General The Board & Senior Management

[Northstandboy]

 

[greatunclekip]

Because it has in his previous clubs.

It would take a huge amount of incompetence to get Inter Milan to fail to be fair.

He genuinely must be the only owner, in the history of EFL football to not only take his club into not only an embargo but literally prevented from registering players, appoint a board of bare faced liars with zero interest in fans, yet still have a significant number of fans on his side. It’s absolutely absurd to me.

I know there’s likely no alternative, but his behaviour has been absolutely dire. He’s not funding us out of the goodness of his heart, and he turned off the taps other than life support once it stopped serving his ends.

 

[Symp59]

I think its the not knowing and the actions that are being taken now with Stan going. We need players like Stan to do ok this season we really are down to the bare bones after only 3 games .And we need better than young premier league fringe players ,most clubs like ourselves have had a fair share over the years. Apart from Lanksher who we all loved how many have been dreadful over the years. Aaron must be gutted ,we are a club at the minute like a boat without a rudder .ET where are you ? iam glad Stan has gone ,hopefully BDK over the weekend and Leigh by all accounts that should leave us with a very competitive squad until Xmas, well done .

 

[Morris Oxford]

Pretty worrying I would have thought.
I do wonder whether everything is being held back until the JR decision is made.
The bigger worry is whether Thohir will go ahead with the stadium or not and is cashing in on Mills .
I maybe wrong to be so concerned, but with the huge void in communication who knows?
Terrible by Dusan. The communication strategy looks awful. Some have suggested that communication has always been bad, but from what I have read said by Paul, Grant Ferguson was always available to chat to Oxvox, so things have gone massively down hill.

You’re absolutely not wrong to be concerned, every single OUFC supporter should be extremely concerned.

Dusan Bogdanovich is a charlatan and not to be trusted.

We, the supporters, are being treated with contempt.

If as being suggested Tim Williams the CEO is on long term sick leave, it begs the question who is the stand in CEO, who is running things in Oxford on a day to day basis?

 

[charliesghost]

Don’t get me wrong Kip, I am disgusted by our chairman. My point was that Charlie only decides to turn up here when there is a bad news story.
I am sure he means well really

Err. Nor was I on here after relegation. Nor after the abject loss to Orient.
You must be seriously thick if you think the reason I bothered to start to outline our issues a month ago is because I'm worried about a win or a loss here or there.
I'm on here because I am seriously concerned about the future of our club. The club my kids support and I hope that my grandkids will do too, as both my grandfathers did.
I dont give a monkeys about Stan Mills. Players - easy come, easy go.
I was on here very specifically because of the OxVox missive..... and encouraging them to direct their enquiries to Thohir.
Still..... if bobble hats like you are so delighted by beating Stevenage that you want to ignore the bigger picture then that's fine. Just please leave the Boardroom thread to those of us who want to discuss Board matters.

 

[charliesghost]

I was referencing the email OxVox sent to it's members.

The summary of the previous Teams meeting with Dusan was pretty weak in my view. It felt that we should have all been honoured that Dusan took the time to chat to a couple of reps from OxVox and FAB, and how they were happy to take him at his word.

This at least shows that he is not a man of his word, and has been called out for it. Although I'm not sure where any of this leaves us? I guess that we have to hope that the intermediary is able to get more information for us, or we see some tangible progress with the stadium or embargo to judge them on.

But it raises huge concerns about what is happening at our club, and what happens if there are any more delays with the stadium.

In retrospect OxVox were smart. They gave him the benefit of the doubt and agreed to judge him by his actions.
That then set the correct platform to criticise him from.
However, to my mind they are unduly focussed on the embargo and insufficiently focussed on the stadium situation.
If the deal was: embargo continues, stadium gets built then..... I'm in!
If the deal was: embargo lifted, stadium does NOT get built.... then I'm seriously worried.
So it follows (to me at least) that this is all that matters. And that the arbiter of whether it gets built or not is Erik Thohir.
And that, therefore, we should be directing all energies at Mr Thohir, his family and - if need be - the Indonesian Embassy, concerning the plans to start work on the stadium.
Speaking to Bogdanovic about the embargo is a red herring; a dead end.

