Bicester

[carefreeoufc]

I can see the vision now.... coach loads of Chinese tourists and Only Way is Essex wannabees on a wet and windy Boxing Day queuing off the M40 and staggering with bags of Ralph Lauren while ‘Trevor from East Hendred’ calls into RadOx still stuck on the A41 on NYE.... oh the joys!

On a serious note land must be cheaper, direct trains into London, motorway on its doorstep, a town population literally doubling and a world famous tourist attraction for Far Eastern visitors.

I wonder what our Far Eastern, clothing/manufacturing Walter Mittie sees in it as opposed to the Kassam or somewhere else.

Not that I think it’s likely as we can’t seem to find our a**e from our elbow at the moment.

 

[Paul Cannell]

It's barely pedantic to note that alleging Tiger can't tell his arse from his el**w might be apter; although doubt he could find his arse in his Oxford bags may well be justified.

 

[daveoufc]

I thought when Mr Donald was advising oxvox on the stadium, or at least on that topic thread, it was identified that if not urgent repairs, a lot of money was needed for the lack of maintenance over the years.

I think its important to know exactly how much money and what for?
Did this extensive survey identify if the foundations are in place for the west stand?

Propaganda has been mentioned

Is the kassam a crumbling old ground in desperate need of renovation and investment.

Or is it a structurally sound stadium that will last a lifetime and a good investment.

 

[MarkG]

I think its important to know exactly how much money and what for?
Did this extensive survey identify if the foundations are in place for the west stand?

Propaganda has been mentioned

Is the kassam a crumbling old ground in desperate need of renovation and investment.

Or is it a structurally sound stadium that will last a lifetime and a good investment.

Of course not. It deserves knocking down for houses, and a new ground at water Eaton. Oops I meant Bicester.

 

[Scotchegg]

I think you should of ducked out when you said you were going too, never mind you are creating an amount of humour in your guesswork.
I’m still worried about getting past the 19th unscathed, you on the other hand are off spending £50m of someone else’s money and expect them to gift us a slice of the pie.

Of course it's guesswork! I was only giving a hypothetical example of hour Tiger could see a return on his investment even if spending big. I wouldn't expect you to understand!

 

[myles]

You know I don’t agree. I don’t see why it would be financial suicide to buy the existing stadium. There is scope to extend the capacity, there is a possibility of a new train link, there is the potential for additional income. Plus the stadium is - just- in Oxford . People’s views re Grenoble Rd would change significantly if a fourth stand was put up.
Kassam cannot apply for change of use of the land can he?

The issue to overcome - as ever- is the landlord. Who rather than being custodian for the club just does the bare minimum and trousers the rent.


Plus - well I may be in a minority here - but I like the stadium.

And as for a new ground there is a much bigger structural issue - any residents nearby would protest tooth and nail.

And how much would all that cost? And who would pat

Of course, Tiger and any other owner could just use this to line their own pockets and starve the club, but there must be easier ways to make a few quid without involving the club at all. Certainly if looking at somewhere like Bicester. I would imagine a hotel, leisure and retail park around the M40 junction would be fairly easy to get approval with or without a football stadium.

This is almost precisely the same argument I used in the early days of Kassam; why bother getting involved with the football club just to get a leisure development when there are much easier ways of doing it?

I was massively wrong on that one, as the last 15+ years have shown.

 

[makv]

You know I don’t agree. I don’t see why it would be financial suicide to buy the existing stadium. There is scope to extend the capacity, there is a possibility of a new train link, there is the potential for additional income. Plus the stadium is - just- in Oxford . People’s views re Grenoble Rd would change significantly if a fourth stand was put up.
Kassam cannot apply for change of use of the land can he?

The issue to overcome - as ever- is the landlord. Who rather than being custodian for the club just does the bare minimum and trousers the rent.


Plus - well I may be in a minority here - but I like the stadium.

And as for a new ground there is a much bigger structural issue - any residents nearby would protest tooth and nail.

I partially agree. I like the East Stand. The rest of it can fall down tomorrow, for all I care.

 

[yellowbow]

One doesn’t have to look too hard for signs that all is not well with the basic structure of the stadium. I’m no structural engineer but water dripping through on the concourses when it rains can’t be doing a lot of good to the steelwork. It would worry me if I owned a building it was happening to and had been doing so for several years.

Having said that, from a cosmetic point of view, it wouldn’t take a massive amount to transform the stadium into something that felt a lot more like home if they did purchase it. Changing the blue seating to yellow with the badge or ‘OUFC’ picked out in blue seating in the stands would make a big difference. Sprucing up the concourses and toilets also. Building a fourth stand isn’t exactly ‘peanuts’ but a lot less costly and more straightforward than going down the route of a new stadium.

However, as has been said in the past, with FK owning everything around the stadium, unless that can all be purchased as well then any potential revenue streams are seriously stunted. With the type of people that Tiger has brought to together, Its my guess that the ultimate plan is something, somewhere, similar to Grenoble Road but bigger.

It’s just a shame that, for whatever reason, Tiger doesn’t feel the need to let the supporters know anything. We don’t need to know the details for now, but it’s obvious that if we knew SOMETHING was going on, he’d have everyone on his side a heck of a lot more. What disappoints me the most is the fact that I’m not at all surprised that we’re still waiting for Tiger to carry out his promise of an explanation.

With all of these people now on the board something has to be happening though, doesn’t it..?!

 

[Deleted member 142]

We don’t need to know the details for now, but it’s obvious that if we knew SOMETHING was going on, he’d have everyone on his side a heck of a lot more.

Sure about that?

The worst thing they’ve done so far (bar the cash-flow issues) is mention the mythical 5 sites while playing (to the crowd) the populist-card of trashing Firoz.

The moment they did that they heightened expectations beyond their own ability to meet them. Forward wind two months and we have Bicester.

I’ll take silence and then a properly thought out and detailed plan to examine and comment upon. Binary, yes, but at least we don’t have to fill in the gaps with our own version of the truth.

I’ve had my fill of populism in the wider-world, I don’t need more of it at my football club. Eales wasn’t shy of it and Tiger is finding out, I’m sure, that those initial cheers turn to jeers very quickly.

 

[LondonRoader]

Of course it's guesswork! I was only giving a hypothetical example of hour Tiger could see a return on his investment even if spending big. I wouldn't expect you to understand!

Is that a hypothetical Tiger spending big? I cant see anyone expecting that after the recent HMRC shambles.

 

[Gary Baldi]

The good thing with a new stadium, is you are investing in something you want, rather than rectify 15+ years of someone else's mistakes. I can well imagine Grenoble Road requires a significant amount of snagging work completing to make it what would be considered to be a nice ground. An old company spent 1 million quid removing a leaking roof and repairing to a high standard.

So both ways require significant investment, which the club as an entity do not have in their gift.

 

[WuTang]

I partially agree. I like the East Stand. The rest of it can fall down tomorrow, for all I care.

The East Stand is the worst of all 3, a crumbling wreck inside and out. Completely unfinished (wouldn't even be great if it was), a roof far too high which makes it 10x harder generating an atmosphere for a non-sell out game, shallow seats, miles away from the pitch, and spills water down the stand every time there's a slight drizzle, and despite all these imperfections it remains a totally characterless concrete slab. I'm an Oxford fan, get me outta here!

 

[TailsWeWin]

The East Stand is the worst of all 3, a crumbling wreck inside and out. Completely unfinished (wouldn't even be great if it was), a roof far too high which makes it 10x harder generating an atmosphere for a non-sell out game, shallow seats, miles away from the pitch, and spills water down the stand every time there's a slight drizzle, and despite all these imperfections it remains a totally characterless concrete slab. I'm an Oxford fan, get me outta here!

Lots of things wrong with it, but the terrace gradient is decent, and there’s a lot more leg room than most grounds I visit.

 

[Pompeyyellows]

Have never sat in the east stand so cant comment on that. Have sat in the North stand and spent most of the game shielding the sun out of my eyes rather that watch the football. South stand lower you just don't get a good perspective of whats going on on the pitch. South stand upper is where we sit great view and you can keep an eye on your car if you park at the fence end. Downside to the SSU is that even on the hottest of days its still bloody cold up there, or am I just getting old now. Don't remember ever getting cold in the London Road.
Would the experience change if Grenoble Road was redeveloped, possible if it was done properly.

 

[Oslernorth]

I think its important to know exactly how much money and what for?
Did this extensive survey identify if the foundations are in place for the west stand?

Propaganda has been mentioned

Is the kassam a crumbling old ground in desperate need of renovation and investment.

Or is it a structurally sound stadium that will last a lifetime and a good investment.

I think there is a very good chance the foundations are in place for the 4th stand. The photo below was taken after work had ceased in 1997 and before work commenced in 2000.

At the point when work ceased the plan was still to build all 4 stands. It's highly likely all ground works would have been finished before they started erecting the any of the stands.
Probably carried out by a specialist ground work team or subcontractor early on.

 

[Oslernorth]

Sorry - didn't post photo

 

[yellowbow]

I think there is a very good chance the foundations are in place for the 4th stand. The photo below was taken after work had ceased in 1997 and before work commenced in 2000.

At the point when work ceased the plan was still to build all 4 stands. It's highly likely all ground works would have been finished before they started erecting the any of the stands.
Probably carried out by a specialist ground work team or subcontractor early on.

Yep, I do seem to recall that the foundations for the ‘West Stand’ were completed and basically tarmaced over for the car park.

 

[Foley]

There is undoubtedly an argument about the way the service charge figure is derived. But it’s also misleading to suggest that it is some sort of extra that the club wouldn’t have to pay if they actually owned the stadium. I know that’s not what your saying, but there are plenty others who have fallen for the “£1m+ rent” line.

The £1m was ridiculous as it even included VAT.
I don't really agree re the Service charge. It is easy to rip off Companies with service charges especially Oufc who have I suspect quite a lot of goodwill from.local tradesmen.
Service charges include management fees, professional fees at al
I worked at a Company where you paid £500 to amend the licence to get a sign put up.
My suspicion is that if the club owned the stadium then the ground would be in a far better state for less money (Just from experience of Kassam like landlords)

 

[myles]

The £1m was ridiculous as it even included VAT.
I don't really agree re the Service charge. It is easy to rip off Companies with service charges especially Oufc who have I suspect quite a lot of goodwill from.local tradesmen.
Service charges include management fees, professional fees at al
I worked at a Company where you paid £500 to amend the licence to get a sign put up.
My suspicion is that if the club owned the stadium then the ground would be in a far better state for less money (Just from experience of Kassam like landlords)

That is very much fair comment.

 

[daveoufc]

I think there is a very good chance the foundations are in place for the 4th stand. The photo below was taken after work had ceased in 1997 and before work commenced in 2000.

At the point when work ceased the plan was still to build all 4 stands. It's highly likely all ground works would have been finished before they started erecting the any of the stands.
Probably carried out by a specialist ground work team or subcontractor early on.

I think they are in place too. My issue is no one seems to know for sure or has bothered to find out. Which makes me wonder how seriously anyones ever looked into buying it. The disparity between what kassam wants for it and what a mortgage co would lend on it could be under the tarmac.