OXFORD United chairman Grant Ferguson has admitted it is ‘almost physically impossible’ for the club to be in a new stadium by the start of the 2026/27 season.

United’s licence agreement at the Kassam Stadium runs out in 2026, and the club are looking to build a new home at The Triangle, south of Kidlington Roundabout.

A full planning application for a 16,000-capacity ground was submitted to Cherwell District Council at the end of February, while in May, a legally binding lease option with Oxfordshire County Council was signed.

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It was announced in June that the application would not be considered until early next year due to further information on matters such as transport and ecology being requested.

The U’s therefore are looking at short-term arrangements for the period between the lease at the Kassam expiring and the proposed new stadium being ready.

Ferguson told BBC Radio Oxford’s The Dub podcast: “We’re at the point where it’s almost physically impossible now to be in by the start of the 2026/27 season, and that has always been a risk.

“We’ve got very professional project managers who run risk registers, and it’s always been on the risk register.

“We’ve always been looking at what mitigations we might be able to take. I personally didn’t want the team to talk about that publicly because we need the focus to be on the main project, which is getting into that new stadium.

“Now that we will need a bit more time, we know what those options are. Because they’re commercially sensitive, I’m not going to talk about what they are, but we are working through a process now of the pros, cons, costs and benefits of the different options.

“Hopefully we’ll have come to some sort of determination by the end of this year.”

READ AGAIN: U’s officially rule out fourth stand at Kassam Stadium for time being

Last month, United officially ruled out building a fourth stand at the Kassam for the time being.

Chief executive Tim Williams told the club website that ‘operationally and financially’, building a fourth stand would not be something going ahead, however the project would ‘remain under review’.

Ferguson told The Dub: “It’s absolutely something we’ll continue to monitor. The team will tell you that I was the biggest advocate of it.

“I thought it was a key statement to make, and I challenged them as much as I possibly could do, but we were at the end of the day facing a big deficit, and a deficit that would’ve paid for another player.

“I had to come to the conclusion that it was more important to invest that type of money into the squad development, than it is to cover deficits on a fourth stand.

“If those circumstances change, we will absolutely keep looking at it.”