Oxford United's Chairman, Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth, wrote the following notes for the club's match programme for the visit of Rochdale in Sky Bet League One:
We are living in incredible times. Wherever you are in the world, this is an unprecedented time for us all and before I talk about this football club I want to send my love and thoughts to all of our fans because there is so much worry and anxiety at the moment.
Look after each other, talk to each other and always remember that one day we will be back together: the Oxford United family all in one place and able to watch our team in person once again.
It doesn’t look like that will be any time soon, sadly, so all we can do right now is keep faith in what Karl and the players are doing. I believe we are on the right path and will pull through this spell where our results have not been what we would like. I am the same as everyone else; I look at the league table and ask myself how a team that was in third place in March can now be in this position.
I speak to Karl and the coaches a lot and we are all working every minute available to improve that situation. We all know that provided we stick together and keep doing things right then results will improve. We have only played twice at home; we have had a lot of injuries and we have had more disruption than any other club so far. That will even itself out.
Those are not excuses, and we will not sit quietly and let things drift along. We are always proactive and looking to improve. We continue to talk to players we would like to bring in; there are a lot of excellent free agents out there because of the Covid situation. If that happens this week, when we have two important home games, then great, but we will not bring in players just for the sake of it. Any new arrivals need to improve us as a team and a squad. It is complicated because of the new financial rules and wage caps, but Karl always has our full support.
On the bigger picture, I know many fans have concerns about how this season will end. The new lockdown measures over the next month will affect so much, but the government has said that elite football will continue. I think that is the correct thing to do right now; our own protocols are very clear and followed to the letter by all of our staff and players, and matchdays are as safe an environment as it is possible to have. It would be foolish not to have plans in place should things change, but all we want is a full 46 games to show where we truly belong.
Tiger
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc