Any chance you could elaborate on the alternatives you mention and ground broken on Monday?
There will be no ground broken on Monday. I was saying that even if progress were that close, hypothetically, it would still take three years to build a stadium from the ground up. I was merely highlighting that this isn’t an overnight process even if it turned out a deal was so far down the line that they already had the shovel in the ground. Which they don’t. There are less than five years left on the current arrangement at the KS and it would be challenging for the club to get into a new stadium before it expires. People need to be realistic - there might be something just over the horizon but for now it’s just road.
There are only three options:
1. Move to a new ground
2. Stay in the current one, be it via a purchase or a different rental / licensing arrangement
3. Become homeless and ground share
I am only going off what has been said by others re alternative plans. If there are alternatives in case a new stadium doesn’t materialise, which is what we have been told, then it can only mean staying put or couch surfing. It would be interesting to know what Plan B looks like, even if they’re 99% sure it’ll never be needed. Would the club stay at the wind tunnel or go for a wander?
Also, and I’m sure many people realise this anyway, it’s extremely unlikely that Oxford United would own any new stadium that was built. Or certainly the land that it was sitting on. However, if the club paid a very reasonable ‘rent’ and was able to utilise the entire stadium in terms of revenue, rather than paying a fortune to use the pitch in a hell hole that is owned by a separate stadium company, which operates the facilities and takes all the money while the club can do diddly squat, then it would be a huge step up. What the club has at present could hardly be any worse. Paying even one penny less and making just one penny more back, to play in a finished stadium in a better location, would be a win. The bar is really, really low.
Basically, think back to the first game back in League One after promotion, at home to Chesterfield, just over five years ago. Take that same period of time and add it on, starting today. That’s probably the quickest anybody could expect to be sitting in a different ground even if it went that way. That would be a pretty smooth and rapid process.
In the meantime, it would be good to just get the ownership confirmed and rubber stamped. Although I echo the curiosity of others in terms of wondering exactly who owns the club. Who are the individual shareholders of the various companies that own Oxford United? Doesn’t have to be sinister, but it’s certainly something that’s beginning to intrigue me. Me trilby is twitching as well as me Wilkins.
All this talk of rainbow bridges and black sands is twisting my melon. I’m going to roll a fatty and listen to Tool. I’ll let everyone know what answers come of it all in the morning.