I keep thinking it can't get any worse...

[boris]

OCC couldn't refuse planning on the grounds you imply they would lose at appeal or be taken to a judicial review. The only safe guard they have is a covenant that says that football should be played there for 25 years. If Kassam can prove that no football club in Oxford can afford a reasonable rent then he can have the covenant removed.

That's not the only safeguard. For housing to be built on that site would require it to be rezoned in the local plan, which is not an easy procedure and would take a fairly long time with no guarantee of success (it would have to be opened up for consultation and wouldn't be able to happen until the local plan is up for review).

[theox]

Lenagan's plan to buy the stadium was to find a partner who could co-fund the purchase in return for use of a development in a 4th stand and/or a development in the East stand. 2 years down the line and no partner has come forward. The stadium is on the wrong place for almost all potential partners. Assuming for a minute that such a partner could ever be found I have no faith in Merry's ability to do a workable deal with one and get around the planning minefield. My guess is that Lenagan has got bored with the whole thing now that he's got his hands on his first love - Wigan Warriers and the chance for owning the stadium is now all but gone. The half wits who stormed into the boardroom while Kassam was there with his daughters got exactly what they wanted and could well have screwed the club in the process. Strange that you don't see any of the ring leaders around these days isn't it?


Equally, you would have been half witted not to have been extremely angry at how the club was being run in the 2005/2006 season. Supporters had had enough of Kassam.

Don't rewrite history Mally.

Enough of the past. I am deeply disenchanted with the lack of leadership being shown by the current crew.

As to the next step that needs to be taken by well meaning , intelligent OUFC supporters, well either you give up on the club - easy to do - or take stock and think hard - not so easy. One thing for sure, that Gooner supporting hotelier is pretty key.

(How do you know that the chance of owning the current stadium has all but gone incidentally?

The storming of the boardroom had a direct cause and effect impact on Kassam deciding to sell the club to somebody who clouldn't afford the stadium - I believe it was the last straw that made him go against what he had previously promised - in his mind the contract with the fans had been broken. If you remember on that very day he had appointed a new manager and two general managers to run the club full time - why do you think he then sold up after doing that?

I don't know that the chance of owning the stadium has all but gone but I certainly believe it to be the case. WPL's plan was along shot 2 years ago. Now the club has a worse balance sheet, it's owners are poorer, our league position is lower our future prospects are bleaker but the stadium rent and the the price to buy it remains the same. We are heading headlong into a crisis situation.

I can't believe that the 'storming of the boardroom', as it is now amusing known, has become such an issue.

If you think 50 fans running into the Director's box shouting 'Kassam Out' made Kassam's mind up about selling then you really don't know the man.

This issue is entirely irrelevant. The deal was miles down the track by the time this incident happened. The fact that the deal was badly done by WPL is not the fault of any supporter and was not brought on by any protest.

Forgetting all that has gone before, the main problems seem to lie in WPL not securing a sensible stadium deal and the fact that they really didn't think we would get relegated.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

The real and quite likely insuperable problem is that the football club (in the sense of its future) remains in the hands of someone who has never had any particular interest in it other than as a means to a lucrative end: it is hard (indeed more than hard) to make a convincing case that he was ever likely to have wanted to take the club forward personally. The club's decline (or we may use the term &quotplummet&quot) while under his ownership is better evidence than any speculation on the subject.

Now the problem is that he is control of an asset which, he must be aware, may remain of use to him but is fundamental to the club. He can therefore demand pretty much any price he wishes and there is little point in claiming it isn't &quotfair&quot, that's not the way that he does business. He will be better aware than anybody here of the realities and potential of the site and whether or not (and in what circumstances) such a process would be hindered by planning policy and law.

I'm really inclined to say that it would be better if everybody washed their hands of the whole gruesome situation and started up a new club. But as I've tried to ask on here before - where would it play? Unless, of course, it could buy the stadium from Mr Kassam for bugger all on the grounds that there was no alternative buyer....

[Snake]

Surely there is a huge amount of blame for OCC to shoulder here. They should have made sure that the club and the stadium are under common ownership, as part of the deal for the stadium to be built. A massive oversight, considering the deal they did for the land for Kassam.

