The forum was attended by roughly 150 fans and presentations were made by Kelvin Thomas (OUFC chairman) and the club’s owner Ian Lenagan. The meeting was well-received by the audience and fans were given plenty of opportunity to ask any questions.

Ian Lenagan gave the following comments on the club’s financial position:

• The overall finances are secure
• There is no boom or bust mentality at the club
• The ambition from the board is to see the club in the Championship inside five years.
• The average wage bill in League 2 is £1.2m per annum and this rises by 50% in League 1, and the average in the Championship is £4.5m per annum.
• Clubs in League 2 receive 8% of the television rights for the Football League and this rises to 12% in League 1.
• Mr Lenagan described himself as good at running sports businesses and explained he has 10 years of experience of doing so with London Broncos, Oxford United, and Wigan Warriors. He also explained that Oxford United has a good reputation in football circles in relation to how it is run
• The club will report a £45k profit in the 2011 accounts.
• The club is projected to lose £210,725 for this season but this does not take into account any possible revenue from the play-offs.
• The club has spent £140k on top of its wage budget due to covering unexpected injuries. Mr Lenagan explained that he felt this was necessary if you are ambitious and want to achieve success on the pitch. But he admitted he never likes to see the club record a loss but this can happen with sports businesses.
• He confirmed that Woodstock Partners Ltd (WPL) the club’s parent company have covered the losses and it now sits as a interest-free soft loan to the Lenagan family. He stressed the club is not under any threat by the loss.
• He also confirmed that the Lenagan’s had injected £440k into the club in November to help with cashflow. This was needed due to additional players being signed, payment for improving training facilities, a lack of home matches in that month and a historic payment of service charge to FIROKA. He predicts that most of this will be repaid by the end of the 2012 financial year.
• The Lenagan’s injected a further £350k for cashflow last month. He hopes to recover half of this amount in natural cashflow this financial year.
• Once this financial year ends he expects the Lenagan’s soft debt to the club to have increased by £250k-£300k.
• The club has not taken out any loans from anyone outside the Lenagan family for over 3 years. There have never been any loans from Bridle. The only payment outside of sponsorship from Bridle was £19k to cover a shortfall in the predicted gate for the Bonanza day.
• The club has settled a 4-year-long dispute with the stadium company over the service charge (this covers utility bills at the ground)
• FIROKA wanted approximately £400k in back payments for under-billing the club and to increase the level of service charge. This was due to it saying the wrong figure to cover this cost was put in the licence agreement.
• The club received legal advice that if this was an honest mistake they would not win in court so they settled out of court and agreed to pay £250k in historic payments and an increase of £100k per annum to the service charge. This money is not profit for the stadium company and simply pays the utility bills.
• The club is very disappointed by this situation but is pleased to have come to a settlement and has now moved on from the issue.
• The club borrowed approximately £455k in soft loans from generous fans 3 years ago. £200k of this was repaid last season and £25k is expected to be paid this year.
• The club has no bank loans but has received great support from its bank (Barclays) and has a £25k buffer zone to help cover cheques if required. Barclays has offered facilities to fund approximately 50% of the stadium purchase price.
• Ian Lenagan confirmed that should the club remain in League 2 next season he expects to only cut the wage budget by the £140k that it is over-budgeted this season. Meaning he expects to set the same budget at the start of next season as was set this season if United remain in League 2.
• There has been no offers for the club since he has owned it but there has been a lot of interest.
• He would only sell for the right price and to a fit and proper person.

