We shouldn't even begin to entertain it (if there's any substance to the rumour at all). Doubling the amount of football played on the pitch is a recipe for disaster, among the numerous other issues which come with having a rival (a minor one, but they are a rival) share your ground.
I can’t honestly see that allowing them to share with us for a season or so would be a problem. The only minus I see would be wear and tear on the pitch. if the deal was financially beneficial to us, why wouldn’t we go for it?
The issue of the away allocations when we were technically away has already been covered. We would get 1800 seats which is probably not much different to what we get at the Kassam.
if it’s good enough for the Milan clubs and they do it all the time, it’s good enough for us
Italian football makes the English game look like a financial utopia - not really a fair comparison. Cultural differences too - groundsharing just isn't in English football culture and nor should it be unless in especially extenuating circumstances imo.
I tend to agree with this but Oxford will be kicked out in 2 years so extenuating circumstances are clear, they will need to play somewhere close to Oxford with a suitable ground size and good transport links.
As a club we are probably the best fit taking in to account the other local clubs, distances, rivalries, public transport etc.
Both Milan teams are due to leave the San Siro in the next few years for separate grounds, though one ground is planning to be built right next door.
The public transport links would be a major issue. Coventry is further but the links are much better and quicker.
I can’t see Oxford wanting to play at MK or Coventry when they would be lucky to fill it by more than 10%-13% of home fans. They are talking about this on their forums and they reckon they wouldn’t take more than around 3000 to 4000 on average out of Oxford. MK, some people are suggesting 2-3000.
Either way I am sure the two clubs will have talked already. Rob would never miss an opportunity to earn an extra £1.2-£1.5M a season.
May raise the funds to fix the stadium repair needs but feels a remote possibility. Far more likely they agree an extension for a couple of years - better for the club and ground owner who gets rent and can still sell for building two years later. Anyway do we have a maximum number of events under our planning permission - every weekend May overly test residents patience.
No. They are from the rat infested slums of Cowley, not the teddy bear scarf wearing varsity town. That's probably the biggest problem with sharing with them, having to hose down the stadium after their games.
How big is the site? That feels a very big number. Either way if worth £40m now, likely to still be worth £40m two years later. Helping out the club may make planning consent a little easier.
Yes - this is probably true. If they went to mk they would seat the plucky non leaguers in the upper tier arranged in half a dozen separate blocks, each with an empty block inbetween because of a concert a week next Tuesday.
I dont think it will happen tbh.... but.... its all about the money honey! 💰
If its lucrative for us..... then why not?
The Shame of poxford having to do it and paying us for the pleasure of playing in a 4 sided ground out of necessity does sit well with me and make me laugh 😃
Hold on @flymofrankI I thought the chairlift concept was your idea and yet @railwaysteve seems to be its biggest cheerleader on this thread? If the PNL as tenants were to fund it, surely this would gain your blessing? Obviously they would not be permitted to use the chairlift the clue being in its name.
There’s needle but not hatred between the fans, would feel very odd though.
Out of all the ‘local’ teams to Oxford it would give TVP the least headache. I think we may share some stewards with them as our home games are already alternate weekends.
If it pays for us to fix the FA roof and the terrace and helps them out then it’s win-win really.
By the way, @flymofrank - the Los Angeles Dodgers have stolen your Chairboy Lift idea, though I think they tried to fly under your radar by calling it an 'aerial gondola'. Thankfully it looks like it is being put on hold, probably to sort out your royalty rights:
I'm yet to see a convincing argument as to why people think having Oxford sharing the ground is a good idea, whereas the Wasps arrangement wasn't. Some may recall that, in 2002, Wasps contributed £250,000 towards the cost of undersoil heating, about 50% of the overall cost.
Then there is the issue, as @Kim_il_Swan has highlighted earlier, of the profile of typical OUFC fans from the Blackbird Leys estate. Some of them have probably never sat on chairs before, and it's questionable whether they move the dirty dishes out of the way before pissing in the sink.
Our refurbished toilets will become a cesspit of doom if we let that lot in.
