Three Sides Of Woe

Oxford United's protracted talks over the ownership of their ground show no real sign of reaching a climax.

Firoz Kassam, the club's former owner with roots in takeaways and 'slum' hotels and the man whose name still adorns the Kassam Stadium, has now held the stadium for over 10 years since selling his interest in the club. Kassam took over the club in 1999, putting it through a CVA to slash debts to 10% of their original value after buying the entity for £1, and effectively bought the club and Manor Ground for around only £1million in total.

The Manor Ground was later sold between Kassam's companies for £6million, then to a developer for £12million shortly afterwards. Kassam pocketed the profit and later declared himself 'proud' of the deal in an interview with The Guardian.

With the stadium already partially built but with construction stalled, a year after taking over the club a scaled-back development, famously without a fourth side, resumed on the site with the club moving there in the summer of 2001.

At his 2006 departure as club owner, Kassam was reportedly charging Oxford United rent of £278,000 plus overheads meaning a £400,000 a year bill for the ground that Kassam retained much of the commercial income from, having added a substantial commercial development to the stadium on land he bought for a fraction of the sum he cashed the Manor Ground in for. An October 2016 press report put the rent figure now closer to £500,000.

Fast forward to the present day, and supporters trust OxVox have been in negotiations alongside the local Council to turn the stadium into a community-owned asset. Their latest statement hopes for Heads of Terms to be complete by the end of the season, news that brought frustration from the club's Board.

It has been over three months since Kassam acknowledged publicly discussions to complete a deal with the Trust, with club chairman Daryl Eales stating at the time of the original announcement that the deal could be complete in '10-12 weeks'. Kassam has reportedly refused any possibility of expanding the stadium during the process, with a dispute ongoing over money owed by the club under the lease terms, and the club have been excluded from talks on the sale despite being the sitting tenant.

The club have now warned that they may look to leave the ground, or have to scale back their expenditure on the team and youth setup as the burden of the rent demands and the lack of match day income from the current deal leave the club needing regular cash injections.

For Kassam, every day the current deal continues is another day of profit. And he is, by his own admission, in it for the money.