Oxford City Council has announced another two public consultation meetings to discuss the proposed leisure development at Minchery Farm. These will be held in June, one at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre, and the other at the Town Hall. How long this means we'll be waiting before the scheme can get a go-ahead is unknown.

The Football League yesterday warned Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Luton and Chester that they will not be allowed to start next season in the Football League unless they can sort out their financial troubles. Each of these clubs is currently in either administration or receivership. The League announced, "The board gave the clubs notice to effectively remove them from the League, but suspended that notice subject to certain conditions to allow the clubs time to sort out their financial problems. Those clubs will have to prepare proposals which are acceptable to the board and which will allow the clubs to exit from administration or receivership. The board has agreed that it is minded not to allow any of the four clubs to start next season in administration or receivership."

Last time the League mentioned Oxford as one of those clubs that might not be allowed to start next season. Why we have been removed from this list, I don't know. Do the League know something we don't? Or are they now only worried about the clubs that are in administration/receivership?

One of Malcolm Shotton's transfer targets, Bedlington Terriers striker John Milner, has accepted an offer of a week's trial with York City in July. His manager has described him as the best non-league striker he has ever seen, with Milner scoring 65 goals for Bedlington this season. Unless Shotton is given the wherewithall to step in quickly, it looks as though we may well miss out on Milner.

Martin Gray has moved on a free transfer to Darlington (whose new chairperson reckons they will be a Premiership club within ten years and is pumping money in). This leaves us with precisely two central midfielders, Paul Tait and Matt Murphy. Oh dear...

The new "Gang of Four" consortium yesterday made an unspecified offer for Firoz Kassam's 89% shareholding in Oxford United. This offer was turned down by Firoz Kassam.

Little kids across Britain saw the greatest team in the history of the world ever, yes ever, including that Hungary side and Real Madrid in the 50s and Ajax in the 70s, I'm telling you beat some fascist scum,two world wars and one world cup,they bombed London you know, renounced their support for some now-forgotten local side, and rushed off to the Manchester United megastore for succour...

NEW CONSORTIUM ANNOUNCED

FOUL made the following posting to the Oxford United forum this morning:

The Oxford Mail will run a story today that David Bower (until recently the acting MD for OUFC) has formed a consortium to attempt to purchase Firoz Kassam's shares in Oxford United. The other members of the consortium are Jim Rosenthal, George Bailey (MD, Sotheby's Europe) and Hamish Dewer (Fine Art Restorer). They claim to have 1 million pounds available for immediate injection into the club and believe this will secure the club's future for the next 12 months.
David Bower and associates say they have taken this step because they are concerned that Firoz Kassam has not put any money into the club to date and because they do not agree with the decison to seek a CVA as announced by the club yesterday.

Firoz Kassam, on the other hand, has said he will be putting a substantial anmount of money (approx £500,000) into the club in the immediate future to meet the day to day running costs and that the CVA is the only way to clear the debts of the club, in particularly a number of claims made by former advisors to the club and/or Robin Herd that are somewhere in the region of £3 million.

The FOUL committee had lengthy meetings last night with both Firoz Kassam and David Bowers. At these meetings both sides put forward their case and position and answered our (many) questions. Both asked for FOUL's support and expressed the view that without it neither could continue.

FOUL's view at the moment is that as ever our sole aim is the survival of the footbal club, however we currently do not have enough information to support or oppose either group.

We will seek urgent meetings with the key players involved, particularly the City Council and Creditors.

An interesting quote from Bower is : "It is not Kassam or nothing. There are others who can help this club and the four of us can come in and replace Mr Kassam." This is the important part. Maybe it is no longer Multiplex Or Bust. The formation of this new consortium must be welocomed, if only because it puts pressure on Kassam to start coming up with the goods.

MAN UTD STUFF

So Man Utd winning tonight would be good for English football? If they win:

1) More and more kids far from Manchester will buy up Sharp replica kits and ignore their local teams;
2) The media will preach from Man Utd's pulpits for what will seem like months, feeding the myth that is Man Utd - basically free advertising for a corporate giant.
3) More money will make its way into the hands of the club in England that least needs it.

