Canterbury exile]

Any angst on here should be directed at Firoka and Doyle ( who is just obeying orders i guess). It is clear FK , Nilu and co are seeking retribution and will do anything to make life difficult for all those working at, and connected to OUFC. Only those close to the situation will know how to begin to resolve this impasse...if there is a way to resolve it, which i am beginning to doubt. Very worrying. By not displaying banners the Ultras are playing into Kaasam’s hands. He will see it as another little battle he has won against the club and its fans.

 

[outsidethebox]

As I understand it, the club personnel have been denied entry till 12 noon for ages and after arbitration was stopped it was hoped that would change but it seems not. The Ultras ( and opposition kit man and physio) were previously allowed in earlier but for some reason Mr Doyle ( presumably on Firoka/FK authority) denied both Ultras and Posh staff access on Saturday. Not sure if MM or Chris W were given advance notice. Having said that the Ultras could surely have returned at noon. It surely does not take 3 hours to put up the banners. As an old git in SSU i must say the banners do make a difference and hope the situation can be resolved very soon.

According to the Ultra on Radox, they were invited back at noon to "discuss hanging the banners". That's potentially a far cry from actually hanging them. In any case, it's a bit much to get there at the agreed time only to be messed around with the promise of possibly being messed around more later. They did the right thing in my view. I'm the old git in the SSL by the way. It's nice to see I have a comrade in the SSU ?.

 

[carefreeoufc]

You’ll be surprised how long it does take to hang the banners across the entire wall.

I should think another reason the lads opt for 1030 is so that they, like a lot of other fans can spend a couple of hours in the pub to socialise.

 

[LondonRoader]

You’ll be surprised how long it does take to hang the banners across the entire wall.

I should think another reason the lads opt for 1030 is so that they, like a lot of other fans can spend a couple of hours in the pub to socialise.

Yes exactly, whatever the reason behind them not putting up the banners for all of us, I see no reason why they shouldn't enjoy their match day once this thankless task wasn't allowed, this access issue is farcical.

 

[Sarge]

Yes exactly, whatever the reason behind them putting up the banners for all of us, I see no reason why they shouldn't enjoy their match day once this thankless task wasn't allowed, this access issue is farcical.

Ditto that ^

 

[Shosho]

According to the Ultra on Radox, they were invited back at noon to "discuss hanging the banners". That's potentially a far cry from actually hanging them. In any case, it's a bit much to get there at the agreed time only to be messed around with the promise of possibly being messed around more later. They did the right thing in my view. I'm the old git in the SSL by the way. It's nice to see I have a comrade in the SSU ?.

Combine this with previous quotes that they 'were lucky to hang the banners without paying rent' and I'm sure that 'discussion' would be a waste of time

 

[SwissYellow]

Christ this is all a load of B*****s isnt it.

Why oh why is our club turning so quickly into a massive pile of shite?

Nial? Tiger? - I know you must be checking in on here - HMRC, crap results, flags, stadium, Wankgate, lies.

It's all a joke right?

 

[TailsWeWin]

Christ this is all a load of B*s isnt it.

Why oh why is our club turning so quickly into a massive pile of shite?

Nial? Tiger? - I know you must be checking in on here - HMRC, crap results, flags, stadium, Wankgate, lies.

It's all a joke right?

“Checking in on here.”?? Not a chance.

 

[Gary Baldi]

I hear McWilliams is getting back to us on if he reads this place or not.

 

[UTM]

Thier is lots of things going on here , the Ultras have been messed about for a while now , who is this down to?
May be all of the parties ?
And it seems that everyone is playing by the book. The end result , you never did this or you did that , so we are not going to let you in to the 12.00pm time , to make things difficult etc.
But it does seem that DE , sold OUFC to a chap , who just is not hands on , it is not a toy what can be picked up every now then , but a 24 hour 7 days a week job!

 

[Cass63]

Christ this is all a load of B*s isnt it.

Why oh why is our club turning so quickly into a massive pile of shite?

Nial? Tiger? - I know you must be checking in on here - HMRC, crap results, flags, stadium, Wankgate, lies.

It's all a joke right?

It is a joke, but no ones laughing.

 

[WuTang]

I've been hanging the banners for years, it takes over an hour and a half. If you want to put some wavers up too you can start looking at 2 hours. Any game with a big display saw us arrive at 9am, sometimes earlier.

The club/stadco soon back tracked on Saturday with "they could have returned at noon to put them up", we could only laugh at what a desperate U-Turn there'd been once fans started questioning them on social media.

Two lads walked out the reception at 10:30 and greeted me, first conversation was "we've just been told in no uncertain terms that the flags are not allowed up today, and we can return at 12 to discuss why." Bare in mind recent discussions have included another 2 lads being berated by Mixter without being allowed to speak for half an hour, including lines from Doyle like "you're lucky we don't charge you rent for those". On another morning meeting before the Sunderland game they had removed a bunch of flags from our storage cupboard and hid/locked them in the south stand, then used this as a bargaining tool to make sure "we don't protest again". That's the sort of pathetic cr*p we've had to deal with from the stadium company AND club employed Mixter recently.

With that in mind, you can probably see why returning at 12 for another fun meeting was not on the agenda, and we'd rather just call it a day than go through it all again just for 6 more home games. I can imagine a 12 oclock meeting would have lasted an hour, leaving us hanging up flags at 2:30/3pm.

