There has to be something going on..

[Ox4Eva]

Lots of rumours but the club has remained silent, even with the debacle on the pitch it seems that those behind the scenes have other things on their mind.


I really hope there is a grand plan to resolve our problems off the pitch but surely what is happening on the pitch is vital as well!

I know they maybe cannot rush things if there are legal implications but we really seem to be a rudderless ship just now..

 

[Navegante]

I guess we need to hope this is the case. Otherwise, if the current state of affairs is to be considered 'business-as-usual' then we are truly up poop creek without a paddle...

 

[uptheus]

Lots of rumours but the club has remained silent, even with the debacle on the pitch it seems that those behind the scenes have other things on their mind.


I really hope there is a grand plan to resolve our problems off the pitch but surely what is happening on the pitch is vital as well!

I know they maybe cannot rush things if there are legal implications but we really seem to be a rudderless ship just now..

No matter what’s going on off the pitch whether that be buying the stadium, moving to a new one, new owner etc, we’ve still got a team which is a bag of shite until January, and a manager that has lost the plot/starting to show an arrogance.

 

[Manorlounger]

Time for OxVox to take a stand and make a statement. The concerns of the supporters need addressing and as a member, I am asking for those concerns to be voiced and given credence by a recognised body.

 

[yellowbow]

The initial fears we had about Tiger really appear to be coming home to roost now unfortunately

 

[Ox4Eva]

Time for OxVox to take a stand and make a statement. The concerns of the supporters need addressing and as a member, I am asking for those concerns to be voiced and given credence by a recognised body.

Have to say as an OXVOX member I am perturbed by their silence. I can understand that they may know more and it's a delicate situation with legal issues etc.

I understand that, but as the voice of the fans they should be taking a lead and speaking up!!

I am a supporter of OXVOX and this is not a dig but we need more from them....

 

[outsidethebox]

I'm sort of pinning my hopes on the "something going on" theory as well. However, that's probably because I don't want to contemplate the alternatives.

Such as, Tiger can't fund the solution to our dilemmas so we drift on until he can find a partner(s) who can. This takes months, the January window resembles the 2018 one. Relegated by Easter, Scum fluke the L2 play offs and our free fall continues. Can't happen (again) can it?

Actually, do yourselves a favour and ignore me!

 

[Peterdev]

Spoke to a long standing Reading fan this morning. His fear for Oxford is that Tiger will asset strip the club. He has previous form at Reading and was more interested in developing houses around the area for profit than helping Reading FC. Now he plans the same again.
Developing the car park into houses he could do very nicely if he can persuade the powers to be.
It looks very much like we have a Mk 2 Kassam, whose not interested in us falling down to L2. Will he sack Robinson?
It will cost him and he won’t want to pay.
I just hope our great club is not going to be exposed to the National League once more as I feel we might well struggle to get back to the league again.
I bet there’s plenty on here who would like Charlie back, but it ain’t going to happen now.
I’ll be there cheering on Saturday but I worry about the lack of communication from the chairman who seems to be always somewhere else. I wonder how much of this debacle is actually down to Robinson. We would all like a striker her as it is frustrating watching chances created only to see the likes of Obika squander them.
There are players who shouldn’t be here, ones that will be recalled and players that give their all, Henry, Eastwood and Holmes but other than that we are where we are

 

[Ox4Eva]

Spoke to a long standing Reading fan this morning. His fear for Oxford is that Tiger will asset strip the club. He has previous form at Reading and was more interested in developing houses around the area for profit than helping Reading FC. Now he plans the same again.
Developing the car park into houses he could do very nicely if he can persuade the powers to be.
It looks very much like we have a Mk 2 Kassam, whose not interested in us falling down to L2. Will he sack Robinson?
It will cost him and he won’t want to pay.
I just hope our great club is not going to be exposed to the National League once more as I feel we might well struggle to get back to the league again.
I bet there’s plenty on here who would like Charlie back, but it ain’t going to happen now.
I’ll be there cheering on Saturday but I worry about the lack of communication from the chairman who seems to be always somewhere else. I wonder how much of this debacle is actually down to Robinson. We would all like a striker her as it is frustrating watching chances created only to see the likes of Obika squander them.
There are players who shouldn’t be here, ones that will be recalled and players that give their all, Henry, Eastwood and Holmes but other than that we are where we are

A Reading fan that cares about OUFC, there's a first ?