Here's a quote from a Watford fan : "As consumers rather than supporters, it's the glory-hunters who are ruining football - more so than anyone else, in my opinion. That's because instead of supporting their local clubs they buy Man Utd merchandise and subscribe to Sky (who then pay even more money to Man Utd for screening their matches) and so the gap between rich and poor widens further."

So even if you care little about tonight's match of the overpaid millionaires, cross your fingers for Bayern. It's for the good of clubs like Oxford in the end.

And a Manchester City has even kindly provided this Hate Man Utd page.

STEVENAGE SAVED?

Stevenage Borough, whose future seemed in doubt after chairperson Victor Green seemed poised to pull the plug, are set to be taken over by food magnate, Phil Wallace. An announcement is expected in the next 24 hours. Green had threatened to fold the club after an argument with the local council over the lease on the club's ground, Broadhall Way. Green refused to show the club's accounts to the council. With Barnet moving in for a possible merger bid, Wallace's move comes in the nick of time. Now there should hopefully be continued Conference -level football in Stevenage.

Oxford United have stated their intentions to enter into a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA) whereby creditors will be offered only a percentage of their debt. 70% of the creditors (calculated by money owed) have to agree to this. This is apparently a standard way of attempting to help an insolvent company whose underlying business could be profitable if not held back by the large debt. It tends to mean that we're in deep shit if the creditors don't agree to the arrangement, although they probably will as it's their only chance of getting any money back!

The following Press Statement has been issued by the club:

Firoz Kassam, Oxford United's major shareholder, and the Board of Directors have acted to deal with the Club's well publicised financial problems.
They felt that they had no option but to enter into a formal arrangement with creditors. Corporate recovery experts, Buchler Phillips, have been instructed by the Club to put together a proposal.
The Club has been boosted by the appointment to the Board of chartered accountant, Fenton Higgins, who advises small and medium size businesses, and has considerable football experience.
Mr. Kassam is financing the day-to-day expenses of the Club, and if an arrangement can be made with creditors, and the appropriate planning consent is given for the multiplex cinema at the new stadium, he will make substantial funds available for the Club.

Thames Valley FM have reported that Oxford are set to give Martin Gray a free transfer so that he can return to the North East. Gray is eager to return to be near his family as his son is unwell.

Maurice Evans has denied that Phil Whelan will be given a free, saying that a fee will be sought for the player who cost Oxford £170,000 when Denis Smith signed him two years ago. Malcolm Shotton attempted to clarify this "for free or not for free" confusion by saying, "At one time he was available on a free when we needed to get him off the wage bill. Now that he's back we probably would want a fee if we can get one, but if someone said to us 'we'll take him' we would probably let him go." There. That's clarified the matter!

Incidentally, I must apologise to Phil Whelan for my own mistake in believing that Rotherham had been promoted to division two. He was in fact correct that a move to Rotherham would be dropping down a division. Stupid me. Apparently Rotherham have given up hope of signing Whelan as he feels he is capable of playing at a higher level than division three. The jury is still out on that one.

All quiet at Oxford United just at the moment. Over the weekend, I checked the papers for even the vaguest transfer rumours involving Oxford. Nothing. Sport First even carried a section on each league club. Every other club's section had some rumour or other, spurious or not. Oxford's had discussion of Kassam. Not a sausage about transfers. This is probably not a bad sign, as any transfers involving Oxford are more likely to involve our selling players at dirt cheap prices, rather than signing any on.

FOUL are meeting with members of the Green Party this evening to determine the party's stance on the multiplex application. The meeting is at The Holy Family Church Hall in Blackbird Leys, starting at 7.30pm. The Greens are unlikely to support the application - the question is really whether they will oppose it or take a neutral position.

Firoz Kassam has confirmed that the club has sent the revised planning application (complete with nine screen multiplex) to Oxford City Council. If the Council approves the application, it will be sent directly to the GOSE (Government Office for the South East), which will make the decision on whether the application has to be approved by central government. If the GOSE decides this is necessary, Kassam's bid for the club is likely to fall apart. One good omen is that Southampton recently went down the same route, and were successfully granted planning permission for a new stadium, without it being "called in" by the GOSE. However, their application did not include the politically sensitive issue of an out-of-town leisure complex.