 

[Northernyellow]

I've worked for- and with- several private equity backed businesses over the years. And OUFC is essentially backed by a family wealth fund. So I have a reasonable amount of experience in how the owners of these businesses behave. I have been extremely sceptical from the moment the embargo was announced, and was particularly concerned that there was never a clear explanation about why this has happened. The complete silence from the Board- and lack of any meaningful detail on future plans- is a huge red flag. As others have said, they may well be waiting for the outcome of planning. If there are further delays, I would not be at all surprised to see them pulling the plug. And yes, I know they have invested £60M+, but I have seen businesses closed when far more than that has been invested. It's called cutting your losses. And assuming everyone on this forum is an OUFC fan, probably best to focus on what to do if that is the outcome rather than slagging each other off.

 

[Boris]

Err. Nor was I on here after relegation. Nor after the abject loss to Orient.
You must be seriously thick if you think the reason I bothered to start to outline our issues a month ago is because I'm worried about a win or a loss here or there.
I'm on here because I am seriously concerned about the future of our club. The club my kids support and I hope that my grandkids will do too, as both my grandfathers did.
I dont give a monkeys about Stan Mills. Players - easy come, easy go.
I was on here very specifically because of the OxVox missive..... and encouraging them to direct their enquiries to Thohir.
Still..... if bobble hats like you are so delighted by beating Stevenage that you want to ignore the bigger picture then that's fine. Just please leave the Boardroom thread to those of us who want to discuss Board matters.

This.

I may not have worded it quite so confrontationally, but Charlie is 100% right. Player departures, results on the pitch, what kit we wear are all by the by. What's really important is the very future of our football club. We are used to the club lurching from crisis to crisis and somehow keeping itself going, whether thanks to wealthy individuals or fans' campaigns or, sometimes, sheer bloody luck. Even during the dark days of FOUL it felt like there would be a way through. Now, however, for the first time I can remember, it feels apocalyptic.

We have for far too long relied on wealthy benefactors to bail us out when the going has gotten tough, and somehow there has always been one on hand. However, the stakes now are much greater than they ever have been before - the sums involved (and the tight timescale) are too great to assume that we can rely on another rich bastard coming to the rescue should the current owner withdraw - and let's face it, he's hardly come across as someone particularly invested (other than financially) in the club's fortunes.

I hear a lot of "he's already spent £10 million so why would he stop now?" type comments, but for a man of Thohir's means, £10m isn't that much to lose if it means stopping chasing his losses. We hear talk of investors waiting in the wings for the JR to be kicked out, but no one has ever produced any evidence that this is actually the case, and the longer it drags on, the more it sounds like the desperate ramblings of people trying to wish it into being.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that ET does want to continuing spaffing money up the wall to keep the club going, and that there really are stupidly rich people out there whose egos will let them spend tens of millions on an obscure football club with very little chance of a ROI, never mind turning a profit.

I said it before, when the embargo was first announced, that we may not yet be in AFC Oxford territory, but it's essential that OxVox (as the only properly organised independent fans group) is well along the way to being prepared for that eventuality. I trust that the committee has been in touch with the FSA and the people behind AFC Wimbledon's creation to be ready to take the first steps should they be required. I sincerely hope they won't be, but it would seem prudent to at least have a plan should the worst scenario occur.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

This.

I may not have worded it quite so confrontationally, but Charlie is 100% right. Player departures, results on the pitch, what kit we wear are all by the by. What's really important is the very future of our football club. We are used to the club lurching from crisis to crisis and somehow keeping itself going, whether thanks to wealthy individuals or fans' campaigns or, sometimes, sheer bloody luck. Even during the dark days of FOUL it felt like there would be a way through. Now, however, for the first time I can remember, it feels apocalyptic.

We have for far too long relied on wealthy benefactors to bail us out when the going has gotten tough, and somehow there has always been one on hand. However, the stakes now are much greater than they ever have been before - the sums involved (and the tight timescale) are too great to assume that we can rely on another rich bastard coming to the rescue should the current owner withdraw - and let's face it, he's hardly come across as someone particularly invested (other than financially) in the club's fortunes.