Difference is as has been mentioned previously we as a club don't really have any assets to strip, we don't own the ground, we own no land so what could he strip?

My worry is that there is no plan, hope I am wrong!

 

[outsidethebox]

Spoke to a long standing Reading fan this morning. His fear for Oxford is that Tiger will asset strip the club. He has previous form at Reading and was more interested in developing houses around the area for profit than helping Reading FC. Now he plans the same again.
Developing the car park into houses he could do very nicely if he can persuade the powers to be.
It looks very much like we have a Mk 2 Kassam, whose not interested in us falling down to L2. Will he sack Robinson?
It will cost him and he won’t want to pay.
I just hope our great club is not going to be exposed to the National League once more as I feel we might well struggle to get back to the league again.
I bet there’s plenty on here who would like Charlie back, but it ain’t going to happen now.
I’ll be there cheering on Saturday but I worry about the lack of communication from the chairman who seems to be always somewhere else. I wonder how much of this debacle is actually down to Robinson. We would all like a striker her as it is frustrating watching chances created only to see the likes of Obika squander them.
There are players who shouldn’t be here, ones that will be recalled and players that give their all, Henry, Eastwood and Holmes but other than that we are where we are

Asset strip what? Yes, he could try to buy the stadium and land with it ie car parks with a view to housing but that wouldn't much change our situation (unless he signs and even worst licence agreement for the club, somehow).

 

[Shosho]

Plymouth will be a watershed moment for us.

A draw/loss and things could get pretty nasty pretty quick.

Twin this with *possible* updates come the end of October and by the start of November would could be in a seriously bad position.

Imagine the situation...bottom of the league, just lost to Plymouth, no news from Tiger, no movement on Thohir coming in.

 

[Peterdev]

Have to say it looks gloomy right now. I want a win Saturday but if that keeps Robinson till Christmas I don’t know how I’ll feel

 

[Navegante]

Difference is as has been mentioned previously we as a club don't really have any assets to strip, we don't own the ground, we own no land so what could he strip?

*Tinfoil hat alert*

If Tiger can 'strip' the club away from the K*$$*m Stadium, enabling ol' Firoz to cash in on the land for housing development, I'm sure he will be handsomely rewarded.

Tiger can then leave the club at Court Place Farm if it continues its current descent and walk away. Or, if planning permission is given, do a K*$$*m and build a new stadium with surrounding retail & commercial opportunities somewhere else in the county e.g. Bicester. From which the football club would receive the square root of diddly-squat in financial benefits (more likely, it would end up paying exorbitant rent for the privilege of playing at the new-stad).

 

[BotleyOx]

*Tinfoil hat alert*

If Tiger can 'strip' the club away from the K*$$*m Stadium, enabling ol' Firoz to cash in on the land for housing development, I'm sure he will be handsomely rewarded.

Tiger can then leave the club at Court Place Farm if it continues its current descent and walk away. Or, if planning permission is given, do a K*$$*m and build a new stadium with surrounding retail & commercial opportunities somewhere else in the county e.g. Bicester. From which the football club would receive the square root of diddly-squat in financial benefits (more likely, it would end up paying exorbitant rent for the privilege of playing at the new-stad).

deje vu

 

[Paul Cannell]

One problem is that there actually doesn't have to be something going on. It may just be that Tiger's a crazy fantasist who imagines he can run a football club in the same way that Robinson's a demented loon who pretends he is managing a football team.

