Oxford United CEO Tim Williams reveals the very real threat of there being no football club without a stadium to play in.
The U’s chief executive Tim says there is “nothing more important” than securing their short-term future, with concerns they cannot secure a stadium beyond June 2026, when the lease on their current home, the Kassam Stadium, expires.
The club, currently 19th in the Championship, is awaiting a planning decision expected in summer 2025 for a proposed 16,000-capacity stadium at The Triangle site near Kidlington.
Oxford submitted a planning application to Cherwell District Council at the end of February 2024, but a year on, it was announced that the council has asked for more time to review additional information, meaning the earliest that a decision will be made on the stadium application is June 5th.
Options being considered include extending the Kassam Stadium lease or a temporary groundshare, with the former being Williams’ preferred short-term solution.
But how long will plans stall, any potential setbacks in the move or stadium build. The sooner they move into their new home, the better.
Good to see Oxford United CEO Tim Williams on @SkySportsNews talking about our stadium situation. There is real potential for us to be homeless if @Cherwellcouncil don’t approve our planning application for the Triangle site.https://t.co/kzAaWbOERP
— Yellows Forum (@YellowsForum) April 16, 2025
Oxford United’s new proposed stadium designs go down a hit with fans
Sky Sports presenter: “The lease at the Kassam Stadium runs out next year. What does that mean?”
Tim Williams: “It does. It runs out next summer. And unless we’re able to negotiate an extension on the lease, which is in progress, but nothing’s done yet, we don’t have a home. You know, we don’t have a stadium to play in once that that runs out.
“And I think it’s really important that it doesn’t get more serious than that for a football club, and I think we’ve heard a lot of headlines recently about, you know, a new Manchester United stadium, which with all due respect is a want and not a need. The biggest story for me is that if we don’t have a stadium, there is a risk that we don’t have a football club, and that is catastrophic.
Sky Sports presenter: “Really?! Yeah. That that is unbelievable, for, you know, for a Championship club to be in that position.”
Tim: “It’s a terrible position to be in, and and I think, for for me, this is something that is historical, and I think it’s really pointless to really go back to what history did and what happened.
“We’ve now got a football regulator pending. We’ve got a report by Tracey Crouch which talks about heritage assets, football assets.
You know, we’re an absolute poster child for what really good football governance and good football club should be about, and part of our growth and part of our retention in the Championship has to be to be able to look forward in the next few years to be moving into that incredible stadium that we have planned, that we put so much work into, doing a 16,000 seater stadium on the outskirts of Oxford, a real community asset, fully sustainable, all electric, you know, an absolutely brilliant location in the country for what I think will be an in incredible facility for the entire county.
“And, you know, we need support, but we also need to say that, you know, the point about the club potentially not existing after this is a real one.
“This needs to be moved up every headline to say, you know, we don’t think, oh, it’s not gonna happen. It might not happen. This could happen.”
U’s chief executive Williams told BBC Radio Oxford’s The Dub podcast: “We have a number of options available to us in terms of what we do from June 2026.
“They are very well-documented and they are pretty much what we would all understand and agree to, which is we groundshare while the stadium is being built or we try and extend the licence here at the Kassam.
“Neither are particularly attractive options, but we are progressing with the solutions to what we would do for the period of time between the end of 2026 and the new stadium being open.
“I think for everybody involved, none more so than fans and supporters, the path of least resistance would be to see if we can stay where we are for the couple of years that we need to.
“I don’t particularly want to groundshare anywhere. That’s not a particularly good option, and that’s an understatement.
“For me, the most attractive option is to stay where we are, assuming that we can.”
On the significance of getting planning permission for the proposed stadium, Williams said: “There is nothing more important. We don’t have a stadium to be in if this doesn’t work out.
“I don’t particularly like binary things and binary decisions. I always like to think ‘what are the options?’ but this really is that binary.
“We are in a position where we have got to move. This isn’t now about moving into a stadium that will allow us to generate x million more revenues. This is about getting into a stadium.
“The only way we can make that stadium work is to have it structured the way it is in terms of the hotel that’s going to be on it, all the ancillary facilities that are going to be on it, but fundamentally if we don’t have a stadium, we don’t have a football club. It’s appallingly as binary as that.”
Fans reacted as the Oxford United CEO reveals the threat of there being no football club without a stadium to play in…
Billyox: I think we will see more this type of interview as we approach decision day forcing the reality of the situation on to people. Of course fosb kpc will claim that we are just putting pressure on but this is the reality we won’t have a club
Morris Oxford: Also an ideal opportunity Friday evening when we play Leeds Utd on SkySports in front of a large local, national and international audience to highlight the club’s situation. No new stadium, no Oxford United Football Club, it’s as simple as that.
oxfordkits: There has to be more than that? Is there a longer version of that interview? – I bloody hope so! If I were a fan from another club, and I watched that, I’d conclude…. “The club might not have a ground to play at if they can’t negotiate a new lease. But then think…. “But it doesn’t matter, coz they’re building a new stadium anyway. Where was the context regarding the need to gain planning consent? Where was the pressure on all political parties to help the planning process be successful? Why was the fact that the Triangle is the ONLY viable site in Oxfordshire not communicated? Why didn’t we hear about the need to ‘try’ and get a short extension, should planning be approved? I hope there is a much longer interview somewhere!
Billyox: The football show is aired tomorrow Thursday at 10am on sky sports im guessing the whole interview will be shown on that
HAVE YOUR SAY
What do you make of the situation they find themselves in? Can you see them getting an extended stay at the Kassam, while they get their new stadium sorted? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @fan_banter
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