When Firoz Kassam stepped in to save Oxford United, no-one expected him to play the part of Lord Bountiful and pay off all the club's many creditors in full.

Any crust would have been welcome.

However, when he made a £6m profit on the selling the old Manor Ground to his own company, hopes were high that there might be a little butter for the crust.

This is proving not to be the case and creditors will get 4.4p in the pound and nothing more.

Mr Kassam is doing nothing wrong in not upping the settlement. Everything is perfectly legal and above board. Those who live in the world of high finance would go so far as to applaud the deal for the sound piece of business that it is.

It must not be forgotten that the loss of television revenue has put an even greater strain on finances. Mr Kassam already pours a lot of his cash into the club from one source or another. Without him the future would look distinctly bleak.

But is still leaves a nasty taste in the mouths of a lot of people.