Thohir runs a media group and has got general elections to fix in April, his families are billionaires. Giecke runs funds that manage billions, Nuseibah is in charge of 54 million at Floreat and his family are (as I pointed out) seriously minted. 2 of these have signed up as directors to Oxford.

Why? It's way too small for them to be involved personally unless there is some massive deal involving property. I can't see any of them having an interest in football (Thohir has presided over a massive decline at Inter, by their standards).

I put it to you that in this context the performance of the football team is virtually an irrelevance. Tiger is going to phone Erick Giecke's office on Monday after we lose to Plymouth and scream "Sir! Sir! Oxford are 4 points adrift at the bottom of league 1!! You have to do something now!!"? Dream on.

I may be wrong - a time may come when the disintegration of the team threatens the deal; when that will be is anyone's guess.

On a cheerier note: stadium deals have come by and disappeared into the sand, what happens if / when this one goes the same way?

 

[unification]

*Tinfoil hat alert*

If Tiger can 'strip' the club away from the K*$$*m Stadium, enabling ol' Firoz to cash in on the land for housing development, I'm sure he will be handsomely rewarded.

Tiger can then leave the club at Court Place Farm if it continues its current descent and walk away. Or, if planning permission is given, do a K*$$*m and build a new stadium with surrounding retail & commercial opportunities somewhere else in the county e.g. Bicester. From which the football club would receive the square root of diddly-squat in financial benefits (more likely, it would end up paying exorbitant rent for the privilege of playing at the new-stad).

It’s one scenario, but Tiger is nowhere near wealthy enough to do that, is he? From my understanding of it, we essentially inherited a new owner who was at the best as wealthy as DE but situated 6000 miles away. To me, he never looked like the guy to kick us on to the next level.

Unless these new investors are the speculators behind a greater plan to accumulate more whilst using OUFC. Why would these wealthy guys listen to a small fry like Tiger though?

 

[Navegante]

It’s one scenario, but Tiger is nowhere near wealthy enough to do that, is he? From my understanding of it, we essentially inherited a new owner who was at the best as wealthy as DE but situated 6000 miles away. To me, he never looked like the guy to kick us on to the next level.

Unless these new investors are the speculators behind a greater plan to accumulate more whilst using OUFC. Why would these wealthy guys listen to a small fry like Tiger though?

Tiger comes across a middle-man, his business is to be connected and put buyers and sellers together and cream off a % as a reward. Obviously, there is a scent of opportunity to do a deal involving K*$$*m and the land and these other fellows have money to make it a reality.

The football club is a key to the deal - an enabler to planning permission for the new development. Without the club, it would be a challenge to get the necessary permissions - plus there's an opportunity to extract rent from it as is the case now. Other than that, it's probably considered a shiny toy whose novelty is beginning to wear off very quickly.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

We have fallen down the rabbit hole into Alice in Wonderland. Apart from the complete non-performance of the management 'team' and the 'team' on the pitch, we have seemingly been bought (on tick) by an ineffectual, disorganised man with little money of his own but some moneyed contacts whose motives for (perhaps) getting involved with the club are completely unclear. With a part time MD (!) and an absentee owner there seems to be little control over what is happening day to day (yes, I know he can email and Skype, but that is not the same as actually being there) and the club has managed to make a fractious relationship with Kassam even worse (perhaps not difficult, but perhaps not very sensible either). With constant promises of 'jam tomorrow' both on and off the pitch, some people are prepared to swallow whatever crap is fed to them - but none of us can do very much about it at all.
The current hope that some bloke from Inter (who has presided over a slump for them and is reviled by their support) will bring his multimillions to the club, sort out the stadium situation and allow us to 'do a Bournemouth' because 'Oxford is a marketable brand' seems like wishful thinking to me (perhaps unfortunately). If things aren't sorted quickly, we will be in L2 next season in all likelihood, stuck in a stadium we can't leave but can't afford to play in, with our best players sold to bridge the gap and a team made up of ageing journeyman crocks, promising youngsters and a few loanees.
I'm off to buy a EuroMillions ticket...

