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Post by stokeu on Dec 1, 2017 14:33:09 GMT
I'm in! Can you send me an application form please.
And your bank details so I can chip in some cash.
Oh and a song sheet so I can join in straight away
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Post by Millman on Dec 1, 2017 15:08:10 GMT
Great conversation starter even if few would support the idea. Many of the reasons given for the switch are spurious (heck a few months ago most of the team and the manager were British if that's the point you were making). But that said there are some major problems that as a fan make it hard to truly love the club at times. The biggest is the god awful shed of a stadium which we don't own.
Other than that many of the problems we face are the same as most clubs at our level and this all stems from money. Football is a money game with most clubs trapped in debt and making losses. The higher up you go the ever more expensive it all becomes. Until only those clubs with rich sugar daddies or suicidal overspending exist.Rare indeed these days are club that makes it without a massive wodge of cash (and then they find it almost impossible to maintain the success when richer clubs come a snooping).
So Oxford Utd are trapped in a cycle of owners who spend until they run out of free cash then the shutters come down until the club is sold on. It's not an unusual tail but not one nearly any fan is truly happy with.
I wonder how City would look if they made it to league 1 I doubt it would be much different for them. Even if they were truly different I am an Oxford Utd fan and if my club died I wouldn't be a fan of any one else.
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Post by oldham on Dec 1, 2017 15:31:16 GMT
Please hear me out. I have supported Oxford United and read the Oxford forums for many years, but I have never felt strongly enough about anything to want to post, until now. It's a just an idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while and please hear me out. We all support Oxford, our city, a city we can be so proud of. Town and gown together our city. Oxford has two football clubs, both called Oxford, one just happens to be called Oxford United the other Oxford City. Our loyalty is not automatically deserved by either, does not logically go to either. I just happened to start to watch United many years ago and it became a habit. Consider the following: - United are a busted flush, the club is never going higher than League One, it has become stale, boring and at the mercy of mercenary management and players. City are on the up in recent years, and just look at their recent FA Cup progress. - City are centrally placed in a nice stadium that can be developed with success, proper Oxford, not on the outskirts in a cursed half built stadium. - City have a home grown manager, United don't. - City have all home grown players, United don't (think future of English football and the England football team). - United would gradually disappear and Kassam would be left high and dry. We should have a movement to defect en masse to City which I would be prepared to lead. And I have mate experienced in marketing at a high level who wants this too and would do any marketing we need for free. Just think how exciting the challenge would be. Please let me have your thoughts. Friends, family, relationships may drift in and out your life, but, your team is forever. UP THE U's That said, good luck 'city on Sunday Sarge me old love, City are playing on Saturday...
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Post by sarge on Dec 1, 2017 15:49:29 GMT
Friends, family, relationships may drift in and out your life, but, your team is forever. UP THE U's That said, good luck 'city on Sunday Sarge me old love, City are playing on Saturday... Oopsy... combination of .... early kick off ...for TV schedule .... and not being that aux fait with City's fixtures being a U's fan me ! ok then, its a revised Good luck City from me for tommorrow lunchtime then
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Post by MJB on Dec 1, 2017 16:34:39 GMT
Aaahm oot.
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Post by pompeyyellow on Dec 1, 2017 18:30:09 GMT
I moved to Portsmouth in 1989 just in time for us to have our worse spell after glory years of the 80's. It would of been so easy to jump on the Pompey band wagon of success and forget Oxford. But like others have said you just cannot change your team, I for 1 never once thought of supporting another team. Now my son is a yellow like his dad. We wouldn't have it any other way. COYY
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Post by moomooland on Dec 1, 2017 19:32:02 GMT
I would think there is more chance of Swindon Town fans switching to Supermarine.
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Post by MJB on Dec 1, 2017 20:31:47 GMT
I would think there is more chance of Swindon Town fans switching to Supermarine. Only the glory hunters.
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Post by foley on Dec 1, 2017 20:36:33 GMT
This is clearly a wind up.
No real OUFC/ football supporter would seriously make such a suggestion surely?
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Post by Denissmithswig on Dec 1, 2017 21:06:59 GMT
This is clearly a wind up. No real OUFC/ football supporter would seriously make such a suggestion surely? You’d be surprised. No game tomorrow, team away on a training camp, next game is the tin pot trophy, no take over anytime soon. Even the Ox mail have struggled for stories on us this week! May as well humour the troll for at least the weekend.
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Post by bigronaldo on Dec 1, 2017 22:59:08 GMT
Tell you what, why don’t you go on a journey? First bus to court farm!! One way of course!
