Name of the new club

[Foghorn]

Dave

What?

Dave

[Hog]

Dave

What?

Dave

Yes! What do you want?

[YF Dan]

Raging Fever. I'd release the copyright.

[A-Ro]

Pegasus

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

It'll never fly.

[Boogie]

Oxford Phoenix

[boris]

Oxford Phoenix

Used to be a damn good cinema until it went all mainstream. Always preferred the PPP though.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Has it gone mainstream then? That's a shame.

[boris]

Well, mainerstream. It still shows the occasional independent film, but you're just as likely to get the latest Hollywood Blockbuster there now as your are Pan's Labyrinth (for example).

The great thing about the PPP was that they didn't just show current films, but you could also catch Fellini films from the 70s, or Zabriski Point, or some rock retrospective, etc. I don't know what it's like since it became the UPP, as I never get to the cinema nowadays unless it's to catch the latest release of Narnia, or High School Musical, or something equally vacuous that the kids seem to like. Still, I've got all the Sky film channels at home, and a healthy collection of DVDs (all four Futurama series, for example!) so I don't miss the flicks too much.

[tomoufc]

Its good we're thinking about a name but maybe we should think of some fundamentals first. Kassam can't get his rent or a sale without the fans being prepared to turn up every game and pay on the turnstiles or pay for a season ticket. What if, and maybe this is a daft question, for the first time in footballing history, the Oxford fans were to start setting up a phonix club before the demise of the club they support. This could put better pressure on the board to sort something out urgently (which is what needs to happen) and have in place a basic sketetal set-up of a football club ready to take over the OUFC tradition if the dreaded day arrives.

I am not saying don't support the board but I think as fans we are the only contastant at this club and have a right, if not a duty, to take things into our own hands.

My first ever post here so please don't shoot me if you percieve lack of board etiquette. P.S. I like Oxford Pheonix too.[/i][/u]

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Zabriskie Point

Christ, what an awful film that is - except the fantastic explosion sequence, of course.

I did see Easy Rider at the Phoenix, in a largely student audience who didn't get any of the jokes because they didn't realise they were jokes. (&quotIt's hard to say because it's a long word.&quot)

[boris]

Easy Rider was the first film I saw in a cinema, at the Sterling Cinema in Kidlington (long since defunct - both the cinema and the village). My dad took me when I was 8 or 9, so it must have been shortly after the film was released. I still love it (the film, not the village, which I abhor).

tomoufc, I kind of sympathise with where you're coming from, but I think that while Oxford United is still extant any fans' club is likely to fail. Barnsley fans tried it with AFC Barnsley, for the same reasons, but they were wound up a couple of years back when Barnsley's financial problems sorted themselves out. The problem being that any new attempt to create a fans' club would be looked on much less seriously if a half-hearted attempt were made first.

However, I think we're getting increasingly close to a scenario where an Oxford fans' club is viable, even while OUFC is still around, should the board remain persistently bunkered (and now divisive) from the fans, while continuing to seriously under-achieve on the pitch. I don't think it would take much more (maybe another relegation, maybe a few more Merry outbursts) to make enough fans throw in their scarves and start looking at alternatives, of which a fans' club is easily the most attractive.

[tomoufc]

Easy Rider was the first film I saw in a cinema, at the Sterling Cinema in Kidlington (long since defunct - both the cinema and the village). My dad took me when I was 8 or 9, so it must have been shortly after the film was released. I still love it (the film, not the village, which I abhor).

tomoufc, I kind of sympathise with where you're coming from, but I think that while Oxford United is still extant any fans' club is likely to fail. Barnsley fans tried it with AFC Barnsley, for the same reasons, but they were wound up a couple of years back when Barnsley's financial problems sorted themselves out. The problem being that any new attempt to create a fans' club would be looked on much less seriously if a half-hearted attempt were made first.

However, I think we're getting increasingly close to a scenario where an Oxford fans' club is viable, even while OUFC is still around, should the board remain persistently bunkered (and now divisive) from the fans, while continuing to seriously under-achieve on the pitch. I don't think it would take much more (maybe another relegation, maybe a few more Merry outbursts) to make enough fans throw in their scarves and start looking at alternatives, of which a fans' club is easily the most attractive.

A very intelligent reply. I had a look on Wikipedia about AFC Barnsley and the whole thing seems to be shrouded in secrecy and its difficult to tell what effect, if any, the premptive pheonix club produced. Perhaps it would be a step too far and premature but we have to seroiusly look at what form our new club would constitute: what league we would be accepted into, how many fans would come with us, where we would play (the oxford city ground?) and what form of constitution would govern the club (surely a fan-controlled democratic set-up).

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

.
.

[SmileyMan]

The best company structure would probably be a Community Benefit Society (BenCom) with an Asset Lock.

This would allow you to have votes based on membership rather than share ownership (think Barcelona). &quotCommunity Benefit&quot has a much looser definition than the &quotPublic Good&quot required for charities - basically, so long as it doesn't discriminate against anyone or engage in political activity it would pass. The &quotAsset Lock&quot part would guarantee that the assets of the company would belong to the community, not the members.

The day-to-day running of the club could be done by a members-elected Chairman, and a permanent appointed Chief Executive.

This could be set up now, without a playing staff (or operational staff at all), and used as a fund-raising vessel until such time as the company is either in a position to buy the existing club, or the club goes completely bust, in which case there would be a fightiing fund to set up a new club. In the event that a new, super-rich owner comes along and financially bails out the present mess (don't hold your breath), the society could either keep going and continue to raise funds (because the fans will never be happy until the fans own the club), or wind itself up and give the money to e.g. the youth section (perhaps set up a trust and sponsor young players)