General Fans Forum - Kassam Stadium - 7th March @ 6.30pm

ZeroTheHero said:
I wasn't hugely impressed - although the bloke on the left (Jon?) seemed to know what he was on about re the stadium.

The financials were above my pay grade, but I remain unsure who is going to stump up this money - and why. The 'OUFC will always have the right to play at the stadium' line didn't gives me much of a warm feeling - if there has to be some amount of repayment of the farking huge debt, then are we going to end up giving up a huge proportions of our incomings to do so? Will be just be swapping one millstone for another?

However, I thought the first 'stadium' part of the forum was a bit more convincing than the second. The concentration seemed to be more about 'activating' new supporters than taking care of the ones they already have. Colin's question rattled them! There were some encouraging signs that they were aware of the discontent - but let's see if that translates into actual actions.

I suppose they've done their meeting with the hoi-polloi and it will be a year before we get to see them again in a similar setting.
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I have to say I was disappointed. In my view they can consider themselves fortunate not to have received more difficult questions (they didn’t get round to mine).

A few takeaways;

- Fundamentally they’re utterly convinced that the job they are doing is super. Any narrative that doesn’t fit their belief system is never going to be warmly met. This is a problem.

- They couldn’t comprehend the subject of supporter disenchantment. They referenced that it is up to supporters to create a positive atmosphere and communication (whether good or bad) is subjective. The reality is they have to accept much more accountability here. Healthy support, positivity and atmosphere permeates from the top down rather than the bottom up. They left this to supporters to figure it out which is a worry. When morale among supporters ought to be at a near all-time high, it’s nowhere near. They simply could not contemplate this and pinned it largely on supporters. The line about communication being subjective was naive too. It’s universally accepted it wasn’t good enough. I don’t expect radical improvements based off their message.

- The excuse for a lack of a fans forum last year was excused due to being busy, sacking KR, recruiting, LM, losing LM and then the stadium. For me, that’s not a sufficient reason. To dedicate two hours inside 365 days around going’s on in a League One football club outside of normal operating hours is simply not a reasonable enough excuse.

- Adam Benson clearly has the capacity to alienate people. Perhaps I read him wrong, however intuition suggests to me he’s stubborn. It also didn’t reflect well when the gentleman mentioned how much he’d raised (who he’d put a stop to and didn’t applaud). Not a good look.

- Grant is very good at covering for Tim’s lack of diplomacy. On a number of occasions Grant simplified and gave more clarity on a previous answer that Tim had given/butchered. On one occasion Tim snapped very easily at a question around company accounts and what those losses would look like, which he should have breezed.

- Despite the importance of the forum and the time constraints, in typical OUFC fashion, top marks to the guy who asked the final question of the evening with much more important issues yet to be raised… Why wasn’t Des giving the fans a nice wave at the end of each game followed by a request for more inventive half time entertainment. Classic.
 
A good forum, some much needed questions were answered.
I think Tim is slowly realising that communication is important to us fans and I will wait to see if it is just empty words from him.
He clearly doesn’t like difficult questions by the way he reacted to Colin.

As for Adam Benson, the sooner they get him out of the club then the better. He clearly doesn’t like us supporters and comes across as arrogant and it’s his way or no way.
 
A shame not everyone who had a question got a chance to ask one, particularly when some of the questions were so irrelevant. If we're going to hold the management to account then asking well thought out and searching questions is vital. One guy asked why Des couldn't wave at the fans more FFS! And as for the man who asked the management team to tell everyone the losses for the year before they've even been published...I'm all for holding people to account, but he pushed and pushed a point when what he was asking was akin to asking the board of a FTSE 100 company to tell him their profit/loss before it's published to the markets. We need to have credibility as a fan base to challenge the leadership. Perhaps in future questions should be vetted by OXVOX and the OUSP beforehand?
 
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FWIW I wasn't bothered about Adam Benson not applauding the gent who raised money for the trust. I think it would've come across very disingenuous if he did.
 
ThatSlopesATwelfthMan said:
Was sceptical about value of a fans forum but that was quite interesting and illuminating. Williams and Benson = dreadful, vacuous, defensive BS. Ferguson seems alright and with a feel for things. Stadium expert was brilliant.
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Exactly what I thought.

Stadium guy & Grant F came across very well.

Still bugs me a lot that Grant F isn’t around the club a lot more as think he’d put his foot down on the bullshit Tim W & Adam B spout.

I still question why the shareholders are prepared to spend £5-6 million a season & fund a £150 million pound stadium?

Like why?
 
billyturleyscurlywurly said:
Exactly what I thought.

Stadium guy & Grant F came across very well.

Still bugs me a lot that Grant F isn’t around the club a lot more as think he’d put his foot down on the bullshit Tim W & Adam B spout.

I still question why the shareholders are prepared to spend £5-6 million a season & fund a £150 million pound stadium?

Like why?
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On your last point, I’ve questioned why they would do this and I’m still not sure what they are getting out of this.
 
Two things I learned from the FF
1) How the funding debt for the new stadium will be serviced going forward
2) Why safe standing sections are positioned to the sides and not behind the goal

Was impressed by the two guys on the ends - they seemed to know their stuff even though I have no idea who they are. Grant gave a steady performance, nothing spectacular but spoke with an air of authority. Tim, well I can see why he has the job - quite upbeat in delivering his message without passing on anymore information than he has to. Good at turning questions around - would probably have a good career in politics if his love of football wains. Benson - didn't take to him, looked disinterested but did wake up at the end when there was something relevant to his job being discussed.
 