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Post by carefreeoufc on Dec 1, 2017 23:35:58 GMT
It's a 'no' for me as well, but I do think that there is an existential discussion to be had about our club. It's a discussion that some on here don't want to have, for reasons I can't quite fathom. Currently the club has no discernible strategy. It has no idea of, or (therefore) understanding of, its target market, both actual and potential. The club has no physical infrastructure and, increasingly, very little human capital (Is the position if chief scout also not going to be replaced?). It is getting to the point (again) where it is little more than a group of players pulled together from all over the place managed by whoever happens to be manager at that time. The Academy and the Women's side (both part of Lenagans strategy) are the only outward indications that we are much more than a wandering franchise. This is why it was not entirely ridiculous of DE to talk of simply uprooting the club and moving it somewhere else. In the next ten years, the combination of Bicester and Banbury will be large enough in and of itself to support a League team. The population of North Oxfordshire as a whole will grow by the size of a city roughly the population of Wigan. For anyone interested in strategy and future planning these are (or should be) momentous and hugely exciting times. Instead of which many of our fans (see Pete's post above) are reduced to simply hoping that the next owner off the production line comes and pumps our little rootless franchise full of enough steroids to get us up a division. But without establishing firm roots; without establishing the answers to the existential questions; without strategic leadership..... the whole thing will collapse horribly at some point, and the higher we are at that moment the greater will our fall be. As fans we don't (yet) have to go as far as Pompeys did in buying the club. But doing that made them grow up and have to take very seriously the big questions facing their club. The work they have done and the roots they laid down and their laser-like determination to attract the right kind of new owner means a) they are highly likely to succeed b) that success will be well-rooted and c) they thoroughly deserve that success. Hoping that some guy comes in and smashes a few million over a short period of time is where Pompey were a decade ago and look where it got them. 'That's never happening again' one of the fans who sorted the mess out told me a few months ago. 'We have finally taken responsibility for our own club rather than behaving like a bunch of kids hoping to be given some sweeties.' Supporting Oxford City isn't the answer. But at least asking the question demonstrates some understanding that there are questions to be asked that won't easily be answered by stuffing fingers in the ears and shouting lalalalala I’ve been critical of your posts but I think you’ve hit the nail on the head.
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Post by charliesghost on Dec 1, 2017 23:48:19 GMT
Great conversation starter even if few would support the idea. Many of the reasons given for the switch are spurious (heck a few months ago most of the team and the manager were British if that's the point you were making). But that said there are some major problems that as a fan make it hard to truly love the club at times. The biggest is the god awful shed of a stadium which we don't own. Other than that many of the problems we face are the same as most clubs at our level and this all stems from money. Football is a money game with most clubs trapped in debt and making losses. The higher up you go the ever more expensive it all becomes. Until only those clubs with rich sugar daddies or suicidal overspending exist.Rare indeed these days are club that makes it without a massive wodge of cash (and then they find it almost impossible to maintain the success when richer clubs come a snooping). So Oxford Utd are trapped in a cycle of owners who spend until they run out of free cash then the shutters come down until the club is sold on. It's not an unusual tail but not one nearly any fan is truly happy with. I wonder how City would look if they made it to league 1 I doubt it would be much different for them. Even if they were truly different I am an Oxford Utd fan and if my club died I wouldn't be a fan of any one else. Funnily enough, the total amount that OUFC has actually 'lost ' over the last 9 years since Lenagan booted out Merry and took control himself is fairly minimal. IL lost about 3 million over the following 5 years and then sold for 4 million. And Ensco injected a total of 6.5 million (Only 4.5 million of which was drawn down) and recouped around 4 million last summer. If DE had sold to either Sartori or - I imagine - the Thais, he would have walked away having broken even at worse. So effectively the club has lost its owners next to nothing since the suicidal Merry era. The issue, for me, is that in an era that really suits clubs like us (in a way the 70s and 80s did not) we are just constantly being reined in by our stadium situation and the unwillingness of owners to prioritise it until it's too late. So we are left in limbo, unable to move forward until someone is far-sighted enough to really focus on this as the big issue. And the problem with organisations that aren't moving forward is that they tend to fall back instead. But, yes, the Kassam is also a soul-less unsatisfactory stadium in its own right, regardless of ownership.
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Post by rambler on Dec 2, 2017 1:45:28 GMT
Always have been a u’s fan and always will be, Haven’t lived in Oxford for many years, but have never had the interest in watching any other team. So i’ts a no from me oufc tid.
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Post by brassmonkey on Dec 2, 2017 7:35:25 GMT
My idea would be to merge with man city. They give us all their players and their owners.