I hear a lot of "he's already spent £10 million so why would he stop now?" type comments, but for a man of Thohir's means, £10m isn't that much to lose if it means stopping chasing his losses. We hear talk of investors waiting in the wings for the JR to be kicked out, but no one has ever produced any evidence that this is actually the case, and the longer it drags on, the more it sounds like the desperate ramblings of people trying to wish it into being.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that ET does want to continuing spaffing money up the wall to keep the club going, and that there really are stupidly rich people out there whose egos will let them spend tens of millions on an obscure football club with very little chance of a ROI, never mind turning a profit.

I said it before, when the embargo was first announced, that we may not yet be in AFC Oxford territory, but it's essential that OxVox (as the only properly organised independent fans group) is well along the way to being prepared for that eventuality. I trust that the committee has been in touch with the FSA and the people behind AFC Wimbledon's creation to be ready to take the first steps should they be required. I sincerely hope they won't be, but it would seem prudent to at least have a plan should the worst scenario occur.

Hopefully the ownership can be trusted to resolve this themselves or by selling to decent investors.

I wouldn't support AFC Oxford as there are many in Oxfordshire that would celebrate our demise and say good riddance to league football in Oxfordshire as its always been unwelcome by some.

I'd go all in behind Oxford City. Already full time and two promotions away from the football league and representating our city and county.

It's the best option of returning league football to the county should the worst happen and they'd need a new stadium...

Those who want to kill OUFC by objecting to the stadium want to rid Oxfordshire of football full stop, it's personal and we shouldn't let them win.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

The difference this time (of course) is that there is literally no suitable ground for an AFC Oxford to play at if we want to fight our way back to being a league club. Unfortunately we really are in a "rich man's plaything or nothing" situation.

Personally I have little or no interest in Oxford City. I'd support an AFC Oxford if one had to be formed. If not, I would save myself hours of driving and support one of the Bedford clubs (nearest home).

 

[Pgyellow]

I don't think I could ever support anyone else. It would break my heart.

 

[yellowbow]

This.

I may not have worded it quite so confrontationally, but Charlie is 100% right. Player departures, results on the pitch, what kit we wear are all by the by. What's really important is the very future of our football club. We are used to the club lurching from crisis to crisis and somehow keeping itself going, whether thanks to wealthy individuals or fans' campaigns or, sometimes, sheer bloody luck. Even during the dark days of FOUL it felt like there would be a way through. Now, however, for the first time I can remember, it feels apocalyptic.

We have for far too long relied on wealthy benefactors to bail us out when the going has gotten tough, and somehow there has always been one on hand. However, the stakes now are much greater than they ever have been before - the sums involved (and the tight timescale) are too great to assume that we can rely on another rich bastard coming to the rescue should the current owner withdraw - and let's face it, he's hardly come across as someone particularly invested (other than financially) in the club's fortunes.

I hear a lot of "he's already spent £10 million so why would he stop now?" type comments, but for a man of Thohir's means, £10m isn't that much to lose if it means stopping chasing his losses. We hear talk of investors waiting in the wings for the JR to be kicked out, but no one has ever produced any evidence that this is actually the case, and the longer it drags on, the more it sounds like the desperate ramblings of people trying to wish it into being.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that ET does want to continuing spaffing money up the wall to keep the club going, and that there really are stupidly rich people out there whose egos will let them spend tens of millions on an obscure football club with very little chance of a ROI, never mind turning a profit.

I said it before, when the embargo was first announced, that we may not yet be in AFC Oxford territory, but it's essential that OxVox (as the only properly organised independent fans group) is well along the way to being prepared for that eventuality. I trust that the committee has been in touch with the FSA and the people behind AFC Wimbledon's creation to be ready to take the first steps should they be required. I sincerely hope they won't be, but it would seem prudent to at least have a plan should the worst scenario occur.

The problem with all this is we won’t have a ground to play on and, should we ‘do a Wimbledon’ and get back in or near the EFL, we will be back to square one, trying to battle nimbys and a local cancel, who is very reluctant to help in any significant way, to get ourselves a fit for purpose stadium.