The Wasps deal was so cloaked in secrecy (despite the ownership structure at the time) it just became a thing of myth and legend. If attendance was above a certain figure rent was x, below it was y and y meant a loss. And the reality was that Wasps gave away soooo many tickets we would never make any money. Plus the creeping anxiety that they were cuckoos, which turned out to be true.
I was quite happy with AP being used 40 odd times a season instead of the normal 23 and enjoyed a few Wasps games myself. But the blending of brands instead of the landlord tenant arrangement is what always troubled me. Plus their fan attitude that they were the big club and we were the poor relation.
I think there is also the danger that if the PNL were to ground share and god forbid get promotion during their tenancy you would lose fans. Lets face it kids from the DMZ of Thame and alike would happily watch Championship football if they could, for the same reason kids turn up at Wycombe games with Man City shirts - they back success.
Weird that people will celebrate a fairly paltry Al-Hamadi sell-on clause, but turn their nose up to taking a few million quid off a local and divisional rival.
Comments
Why?
A great opportunity for the club and trust to secure an uplift in turnover of 20-25% using existing assets.
If we are in the same League it will give us a significant advantage.
I think I can see passed having to stand in the away end for 2 hours in our own ground if it secures an increase in the playing budget of £1M plus.
We shouldn't even begin to entertain it (if there's any substance to the rumour at all). Doubling the amount of football played on the pitch is a recipe for disaster, among the numerous other issues which come with having a rival (a minor one, but they are a rival) share your ground.
It aint gonna happen. I distinctly remember a thousand or so Oxford fans shouting "Wycombe's a shithole, I wanna go home" on their last visit to AP.
Inter and Milan have done it but access to the San Siro is a piece of piss compared to this idea.
I can’t honestly see that allowing them to share with us for a season or so would be a problem. The only minus I see would be wear and tear on the pitch. if the deal was financially beneficial to us, why wouldn’t we go for it?
The issue of the away allocations when we were technically away has already been covered. We would get 1800 seats which is probably not much different to what we get at the Kassam.
if it’s good enough for the Milan clubs and they do it all the time, it’s good enough for us
Uplift and Chairlift and I am definitely in the Whiffaway for one game.
And I can dream someone pays for a new West Wycombe railway station and the chairlift brings us over the hill from there.
Now you’re talking
Italian football makes the English game look like a financial utopia - not really a fair comparison. Cultural differences too - groundsharing just isn't in English football culture and nor should it be unless in especially extenuating circumstances imo.
I tend to agree with this but Oxford will be kicked out in 2 years so extenuating circumstances are clear, they will need to play somewhere close to Oxford with a suitable ground size and good transport links.
As a club we are probably the best fit taking in to account the other local clubs, distances, rivalries, public transport etc.
Both Milan teams are due to leave the San Siro in the next few years for separate grounds, though one ground is planning to be built right next door.
I reckon MK is a more likely outcome. There's too much needle between Oxford and Wycombe for them to play at AP. It wouldn't be sensible.
The public transport links would be a major issue. Coventry is further but the links are much better and quicker.
I can’t see Oxford wanting to play at MK or Coventry when they would be lucky to fill it by more than 10%-13% of home fans. They are talking about this on their forums and they reckon they wouldn’t take more than around 3000 to 4000 on average out of Oxford. MK, some people are suggesting 2-3000.
Either way I am sure the two clubs will have talked already. Rob would never miss an opportunity to earn an extra £1.2-£1.5M a season.
May raise the funds to fix the stadium repair needs but feels a remote possibility. Far more likely they agree an extension for a couple of years - better for the club and ground owner who gets rent and can still sell for building two years later. Anyway do we have a maximum number of events under our planning permission - every weekend May overly test residents patience.
By all accounts an extension is not in Kassams plans as he wants to bulldoze the existing ground and apply for planning for change of use and housing.
If Oxford get the new ground all approved the council will want to approve hundreds of new homes on a brown field site on the edge of Blackbird Leys.
With planning the site is worth around £40-50M.
Yes. A potential 3 million quid and the only visible changes would be a slightly worn pitch and having to go in the away stand once a year.
