It’s never dull being an Oxford United supporter and events in the close season – when football news is supposed to be sporadic at best – have brought that sensation into sharp relief.

Since the season ended, we’ve had former chairman Grant Ferguson replaced by the enigmatic Dusan Bogdanovic, whose only interaction with supporters was a bland welcome message on LinkedIn shortly following his appointment and an equally bland say-nothing statement on the club website, while the shadowy figure of Rudi Laksmana also joined the board.

This was followed by the surprise dismissal of Matt Bloomfied, who was replaced a few days later by former Arsenal and Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who had never been a permanent manager before.

So far, all fairly routine if slightly unexpected. Until last week, when seemingly out of the blue the EFL stuck an embargo on new player registrations on the club, apparently due to a breach of SCMP protocol (under new EFL rules, clubs have to produce evidence of funding for the full season in advance, with failure to do so leading to the sanctions that have been imposed on the U’s). This proof of funding was not received by the league.

In a statement on the club website, that left many questions unanswered, the club confirmed the sanction and claimed that they would not be in a position to provide the proof required until after the current transfer window expires at the end of August.

The statement tried to reassure fans that new investment is forthcoming and that the club will be competitive in time for the January transfer window, while meanwhile promising to retain as much of the current playing staff as they can (with the sale of Nik Prelec and the loan of Ole Romeny already agreed beforehand, presumably).

In addition to leaving the club woefully short of depth, and rumours abounding of fire sales and bids for any number of players, people naturally began to wonder what the fuck was going on. What is this future investment promised in the stadium? From whom and, more importantly, when? Is the lack of proof related to lack of funding, or is it an accounting issue whereby the club was unprepared for the new rules (and if so, why not?), or something to do with the difficulties in transferring large sums from Indonesia to the UK without falling foul of the very tight money-laundering rules?

Oxford United’s Supporters’ Trust, OxVox, have apparently been trying to contact CEO Tim Williams and Bogdanovic, with the former promising to speak to the Trust (although at the time of writing nothing has been communicated to the members) and the latter agreeing to a meeting that he later cancelled.

Meanwhile, it is apparently ‘business as usual’ (or as near to usual as possible under the circumstances) at the club, with the squad (minus Stan Mills who is either off to a Championship club or ill, depending on who you believe, and the only new ‘signing’ of the summer Frankie Kent, who it appears had failed to be registered before the embargo took effect) off to sunny Spain for an extended jolly in Cadiz.

Those, as far as we can tell, are the facts (with the caveat that we know as much as the club has informed us, which ain’t a lot). However, as always, without any context the facts are open to interpretation, and there are a lot of interpretations that can be hung around this factual framework.

How do we interpret the apparent lack of proof of funding that seems to have come as a surprise, at least to the recruitment department that had at least two signings that we know of ready to join the club just four days after the embargo was announced?

Is this evidence of an existential crisis at the club, or is it merely a bump on the road that will have few implications beyond the current season, which can largely be written off now in terms of a swift return to the Championship?

Was part of the rationale behind this due to local rabble rousers ‘Friends’ of Stratfield Brake (FoSB), a Nimby group created specifically to prevent the new stadium being built anywhere near the leafy village town of Kidlington, appealing the decision to refuse them a judicial review (JR) into the granting of planning permission for said stadium? The appeal – an oral hearing – is due to be heard before the end of August, but presumably comes too late for the club to be able to guarantee funding during this transfer window.

Is the alleged new investment mentioned in the club statement dependent upon the appeal being thrown out. After all, who would want to guarantee sinking millions of pounds into a project that might yet be delayed for the foreseeable future) meaning the current owner – Erick Thohir as majority shareholder – himself either can’t or won’t put in any more of his money until these mystery investors come on board?

All these are fair questions, and are presumably the type of thing that OxVox would like to ask the CEO and chairman, assuming they are prepared to answer them.

However, our understanding, based on conversations that we’ve had with various sources close to the board, are that things might be a lot more serious than this being yet another temporary bollock dropped by OUFC.

We have been told that the money Thohir has been investing in the club isn’t his own but belongs to the Thohir family’s trust, and his family have instructed Erick to rein in his profligate spending. Is this true? We obviously don’t know, but our source is trustworthy and knows the Thohir family (but is otherwise unrelated to the football club).

The same source has told us that there is a significant new potential investor in the background – with possible links to a far-east betting syndicate – and that they may be willing to fund a large proportion of the new stadium investment. Again, we don’t know whether this is true or not, but it’s feasible that they are withholding their investment until the JR is put to bed once and for all (if, indeed, it is).

In addition, we understand that the club is actively seeking a buyer – potentially this new investor – but the club isn’t a great asset, at least until there is confirmation that construction of the new stadium can proceed, when its value will presumably rocket.

We have also heard other noises that make us fear for the club’s future, although at present nothing is confirmed so we’re happy to park that to one side for now, hopefully never to have to revisit it.

Are we building up a catastrophic picture in our imagination because we’re used to the club being financially screwed? United has had monetary problems going as far back as Tony Rosser’s takeover in the mid-1970s, followed by Robert Maxwell in the early 80s, and who can forget the shitshow of the 90s, with Tim Midgley’s BioMass followed by Robin Herd, followed by Keith Cox, followed by Firoz Kassam, who at least temporarily steadied the ship – albeit on his own terms – followed by the financial catastrophe of relegation to the Conference…

More recently it appeared that these hard times were behind us, but of course, when you put all your eggs in one billionaire’s basket, you’re asking for trouble should that billionaire decide he no longer likes eggs.

My sincere hope is that all the above will turn out to be an over-reaction and the optimistic supporters will turn out to be right, while the pessimists have those eggs all over their faces. Sadly, given the way football clubs in this country are generally governed, there’s little we as fans can do other than wait to see what transpires.

We’ve long advocated that the German model of club ownership is one that should be followed here in the UK, although we understand the difficulties associated with changing the current system to one of majority fan ownership – no fan-owned club in this country has yet tasted success, and indeed only Exeter City (just relegated to League Two) are currently the only fan-owned club in the EFL.

However, we need to break away from the reliance on rich benefactors or, just as bad, rich investors seeking a return on investment. As we have seen on numerous occasions (most recently Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday) this model leaves clubs unprotected when these wealthy owners either get bored or realise that they are losing too much money.

Long gone are the old days when a club owner is a local businessman who has supported the team all his life and wants to sink his fortune into a mid-life crisis of real-life Football Manager. Unfortunately, it has been replaced by something far more insidious.

Personally, I would be happy to have a fan-owned club knocking around League One or Two if it meant that the club was sustainable and not under threat to the whims of a distant owner whose only affinity with the side is the possibility (vanishingly impossible with a club our size) of a plus sign in the P&L column.

Meanwhile, back to the current crisis, I would urge all supporters to join OxVox (cool name, btw) because as a supporters’ trust its strength lies in its membership numbers. The more people they can claim to speak for, the stronger its voice will be: https://oxvox.org.uk/join-oxvox/.

As for what happens next, as supporters it’s largely a case of wait and see. Patience has to be key. As for OxVox, I sincerely hope that – even without answers coming from the club (or maybe especially because they’re not forthcoming) – while hoping for the best, they are preparing for the worst-case scenario and will be in a position to spring into action should it be necessary.

Hope to see you all in August.

UTFO