That will probably be a problem for others when most of us will be gone

 

[Twiggy85]

We have been in an embargo for 2 months and we still have been given zero explanation as to why we went from almost signing players to being in an embargo until, the club claim, January.
On top of this, regardless of your thoughts previously on him, Tim Williams has not been seen who previously was the only board member who spoke publicly. Is it possible he realises the wool has been pulled over his eyes of which he has been the public face and is why he is no longer seen.
The whole thing has massive alarm bells ringing that we are in trouble.

 

[Sarge]

We have been in an embargo for 2 months and we still have been given zero explanation as to why we went from almost signing players to being in an embargo until, the club claim, January.
On top of this, regardless of your thoughts previously on him, Tim Williams has not been seen who previously was the only board member who spoke publicly. Is it possible he realises the wool has been pulled over his eyes of which he has been the public face and is why he is no longer seen.
The whole thing has massive alarm bells ringing that we are in trouble.

Has for me on the grounds of the Chairman's utter contempt for the fanbase, talks loud says nothing, has made hollow promises after hollow promises, placatatory empty assurance, which so far have proved to be blatant and utter mistruths. Judge me on actions, not words proclaimed the Chairman at a meeting with supporters' elected representatives a few weeks ago. I for one have Judged him on his (in)actions and 180 degree turns on promises and assurances so far , and find him guilty of contemptuous bullshit spewing

.

 

[Yellowoptimist]

This.

I may not have worded it quite so confrontationally, but Charlie is 100% right. Player departures, results on the pitch, what kit we wear are all by the by. What's really important is the very future of our football club. We are used to the club lurching from crisis to crisis and somehow keeping itself going, whether thanks to wealthy individuals or fans' campaigns or, sometimes, sheer bloody luck. Even during the dark days of FOUL it felt like there would be a way through. Now, however, for the first time I can remember, it feels apocalyptic.

We have for far too long relied on wealthy benefactors to bail us out when the going has gotten tough, and somehow there has always been one on hand. However, the stakes now are much greater than they ever have been before - the sums involved (and the tight timescale) are too great to assume that we can rely on another rich bastard coming to the rescue should the current owner withdraw - and let's face it, he's hardly come across as someone particularly invested (other than financially) in the club's fortunes.

I hear a lot of "he's already spent £10 million so why would he stop now?" type comments, but for a man of Thohir's means, £10m isn't that much to lose if it means stopping chasing his losses. We hear talk of investors waiting in the wings for the JR to be kicked out, but no one has ever produced any evidence that this is actually the case, and the longer it drags on, the more it sounds like the desperate ramblings of people trying to wish it into being.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong and that ET does want to continuing spaffing money up the wall to keep the club going, and that there really are stupidly rich people out there whose egos will let them spend tens of millions on an obscure football club with very little chance of a ROI, never mind turning a profit.

I said it before, when the embargo was first announced, that we may not yet be in AFC Oxford territory, but it's essential that OxVox (as the only properly organised independent fans group) is well along the way to being prepared for that eventuality. I trust that the committee has been in touch with the FSA and the people behind AFC Wimbledon's creation to be ready to take the first steps should they be required. I sincerely hope they won't be, but it would seem prudent to at least have a plan should the worst scenario occur.

The bit you are very wrong on is the need to be reliant on rich individuals willing to spaff money away when it comes to the stadium. The stadium project for a multitude of reasons is very investable with good long term returns. The decision is how much of that investment does ET want..
Plus he can only gain access to that investment opportunity if he has a football club to go in it

 

[CaptainOx]

We still haven't had any form of photo of Dusan in an OUFC context.
No staged scarf holding picture, no Grant Ferguson polo style image to go with website pieces, nothing.
It's just really odd.

If we hadn't seen a picture of him with Thohir on socials from months back - I'd be thinking he was a bit like the bloke who bought Wigan who it seemed never actually existed.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

We still haven't had any form of photo of Dusan in an OUFC context.
No staged scarf holding picture, no Grant Ferguson polo style image to go with website pieces, nothing.
It's just really odd.

If we hadn't seen a picture of him with Thohir on socials from months back - I'd be thinking he was a bit like the bloke who bought Wigan who it seemed never actually existed.

