February 22: The takeover deal goes through, which sees Tiger become chairman. He takes over from Darryl Eales, who says: “Tiger has the financial resources, high level connections in football, including with the EFL, and, critically, the passion and drive which can deliver on the club’s ambitions.”
February 26: Tiger is officially unveiled at a press conference, where he says a new manager would be appointed “within a day or two”.
March 9: Records show the takeover went through with help of a charge, which saw £4.2m owed to Eales in the form of a deferred payment, which would largely be repaid by transfer fees for players who were sold in the previous two years.
March 13: After two announcements set deadlines for appointing a new manager which passed, Tiger says his chosen candidate has a “real ‘wow’ factor”.
March 14: United receive a winding-up petition from HMRC for a bill which is paid the following day. It is blamed on a brief gap in the finances caused by the takeover.
March 22: Karl Robinson is appointed, saying: “I’m not a ‘wow’, far from it,” he said. “Nobody is worth waiting for for too long and I’m certainly not Houdini.”
May 1: Tiger announces plans to visit Firoz Kassam in Monaco for the first time “to show my respect”. He also talks of plans to sign ten players, going on to pay fees for two players – Gavin Whyte and Jamie Hanson.
June 15: Singha reveal they are in talks to buy a minority stake in the club after announcing a sponsorship deal which is thought to be the biggest in United’s history.
June 20: Following the Singha sponsorship deal, Pavin Bhirombhakdi says: “If we can be exposed to South-East Asia which accounts for 600 million people, that’s a big market that we can play with.”
July 10: After seeing the turnout at United’s first game on their pre-season tour in Ireland, Tiger says: “I’ve never seen that kind of passionate fans before – wow. After seeing that we have to work even harder.”
August 22: Darryl Eales steps down from the board to take up a role at Solihull Moors, leaving Tiger as the sole director.
September 11: United appoint Zaki Nuseibeh and Horst Geicke to the board.
September 19: Zaki Nuseibeh, a week after being appointed to the board, says: “The plans are there to spend money in a wise way, where it’s needed to help the club go forward in the long-term.
“That could mean spending it on football, or making Oxford as a club be better run.”
September 24: Following a fans’ forum where Tiger admitted his surprise over “how deep the (stadium) problems are” and spoke of looking at alternative stadium sites, landlord Firoz Kassam said relations between the stadium company and the club were at an all-time low.
November 8: United are served with a second winding-up petition from HMRC, while Karl Robinson described the appointment of Erick Thohir to the board as a “game-changer”. He said: “You’ve got to get this first phase right and it costs more money to build, but you don’t always see the outcome immediately. It’s about steady and sustainable growth.”
November 22: Zaki Nuseibeh tells OxVox members the latest HMRC winding-up petition was “being dealt with this week”.
December 2: OxVox release a statement saying they are: “extremely concerned with the way our club is being run”.
December 3: United pay the second bill.
December 19: The second winding-up petition is formally dismissed in the High Court.
December 29: When asked about the risk of another winding-up petition from HMRC, Tiger says: “I don’t think it’s going to happen again. It’s all sorted.” He also tells OxVox there will be ‘no more HMRC issues’.
January 15: After a third winding-up petition from HMRC emerges, OxVox call for the club to be “honest and open about the situation we find ourselves in”.
January 19: In his first major interview with the local media since taking over, Tiger admits he “underestimated” the expenses at United and vowed to build a stronger relationship with Firoz Kassam.
February 18: It emerges Firoka have filed a winding-up petition for £240,000. United say they have agreed the payment in principle.
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