 

[amershamdave]

No, but to me the principle still applies. I personally don’t regard supporters as customers, even tho in the true sense of the word they are.

Absolutely. We are thought of as f*cking customers by many club owners, because to them, it's a money-making cash cow business. Don't anyone dare call me a f*****g 'customer' of Oxford United! I've been the length and f*****g breadth of this s**t-hole country, over the years following United. I've been kicked, punched, sworn at and spat at, because of my support for my team. And do you know f*****g what? I'd do it all over again. That's what you do, when you love your bastard f*****g club!

 

[SwissYellow]

I dont think for one second fans are being thought of as customers. I run a global outlet of a customer facing business and I would NEVER treat my customers in the way that OUFC currently are.

Ok, we have individuals on the ground who are desperatley trying to be positive and make the "match day experience better" but its the overal mindset from those at board level that are clearly thinking some "fans" are a necessary annoyance, to be tolerated at best, while they continue to give the club money.

I guarantee there are those at the top, who couldnt give a flying toss about a small section of our support (in thier eyes) that will end up giving us that revenue anyway, it'll all blow over, fans are fans, who arent customers that can go and choose a different club to support.

The danger is that a large section of our fans are choosing to do something else with their saturdays, be they season ticket holders or 3 games a season fans, winning those punters back once they've stopped coming is a difficult job.

The flags, while in essense a small issue, has the danger of being the straw that broke the camels back

Tiger and Nial not responding to the upside down protest, with the flags not being allowed up on Saturday have brought the ownership and stewardship of the club into the forefront. If it was a slap down of the Ultras by the board then they've shot themselves in the foot. If it was the StadCo banning the flags, then the clubs lack of backing for the Ultras will make many think its because of the protest.

Those upside down flags, have done a lot of damage and bloody good job too.

 

[amershamdave]

I dont think for one second fans are being thought of as customers. I run a global outlet of a customer facing business and I would NEVER treat my customers in the way that OUFC currently are.

Ok, we have individuals on the ground who are desperatley trying to be positive and make the "match day experience better" but its the overal mindset from those at board level that are clearly thinking some "fans" are a necessary annoyance, to be tolerated at best, while they continue to give the club money.

I guarantee there are those at the top, who couldnt give a flying toss about a small section of our support (in thier eyes) that will end up giving us that revenue anyway, it'll all blow over, fans are fans, who arent customers that can go and choose a different club to support.

The danger is that a large section of our fans are choosing to do something else with their saturdays, be they season ticket holders or 3 games a season fans, winning those punters back once they've stopped coming is a difficult job.

Swiss, If the Glazer family do sell Man U to whoever and they make £2 Billion-plus profit from doing so, do you think they will apologise to the fans for leaving their beloved club, or do you they they would be going: "Yeee Haaaaa!" All the way to the bank of Glazer?

 

[windmill]

I dont think for one second fans are being thought of as customers. I run a global outlet of a customer facing business and I would NEVER treat my customers in the way that OUFC currently are.

Ok, we have individuals on the ground who are desperatley trying to be positive and make the "match day experience better" but its the overal mindset from those at board level that are clearly thinking some "fans" are a necessary annoyance, to be tolerated at best, while they continue to give the club money.

I guarantee there are those at the top, who couldnt give a flying toss about a small section of our support (in thier eyes) that will end up giving us that revenue anyway, it'll all blow over, fans are fans, who arent customers that can go and choose a different club to support.

The danger is that a large section of our fans are choosing to do something else with their saturdays, be they season ticket holders or 3 games a season fans, winning those punters back once they've stopped coming is a difficult job.

The flags, while in essense a small issue, has the danger of being the straw that broke the camels back

Tiger and Nial not responding to the upside down protest, with the flags not being allowed up on Saturday have brought the ownership and stewardship of the club into the forefront. If it was a slap down of the Ultras by the board then they've shot themselves in the foot. If it was the StadCo banning the flags, then the clubs lack of backing for the Ultras will make many think its because of the protest.

Those upside down flags, have done a lot of damage and bloody good job too.

This whole sorry business about the Ultras needs to get media attention. Show up the management for what they really are. But how do we go about it?

 

[Cass63]

This whole sorry business about the Ultras needs to get media attention. Show up the management for what they really are. But how do we go about it?

Well there’s no point getting in contact with the a**e lickers at radio oxford or the oxford fail, so count them out.

 

[Steve McAvoy]

Thanks for all your efforts and enthusiasm. Your last protest, with the upside down banner, completely encapsulated my view of the ownership of our football club. As an Oxvox member, I completely support their attempts to establish a dialogue with those who have power at this Club. It led to a more balanced view of the Slum Landlord than one I am comfortable with; in this regard, the Ultra’s capacity to tell it how it is is badly needed and, so far as I am concerned will be missed. Good luck to you all and Thankyou!

 

[amershamdave]

If we could, in some way, get away from this horror movie with the words 'Curse-him' in it, I would be such a happy person. If everybody in United's fan base gave at least £100 (or as much as they could) and we funded a brand new version of Oxford United, just to get away from the clutches of the hooded claw that is ka-ka-ka-ka curse him and his company, you could count me in, even though I am not rich. No more money-mad rich people running our club, I say. At least I can dream..................................

 

[m]

I can't recall reading or hearing a single negative response to the upside-down flags.

The club may do well to ponder this.