The facts according to
the board
The facts according to
Oxford City Council
Malcolm Shotton for
Sport Personality of the Year
Here’s the second edition of FOUL Mouth the official newsletter of FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life). For those of you who don’t already know here’s a quick recap on the past two months. FOUL was set up by supporters of Oxford United football club to publicise the very real threat of our club going out of business and to fight for the survival of the club. Our first goal was to get some attention and to make sure that our club didn’t die of ignorance. A wide ranging local and national media campaign was launched which made sure that the local community and the wider football community knew what was going on here in Oxford. With all of the coverage we’ve had there can be very few people who care about football who don’t know about the plight of Oxford United.
Whilst the media campaign continues, since the packed Town Hall meeting in Oxford we’ve been getting organised and tried to dig up as much information about what’s been going on at the club and what the real prospects are of a rescue package being put together to restart the new stadium project.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas the main FOUL committee met with Keith Cox and other representatives of the club and also with Oxford City Council representatives to get their side of the story and ask the questions supporters wanted answered. Below is a summary of what we were told at these two meetings.
Oxford & County Newspapers (OCN) Libel Action
Keith Cox stated that he received £15,000 in damages and OCN had to pay in excess of £100,000 costs. He stated that currently he was not in a position to make this money available for the club’s use. He explained that the action and settlement were about far more than what was said at the first open meeting.
History of stadium development
OUFC went into deal with Taylor Woodrow(TW) who through Cornhill Commercial Services (CCS) agreed to ensure finance was raised to build the stadium. Cornhill had previously done this for Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Stoke and Derby.
CCS introduced a company called Stadivarios to OUFC (who appeared to have a working record with companies such as Coca-Cola/Adidas in World Cup/Olympics marketing/sponsorship deals).
FOUL were given copies of letters sent from TW and CCS to Oxford City Council stating that they were confident that full funding would be in place for the completion of the project.
OUFC believed Stadivarios would put in £8 million as part of a stadium business partner program. Additional funding was to come from the sale of the Manor ground and the Football Trust.
Stadivarious failed to meet their commitments. OUFC had nothing legally binding, just reassurances from TW and Cornhill.
Keith Cox quote "You can accuse me of incompetence for not having a contingency plan in place if the finance deal didn't work out, but not of misleading people about it" He also said that "99 percent of people would have also relied on TW and Cornhill as the "experts"."
The stadium land was originally purchased by the council for £40,000 from Thames Water. OUFC have paid £100,000 to the council already and have another £900,000 payment overdue. The balance of the £2 million asking price will be paid in the form of a rent to Oxford City Council.
Present club finances
Club owes over £5 million to Herd, Corbett and Lloyds bank. Split as follows:
These debts are secured on the Manor ground which is expected to have a value of £6 million with residential planning permission. (£4 million without planning permission)
The recent sale of players means that the cash flow position of the club is greatly improved. If a similar cash crisis was to come about in the future then the first course of action would be to seek a PFA loan rather than the immediate sale of another player. Because of this any future player sales are expected to be at full market value and not due to immediate cash pressures.
Grenoble Consortium
Agreement has been reached with Herd, Corbett and TW. At present they are negotiating to buy additional land from the Council for specific leisure development (believed to be a multiplex cinema). Once agreement is reached with the Council the Consortium will be in a position to proceed. At present they are syndicating finance for £22 million needed to complete the deal. This is expected to be available by mid to late January.
OUFC are concerned that the Council will go out to tender for the sale of this land which will cause a delay that would almost certainly mean the death of the football club. Another concern is the fact that planning permission for a multiplex cinema complex at Minchery Farm is currently linked to the decision on the Oxpens site near the City Centre. A resolution for the Council to remove this linkage is believed to be under consideration. This would also remove a potential delay in completing the deal with Grenoble.
Why the Secrecy from Grenoble?
Keith Cox sais that the investors don't want to be faced with a barrage of questions until the deal is in place. Geoff Coppock and Nick Harris have met with the major players and confidently support them. The consortium plans to sell overseas OUFC television rights to a market where the city of Oxford has a high value and level of interest.