Maybe not even that as both teams could move out of this division after a year.
As our owner has always been honest that he is doing this for the money it will happen if available.
I would be weird for some of those seats at MK to finally feel the touch of a human behind.
I know Oxford fans aren't the best, but I think they have the decency to wear clothes in public.
No. They are from the rat infested slums of Cowley, not the teddy bear scarf wearing varsity town. That's probably the biggest problem with sharing with them, having to hose down the stadium after their games.
How big is the site? That feels a very big number. Either way if worth £40m now, likely to still be worth £40m two years later. Helping out the club may make planning consent a little easier.
Yes - this is probably true. If they went to mk they would seat the plucky non leaguers in the upper tier arranged in half a dozen separate blocks, each with an empty block inbetween because of a concert a week next Tuesday.
I dont think it will happen tbh.... but.... its all about the money honey! 💰
If its lucrative for us..... then why not?
The Shame of poxford having to do it and paying us for the pleasure of playing in a 4 sided ground out of necessity does sit well with me and make me laugh 😃
Hold on @flymofrankI I thought the chairlift concept was your idea and yet @railwaysteve seems to be its biggest cheerleader on this thread? If the PNL as tenants were to fund it, surely this would gain your blessing? Obviously they would not be permitted to use the chairlift the clue being in its name.
Check out the reg plate on this bus. We’re thru the looking glass here…
https://x.com/wwfcofficial/status/1754459886161719579?s=46&t=MXj_dXc6l_z44oHP077XZQ
I wouldn’t have an issue with it.
There’s needle but not hatred between the fans, would feel very odd though.
Out of all the ‘local’ teams to Oxford it would give TVP the least headache. I think we may share some stewards with them as our home games are already alternate weekends.
If it pays for us to fix the FA roof and the terrace and helps them out then it’s win-win really.
By the way, @flymofrank - the Los Angeles Dodgers have stolen your Chairboy Lift idea, though I think they tried to fly under your radar by calling it an 'aerial gondola'. Thankfully it looks like it is being put on hold, probably to sort out your royalty rights:
City Councilmember Suggests Stop To Aerial Gondola Project - LA Weekly
I was envisaging something more like the commuter cable car they have in Mexico City
Nice - already close to the right colour too!
I'm yet to see a convincing argument as to why people think having Oxford sharing the ground is a good idea, whereas the Wasps arrangement wasn't. Some may recall that, in 2002, Wasps contributed £250,000 towards the cost of undersoil heating, about 50% of the overall cost.
Then there is the issue, as @Kim_il_Swan has highlighted earlier, of the profile of typical OUFC fans from the Blackbird Leys estate. Some of them have probably never sat on chairs before, and it's questionable whether they move the dirty dishes out of the way before pissing in the sink.
Our refurbished toilets will become a cesspit of doom if we let that lot in.
both dreadful ideas
Having the same owner as Wasps almost killed this football club. Not sure what else you need for the "why was it a bad idea?" column
ps. the undersoil heating was literally only put in because Wasps had to have it. They should have paid the entire cost of it
The Wasps deal was so cloaked in secrecy (despite the ownership structure at the time) it just became a thing of myth and legend. If attendance was above a certain figure rent was x, below it was y and y meant a loss. And the reality was that Wasps gave away soooo many tickets we would never make any money. Plus the creeping anxiety that they were cuckoos, which turned out to be true.
I was quite happy with AP being used 40 odd times a season instead of the normal 23 and enjoyed a few Wasps games myself. But the blending of brands instead of the landlord tenant arrangement is what always troubled me. Plus their fan attitude that they were the big club and we were the poor relation.
I think there is also the danger that if the PNL were to ground share and god forbid get promotion during their tenancy you would lose fans. Lets face it kids from the DMZ of Thame and alike would happily watch Championship football if they could, for the same reason kids turn up at Wycombe games with Man City shirts - they back success.
Weird that people will celebrate a fairly paltry Al-Hamadi sell-on clause, but turn their nose up to taking a few million quid off a local and divisional rival.