He's Erick's stooge, not the chairman.

Its clear its simply a real estate play for the owners which we need to come off. No further cash until we know the stadium can go ahead. It seems the delaying tactics by those who object to the stadium are starting to cause harm.

 

[OUFCGav]

We have been in an embargo for 2 months and we still have been given zero explanation as to why we went from almost signing players to being in an embargo until, the club claim, January.
On top of this, regardless of your thoughts previously on him, Tim Williams has not been seen who previously was the only board member who spoke publicly. Is it possible he realises the wool has been pulled over his eyes of which he has been the public face and is why he is no longer seen.
The whole thing has massive alarm bells ringing that we are in trouble.

There may be reasons we've had no explanation, there will be ongoing work with the EFL about the situation, and they may be limiting what is said. This is a new rule that was only voted in during May, and the club though they would be able to comply with their interpretation, and the enforcement by the EFL was different to that expected. Not saying that is good or right, but things in the background can't always be communicated (and the lack of communication generally is not helping).

The TW situation is very specific, and definitely won't be discussed publicly at this time.

 

[Ox4Eva]

Has TW surfaced at all?

 

[OUFCGav]

Has TW surfaced at all?

I refer you to my post above yours.

 

[holdsteady]

Hopefully the ownership can be trusted to resolve this themselves or by selling to decent investors.

I wouldn't support AFC Oxford as there are many in Oxfordshire that would celebrate our demise and say good riddance to league football in Oxfordshire as its always been unwelcome by some.

I'd go all in behind Oxford City. Already full time and two promotions away from the football league and representating our city and county.

It's the best option of returning league football to the county should the worst happen and they'd need a new stadium...

Those who want to kill OUFC by objecting to the stadium want to rid Oxfordshire of football full stop, it's personal and we shouldn't let them win.

When I lived in Oxford I had zero interest in Oxford City so now I don’t I am hardly likely to start supporting them. They are a completely different club, can’t just change my support like that.

I am 50/50 about whether I could follow a phoenix OUFC, be tempted to jack in following a club side and just follow the sport at arms reach, think is dying would leave to much of a bad taste to let myself get so involved in what’s a bit of a cess pit of a sport again, but I am a hundred percent certain I will never follow anyone but OUFC.

 

[Ox4Eva]

When I lived in Oxford I had zero interest in Oxford City so now I don’t I am hardly likely to start supporting them. They are a completely different club, can’t just change my support like that.

I am 50/50 about whether I could follow a phoenix OUFC, be tempted to jack in following a club side and just follow the sport at arms reach, think is dying would leave to much of a bad taste to let myself get so involved in what’s a bit of a cess pit of a sport again, but I am a hundred percent certain I will never follow anyone but OUFC.

Same, I couldn't give a s**t about Ox city and never will.

 

[Ox4Eva]

I refer you to my post above yours.

So that's a no then..

 

[Scotchegg]

Its clear its simply a real estate play for the owners which we need to come off.

Not this nonsense again.

There are a lot easier and cheaper and better places to get real estate than to build a football stadium on thd outside of Oxford.

For the money involved, Erick could have bought property in London 5 years ago and made a huge profit by now.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Not this nonsense again.

There are a lot easier and cheaper and better places to get real estate than to build a football stadium on thd outside of Oxford.

For the money involved, Erick could have bought property in London 5 years ago and made a huge profit by now.

It'll be interesting to see how long the current owners stick around for if the stadium is built.

If it were about sporting success they probably would've taken action to avoid being embargoed by now.

 

[Osleroad]

He was pictured at our home game in the stand - though agree there is low profile and low profile.

