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New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 4:28 pm
by Roo
Not really sure what to make of this......

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/11303 ... ?ref=var_0


Discuss...

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 4:36 pm
by ty cobb
From what I know of Charles I'm not that hopeful. Kinda need to know where the money is coming from as that's where the power lies rather than the front man who at least would be able to put a good media spin on it.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:10 pm
by GodalmingYellow
Charlie Methven is an ex-Telegraph journo. iirc. I've only met him once or twice, but I wouldn't have thought he has the wherewithal to tbh, then again I may be mistaken.

I think the link in the opening post on this thread is just another re-hash of the same story that has appeared in the Fail about 3 or 4 times this week, and which appeared similarly last close season. This time with a marginally higher profile fan allowing himself to be named, presumably for the purposes of trying to get Lenagan to come out into the open. The line that gives it away is to the effect of talks are at a very early stage, which essentially means someone has said they might be prepared to invest some money in the future and nothing more. well any of us could do that, but it doesn't make us serious ownership contenders. I imagine OxVox are not happy that Lenagan is not telling them much, and OxVox knows Charlie quite well....

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 8:57 pm
by Kernow Yellow
Whoever is in this 'local consortium' they're obviously going out of their way to sell a vision of utopia (debt-free ownership of a new ground with pubs and a railway station and a moon on a stick) to a select group of fans who are then posting tasty titbits on YF. They're also scaremongering about the (supposed) near completion of an (alleged) deal with Mark Ashton, Firoz Kassam and probably satan. My feeling is that they're doing this to put pressure (indirectly via these fans) on IL to deal with them and not any other rival interest (which may or may not include Ashton and/or FK). Or maybe even just to cause a rift between fans and IL so that they can pick up the pieces. There certainly seems to be a concerted, organised effort by a group of people to try and make fans want this 'local consortium' and to lobby for it without revealing anything about it. Some are explicitly trying to drum up support with talk of meetings/demos etc, which is bizarre and suspicious quite frankly. There's a lot of 'if you knew what I knew you'd be so excited about this' talk. My feeling is that a lot of these people are being taken in because they want to believe what they're being told. Well-connected fans are being used as pawns in some kind of game, but it's not obvious what the game is.

I hope I'm wrong and there is genuinely something exciting on the horizon, but unless this 'wealthy Oxfordshire family' happens to be called Branson then I don't really see it. And why would anyone of that stature need Charlie Methven to front a bid for them?

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:35 pm
by Myles Francis
Kernow Yellow wrote:And why would anyone of that stature need Charlie Methven to front a bid for them?
Charlie runs a PR business which deals with clients of that stature. Couple that with him being a trustee of the youth setup and a known OUFC fan and it kind of makes sense for him to front an Oxon-based bid.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:05 pm
by OUFC4eva
Does he wear socks, Myles?

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:20 pm
by OUFC4eva
Whoever the family is they would need to be uber rich in my view
given how easy it is to lose money in the football business.IL is reported
to have sunk a cool £8m into United since 2006.
An astonishing amount of money.

I don't know how I feel about Charles Methven fronting a takeover bid for a family.

He's probably great on the media side which is good but I would think
you would want a consortium of business people with expertise and knowledge of football,
deep pockets and a willingness to connect to the fan base and the wider community
including business.Maybe this family fit that profile to an extent.

Here's hoping.

Talks - if that is what they are - appear to be at a preliminary stage.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:55 am
by Kernow Yellow
Well here's a little bit more meat on the bones of the Methven story, courtesy of the Oxford Mail:

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/oxfor ... 1304504._/

Nothing there to get particularly excited about though, and it's noticable that the rabble rousers on YF have, to a man, gone completely silent. There's definitely something odd going on there.

Anyway, by far the most worrying aspect is Lenagan's complete silence, and refusal to communicate with either the Mail or OxVox. I know he's not the most communicative Chairman, but the fact that he's not even responding with some bland platitudes about 'business as usual' is strange. In fact I don't think he's spoken publicly since April, not even to express disappointment at the way the season panned out or with reassurances of future plans.

God only knows where this leaves Gary Waddock in terms of recruiting players. There haven't even been any rumours of transfer activity for weeks.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 12:08 pm
by GodalmingYellow
As I said, it is little more than someone with OxVox connections, without any real funding or wherewithal, claiming to be making an offer, with a view to getting Lenagan to spill the beans about what is happening at the club, because OxVox now has very little contact with Lenagan. The very poor PR piece by Mark Sennett issuing statements demanding answers supports that theory as well. Everyone knows that Lenagan favours the Yellow Army set up over 12th man and OxVox.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 12:46 pm
by Snake
Now the Chairman of Eastleigh is adding fuel to the fire for the search for proper information - https://twitter.com/search?q=stewartdonald3&src=typd

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 1:16 pm
by ty cobb
So Ashton seems to be not the type of character we want going by some internet reports. On the other hand the other group appear to be fronted by a OUFC fan at least, his details are here http://www.dragonassocs.com/Team.html

From previous postings on forums it is pretty obvious he can't stand Kassam and was very vocal about this throughout his ownership and he is also pretty robust with people who disagree with him. His buisness career isn't great (a failed newspaper a year after launching) and a PR company who are still going a couple of years after trading.

I struggle to see why the other side are so behind this supposed bid.

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 2:23 pm
by Snake
ty cobb wrote:So Ashton seems to be not the type of character we want going by some internet reports. On the other hand the other group appear to be fronted by a OUFC fan at least, his details are here http://www.dragonassocs.com/Team.html

From previous postings on forums it is pretty obvious he can't stand Kassam and was very vocal about this throughout his ownership and he is also pretty robust with people who disagree with him. His buisness career isn't great (a failed newspaper a year after launching) and a PR company who are still going a couple of years after trading.

I struggle to see why the other side are so behind this supposed bid.
For some reason Methven no longer posts on proboards, but has made 238 previous contributions - http://yellowsforum.co.uk/user/470

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:16 pm
by SmileyMan
ty cobb wrote:I struggle to see why the other side are so behind this supposed bid.
You answered your own question:
ty cobb wrote:...it is pretty obvious he can't stand Kassam...

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:56 pm
by Mooro
I seem to remember a series of forum 'debates' with CM many years ago on here (or its predecessors) when he was a regular poster. Miles seemed to get involved quite a lot too, but memory fails to serve as to which side he tended to be on.

Two things that jump out from the latest piece - i) that discussions have gone no further than a friendly chat a few years ago, and ii) CM does echo something that concenrs me about any offer, is where he points out that there are a number of very good things that are going on under the Lenagan regime that shouldnt be alllowed to go to waste - obviously for both CM and me are the youth/dev squad side of things is most prominent.......

Strangely though, news that he is involved has put me more at ease with the 'local' offer rather than less,

Re: New(er) Consortium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 4:26 pm
by Hog
I notice a few people on here are pals of his on Facebook: perhaps you could find out just how chummy you really are with him? I looked for clues about the consortium amongst his other friends (Verity, Tamara, Spyro, Camilla, Oscar, Tilly, Danvers etc etc) but there's nothing obvious! Doesn't he have family connections in the affluent circles in Argentina too?

I see that he raised £12m to start his sports newspaper - did they lose the lot? If so what are the chances of raising another £12m?