Sarge said:
well done @OxVox and @OUSP -my only criticism being there wasn't enough time allotted so all questions could be asked ( I have more than a few that went unasked )

hopefully those on the top table realise after an attendance of 200 ish in person and an additional 300ish 'watching' ( and participating) online too , that there is a real need for better communication , and regular live fans forums
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They kept on bypassing @Manorlounger with the questions and I thought he wouldn’t get his chance but as GF what a good question he asked.
 
OX14 said:
Found it very interesting about the away end (south stand) roof is closer to the back of the stand but the roof slopes upwards whereas the other end hotel end the roof is higher but slopes downwards. Hadn't noticed that on the plans but if so I haven't got a problem of the home end being the other end to the away end.
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Yeah I hadn't thought about it either but pleasantly satisfied by the response, makes sense, although I'm no acoustics engineer so what do I know
 
I was there, it was a decent turnout, around 200 I’d guess.

A few random thoughts.

Easily the best person on the ‘panel’ was the guy from Newcastle who was well briefed on the stadium.

The Bristolian chap on the right, just wanted to tell us how wonderful everyone at the club was and how hard they all worked. That felt very staged.

Ferguson didn’t really add much to what he’d already said to Oxvox and his interview on the Dub, so in that sense his work was already done before tonight.

Williams, for someone who talks an awful lot about communication, as a CEO he’s not actually very good at it. I got bored by his constant plugging of the fans council or what ever it’s called. He got very tetchy with Colin, which wasn’t a good look, poorly handled for a CEO. Too much corporate speak for my liking.

Benson looked very sullen when Michael North was applauded. I’m not at all surprised Chris Williams decided it was time to move on.

Oxford United feels less and less like a family club and more and more like a corporate machine. If you lose or alienate long standing supporters you lose your soul. Perhaps that is when apathy and disengagement starts to creep in.

Last but not least, the huge amount of debt if and when the stadium gets built is eye watering. I find it difficult to see how the club will be able to service that amount of debt and prosper. The board didn’t do enough tonight to reassure me on that front.

ps a big thanks to OxVox for organising the event.
 
Oxymoron said:
Two things I learned from the FF
1) How the funding debt for the new stadium will be serviced going forward
2) Why safe standing sections are positioned to the sides and not behind the goal

Was impressed by the two guys on the ends - they seemed to know their stuff even though I have no idea who they are. Grant gave a steady performance, nothing spectacular but spoke with an air of authority. Tim, well I can see why he has the job - quite upbeat in delivering his message without passing on anymore information than he has to. Good at turning questions around - would probably have a good career in politics if his love of football wains. Benson - didn't take to him, looked disinterested but did wake up at the end when there was something relevant to his job being discussed.
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Stuff about Jim Goddard here.
www.oufc.co.uk

Getting to Know...Jim Goddard

Having recently joined Oxford United as the club’s new Head of Safety and Operations, Jim Goddard will have overall responsibility for health and safety, safeguarding and matchday activities at the Kassam Stadium.
www.oufc.co.uk www.oufc.co.uk

Don't think the club particularly announced the appointment of Jonathon Clarke but seems very involved in property bits over his career based on his LinkedIn profile.
 
Yellow River said:
I was there, it was a decent turnout, around 200 I’d guess.

A few random thoughts.

Easily the best person on the ‘panel’ was the guy from Newcastle who was well briefed on the stadium.

The Bristolian chap on the right, just wanted to tell us how wonderful everyone at the club was and how hard they all worked. That felt very staged.

Ferguson didn’t really add much to what he’d already said to Oxvox and his interview on the Dub, so in that sense his work was already done before tonight.

Williams, for someone who talks an awful lot about communication, as a CEO he’s not actually very good at it. I got bored by his constant plugging of the fans council or what ever it’s called. He got very tetchy with Colin, which wasn’t a good look, poorly handled for a CEO. Too much corporate speak for my liking.

Benson looked very sullen when Michael North was applauded. I’m not at all surprised Chris Williams decided it was time to move on.

Oxford United feels less and less like a family club and more and more like a corporate machine. If you lose or alienate long standing supporters you lose your soul. Perhaps that is when apathy and disengagement starts to creep in.

Last but not least, the huge amount of debt if and when the stadium gets built is eye watering. I find it difficult to see how the club will be able to service that amount of debt and prosper. The board didn’t do enough tonight to reassure me on that front.

ps a big thanks to OxVox for organising the event.
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Yet Timmy bangs on about how important communication is and how important the fans are and without us the club is nothing.

There is one thing saying it, it is another thing showing it.

What tonight showed was that Ferguson is good but he needs to be more involved which is difficult considering he lives abroad.
Tim is like a nodding dog who try’s to say what we want to hear but when he gets some tough questioning he shows his true colours and as for Benson, well he didn’t hide it very well that he has contempt towards the fan base and I can see why long serving staff won’t put up with his s**t and are jumping ship.
 
westyorkshireexile said:
Prior to the forum, Benson was thought of as toxic around the club.
Tonight, he simply reinforced that opinion.
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Out of interest, what was it tonight that reinforced this for you?

I thought that he was pretty fair tonight and spoke to him before and after the forum and my opinion is that he is listening and things will get better. I don't think he has got everything right, far from it. The same applies to all of the SLT at various points. But this forum has been a wake up call for the club and I think we should judge them on what they do differently as a result.

I do think that Michael North deserved a better answer to the question he asked, and better treatment regarding the work he and others have done for many years, and that will be followed up. However, his question was fumbled by Jim Goddard saying how great his job was and Grant talking about everyone being very busy. In fairness to Adam, he was not given the opportunity to address the key issue and provide an answer.
 
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