 

[charliesghost]

I'm not convinced you

The bit you are very wrong on is the need to be reliant on rich individuals willing to spaff money away when it comes to the stadium. The stadium project for a multitude of reasons is very investable with good long term returns. The decision is how much of that investment does ET want..
Plus he can only gain access to that investment opportunity if he has a football club to go in it

I'm not convinced you're right.
The problem with football stadia is that they are umbilically attached to the fortunes of their club.
Unless you have outstanding extramural revenue streams (Ricoh Arena) then the dominant factor in reclaiming money invested is thru the ultimate sale of the club.
Even the Ricoh got flipped to and from Mike Ashley fairly inexpensively (certainly less than our build cost).
Because of the limited size of the Triangle site, the current proposed stadium doesnt even have a proper conference/exhibition centre.
I'd guess that its cost is 100 mn (once Timmy's vanity fripperies get trimmed off) and its value as a standalone asset is circa 30 mn.
Of course its true value lies in what it 'could' do for Oxford United.
In L1, at the Kassam, the club is worth circa £12 mn. In the Champ, at new stadium, circa £70 mn, maybe.
But it requires a really long view to properly make sense of it.
Which is what we have always been told is Thohir's mindset.
But I wouldnt hold much hope for an independent investor deciding to drop 100 mn on a 16k stadium. You can buy Derby County for £60 mn with a first-rate 30k stadium chucked in.

 

[Mojofilter]

We need to hear from them ASAP. It cannot keep landing on Ramsey to shoulder all of this when it's clearly not within his hands. We need a sense of what is going on and what has changed and those at the top need to be the ones telling us.

 

[charliesghost]

Not this nonsense again.

There are a lot easier and cheaper and better places to get real estate than to build a football stadium on thd outside of Oxford.

For the money involved, Erick could have bought property in London 5 years ago and made a huge profit by now.

100%, Scotchers.
This barely makes sense financially, which is why we desperately need ET to do it.
If it was 'a real estate play' then we wouldnt have a problem raising 3rd party investment for it if ET did get bored of the whole thing. Unfortunately the truth is otherwise.
The thing that is bugging me (paranoid possibly) is that if he was planning to fund it then the relative lack of funding on the playing side is an easy PR line.
I was doing PR for Arsenal at the same stage with Highbury/Emirates.... and we just went out with a clear message that it was going to be 5 years of belt tightening on the playing side to help fund the stadium build, but that the Promised Land wd be having big revenues once mortgage was cleared.
If ET was about to start work on the Triangle, surely it's childs play just to say 'Sorry guys, bear with us on this - the new stadium will be transformational for the club and thats where every spare penny will go....'
Bogdanovic's assurances on the stadium I sensed a certain evasiveness/slipperinness. For those of us who lived thru the Robin Herd disaster, twitchinness on this topic is inevitable.

 

[MarkG]

I did read through a SwissRamble substack which basically said that most Championship clubs lose money so we were nothing exceptional.
However we are in the unusual situation of not only losing money on day-to-day operations, but also needing to fund what appears to be an ever-increasing stadium cost. The Stratfield Brake site gave "everyone" a chance to make some money with the owners having a more saleable asset as a football club with a good ground footprint, but I don't think any of our ownership base thought it would prove so difficult, time consuming and costly it is to get to where we are now.

 

[jaybeachjump]

100%, Scotchers.
This barely makes sense financially, which is why we desperately need ET to do it.
If it was 'a real estate play' then we wouldnt have a problem raising 3rd party investment for it if ET did get bored of the whole thing. Unfortunately the truth is otherwise.
The thing that is bugging me (paranoid possibly) is that if he was planning to fund it then the relative lack of funding on the playing side is an easy PR line.
I was doing PR for Arsenal at the same stage with Highbury/Emirates.... and we just went out with a clear message that it was going to be 5 years of belt tightening on the playing side to help fund the stadium build, but that the Promised Land wd be having big revenues once mortgage was cleared.
If ET was about to start work on the Triangle, surely it's childs play just to say 'Sorry guys, bear with us on this - the new stadium will be transformational for the club and thats where every spare penny will go....'
Bogdanovic's assurances on the stadium I sensed a certain evasiveness/slipperinness. For those of us who lived thru the Robin Herd disaster, twitchinness on this topic is inevitable.

Correct. The difference, as is often the case, is how you communicate. ET does not communicate, for whatever reason, his plans for the football club. And he has hired a non-communicating ghost as chairman to run things for him. Into the vacuum go a thousand conspiracy theories as to ET's intentions, exacerbated by his refusal to stump up this year's budget in advance while the FOSB games play out. It's a total mess, but much of the pain, in my view, could have been alleviated by better comms.