The news that the Government Office of the South East has lifted the Direction 14 Holding Order on the planning application for the multiplex cinema at Minchery Farm is fantastic news for Oxford United and everyone connected with the club – staff, management and supporters alike. It is a vindication of all the hard work that a large number of people have put in over the last few months and it is indeed a time for celebration.

However it is important to remember that the fight is still not over. There are still some loose ends over which Kassam and the City Council need to reach agreement. While these might be regarded as formalities it is obvious that Kassam regards it as extremely important that he is allowed to start building the multiplex and hotel simultaneously with the football stadium. Rage Online has already made our views clear on this: we believe that this clause was introduced with the best interests of the club at heart and Mr Kassam should demonstrate his good faith by agreeing to this principle. Now is the time when he is going to come under scrutiny and it is important that he puts his words into actions and builds the club in tandem with the stadium.

This includes investing money into strengthening the playing squad, further reduced by the sale of Phil Gilchrist to Leicester for about half his value. The news of Gilchrist’s sale took the gloss off the GOSE announcement (but only slightly), although we at Rage Online wish him all the best in the Premiership. Whilst his distribution has always been suspect Gilly was one of the fastest centre backs outside the top division and was always commanding in the air. It should be interesting to see how his renewed partnership with Elliott works out in the Premiership, and it will be watched closely by Oxford supporters. However, the undervaluation of United’s best players has to stop. Surely the new board (such as it is) with its supposed hard-nosed business acumen should be able to negotiate decent prices, with additional clauses such as sell-on fees, appearance bonuses etc, so that if we have to further deplete our already stretched squad we can at least expect proper remuneration.