Nick Merry today resigned as chairman of Oxford United. Merry has been under fire from sections of fans for his poor custodianship of the club, during which time United has sunk almost to its lowest level since turning professional in 1949, while the club's debts and continuing losses have risen to unsustainable levels. Meanwhile, Merry allegedly tried to deflect criticism by blaming supporters' trust OxVox for scare stories that frightened off potential investors. Hence a small selection of supporters at Lewes chanting anti-OxVox songs.

Further good news came with the announcement that Kelvin Thomas, who formed part of the original take-over team with Merry and Jim Smith, is to return to Oxford from Florida to assume the chairmanship. Thomas has proven himself more than capable of running the club, and is both dynamic and approachable. Meanwhile, Rage Online reaches new depths of sycophancy.

One of Thomas's first duties will be to decide the fate of Us' manager Darren Patterson. Like Merry, Patto has been the target of supporters who feel that the club's lowly position is down to him, and there have been calls for Merry to sack the boss. Now Merry has gone (albeit he will still be on the board, alongside Smith) it will be up to Thomas to deal with those calls, and he will need to decide whether to back Patto or bring in someone else. Rage Online hopes that he will give the Irishman more time to turn things around, as we cannot see how United's continuous change of manager has been in the slightest bit helpful. Stability is the only way to prevent the side's perpetual decline.