London Irish deal
At present LIRFC are carrying out 'due diligence' procedures with view to making an offer. They are believed to have funding in place to build a 12,000 seater stadium which together with proceeds from the sale of their main stadium at Sunbury would provide enough to finance the stadium and leisure development project at Minchery Farm.
Several of their directors and a lot of their supporters live closer to Oxford than Sunbury They believe that they have a better chance of attracting the required level of support in Oxford than in Middlesex. LIRFC don't want to run a football club, but will need a co-user of the stadium. Cox believes a community club would be of interest to them.
Keith Cox's employment status
He Provides services to OUFC for which he receives payment. He works for OUFC and not Robin Herd. He is owed sums of money and so is also a creditor. He feels if the Grenoble deal proceeds he will have no role in future management of the club but has discussed the possibility of other consultancy projects with them. If LIRFC goes through he may stay involved with a community club.
Open Meeting
Keith Cox agreed to attend a FOUL open meeting in January. He suggested late January as both potential bids will be clarified by the third week of January. (Since this meeting FOUL has booked the Town Hall for the first available date which is Tuesday 9th February - See below for more details))
Contingency plans for next season
The Manor will have a maximum capacity of 2,500 next season whichever league we are in without making any major capital investments. The Football League no longer allows clubs to groundshare outside their own conurbation (since Brighton) so we couldn't play at Wycombe, Reading or Swindon.
For the Club to survive next season we will need either:
a) new ground to be underway with a definite finish date and a Football Licensing Authority exemption until this date to allow playing at the Manor unmodified. (this is the club strategy). Or,
b) persuade the Football League to change its rules on groundshare for an interim period.
Administration or Receivership
Keith Cox believes receivership would be the result and that would prove terminal for OUFC. Staff would be laid off and players contracts would be sold at well below their market value. The most likely outcome of this would be liquidation of OUFC.
Additional comment
Keith Cox explained he believed that a vendetta was being waged against him and the club which could prove detrimental to the survival of the club.
These are the views stated by Keith Cox on the subjects covered. He was supported by fellow directors, Nick Harris and Geoff Coppock and by club secretary, Mick Brown and club manager, Ian Davies.
FOUL met with Oxford City Council leader and Labour Group leader John Tanner and with John Arnold, Director of Property and Leisure. Here’s a summary of that meeting.
The Story so far
John Tanner explained how the City Council didn’t have any direct or formal involvement with the football club at the moment but wanted to see the Club prosper. He said that he could speak for all Labour Group members who all shared this view. OUFC still owe the Council £900,000 for the balance of the £1 million premium on the stadium site but they had not pressed the club for this money as they were aware of the clubs financial plight. Over the last 2 years the council have been approached by a number of different prospective buyers of the football club to discuss the stadium development project.
Leisure Development at Minchery Farm
The CC believe the cost of completing the stadium development to be somewhere in the region of £20 million but the final value of the stadium to the football club would only be approximately £5 million. Because of this difference any organisation wanting to develop the stadium site would also want to develop adjoining land with leisure developments.
Planning permission is already available for a 140 bedroom hotel next to the stadium and there is an additional site next to the stadium which has a planning brief for commercial leisure. The council are prepared to sell this 4.5 acre site but will have to receive the proper market value for this land and be assured that the eventual developer will be able to successfully complete any project and therefore they wanted to know the identity of any individuals and companies involved. The exact value of the land is linked to the eventual planning permission granted for the site. John Arnold explained how it wouldn’t be necessary to put the land out for tender as long as the proper market value was received.
The chances of planning permission being granted for a multiplex cinema complex at Minchery Farm was now looking more likely than previously was the case because of the difficulties of a similar proposal at the Ox Pens site and at Abingdon, but the final decision was still to be made and couldn’t be completed until either the land was sold or somebody had been given an option to acquire the land. Even if planning permission was granted there was a high likelihood that the Department of the Environment would "call in" the development and cause a delay or even overrule the planning permission.
Grenoble Consortium
The City Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee and Planning Committee have had meetings with Grenoble Investments sole representative Martyn Deaner. They do not know the identity of any other members of this consortium or whether they exist but believe that Martyn Deaner is in the process of raising the required funds for the project. John Arnold believed that Mr Deaner was capable of putting such a deal together and was hoping to have this completed by the end of January.