Sent from my SM-G930F using proboards
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Post by saddletramp on Dec 2, 2017 8:02:25 GMT
It's a 'no' for me as well, but I do think that there is an existential discussion to be had about our club. It's a discussion that some on here don't want to have, for reasons I can't quite fathom. Currently the club has no discernible strategy. It has no idea of, or (therefore) understanding of, its target market, both actual and potential. The club has no physical infrastructure and, increasingly, very little human capital (Is the position if chief scout also not going to be replaced?). It is getting to the point (again) where it is little more than a group of players pulled together from all over the place managed by whoever happens to be manager at that time. The Academy and the Women's side (both part of Lenagans strategy) are the only outward indications that we are much more than a wandering franchise. This is why it was not entirely ridiculous of DE to talk of simply uprooting the club and moving it somewhere else. In the next ten years, the combination of Bicester and Banbury will be large enough in and of itself to support a League team. The population of North Oxfordshire as a whole will grow by the size of a city roughly the population of Wigan. For anyone interested in strategy and future planning these are (or should be) momentous and hugely exciting times. Instead of which many of our fans (see Pete's post above) are reduced to simply hoping that the next owner off the production line comes and pumps our little rootless franchise full of enough steroids to get us up a division. But without establishing firm roots; without establishing the answers to the existential questions; without strategic leadership..... the whole thing will collapse horribly at some point, and the higher we are at that moment the greater will our fall be. As fans we don't (yet) have to go as far as Pompeys did in buying the club. But doing that made them grow up and have to take very seriously the big questions facing their club. The work they have done and the roots they laid down and their laser-like determination to attract the right kind of new owner means a) they are highly likely to succeed b) that success will be well-rooted and c) they thoroughly deserve that success. Hoping that some guy comes in and smashes a few million over a short period of time is where Pompey were a decade ago and look where it got them. 'That's never happening again' one of the fans who sorted the mess out told me a few months ago. 'We have finally taken responsibility for our own club rather than behaving like a bunch of kids hoping to be given some sweeties.' Supporting Oxford City isn't the answer. But at least asking the question demonstrates some understanding that there are questions to be asked that won't easily be answered by stuffing fingers in the ears and shouting lalalalala "Hoping that some guy comes in and smashes a few million over a short period of time is where Pompey were a decade ago and look where it got them. 'That's never happening again' one of the fans who sorted the mess out told me a few months ago. 'We have finally taken responsibility for our own club rather than behaving like a bunch of kids hoping to be given some sweeties" WTF ! Answer me this "one of the fans who sorted the mess out" you know the one who said "Thats never happening again" Was he at the front of the queue when the Fans consortium sold the Club to Tornante ? You know Tornante,that American Private Equity and Venture Capital company. How is that "Taking responsibility for our own club" ? How much did he get for his shares ?
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Post by holdsteady on Dec 2, 2017 14:12:50 GMT
Our new club are doing us proud.
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Post by charliesghost on Dec 2, 2017 16:11:12 GMT
It's a 'no' for me as well, but I do think that there is an existential discussion to be had about our club. It's a discussion that some on here don't want to have, for reasons I can't quite fathom. Currently the club has no discernible strategy. It has no idea of, or (therefore) understanding of, its target market, both actual and potential. The club has no physical infrastructure and, increasingly, very little human capital (Is the position if chief scout also not going to be replaced?). It is getting to the point (again) where it is little more than a group of players pulled together from all over the place managed by whoever happens to be manager at that time. The Academy and the Women's side (both part of Lenagans strategy) are the only outward indications that we are much more than a wandering franchise. This is why it was not entirely ridiculous of DE to talk of simply uprooting the club and moving it somewhere else. In the next ten years, the combination of Bicester and Banbury will be large enough in and of itself to support a League team. The population of North Oxfordshire as a whole will grow by the size of a city roughly the population of Wigan. For anyone interested in strategy and future planning these are (or should be) momentous and hugely exciting times. Instead of which many of our fans (see Pete's post above) are reduced to simply hoping that the next owner off the production line comes and pumps our little rootless franchise full of enough steroids to get us up a division. But without establishing firm roots; without establishing the answers to the existential questions; without strategic leadership..... the whole thing will collapse horribly at some point, and the higher we are at that moment the greater will our fall be. As fans we don't (yet) have to go as far as Pompeys did in buying the club. But doing that made them grow up and have to take very seriously the big questions facing their club. The work they have done and the roots they laid down and their laser-like determination to attract the right kind of new owner means a) they are highly likely to succeed b) that success will be well-rooted and c) they thoroughly deserve that success. Hoping that some guy comes in and smashes a few million over a short period of time is where Pompey were a decade ago and look where it got them. 'That's never happening again' one of the fans who sorted the mess out told me a few months ago. 