 

[Paul Cannell]

It’s one scenario, but Tiger is nowhere near wealthy enough to do that, is he? From my understanding of it, we essentially inherited a new owner who was at the best as wealthy as DE but situated 6000 miles away. To me, he never looked like the guy to kick us on to the next level.

Unless these new investors are the speculators behind a greater plan to accumulate more whilst using OUFC. Why would these wealthy guys listen to a small fry like Tiger though?

He's the agent, the finder. (Edit: further to Navegante's post above) he holds the key that may open a lucrative door.

Maybe a better question is "what will they pay Tiger for finding the opportunity?". Not a lot, I'd suggest. At best maybe they build him a stadium in their vast, prestige Oxford project.

Which begs the question of where this prestige project will be in Oxford. A Deutsches Haus in Sandy Lane? Moving the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to Christ Church Meadow? Or taking on Guerriero's Oxford City Worldwide Television News Network?

 

[Witney Wag]

Good posts from @PC, @Navegante, @unification, @ZeroTheHero.

Getting really angry now.

The aim here is to extricate OUFC from the stadium to allow lucrative development. It's not pure asset-stripping as there are obviously no current assets to strip.

OUFC the club is irrelevant to Tiger, Thohior, Griecke, Nuseibah, Floreat and any other speculative parasites who might get involved. They don't care if we end up homeless or playing on a recreation ground in Bicester.

The club is simply a mess. Absent owner, ineffective manager, stadium owner we can't deal with, part time MD. The list goes on.

Unless something significant happens - and I can't imagine what that might be right now - we'll be playing 'who'll finish bottom?' with Plymouth throughout the season.

Whether we lose on Saturday or win 4-0 is irrelevant. Robinson is going nowhere as he's a convenient part of Tiger's consortium's longer term plan.

No doubt the new housing scheme at Grenoble Road will have to be called 'Kassam Meadows' or something equally obnoxious. Get your name down now.

Excellent post and probably sums up the majority feeling around the majority of the supporters. The fact that there is little or no information being shared by the club or indeed Oxvox adds to our frustrations. We follow football because we enjoy the game and we follow OUFC because they are OUR team and for many of us we live for each game. The current situation is not conducive to maintaining a positive following. Come on let’s be aving you.

 

[Navegante]

Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and Oxford United have released the following statement:

The leaders and senior officers of County Council and City Council have held discussions with the Directors of Oxford United about their search for alternative sites for a potential new stadium. Both Councils value Oxford United as important to the residents of Oxford City and Oxfordshire.

Any future move would not be a short term process and would be subject to the normal planning requirements. However, there is a shared commitment to ensure that Oxfordshire has a multi-use sporting venue that we are all proud to be associated with.

Oxford United have identified potential sites and has appointed a planning consultant in order to progress its ambition.


Source: OWS.

 

[unification]

It’s pretty bleak, isn’t it? It’s easy to be on a downer with the team slumping along but things behind the scenes really have taken a horrific turn to make things a whole lot worse.

The saddest thing is that it’s taken a mere eight months to find ourselves in this position. EIGHT MONTHS! Our decline in the ‘90s was a long, drawn out affair stemming from the collapse of the Maxwell empire, but even then the likes of Herd keeping us limping on and even with a brief bit of excitement in 1995-96.

This new crisis – and it’s slowly becoming one – has taken so little time to materialise. DE selling to the ‘wrong’ investor (let’s be honest, we all would have preferred Sartori. I can’t blame DE too much as he was looking out for himself rather than the club. It hurts to us but putting myself in his shoes and having a club I had no emotional affinity to, I would have done the same), Tiger overpromising and under-delivering, the worsening relationship with Kassam and now the utter shitpit that was our summer recruitment. We’re left no closer to a new home or buying the Kassam (probably even further away), we’re laboured with a weak squad of loanees and has-beens with some on long contracts, we have a part-time MD who, as nice as he is, is a schoolteacher with minimal experience of the role he’s in, we’re bottom of the league and we’re getting the mushroom treatment.