London Irish Rugby Club
John Arnold has met with representatives from London Irish and believes they also have a good chance of completing the stadium project. If London Irish were to go ahead and build the stadium they are expected to also develop the hotel and leisure developments in a similar way to that proposed by Martyn Deaner. He also believed that it might help if the two groups could work together but has had no indication that this was likely to happen.
Thames Water
The City Council have reached agreement with Thames Water over the breach of covenant on the land at Minchery Farm and would not be appealing against the legal ruling in favour of Thames Water. Because of this the covenant was no longer an issue and was not holding up negotiations for any development on the Minchery Farm site.
Direct Involvement?
John Tanner explained how the City Council would not be able to get involved directly in helping the football club financially even if a community owned club was to be set up but would be as helpful as possible to the football club as they wanted to see first class football continuing to be played in Oxford.
Council Meetings
When asked why all the meetings in relation to Oxford United were held in secret John Arnold said that this was normal procedure and was because land transactions and confidential company business was involved.
FOUL Open Meeting
John Tanner accepted an invitation to address a FOUL open meeting at the Town Hall and said that he would be able to answer questions from supporters at that meeting.
So what does this all mean? Most of the information about the current status of the new stadium project that we received from the club was confirmed by the meeting with the City Council representatives but there are still some areas of differences of opinion and major questions still unanswered.
Player sales, Sky TV money and the capacity crowds for Bristol City and Chelsea mean the immediate threat of closure hanging over the club has been lifted for the time being. Whilst this is good news, the survival of the Club beyond the end of this season is still very much in doubt. The chances of playing at Minchery Farm at the start of next season has now gone. Keith Cox stated early last year that a restart would be needed by November at the latest to achieve this. The Club believes that if the new stadium project is underway again before the end of this season then they could get a temporary exemption from the all-seater requirement for next season in the first division but this is by no means guaranteed. Equally if the Club was to be relegated to the second division (either via the usual method or due to failing to meet the all-seater requirement) there are still big questions over whether the Manor would be granted a certificate from the Football Licensing Authority in that division. It almost certainly would require an investment program that the club just could not afford.
This all adds up to the fact that without the new stadium project being restarted very soon the club will die. Even if a way could be found to play at the Manor next season the long term future of the club would be so undermined, with no route out of the current debt crisis, that it would almost certainly go under anyway.
The information FOUL has managed to collect on the two possible routes to such a restart does not fill us with any confidence. The Grenoble Investments consortium is, in our view, very unlikely to be successful. At the time of writing there is still no evidence that the consortium consists of anything more than one individual, Martyn Deaner. The late January deadline to complete the "syndicating" of the finance to complete the deal is fast approaching and there are no signs that this will be successful.
London Irish Rugby Club’s interest in completing the stadium is in our view a more realistic option even though the club would be in a worse situation as tenant rather than owner of its proposed new stadium. However this is also a long-shot. London Irish are known to be looking at alternative ground share options much closer to their home in south west London.
For either of these proposals to succeed there is also still the question of coming to an agreement with Oxford City Council for land to be made available for the required leisure and commercial developments associated with the stadium and gaining the required planning consents to develop the sites. That Oxford (and Oxfordshire) needs a multiplex cinema complex is not in question. The problems with proposed developments in Abingdon and at Oxpens in Oxford, whilst on the one hand mean such a proposal at Minchery Farm could be more likely, also demonstrate what a drawn out and precarious process achieving such planning consent can be.
The City Council makes all the right noises when asked about its position on the future survival of the football club but its actions haven’t always matched its words. By our calculation the City Council stands to make a profit of many hundreds of thousands of pounds on the stadium site alone, representing a 5000% return on their original investment. Beyond this they also will be looking to make many millions of pounds from the sale of land for the hotel and leisure sites. Against this background its only fair to ask whether the City Council could do more to help the club survive both in terms of speeding up the decision making process and in terms of direct financial assistance in partnership with the football club to build the new stadium.