OCC basically bent over, lubed themselves up and waited for it.

I take it that you’ve not read the 114 page document that constituted the Land Deal between OCC and Firoka.

You might want to do that and then come back and tell people how you think OCC could have made a better job of it.

[Snake]

I find it amazxing that an OXVOX committee member has announced on TIU that he had no comprehension that the stadium could be so valuable to Kassam when empty.

What is being discussed at your committee meetings Tim?

According to the last set of published meeting notes they discussed

Membership
The forthcoming members meting
Lack of commercial focus
The OV AGM
Software for polling members views.

[Snake]

OCC couldn't refuse planning on the grounds you imply they would lose at appeal or be taken to a judicial review. The only safe guard they have is a covenant that says that football should be played there for 25 years. If Kassam can prove that no football club in Oxford can afford a reasonable rent then he can have the covenant removed.

That's not the only safeguard. For housing to be built on that site would require it to be rezoned in the local plan, which is not an easy procedure and would take a fairly long time with no guarantee of success (it would have to be opened up for consultation and wouldn't be able to happen until the local plan is up for review).

Indeed, but the local plan is not binding, and in special circumstances like the scenario we are discussing here it’s not out of the question that it could be overruled.

Anyway, this is what is currently in the Local plan in terms of development for the area. I’m not sure if an extension to the Science Park would be as profitable as housing – no idea.

“POLICY DS.60 - OXFORD SCIENCE PARK, MINCHERY FARM EMPLOYMENT USE

Planning permission will be granted at Minchery Farm for the development of science and technology based industries concerned primarily with research and development. Development on this site will be subject to the proposals making provision for the retention and future appropriate management of the adjoining area designated as a Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation (SLINC).

[DLT]

If you think 50 fans running into the Director's box shouting 'Kassam Out' made Kassam's mind up about selling then you really don't know the man.

I had to smile at this Mr TheOx.

The reality is that no OUFC fan knows Kassam better.

[Snake]

I concur with that, DLT.

And if you think the planning stuff is already doing your head in, here is some more, being the fact that The Priory land (including part of the proposed 2nd Hotel) has been on the market for a while waiting for someone to make a move.

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/files/meetingd ... rt%201.pdf

There should be at least 2 bidders the Science Park and Firoka. Or maybe three if you include WPL. Or even four or five, being Firoka (WPL holdings) or WPL (Firoka holdings).

Now, can we go back to Saturday’s performance and give our brains a rest?

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

To be fair, not many of Mr Kassam's friends or close acquaintances are Oxford fans.

[DLT]

POU, the question wasn't about friends or aquantancies.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Strictly speaking, no, but that's sort of my point: outside those circles, no-one may know him better, but it's not a hard bar to get over.

[Baboo]

If you think 50 fans running into the Director's box shouting 'Kassam Out' made Kassam's mind up about selling then you really don't know the man.

But they like to think they did.
When asked what happens once you've got Kassam out the reply was &quotparty&quot. Perhaps they are still pissing it up and have not noticed that our football club is in a much bigger crisis now than it was then. Perhaps they don't care.
But of course as FK still owns the ground they didn't get him out at all.

Woe woe and thrice woe.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

That's so, but I'd be highly suspicious of any counterfactual which has Kassam suddenly discovering a passion for the Yellows and investing our way back to glory and prosperity.

It's not abnormal for chairmen to be disinterested in the clubs they own. However, they usually bugger off if and when they get their money back. That's what's not happened here, and that's the problem. And &quotproblem&quot is a euphemism.

[scooter]

OCC couldn't refuse planning on the grounds you imply they would lose at appeal or be taken to a judicial review. The only safe guard they have is a covenant that says that football should be played there for 25 years. If Kassam can prove that no football club in Oxford can afford a reasonable rent then he can have the covenant removed.

That's not the only safeguard. For housing to be built on that site would require it to be rezoned in the local plan, which is not an easy procedure and would take a fairly long time with no guarantee of success (it would have to be opened up for consultation and wouldn't be able to happen until the local plan is up for review).

This assumes that housing is the most profitable use of the land.

With the OCC punitive affordable housing policy there are probably more viable commercial uses.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

God yes, we musn't have affordable housing, that's one thing the country's got far too much of.