At the end of 2016-17, we finished 8th in League having navigated our way to the 5th round of the FA Cup and an EFL Trophy final and scoring 100 goals in the season. We sold some stars, as per the model, and reinvested. Yep – first big mistake was in Clotet, but things like that do happen. Clotet talked better than he managed so we were all happy to write it off and find the next guy who would buy into the OUFC approach.

What approach now? KR bumbling around, frustrated at the squad he assembled, Tiger nowhere to be seen and a ‘jam tomorrow’ approach from the fans’ forum. In only eight months, the professionalism has been obliterated. Deeply saddening.

 

[Witney Wag]

Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and Oxford United have released the following statement:

The leaders and senior officers of County Council and City Council have held discussions with the Directors of Oxford United about their search for alternative sites for a potential new stadium. Both Councils value Oxford United as important to the residents of Oxford City and Oxfordshire.

Any future move would not be a short term process and would be subject to the normal planning requirements. However, there is a shared commitment to ensure that Oxfordshire has a multi-use sporting venue that we are all proud to be associated with.

Oxford United have identified potential sites and has appointed a planning consultant in order to progress its ambition.


Source: OWS.

WATER EATON the perfect site? Or is it?

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Just read the statement.

So basically we will end up in a shared stadium that someone else will likely retain ownership of, and it will also be surrounded by other businesses such as leisure facilities and hotels, which will also be owned by the people who paid for the stadium and they will therefore take all profits while the club sits in a stadium with no assets of its own.

...WAIT A MINUTE!

 

[MarkG]

Quite, Zaki and Horst haven't come in yet as investors. They are directors, one with a history of lending money to Reading football club , the other as a property investor in far East. There is no implied route to the Premiership and taking out tv money as dividends or salaries like Blackpool. It seems to be all a property play.

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

Just read the statement.

So basically we will end up in a shared stadium that someone else will likely retain ownership of, and it will also be surrounded by other businesses such as leisure facilities and hotels, which will also be owned by the people who paid for the stadium and they will therefore take all profits while the club sits in a stadium with no assets of its own.

...WAIT A MINUTE!

But won't that always be the model?...Even if we found someone with ridiculously deep pockets who was happy to let a brand new stadium not pay its way and sit idle for all but a few hours a fortnight, the Planning Authorities would never allow that in a month of Sundays!

Unless it has a wider community benefit to it (ie shared site/leisure facilities) and unless it can turn a profit/at least pay for itself (ie associated business), it will never happen.

The crux in terms of the fate of OUFC is just how much any new owner/developer/speculator actually care about us.....which has ALWAYS been the case. As nice a fantasy as it is to pretend that some mega rich benevolent soul is about to gallop over the horizon to end all our woes, it is just that - pure fantasy.

 

[greatunclekip]

It’s pretty bleak, isn’t it? It’s easy to be on a downer with the team slumping along but things behind the scenes really have taken a horrific turn to make things a whole lot worse.

The saddest thing is that it’s taken a mere eight months to find ourselves in this position. EIGHT MONTHS! Our decline in the ‘90s was a long, drawn out affair stemming from the collapse of the Maxwell empire, but even then the likes of Herd keeping us limping on and even with a brief bit of excitement in 1995-96.

This new crisis – and it’s slowly becoming one – has taken so little time to materialise. DE selling to the ‘wrong’ investor (let’s be honest, we all would have preferred Sartori. I can’t blame DE too much as he was looking out for himself rather than the club. It hurts to us but putting myself in his shoes and having a club I had no emotional affinity to, I would have done the same), Tiger overpromising and under-delivering, the worsening relationship with Kassam and now the utter shitpit that was our summer recruitment. We’re left no closer to a new home or buying the Kassam (probably even further away), we’re laboured with a weak squad of loanees and has-beens with some on long contracts, we have a part-time MD who, as nice as he is, is a schoolteacher with minimal experience of the role he’s in, we’re bottom of the league and we’re getting the mushroom treatment.

