Cup bonus for Oxford United

Thomas has revealed that when he sat down to work out the finances, he included five ‘success factors’ that could help the club potentially record a profit this year.

And with crowds up following United’s good start to the season, and a home match with Yeovil in the first round of the FA Cup, things are looking promising.

Despite some fans suggesting that the gate for the Yeovil match could get to around 7,000, Thomas says that anything over 5,000 would be a bonus.

Everyone has to pay to watch United’s home FA Cup ties, with season-tickets counting only for league games.

Thomas said: “I think one or two are getting carried away. In my mind, if we get a 5,000 gate that would be great. That’s why 3,300 for Thurrock was such a fantastic crowd.”

He added: “There were five unbudgeted areas, which were what I called ‘success factors’.

“These areas were not included in the budget, but were areas that would have a positive impact on the financial picture if they happened.

“Those five were a good start, meaning better crowds early on, an FA Cup run, an FA Trophy run, making the play-offs and/or gaining promotion.

“Each one of these five areas will make a positive impact on the budget and I felt with the squad we had we would be unlucky for not a single one of these five to happen, and hopefully two or three of them would, and being greedy it would be great if all five happened.”

He said the club had started to see the first one happening, and was hoping some of the others would follow, and that is already the case with the FA Cup.

“I will say, though, this would only be a budget profit,” he added.

“We still have debt and face cash-flow issues from before, but the more income we can achieve the better.”

United made £12,500 for beating Thurrock in the fourth qualifying round, excluding gate receipts.

They would get a further £18,000 for beating Yeovil, with gate money on top.