Kelvin Thomas on the club’s direction, Youth Teams, and Commercial:

• The club has great commercial partnerships with Webber, Mini, and Feel Fit Gyms.
• Shirt sponsorship extensions have been agreed in principal with Polythene UK and Bridle.
• The club has a wonderful partnership with Bridle and fully supports their involvement with Eastleigh. The club hopes to arrange an away pre-season friendly at Eastleigh this summer.
• Season tickets will go on sale next Thursday with the early-bird prices frozen for renewing and new customers.
• Putting season tickets on sale before the season ends is common throughout football and Kelvin admits is an important means of helping with cash-flow.
• The club was very pleased with this year’s season ticket sales and expects only a slight drop in attendances next year due to the tough economic conditions.
• The club feels its season ticket prices are very competitive for League 2 and offer excellent value.
• The player awards will be held once again this year – on 28 April.
• The club is committed to its youth development scheme
• The system has vastly improved now funding has been restored following United returning to the football league. But the club is not expecting a conveyor belt of youth players breaking into the first team during the next 3 years but the manager won’t hesitate to play any youth player that is good enough.
• The club has invested £50k to improve its training facilities by moving to the Rover Cowley pitches, this has seen the club have access to 9 pitches, a new gym, new changing rooms, a second classroom, a physio area, a common room, kitchen, and IT centre. This facility is shared between the first team and the youth system.
• The club has more than 200 children in its youth system. It has opened elite development centres in Banbury, Oxford and Henley. It is aiming to open 2 more close to Witney and Thame.
• The club I actively looking to sign U17 players released by clubs in higher leagues.
• The youth team reached the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup for the first time in seven years this season.
• The club is concerned that other clubs will scout for youth talent in Oxfordshire but feels we can be competitive.
• Excellent relationships have been made with five local youth clubs, including Summertown Stars.
• Club is very proud of its work in the community with local businesses, the councils, children’s hospitals, the military, Special Effect, British Heart Foundation and also Charlotte Nott,
• The club is still a keen supporter of the 12th Man Fund.
• The club has run a very successful series of youth promotions this season, which so far has attracted 2843 ticket purchases due to the initiative. These include the guard of honour.
• Kelvin feels the club is ideally placed for the play-offs and possibly automatic promotion
• He admits injuries have affected the club and as a result more loan players have been used that the club would have liked.
• He feels we have a better core squad this season than last season.
• The club is concerned by the injuries and is now working with a group called Sports Office to manage performance data, help with injury prevention techniques and player rehabilitation. Man City and Wigan Warriors also use this system and OUFC will use it throughout the first team and all youth teams.
• The club’s current average attendance is 7452, which is the highest it’s been since the 97/98 season. The club feels this is a sign that it is moving in the right direction.
• Kelvin confirmed that the club is being fully supported by its owners.

Some of the fans questions included:

Would the club be interested in a fan-led initiative to raise funds to help with the stadium purchase?

Ian Lenagan said he would be happy to embrace this and said OxVox would be the “natural vehicle” to organise such a scheme. OxVox chairman Mark Sennett confirmed that OxVox already has a bank account for this called the Yellows Future Fund and fans can get more information on this on the OxVox website if they wish to donate.

Ian Lenagan also confirmed that he has enjoyed working with OxVox to discuss a potential share purchase in the club but stressed there was no need on his part to sell shares.

Is Chris Wilder frustrated with the wage budget following the departure of Lee Holmes?

Chris Wilder said he is not at all frustrated with the budget and he is pleased with how the club is positioned financially. He does not want to see the club overspend and go into financial problem like other clubs.

Does Ian Lenagan have a timescale for purchasing the stadium?

Ian Lenagan said the club is keen to purchase the ground but it’s not essential they do so. The price has to be commercial right and currently the club’s value of the ground is 25% apart from FIROKA’s. He hopes to purchase the ground within two years but can’t give any guarantees on any timescale.

What’s the club’s current debt to the Lenagan family?

Ian Lenagan said he expects his soft loans to have increased by £750k since the last published accounts. This loan is interest free and is not being repaid at present.

Following the meeting OxVox spoke with Ian Lenagan and both parties confirmed that they are keen to continue meeting. Mr Lenagan would be pleased to meet with the Trust and asked us to approach him with suitable dates.