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Post by mcf86 on Jan 27, 2011 19:33:28 GMT
I don't buy the argument that we'd be 'Out of our depth' in League One. You might have applied the same argument to when we were trying desperately to get out of the BSP, but why? We're in a good position with our current finances and a second Promotion would only enrich that- therefore we would be able to strengthen the Squad significantly and we'd be a more attractive proposition to players.
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Post by concretebob on Jan 27, 2011 19:35:08 GMT
It would be great to be promoted again and we should go for it, after all our natural level is probably League One and it would be great to get back to where we belong after 4 years in that awful awful league.
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Post by woottonyellow on Jan 27, 2011 19:54:35 GMT
I'm still waiting until we have 50 points before thinking about promotion!
only 12 more to go before we are safe this season.
The way we are playing it should be fine but i won't relax until then.
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Post by gottagetbetta on Jan 27, 2011 20:07:34 GMT
well, promotion would be great, but I don't feel it is essential we go up this season. I am enjoying,enjoying, the football and the buzz that is around the club at the moment. We have spent four years in the sludge at the bottom of the football pit, we touched rock bottom then with some crap players in a crap league, so I am revelling in the standard of football and the quality of the players we have recruited. Promotion, yes great it it happens, but not a disaster if it doesn't this season.
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Post by Chris1986 on Jan 27, 2011 20:59:19 GMT
One game at a time eh?
Anything other than relegation is a bonus this season.
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Post by mazarronox (banned) on Jan 27, 2011 21:20:33 GMT
Also No. You can only beat what is put in front of you. This year the league has been of a higher standard than I remember. Who is to say non league teams like Luton and Crawley will make it tougher. Also the day I fear Swindon is the day I give up being an Oxford fan. I just hope whatever happens we do get to play them next year... play them off the park twice that is. Wright for England is correct we will be even stronger next season so whats to worry about. The futures bright the futures Yellow. Please can we have some fun chasing them around those roundabouts, purely for old time sake you understand....
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Post by Beav on Jan 27, 2011 21:31:04 GMT
If we got to League 1. I think we'd need the Stadium to be able fund ourselves properly and such (wouldn't we?)
Not only that but I've never seen us higher than Division 4 :-(. (Actually I saw one game at the manor so I must've seen a Division 3 game)
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Post by concretebob on Jan 27, 2011 21:50:47 GMT
This year the league has been of a higher standard than I remember. Not sure if I agree with that- I haven't seen a stand out team this season yet, but we've seen plenty of rubbish.
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Post by scoob on Jan 27, 2011 23:22:12 GMT
Quite rightly Eric and londonroader ask what will happen when the inevitable one day drop in crowds happens and we can't afford the players either in league two or one. Slappy that is one of the key problems all football clubs have. If Lenagan has totally turned off the tap of cash as soon as crowds are not high enough to pay the bills then we could be back to the problems of 18 months or so ago. This is also how the financial problems for WPL started when they allowed Jim Smith a large budget that we were told was based on conservative revenue assumptions at Lenagan's first Fans Forum. The assumptions were far from conservative, performances were poor, crowds/revenue fell and the debt rose to the point that Lenegan stopped funding the losses and we teetered on the brink. I put the following question to Oxvox for them to ask Kelvin Thomas at a meeting that they had with him at the start of this season: "One of the reasons the club has overspent in the past is that it has budgeted to spend at a level based on the previous season’s crowds and income. When performances on the field dip then crowds and income tend to fall thereby causing the club to overspend and debts to increase. It seems that this could have happened last season with a break even budget reported to be based on something like an average crowd of 5,500 but, thankfully, that figure was exceeded. We have seen much lower crowds in the recent past so there was a level of risk budgeting on that basis. I recognise that achieving success with conservative budgeting is not easy but I would like to ask what safeguards does Kelvin have in place to ensure that OUFC do not return to the brink of bankruptcy again if this should happen in the future." This is the reply I received: "The impression I got from the meeting was that sensible and conservative budgeting will apply. On playing budget the starting point is we undertsand last year's figure, but with what is described in Kelvin's words as a 'small increase'. I think ambition will be tempered by realism, but that can be discussed at a fans' forum which is promised soon (pre-start of season I would expect)." What happens if we are promoted to League One and struggle or end up mid-table. Crowds may hold up for the first year due to the novelty of seeing some more glamorous clubs but after that they could easily fall and that is where the problems come if we budget for break-even or worse. Whilst we are successful on the pitch budgets need to be set to create profit and generate cash in order to cope with the lean times. This is another reason why just missing out on promotion would not be a disaster as that should allow us to remain financially competitive which should result in further on-field success next season.
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