Barring no accidents…

Since John Tanner went on Thames Valley FM's Bill Heine show this afternoon, revealing that the City Council and Firoz Kassam's representatives were meeting today to tie up the loose ends surrounding the elusive land deal, Rage Online can reveal that lawyers from both parties met yesterday, made good progress, and then met again today in a bid to draft a final version of the deal. Firoz Kassam is apparently hopeful that the deal will actually be signed either tomorrow or Monday, and that the contract with the builders (who we will refrain from naming until the contract has been signed) will be signed shortly thereafter.
This means that a February restart on the ground is likely, which in turn means that it is unlikely that the stadium will be finished in time for the start of the 2001 football season. In some respects this might not matter as if the delay is only for a month or two then the fixtures can be arranged so that Oxford could play their first few fixtures away from home, and if the delay is longer then United has permission from the Football Licensing Authority to continue at the Manor next season providing the new ground is under way again with a finish date agreed. Obviously the logistics of moving during a season, especially with regards to the sale of season tickets, would be challenging but it's better than not moving at all.

The Geyt is opened

Mickey Lewis is requesting Derby County to extend Sinclair Le Geyt's trial period for another week so that he can watch the midfielder further. United's next reserve fixture is scheduled for February 2nd (Bournemouth, away) so it's possible that Le Geyt's trial may be further lengthened should both parties agree.

Deep South

Mark Watson has received his call-up papers for Canada to play in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in California in February. Depending on how results go for the Canadians Watson could miss the fixtures against Chesterfield and Wrexham, alongside the game at Wycombe for which he will definitely be absent.