In the light of this situation it is clear that FOUL must keep up the momentum on its activities to highlight the plight of the Club in the hope of unearthing potential new investors, keeping the pressure on the Club’s long list of creditors and urging the City Council to actively support the club in its fight for survival. Something which we believe to be in the interest of the wider city and county community as a whole.
FOUL is also pushing ahead with preparation and plans to form a community based club. An arrangement where the club is owned primarily by the supporters and local community and no individual has overall control is the ideal way forward. Setting up a community based rescue package is, we realise, an enormous task but it may be the only way the club can survive.
As reported in the last edition of FOUL Mouth we mounted a campaign to collect votes for Malcolm Shotton as BBC Sports Personality of the Year. It will have come as no surprise to anybody that Malcolm didn’t actually win despite the thousands of votes we handed in at the BBC. However these votes did not go unnoticed at the BBC and led directly to a feature on the clubs financial predicament on Gary Linekers’s Football Focus and a mention on Match of the Day. We also managed to launch the FOUL Scarf of Unity campaign as part of the BBC coverage. (See below).
Many of you will have seen the "Scarf of Unity" either at recent home games or on TV. The scarf is made up of football scarves from clubs all over the country and is intended as a symbol of unity amongst all clubs whatever size. It demonstrates that we have support from across the football community for our campaign to fight for Oxford United’s life. So far we’ve received over 100 scarves including over two thirds of football league and Premiership clubs in England. We’ve also received scarves from many non league and European clubs. As well as making an appearance on the pitch at the Manor the scarf has also been seen on various television features and also at the recent Fans United 3 event on Sky at the match between Chester City and Brighton.
The idea for, and the vast majority of the effort behind building "the famous Oxford scarf of unity" (Football Focus 16/1/99) comes from the FOUL Media Awareness Sub-Committee which is working on a whole series of events and activities to keep FOUL and Oxford United in the media spotlight. Apart from the main FOUL committee there are now three sub-committees meeting regularly working on media awareness, fund raising plans and preparation for a community based club. These sub-committees are now meeting regularly and the chair of each has been included on the main FOUL committee.
When we arranged to meet with Keith Cox and the board we said that top of our list of questions was a date for an open meeting where supporters could hear directly from the board what was happening at the club and ask questions. FOUL decided the best way to make sure this happened and for the supporters to be in control was for FOUL to take control of the meeting and hold it in the Town Hall following the success of the last meeting.
We had hoped to hold this meeting in January but unfortunately the first available date for such a meeting in the town hall (apart from the day of the Chelsea game) is Tuesday 9th February. FOUL is also planning to invite other interested parties to speak at the meeting and John Tanner, leader of Oxford City Council has also agreed to speak and answer questions. We’ll be promoting this meeting more widely nearer the time but put this date in your diary now. We need to pack out the Town Hall again just like we did at the first FOUL open meeting to show the continued support that there is for the survival of the football club in Oxford.
At the recent SOUS fund raising evening Les Phillips’ 1996 Milk Cup Winners medal was donated for an auction to raise funds for the club. FOUL collected donations specifically to bid for this important piece of Oxford United history. We are happy to announce that FOUL was successful in this bid and acquired the medal for £1,100. We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this fund and you’ll be pleased to hear that we plan to return the medal to its rightful owner, Les Phillips on the pitch at half time in the FA Cup match against Chelsea. The money for this was raised independantly of the regular FOUL funds which means if you have donated money to FOUL or bought FOUL sweatshirts or T shirts you can be sure that your money continues to support the fight for Oxford United’s life.
A big thank-you to all our members for their messages of support and encouragement and for their donations and invaluable ideas. We’re sorry that we cannot respond on an individual basis at the present time we would like you to know that everything is being recorded and appreciated by the FOUL Committee and Sub-Committees. We may call upon your individual expertise and act upon your ideas at some point in the future, so please bear with us! Until then keep the ideas flowing in and please get your family and friends to join FOUL if they haven’t already joined. In fact can we ask anyone who hasn’t already joined to fill in the application form in this newsletter and send it in. You don’t need to make a donation and don’t have to sign up to do anything except stand up and be counted. The more members we have the louder voice we have and the more people have to take notice.
Oxford, United will never be defeated!