Malcolm Shotton is still being mentioned in connection with the Barnsley job after the Yorkshire club missed out on the Huddersfield-bound Steve Bruce. Dave Bassett is considered the favourite for the Oakwell job, but Shotton is apparently on Barnsley's shortlist, along with Nigel Spackman and Mick McCarthy.

Phil Whelan has been told he can leave Oxford on a free transfer, taking our squad size down to an effective 15 (since Big Kev won't be playing an active part for a while). Whelan has been loan at Rotherham since early March, and the Millers are keen to sign him. Oxford were thought to be wanting about £50,000 for Whelan, but with Rotherham failing to get promotion, it was felt that they could not afford this fee. So the Oxford board decided he could leave on a free, presumably just to get him off our wage bill. All this for a player who cost us £170,000 two seasons ago. Thanks, Denis. Apparently news of our relegation had not yet reached South Yorkshire as Whelan commented, "If I join Rotherham I'll be dropping down a division, but the thing going for them is that I've played for them for several weeks and they know me."

Congratulations to Watford in reaching the playoff final at the expense of moneyed Birmingham City. It's always heartening when money fails to win through. Who cares if we lost out on £150,000 (or whatever) that we would have netted as part of the Darren Purse and Simon Marsh deals if Brum had been promoted.? It's a drop in the ocean as far as we're concerned...

Martin Gray has apparently NOT asked for a transfer - he has merely requested permission to speak to any clubs in the North-East who show an interest in him. I can't quite see Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland queueing up for him, so that leaves Hartlepool, Darlington and Berwick Rangers. According to Maurice Evans, in fact, Gray says he would be prepared to drop into non-league in order to get a move.

Martin Gray has requested a transfer (or "slapped in a transfer request" as the phrase goes...) , and supposedly wants to return "up North". Has he been taking lessons from Dean Windass, I wonder? In Gray's case, it is apparently something to do with the fact that he recently became a father. It would be no good having his kids speak with poncey Southern accents, would it now? Oxford have reluctantly accepted his request.

Oxford are set to release season ticket details for the forthcoming campaign before the end of the month. Best they don't put the prices up!

Rumours abound that Wimbledon and Crystal Palace are seeking a merger. The name Selhurst Sharks (yuk) has been suggested. This brings back memories of the early 80s and Thames Valley Royals. No doubt the majority of supporters of both clubs will be vehemently opposed to the plans. Wimbledon are reportedly not so keen now that they've they heard that any merged club would have to compete in the division of the lower-placed of the two clubs. This would mean a drop to divison one for the Dons.

A new planning application - this time including the proposed multiplex cinema - has been sent by Oxford United to the City Council. The following are FOUL chairperson, Steve Hanks', comments on the issue:

An amended outline planning application was sent by the football club to
Oxford City Council yesterday. The application amendment will now state "no
multiplex in excess of x screens (we believe x = 9 or10).

The plan is that the detailed application once submitted will be passed to
GOSE for determination. GOSE will decide in 30 working days whether a full
enquiry is necessary. This is the same method that Southampton obtained the
green light from GOSE.

Submissions will be made by the club and the council. FOUL will be sending
its own detailed submission. This will include the survey data and much
information gathered in the past few months

Most people FOUL have spoken to which includes OUFC's planning consultant
and the council are hopeful that GOSE will determine in favour of the club
but it is never an exact science.

The petitioning of MP's and County Councillors is now vital. Every letter
will help. The more that GOSE recognise that the people want the stadium and
the multiplex the more they are likely to determine in our favour. But
equally you can be assured that those against the stadium will be doing all
there power to obtain a public enquiry. They know that they dont have to win
the enquiry because the time delay alone will ensure the demise of the
football club.

No news about Oxford today, but there have been developments in the situation at a couple of other clubs :

Portsmouth have announced that they have found a buyer, namely Miami-based tycoon Milan Mandaric, a Silicon Valley computer millionaire. The administrators have announced that a £4 million deal is on the verge of going through, subject to the approval of the Football League.
Chester City Independent Supporters Association have joined up with local businesses to set up a Trust Fund for the club. They are also investigating the possibility of a public share issue. The fans have given their proposal to the administrators, who will now judge its viability.

