So the CVA was agreed, as anticipated. And the Rex Newman winding up petition was thrown out, as expected. And Unipart negotiated a new sponsorship deal, which was nice. And we’ve had a fine close-season so far, climaxing with the convincing win over a less than competitive Derby side.

But, without wishing to be a party pooper, all of this will be rendered virtually meaningless if John Prescott decides to call in the multiplex planning application. This is the lynchpin on which everything now hangs as Taylor Woodrow have stated that work needs to recommence on the new stadium within the next couple of months in order for it to be ready for next season. Kassam has said on more than one occasion that if the application is called in he will walk away from United, leaving the club in a very insecure, if not untenable, position. It remains to be seen if he will carry out this threat – on the one hand he has not invested any significant sums of money in United yet (the ?900,000 required for the CVA doesn’t become payable until the CVA becomes binding after six months, and if Kassam walks the whole deal collapses) but on the other hand he has invested a large amount of time and effort in bringing the club this far from the brink.

Kassam has also claimed that he needs the revenue stream that the leisure development (including multiplex) and hotel will generate in order to fund the building work (estimated at around ?10 million). This is why he must wait for planning permission before starting work, and also why he is keen to negotiate with the City Council to try and get them to soften their insistence that the hotel and leisure development can’t be started on until the new football ground is occupied by United. With the hotel it is understandable that Kassam wants this operational at the same time as the stadium, as the conference centre wouldn’t be able to function properly with no decent hotel facilities nearby.

But here at Rage Online we believe that, should planning permission be forthcoming, Kassam should bite the bullet and take the risk of building the stadium before commencing work on the leisure site. The fans and the club have shown a lot of faith in Kassam, and have backed virtually all the decisions he has made. Now is the time for Firoz to repay that faith and accept the restrictions placed on him by the City Council, restrictions that are there for the club’s own good. With planning permission Kassam may well have no intention of letting the club languish whilst reaping the profits from the multiplex – he says he won’t and we believe he is an honourable man – but what he must appreciate is that United fans have had to put up with the likes of Maxwell, Corbett, Herd and Cox in the recent past and it is extremely difficult for us to trust those in charge. By recognising this Firoz would endear the fans to him and gain our trust and respect – it’s not that much to ask, surely?