Woodstock Partners Limited
On 21 March 2006, Woodstock Partners Limited ("WPL") acquired Oxford United Football Club Limited ("OUFC") from Firoka (London Park) Limited, a company ultimately owned and controlled by Firoz Kassam, a successful hotelier and businessman.
The Woodstock connection could have been dreamed up in a local pub, as all of the key people were all based in the village.
Nick Merry
Merry fronted the takeover as Chairman. He had once been in the United youth team, and was now living back in the UK, having apparently made his fortune in America with a dental products business, and also claimed to have mining interests in Africa.
Jim Smith
Fondly known as "The Bald Eagle", Smith managed back-to-back promotions with United to the top tier in the 1980s, before leaving for QPR. He had last been working with Harry Redknapp at Southampton nearly a year before, and was now in semi-retirement between Spain and Woodstock. Smith took over as manager from caretaker Darren Patterson once the takeover was completed.
Kelvin Thomas
Kelvin Thomas, another Woodstock resident, was also appointed a Director. Thomas had football and other interests in the USA, as well as a home in Florida.
Merry, Smith and Thomas were all appointed Directors of United.
Ian Lenagan
Lenagan is again a Woodstock resident, who made his fortune
floating his IT business at the height of the dot.com boom in 2000.
Although rugby league is his key sporting interest, Lenagan supports all
kinds of arts and sporting, including Old Woodstock Town Football club,
and he also invested in the London Broncos rugby league team.
Lenagan was very much the quiet man behind the takeover, not publically making his involvement know until nearly a year afterwards, nor being one of the new board of Directors of OUFC.
The WPL 'plan' was for an initial investment of £2MM, with a further
£750,000 to cover the next three seasons. It was never entirely clear
whether this was supposed to be a 50:50 sharing of costs between Merry
and Lenagan, however the WPL shareholding was 1 share each, which
suggests an equal partnership.
2005/06
Smith signed several players, however United were relegated to the Conference on the last day of the season.
The cost of the takeover was approximately £2MM - this was the amount required to pay back everything owed to Kassam's companies as at the take-over date, plus legal fees. At 30 June 2006, the amount due from OUFC to WPL was £2,099,045.
2006/07
OUFC had a storming start to their non-league campaign, undefeated in something like 18 games and top of the league. However, results fell away, and the club finished second in the league to Dagenham and Redbridge, and with only one automatic promotion place, it was down to the play-offs. United were defeated to Exeter in the play-off semi-final, who went on to win promotion, followed by a second consecutive promotion to League One the following year.
The club made a net loss for the year of £653,830. At 30 June 2007, the amount shown as due from OUFC to WPL was £2,912,000, an increase of £812,995. The bank overdraft had also increased from £17,579 to £136,759 during the year.
2007/08
A poor start to the season saw Jim Smith replaced as manager by Darren Patterson. However, the club saw their worst finish in recent years, finishing mid-table.
The club made a net loss for the year of £870,582. At 30 June 2008, the amount shown as due from OUFC to WPL was £3,282,759, an increase of another £370,759. The bank overdraft had increased by £292,208, and taxes due had also increased to £128,226, from £57,192 the year before.
2008/09
Patterson was unable to get results on the pitch, and it soon became apparent that financially the club were struggling. The stadium apparently refused to provide the usual executive box catering one match because the quarterly rent payment had been missed. Matters came to a head in October 2008. Nick Merry resigned as Chairman, and Darren Patterson was sacked as manager, the last straw being a defeat to Torquay in the FA Cup. Kelvin Thomas was appointed as Chairman, flying in from the USA. Jim Smith took temporary charge as manager for a few games, and after a detailed interview and screening process, Chris Wilder was appointed manager, his first game being boxing day 2008. OUFC suffered a five point deduction for fielding an ineligible player, and despite a race for the play-offs, the team finished just short.
The amount due to WPL from the year before was £3,282,579, however WPL stopped charging interest on its loans with effect from April
2008, and had written back £29,000 relating to the previous year. Effectively the opening amount due was now £3,253,579.
The club made a net loss for the year of £887,870. At 30 June 2009, the amount shown as due from OUFC to WPL was
£3,361,059, an increase of £107,480, and this amount would be unchanged for the next few years. The bank overdraft had
been reduced to £92,000, however taxes due had also increased to £444,000, from £128,000 the year before. Accruals and deferred income had also rocketed to £923,880 from £306,446.
2009/10
Chris Wilder's team had an excellent start to the season, clear at the top by Christmas. Another crucial matter was the transfer of Dean Whitehead from Sunderland to Stoke for £3MM. OUFC had sold Whitehad back in June 2004 for £150,000, and Kassam had sensibly insisted on a sell on clause, which resulted in a total profit on player transfers of £531,232 in the season.
Back on the pitch, loan players were brought in to try and strengthen in one or two positions, results fell away, and Stevenage romped to the title. In the last few games, Wilder returned to the players of the first half of the season, United were into the play-offs, defeating Rushden and Diamonds in the semi-finals, and eventually winning 3-1 against York City to return back into the football league. The play-off final at Wembley was unfortunately not the big money-spinner that had been expected after all costs were taken into account.
The WPL loan remained unchanged at £3,361,059.
2010/11
From the last published accounts for OUFC (June 2011):
The WPL loan was £3,361,059 at June 2011. From the WPL accounts, £2,801,552 was due to Directors, and £392,941 to Other loans. [These loans used to be described as all Directors loans until Nick Merry resigned, leaving Ian Lenagan as sole director, and after this the loans have been disclosed separately. So it may be that Merry did invest £392K into WPL. During the Harry Redknap fraud trial, HR said that he had put money into OUFC, and so this may be in here somewhere. I think the club denied any direct connection with Redknap, so it may have been routed via Merry and WPL.]
From the fans forum on 15 March 2012, £440K was put in by WPL in November 2011, £350K in Feb 2012, and after expected repayments, the loan will have increased by £250-£300K.
Hence total WPL investment will now be around £3.611MM to £3.661MM. Note that no interest has been charged on this loan/investments from April 2008.
Other loans
From the last published accounts for OUFC (June 2011):
Other loans were :
- due within one year £180,000 (2010 : £355,000)
- due after one year £100,000 (2010 : £100,000).
From the forum, there had been loans of £355K from three fans in October 2008 [and presumably 100K from somewhere else in long term creditors].
£200K was repaid last year [calendar year 2011], £255K still outstanding, of which £25K will be repaid this year [CY2012]. The club is not anticipating more external loans.
Tieing back to the numbers in the accounts, it seems total loans were £355K+£100K=£455K.
Repaid by June 2011 was £175,000, leaving £280,000.
Repaid after June 2011 was £25,000, leaving £255K as at the 15 March 2012, and with another £25K to be repaid in 2012.
This then leaves £230K, split I presume as £130K from the three fans, and another £100K in long term creditors.