Finally, a mention of Saturday's FA Trophy Final. Both sides involved have former Oxford strikers in their likely starting line-ups. Kingstonian include Conference goal-machine, David Leworthy (pictured), whilst former Us youth prospect, Marc McGregor, still only 20, is currently top-scorer for Forest Green Rovers. Note also that one of Shotton's targets, John Milner, is playing for Bedlington Terriers in Sunday's FA Vase Final against Tiverton Town.

Finally, here's hoping that Arsenal win the league. Basically so that Man Utd are denied it... Sadly, I can't see it happening though.

AND THEN THERE WERE 16...

Kevin Francis' achilles tendon injury has effectively reduced our current squad size to 16, as reports indicate that he won't be playing at least until Christmas. Currently our squad for next season is as follows:

Goalkeeper :  Lundin
Defenders : Robinson, Gilchrist, Watson, Powell, Davis, Whelan
Midfielders: Gray, Tait, Murphy
Wingers: Beauchamp, Banger, Cook
Strikers: Thomson, Weatherstone, Folland, (Francis)

Moving on to pure speculation, the following are the players with whom Shotton has recently been linked :

John Milner (Bedlington Terriers) - striker; scored over 50 goals to help Bedlington win the Northern League this season; scored two goals against Colchester in the Terriers' 4-1 FA Cup upset win; would apparently cost a "five figure sum"; Burnley and Bishop Auckland Town (!) have previously been linked with Milner; described as having "great balance, great vision, the wonderful knack of being in the right place".
Neil McGowan (Albion Rovers) - 21 year old defender; Oxford reportedly put in a bid (turned down) for him earlier this month.
David Stevens (Dulwich Hamlet) - 20 year old striker; played for the reserves in April, scoring against Watford; scored 18 goals in 21 games for Dulwich since moving from Bromley.
Richard Barratt (Atherstone United) - 21 year old right-wing back; played for the reserves in March, scoring against QPR; reportedly a superb crosser of the ball; a move to Sheffield United was scuppered by his agent earlier in the season.
Mark Albrighton (Atherstone United) - 24 year old centre back; played for the reserves in March; rated as one of the best defenders in non-league; strong in air and on ground.

FLA APPROVE MANOR

The Football Licensing Association (FLA) has granted the club permission to play at the Manor next season, despite the Manor's terracing's not complying with the new "Safe Terracing" legislation. This news is the most important announcement for Oxford United in a long time. It means that we no longer have to worry about where we are going to play next season. No more talk of ground-sharing. It also probably means that we convinced the FLA that we will shortly be restarting work on Minchery Farm.

The statement issued to the club by the FLA was as follows:

The FLA is minded to grant the dispensation which you have sought. Accordingly it will license the admission of spectators to the whole of the ground for the purpose of watching designated football matches, with effect from 1 August 1999. The dispensation will be for a period of twelve months from 1 August 1999.

Shotton has been explaining why he released Tony Wright, something which has confused many supporters. "He's stood still. He has not progressed in the way anyone wanted, and he would be the first to admit that. I think he's found the jump in standard betwen reserves and first team quite hard to make." Shotton also said that Swansea, where Wright had bee on trial earlier in the season, were no longer interested. Also Stevenage are no longer interested in Elliott Jackson, who was on loan there recently.

Former U's players released this week : Ray Houghton from Reading and Chrissy Allen from Port Vale.

SIX PLAYERS RELEASED

Malcolm Shotton today told six of the nine out-of-contract players that they had no future at Oxford United. These were Elliott Jackson, Christophe Remy, Andrew Rose, Michael Williams, Brian Wilsterman and Tony Wright. Whilst none of these is particularly surprising, many fans will feel that Tony Wright in particular should have been given a chance. Rose had hardly played, Jackson had effectively already been given a vote of no confidence, Wilsterman was quite obviously not Shotts' type of player, and Remy spent most of his time on the injury list. As for Michael Williams - since transfer deadline day, he had made two brief appearances as substitute. Not exactly an inspired signing...

Matt Murphy and Simon Weatherstone have been offered new contracts, whilst  Nicky Banger has wasted no time in getting his tan back up to scratch by dashing off on holiday. The club will tell him whether his services are required next season when he returns. Hopefully they are not.

FOX FM have announced that the Football Licensing Association (FLA) are meeting today to decide on whether Oxford can have special dispensation to play at the Manor next season. New terrace regulations would mean that Oxford would have to do a major overhaul of the terraces at the Manor, unless they get this dispensation from the FLA. The club have to convince the FLA that they have definite plans in place to complete Minchery Farm.