'We have finally taken responsibility for our own club rather than behaving like a bunch of kids hoping to be given some sweeties.' Supporting Oxford City isn't the answer. But at least asking the question demonstrates some understanding that there are questions to be asked that won't easily be answered by stuffing fingers in the ears and shouting lalalalala "Hoping that some guy comes in and smashes a few million over a short period of time is where Pompey were a decade ago and look where it got them. 'That's never happening again' one of the fans who sorted the mess out told me a few months ago. 'We have finally taken responsibility for our own club rather than behaving like a bunch of kids hoping to be given some sweeties" WTF ! Answer me this "one of the fans who sorted the mess out" you know the one who said "Thats never happening again" Was he at the front of the queue when the Fans consortium sold the Club to Tornante ? You know Tornante,that American Private Equity and Venture Capital company. How is that "Taking responsibility for our own club" ? How much did he get for his shares ? Tornante is not some VC firm. It is the private investment vehicle of Mike Eisner. Just as Alcyidon (the ultimate owner of OUFC) is the private investment vehicle of the venture capitalist who is our chairman. And WPL was the private investment vehicle of IL. Eisner was put through months and months of questioning from the Pompey trust before he was given the go-ahead. And they didn't sell for the maximum they could have got. Portsmouth plus stadium for 5.5 million? Hardly the fans trying to make money for themselves, was it? Buying OUFC is more expensive than that. In fact, the process of due diligence on Eisner was so extreme that they started this season in limbo, to the huge frustration of their chief executive. Just a few facts to insert into the discussion!
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Post by headingtonyellow on Dec 3, 2017 22:29:04 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford.
There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal.
On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas.
I will keep you all posted.
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Post by scotchegg on Dec 3, 2017 22:32:17 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford. There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal. On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas. I will keep you all posted. Please don't!!!
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Post by Pete Burrett on Dec 3, 2017 22:37:33 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford. There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal. On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas. I will keep you all posted. Really? I've just read the whole thread again and can't find any. So four people have offered financial backing to a complete stranger and novice poster with an idea that no-one else on here supports, eh?
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Post by Denissmithswig on Dec 3, 2017 22:56:51 GMT
how long do we think this one will last until they get banned?
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Post by Pete Burrett on Dec 3, 2017 23:01:11 GMT
how long do we think this one will last until they get banned? Well, this one's literate which probably means they're intelligent, unlike the last one (williammuir). My bet is they'll behave and keep gently trolling until they get bored.
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Post by makv on Dec 3, 2017 23:28:52 GMT
Clearly a slow day in Sw*ndon. Oh. Wait.
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Post by m on Dec 4, 2017 6:40:58 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford. There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal. On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas. I will keep you all posted. Damned right baby! And just as soon as I've spoken to the bank I'll post you this cheque for 3 trillion that I've written out!
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Post by huggett on Dec 4, 2017 8:10:06 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford. There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal. On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas. I will keep you all posted. Apologies, for the lack of reactions by most U's fans that have just rolled their eyes at what they have read & choose to (sensibly) not respond. I'm sure there are real City fans that would distants themselves with your 'proposal' I'm not disappointed with your OP. I think your disappointed with the lack of animation you've tried to stir.....
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Post by Hamworthy Yellow on Dec 4, 2017 13:56:21 GMT
I've been in Poole just over 20 years, I've never thought of jumping ship even with Pompey, Bournemouth and Southampton within easy reach! I've had a season ticket at various times in those 20 years(i.e. when finances have allowed), even though I was unable to attend more than a handful of games. With retirement looming, I doubt I will continue getting a Season Ticket and will get to fewer games, my support for OUFC will not waver! OTID
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Post by bomberbellew on Dec 4, 2017 23:45:12 GMT
Delete before anyone else sees. Too late, its out there now. Hes built it. Now they will come
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Post by salaghaf on Dec 5, 2017 9:04:51 GMT
Thank you for your many replies to my proposal for a reinvention of a club to represent Oxford. There is a clearly a great deal of positive interest in my proposal with some useful ideas offered which I will consider as I now develop my proposal. On an exciting note I have been messaged by four people who would be interested providing me with financial backing two of whom I am prepared to have discussions with and will be meeting with after Christmas. I will keep you all posted. I'm All In Baby!!
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Post by oufc88 on Dec 5, 2017 11:25:55 GMT
I've been in Poole just over 20 years, I've never thought of jumping ship even with Pompey, Bournemouth and Southampton within easy reach! I've had a season ticket at various times in those 20 years(i.e. when finances have allowed), even though I was unable to attend more than a handful of games. With retirement looming, I doubt I will continue getting a Season Ticket and will get to fewer games, my support for OUFC will not waver! OTID Love it, i'm also a Poole lad, had a season ticket last season. Cant stand Bournemouth....
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