At the end of 2016-17, we finished 8th in League having navigated our way to the 5th round of the FA Cup and an EFL Trophy final and scoring 100 goals in the season. We sold some stars, as per the model, and reinvested. Yep – first big mistake was in Clotet, but things like that do happen. Clotet talked better than he managed so we were all happy to write it off and find the next guy who would buy into the OUFC approach.

What approach now? KR bumbling around, frustrated at the squad he assembled, Tiger nowhere to be seen and a ‘jam tomorrow’ approach from the fans’ forum. In only eight months, the professionalism has been obliterated. Deeply saddening.

Best post on here in ages. We (me especially) moaned at times during the Eales/App years but my goodness we had it good. We were the envy of lower league clubs.

Ive said it before but it reminds me so much of Chesterfield who after walking league 2, stabilised in the league 1, a couple of bad managerial appointments, random "investors" and they are now floundering in the conference.

A successful football club has everyone pulling in the same direction with a clear vision. Everything we dont have.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Re: the statement.

Is this activity for the good of the football club, or primarily for the good of a load of investors? It certainly will not end up with the football club being the owner of the stadium. But until any site for the new stadium has been found, permissions granted, appeals gone through, infrastructure and transport considered, finance arranged, plans approved, contractors appointed and there actually being someone on site with a JCB I will remain pretty sceptical. Will it be done within the seven years left on our Grenoble Road agreement? Or will we be moved out somewhere only to find that the new stadium never gets built?

So I reiterate my original question: how many of those with power and influence at the club actually have the club's interests as their over-riding concern?

 

[Ox4Eva]

Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and Oxford United have released the following statement:

The leaders and senior officers of County Council and City Council have held discussions with the Directors of Oxford United about their search for alternative sites for a potential new stadium. Both Councils value Oxford United as important to the residents of Oxford City and Oxfordshire.

Any future move would not be a short term process and would be subject to the normal planning requirements. However, there is a shared commitment to ensure that Oxfordshire has a multi-use sporting venue that we are all proud to be associated with.

Oxford United have identified potential sites and has appointed a planning consultant in order to progress its ambition.


Source: OWS.

A statement that says f*ck all and in reality and we are no further forward!

 

[Sarge]

We have fallen down the rabbit hole into Alice in Wonderland. Apart from the complete non-performance of the management 'team' and the 'team' on the pitch, we have seemingly been bought (on tick) by an ineffectual, disorganised man with little money of his own but some moneyed contacts whose motives for (perhaps) getting involved with the club are completely unclear. With a part time MD (!) and an absentee owner there seems to be little control over what is happening day to day (yes, I know he can email and Skype, but that is not the same as actually being there) and the club has managed to make a fractious relationship with Kassam even worse (perhaps not difficult, but perhaps not very sensible either). With constant promises of 'jam tomorrow' both on and off the pitch, some people are prepared to swallow whatever crap is fed to them - but none of us can do very much about it at all.
The current hope that some bloke from Inter (who has presided over a slump for them and is reviled by their support) will bring his multimillions to the club, sort out the stadium situation and allow us to 'do a Bournemouth' because 'Oxford is a marketable brand' seems like wishful thinking to me (perhaps unfortunately). If things aren't sorted quickly, we will be in L2 next season in all likelihood, stuck in a stadium we can't leave but can't afford to play in, with our best players sold to bridge the gap and a team made up of ageing journeyman crocks, promising youngsters and a few loanees.
I'm off to buy a EuroMillions ticket...

its all (on and off pitch), been getting curiouser and curiouser since Tigers take over, thats for sure