Portsmouth may have new buyers. Florida based businessman, Milan Madrix, has expressed a desire to buy the club. He already owns stakes in Belgian club, Charleroi, and a minor US club. Madrix is said to be ready to pile in a lot of cash at Portsmouth. His representatives in the Portsmouth bid are former Pompey boardmember, David Deacon, and former Arsenal player, Bob McNab.

Malcolm Shotton sounded very depressed in an interview after yesterday's match. He did not sound particularly optimistic about the chances of Kassam giving him any money to spend either. This is probably owing to his general post-relegation feelings, but Kassam's statement that he would wait just a month before deciding on Oxford's future can hardly have inspired confidence.

The nine players out of contract at the end of June are as follows :

Nicky Banger
Rob Folland
Elliott Jackson
Matt Murphy
Christophe Remy
Andrew Rose
Michael Williams (wow, what a deadline signing he proved to be...)
Brian Wilsterman
Tony Wright

The interview with Gilly on the official site is the second interview in a few days in which he gives a clear indication that he is thinking about leaving. Unless there is financial stability soon, and the club looks like it is trying to get promoted again, it is clear that Gilly will be on his way. Combined with the speculation that Southampton and Coventry are after Mark Watson (Express), it makes next season look even less appetising. Phil Whelan in defence, anybody?

Talking of the degreed one, it seems that Rotherham think quite a lot of Phil Whelan. Take the following quotes from Millers On-Line, for example:

Solid, organised and skillful defending all across the back, with Whelan the pick of the bunch. Some of his best stuff was done without even having to touch the ball, even better than Raven I'd say.

...we got solid players like Warne, Williams, Varty and Whelan...

Here's hoping we can get Warne, Williams and Varty on proper contracts (presumably Whelan will be too costly)...

We must buy Will Varty, what a great player, imagine a back four with him, Whelan, Warner and Dillon.

... he and Whelan getting in each others way, and just not looking a defensive unit.

Oxford 5 Stockport 0

Well, we fulfilled our part of the bargain. We got the four goals required for the best-case scenario, and even threw in an extra one in case QPR got a consolation against in-form Crystal Palace. Unfortunately we had not learned in advance of Palace's new tactic of nine-man football. A tactic that allowed even Chris Kiwomya to grab a hat-trick. Rangers thus went one better than us and got six. Even Bury won, 1-0 predictably. Against ten man Port Vale. One suspects that even if Vale had been down to seven players, Bury would only have managed 1-0. They're that sort of side. And now we have to bloody play them next season.

In all honesty, it was a very strange match. Most of the first half consisted of similar football to that of recent matches at the Manor. Scuffed shots, Banger dead-ends, that sort of thing. But two excellent goals just before half-time changed the complexion of the match, and for just a few seconds we believed anything was possible. Until we heard of the 2-0 scoreline from Loftus Road. It was the quietest 3-0 half-time I can remember. The second half was strange - half celebration, half wake. Stockport played as though they couldn't have cared less, casually missing at least half a dozen chances. We could have finished with nine or ten, given better finishing. We all knew it was over, though.

Division two next season then. Even that assumes that Kassam's plans go through, work on Minchery Farm restarts, and we don't suffer yet another horrible crisis before August. FOUL distributed a leaflet reminding fans that we are not yet out of the woods, and that we should write to our MPs in support of Kassam's leisure projects. This aside, some other questions remain for next season:

• How many of our good players will we sell, and for what knock-down prices? (It can be safely assumed that Gilly is on his way...)
• Will we rid ourselves of some of the chaff (Banger, Thomson, Murphy)? We can always pick up some more reject strikers from low-scoring, lower-division clubs, if necessary.
• Will we finally win at home to Wycombe?
• Will John Beck get turned down for the Bury job, because the Gigg Lane directors feel that his football is too progressive and attractive?

The final weekend of the League season is almost upon us, with Oxford's season still technically alive, but I doubt you'd find many bookies willing to take bets on their going down. Everybody knows the situation by now. At least four goals are required by Oxford on Sunday, with an extra goal for each one QPR score. QPR and Bury must lose. Did you know that we've scored a grand total of four goals in our last six matches. There - that puts the challenge into perspective, doesn't it?

