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Board Death of Robin Herd

Sad news. I’ll always think of his time as a ‘nearly’ moment in our history. I remember reading an article about him, not long after he took over, while on a holiday in Turkey and feeling real excitement about the future, he had a lot of good plans and got the new stadium rolling. He did a lot of good things but ultimately it all fell a little bit short. He always seemed a genuinely good man though, it’s a shame he didn’t have a longer more fruitful time as owner. It would have kept FK from our door if nothing else!
 
Found this article while revisiting his time as chairman. Not sure if it’s been posted before but I didn’t realise Herd was pretty much hounded out by impatient fans. If the story is indeed accurate then be careful what you wish for should be the moral of the story..


‘Herd began to build the club a new stadium at Minchery Farm, just outside Oxford. But he became deadlocked trying to buy land around the site from the local council, so struggled to raise finance for the new ground, and ultimately the builders, Taylor Woodrow, stopped work with the stadium half built and bills unpaid. The fans, alarmed at the stagnation, called for Herd to get out and bring a richer man in to finish the stadium, and so Firoz Kassam entered their history.

"We were planning to develop the land commercially," Herd told me, "and all the profits were to go to the club. But a vocal minority of fans were impatient, so I sold before we could do a deal with the council. I lost several million, but I still look for the club's results first every Saturday. You can't help it."


www.theguardian.com

History repeats itself at Oxford

Former Oxford owner Firoz Kassam had no time for footballing romance, writes David Conn.
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
sad news ... a decent bloke was Robin Herd, not great with finances though... remember one AGM in the supporters club at the Manor (when they WERE Annual General Meetings for shareholders!), when my ex wife was working night, i had to take me youngest daughter & youngest lad with me, at the time they were both heavily into Disney films (videos- we had the disney store just outside the old westgate shopping centre) ... told em they needed to behave as they were going to a meeting with Robin Herd.... youngest daughter ( who was a Disney cartoon film obsessive) asked excitedly' what, the fox in the Disney film ( Robin Hood)? :D..... Robin Herd bought my youngest two a soft drink and packet of crisps each which kept 'em happy for that AGM duration

RIP Robin Herd
 
Just goes to show, Robin Herd asked nicely if he could buy the land from OCC and was turned away, FK conned his way into overturning 2 covenants, an exclusive alcohol licencing agreement (effectively barring him from selling on the Ozone) and managing to flog the Manor for a vast profit. He then went on to ignore a contractual agreement to restore the Priory and still comes out of it all without any retribution.

The saga of Grenoble Road drove poor Robin Herd to the brink of financial ruin.

Moral of the tale: b*****s to being polite and having integrity, just shaft every Tom, Dick and Harry to get want you want.
 
Manorlounger said:
Just goes to show, Robin Herd asked nicely if he could buy the land from OCC and was turned away, FK conned his way into overturning 2 covenants, an exclusive alcohol licencing agreement (effectively barring him from selling on the Ozone) and managing to flog the Manor for a vast profit. He then went on to ignore a contractual agreement to restore the Priory and still comes out of it all without any retribution.

The saga of Grenoble Road drove poor Robin Herd to the brink of financial ruin.

Moral of the tale: B*****s to being polite and having integrity, just shaft every Tom, Dick and Harry to get want you want.
Click to expand...
And he bought the development land surrounding the stadium from the council for just £1.3m?? The article from 13 years ago says that a district auditor called Andy Burns was investigating the controversial deal to see if the true value of the land was obtained by the council. I don’t know what the outcome was and I’m not naive enough to think this is an isolated situation when it comes to land deals but FK certainly seemed to take the p**s out of the CC over all this.
 
Manorlounger said:
Just goes to show, Robin Herd asked nicely if he could buy the land from OCC and was turned away, FK conned his way into overturning 2 covenants, an exclusive alcohol licencing agreement (effectively barring him from selling on the Ozone) and managing to flog the Manor for a vast profit. He then went on to ignore a contractual agreement to restore the Priory and still comes out of it all without any retribution.

The saga of Grenoble Road drove poor Robin Herd to the brink of financial ruin.

Moral of the tale: B*****s to being polite and having integrity, just shaft every Tom, Dick and Harry to get want you want.
Click to expand...
Ah but our owners should be very nice to the lovely Mr Kassam....
Herd had his heart in the right place but maybe didnt have good advice.
RIP
 
RIP I remember being in a queue at the London Road entrance when he came out and chatted to us all, seemed a very nice chap
 
Very sad news indeed!

My Dad did a BT call out at his house once and he told him his son had sold his tickets to see Simply Red because he wanted to go and see Oxford play Milwall. I think Bobby Ford scored a late goal straight from a corner and we drew 3-3.

Robin kindly singed a card to give to me which read 'Oxford 3 - Simply Red 2'.

His Wife also asked my dad if he knew who David Rush was? My Dad replied yes and she said "I bought him".

RIP
 
Robin Herd will be remembered for all the right reasons. Never forget the Peterborough promotion night with Dennis Smith and Herd in the Standard. Robin Herd must have had deep pockets that evening....treating all and sundry. Quietly spoken and seemed a real gent.
 
Never met Robin but he seemed a really decent chap. Remember him buzzing around at the OXCD launch at Oxford Union (must be mid 90s I guess), assuring folks that we weren't going to sell Matt Elliott (or was it Joey?). Anyway, his enthusiasm for the club was obvious. RIP Robin.
 
Rest in peace, another decent guy associated with Oxford United gone.
As for Kassam his day of judgement will come eventually
 
RIP. A good man and good owner of the club. Gone but will definitely not be forgotten.
 
So sorry to hear this news. Robin genuinely loved the club and having known his son I was lucky enough to visit his house a couple of times and meet him in my much younger days. He will be sadly missed by Oxford fans and motor racing fans alike. Our situation may look very different if he had been able to follow through on his plans.
 
Did Robin sell to Biomass - Keith Cox and Tim Midgley lot? I cant remember my timelines

With my FOUL hat on I remember Robin being talked of very kindly but with the sadness that United stretched himself too far financially.
 
foghorn said:
Never met Robin but he seemed a really decent chap. Remember him buzzing around at the OXCD launch at Oxford Union (must be mid 90s I guess), assuring folks that we weren't going to sell Matt Elliott (or was it Joey?). Anyway, his enthusiasm for the club was obvious. RIP Robin.
Click to expand...
Sh

OXCD, that takes me back. Gonna have to YouTube Dustball, The Bigger The God, Candyskins and Beaker now.

RIP Robin
 
And may be , how things could have been! Always seemed a good hearted man with a love for the club!

RIP Robin
 
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