Anyone else anticipating a club statement in a week or so regarding the ownership of Oxford United? It's long been rumoured that Erick Thohir is the likely chairman in the long-term and that Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth will make a quick buck from his brief tenure and then ride off into the sunset.
Thohir first had to clear the decks
vis-a-vis his financial stake in Inter Milan, which seemingly
happened earlier this year. He then had to deal with some domestic business, having agreed to manage the re-election campaign of the sitting Indonesian President.
Wikipedia tells me that the campaign is now over, and although votes are still being counted it appears that his man is the likely victor. Not relevant to Oxford United, but a footnote should be added to the effect that more than
270 election officials died as a result of fatigue from dealing with the immense scale of the elections.
Anyway, it now seems that he has both the financial capability and 'bandwidth' (urgh, horrible term) to focus his energies on maximising his investment at Oxford United FC. Given his track record of overseeing stadium challenges (at DC United, and at Inter), one would imagine that he sees potential financial gains in securing a deal to move us away from Grenoble Road, and this is the genesis of his interest in the club.
As for what it could mean for Us on the pitch, he clearly has wealth but is unlikely to be a generous sugar daddy. More likely is that we'd operate with a similar budget to what we have currently, with any investment being directed towards a new stadium.
Lots of assumptions there, but is there broad consensus that this is where we're headed next?