Kelvin Thomas

[Paul Cooper]

So Kelvin is off....

I must admit that I have never been more disappointed that a Chairman of Oxford United has left.

He has brought the football club back into the community, significantly grown expenditure, seems to have an excellent relationship with local businesses and has resided over a reasonably successful peiod on the pitch.

I am not sure the timing of the departure is particularly good, but good luck Kelvin and the replacement (IL apparently) has some big shoes to fill.

[Myles Francis]

Agreed that first reaction is that this a big blow. The way the club has moved forward since the car crash tenure of Merry has been fantastic and is largely down to Kelvin.

I would be slightly surprised if IL took over as chair. Personally, I think it more likely that SL will do so.

There is a rumour on Twitter (yeah, another one!) that KT's departure has been prompted by the arrival of London Welsh. No detail about why that should make him leave though...

[Joey's Toe]

Bitterly disappointed - and somewhat stunned by some of the comments on the Oxford Fail page. How people can be so blaze about this is beyond me you don't just chance upon financial stability in lower league football - it only happens through bloody hard work by committed and dynamic people. When you lose such a person, it bodes ill for the club.

I would imagine his skills have been recognised and he'll go on to make much more money for much less grief in another sphere of the business world.

Meanwhile, we need to think very carefully and make the right choice for a replacement. I can't see IL stepping into the role long-term, and I would imagine it's only a matter of time before a full-time replacement is found. It is imperative that another high-quality appointment is made, and that CW is part of the selection process. The Manager and Chairman's relationship has been a cornerstone of our (relative) success over the last four years, and CW needs to be have a good day-to-day working relationship with whoever comes in.

[GodalmingYellow]

Very bad news for the club.

As Myles said, the contrast betwen the job Thomas has done and the one the sockless wonder did, could not be more stark.

For a lower league club, it is a vital appointment to maintain control of finances whislt findng ways to progress.

An adequate replacement will not be easy to find.

[Myles Francis]

It is imperative that another high-quality appointment is made, and that CW is part of the selection process. The Manager and Chairman's relationship has been a cornerstone of our (relative) success over the last four years, and CW needs to be have a good day-to-day working relationship with whoever comes in.

Agree wholeheartedly with the bits in red, but I'd be wary of giving CW too much involvement in the process. Firstly, it's unusual for someone to be involved in appointing their boss. Secondly, there is no guarantee of how long CW will be here. Thirdly, good interpersonal skills to maintain solid day-to-day working relationships should almost be a given - and the chair needs to have good relationships with a much wider body of people both inside and outside the club than just the manager.

[Joey's Toe]

...good interpersonal skills to maintain solid day-to-day working relationships should almost be a given

They SHOULD - but it's very easy to come up with a long list of football chairmen for whom that attribute is clearly lacking!

You're probably right that CW shouldn't necessarily be choosing his boss - but if we want to keep Wilder (and I'm very firmly in the camp which says we do) then we don't want him to be made unsettled by the change of chairman. The simplest answer to that is to give him some input into the process, even if it's an informal one. Over the past four years, IMHO, Wilder and Thomas have been the two key ingredients in our (relative) success. To lose one is bad news, but to lose both would be very worrying indeed.

[theox]

Lenagan as Executive Chairman it is then. Hope he's got the time what with Wigan to look after........

[Snake]

Other than the savings on his salary I see no good whatsoever will come from this shock announcement.

[Isaac]

While KT has been an excellent chairman, it is actually possible that IL will be a better one - so I don't think you can say no good whatsoever can come from this.

It's difficult to imagine IL being better but in his favour he has got experience of running successful sports teams, whether he can run more than one of them simultaneously would seem to be the key question here.

[OUFC4eva]

Having seen the Yellow Player re-run of the news conference I have to say
that I was blown away with Executive Chairman Ian Lenagan's performance.

In total control, calm, measured, clear and articulate in the way he delivered the strategy
for the club regarding improvements at the training ground, recruitment of people for the
key areas of strength and conditioning, more equipment - he exuded authority.

Could be an interesting season and we also go into into it with a bigger playing budget
which IL signed off.

He will be very hands on for the 2/3 days he will devote to OUFC each week. A similar
work involvement at Wigan has seem them elevated to greatness since he became Chairman
at the DW several years ago.

I think he means business!

[Snake]

IL has been “running

[SWA]

£80k a year? More like closer to £200k per year....

[joepoolman]

This could be big: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18835865

I'm quite impressed with pretty much all these quotes, he can talk the talk...

[Joey's Toe]

Very interesting article, Joe - thanks for posting the link. Two things really stood out for me:

Ian Lenagan: &quotThe parallel with Wigan is exactly the same. Dave Whelan owns the stadium, he is an interesting character to deal with. He can be difficult just as Mr Kassam can be difficult.&quot

Nothing we wouldn't have guessed, obviously - but I can't help wondering about the logic in making those sorts of comments in public. It's hardly going to endear Uncle Firoz to the idea of dropping his asking price, is it? Very much welcome the talk of a joint bid for the stadium with Llundain Gymru though probably the only way the maths can stack up in the current climate.

I was also struck by this:

Loan players will only be allowed to join for a minimum of six months.

Very sensible, IMHO. Good to see lessons being learned from last season. Even if it costs more, it forces CW to make the right, considered choice about who to bring in rather than the scattergun approach which proved so unsettling.

[Old Abingdonian]

With regard to calling Kassam 'difficult' in public - it's not insulting, and Kassam's decision on whether to sell won't be swayed by trivialities like this. I suspect Firoz knows he's 'difficult', and is probably proud of it ..............

Perhaps more surprising is going public with the whole idea: one would have thought this can only raise the price, along with the expectations. On the bright side, a plan may already be in place.