For those who like to spend the match glued to their radios in hope of miracles elsewhere, the other matches to listen out for are :

Bury v Port Vale
QPR v Crystal Palace

There is controversy over remarks made by David Mellor on last week's 6-0-6. These remarks concerned Firoz Kassam, whom Mellor appears to be attempting to discredit in some way. John Evans of FOUL called in last week, and has now issued the following letter in complaint :

Copies to :
Mr. Firoz Kassam
James Beard
Oxford Mail
Courier Group Newspapers
Oxford Times
Oxford United F.C.
Central TV South
FOX FM
Oxford Student Radio
The Oxford Channel
Channel 10 Cable TV
Richard Faulkner - Football Taskforce
FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life)

5th May 1999

Mr. Fraser Steel,
Head of Programme Complaints,
PCU,
BBC Broadcasting House,
London W1A 1AA

Dear  Mr. Steel,

I wish to complain about the Radio 5 program ‘606’ on Saturday 1st May, hosted by Mr. David Mellor.

I was a caller on the show at around 19:20 during the evening in question.

I had phoned in to make an appeal to the supporters of Oxford United to attend an Open Meeting regarding the survival of the club.

As soon as I had gone on air, and before I had said anything, Mr. Mellor made accusations against the clubs’ owner, Mr. Firoz Kassam. He claimed he had received letters that could not be read out over the air as Mr. Kassam might resort to libel proceedings. I believe that to do this without divulging the contents of the letters or permitting any explanation was in itself an act of defamation.

I look forward to hearing your views on this matter.

Yours sincerely,
John M. Evans
 

About 200 people attended last night's meeting in the Town Hall. Amongst the points made were that the local political parties are not allowed to use the whip on their councillors in regards to the planning application. This is in line with the Nolan Report. Several members of the Green Party are thought likely to oppose the application, despite Green Party Cllr Mike Woodin now being sympathetic to the cause. Also the County and District Councils have the power to "call in" the application to central government, and it is quite possible that one or other will do so. The best thing to do to prevent this is to start lobbying the relevant councillors.

On Friday night, FOUL spoke to Shaun Woodward, the Conservative MP for Witney, about the issue of playing at the Manor next season. The club needs special dispensation from the Football Licensing Authority (FLA) in order to play at the Manor, something which will only be granted if a plan to restart work on the new stadium is in place by August. Woodward agreed to speak to Tony Banks (a friend apparently) about this, and to ask him to use whatever influence he has with the FLA to promote our cause.

Don't forget the meeting in the Town Hall at 7.30pm tonight. It's the last chance before the local elections to impress on local councillors the importance of Oxford United.

After keeping a clean sheet against Bury to help West Brom to a 1-0 win, Phil Whitehead was quoted as saying, "I was ready to give everything. My old club Oxford are also in trouble and I don't want to see a lot of my old pals go down." It's great to see he still has affection for his old club.

Apparently on 606 on Saturday, the Patronising Tory claimed (for the second time) that he had evidence that Kassam was "dodgy", without giving any further explanation. Coming from Mellor, actually, "dodgy" is probably a compliment. Even so, it's a bit much to claim something without explanation, which gives nobody any opportunity to refute the allegation. Unfortunately I didn't listen to the show - it makes me come over all queasy.

Bradford 0 Oxford 0

Oxford are still hanging on to their first division status, but only the purest of mathematicians would argue that we still have a chance of staying up. The situation is as follows :

1) Oxford must win their last match at home to Stockport
2) QPR must lose at home to Palace
3) Bury must lose at home to Port Vale (who are now safe)
4) Oxford must score four more goals than QPR

According to all reports, Oxford played well at Bradford, with Gilly and Watson outstanding in defence (so that's goodbye to them), and Oxford generally carving out the better chances. Gary Walsh made some fine saves in the Bradford goal, but once again Oxford's goalscoring let them down. Dean Windass missed a good chance for Bradford, and Oxford might well have denied Bradford automatic promotion through this result. The Bantams won't relish their final day visit to Wolves.

Brentford and Cardiff have joined Cambridge on our fixture list for next season, after both clinched promotion to the second division yesterday.

This page is maintained by James Beard.