Welcome to the first Raging Comment of Rage Online. It is hoped that this page will be updated regularly, as events surrounding Oxford United continue to unfold.

Normally during the close-season us footy fans can chill out, take it easy, relax. The only time the monotony is broken is for the occasional transfer rumour, or the list of players released from their contracts, or, best of all, the release of the next season’s fixture list.

When you’re an Oxford supporter, however, things are never that simple, certainly in recent years and especially this Summer. Forget Wimbledon, the talk in Oxford over recent weeks has been about multiplex cinemas, environmental impact assessments and the “Gang of Four”.

So what’s all this got to do with football and Oxford United? Well, pretty much everything. This is all old ground now for United supporters, and we’re not going to use the first ever Rage Online Comment to discuss stuff that’s all done and dusted. At the present it’s all looking reasonably good for United’s future, and that’s not something we’ve been able to say for quite a while.

There are still some major obstacles to be overcome before we can look forward to a time when our only concerns will be on the pitch, but the City Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the multiplex cinema at Minchery Farm (once the section 14 holding order is lifted) is a big step forward. However, there is still a danger that the application might get called in, which might have serious implications for Kassam’s involvement in the club and therefore United’s future.

Then there’s the question of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) which Kassam is hoping will be agreed in order to slash the club’s crippling debts. Whilst we’re concerned at the implications of the CVA on the smaller creditors (although we understand that all creditors owed less than a thousand pounds are to be paid in full) it is heartening that Keith Cox, who is largely responsible for the mess the club has been in, might well lose 90% of the ?306,715 that he is allegedly owed by United. If the CVA were to be agreed, and this would mean the City Council and Thames Water taking shares in the new stadium company in place of the large sums that they are owed, plus Taylor Woodrow writing off over six million pounds worth of debt, then this too would be a huge advance towards getting United back on an even keel.

This might be an extraordinarily long Rage Online Comment but we can surely be forgiven, there being so much to catch up on over the last few months! And we haven’t even mentioned the transfers, the out of contract players and next season’s fixtures….