This week, chairman of Oxford United Kelvin Thomas speaks about his time in charge and his pride in the team.
* WHAT I’M CALLED: Kelvin Thomas
* MY AGES IN YEARS: 38
* WHAT I DO: Chairman of Oxford United
* WHERE I LIVE: Oxford and Florida
* WHO I LOVE: My wife Liza and kids Conor, six, and Chloe, nine.
* HAPPIEST YEAR: Apart from family moments, my happiest year was promotion year 2010. Wembley was a magical day.
* DARKEST MOMENT: My life is pretty good, so I don’t think I have had “dark” moments, but the worst time so far was probably when Conor was sick as a 18-month-old and spent six days in the Oxford Children’s Hospital. He recovered and is perfectly fine now, and my thanks go to the wonderful staff.
* PROUDEST BOAST: Achieving my set goals of returning Oxford United both to profitability and back into the Football League. I also greatly enjoy seeing the work that the club does in the community.
* WORST WEAKNESS: I demand too much sometimes, and I love Bueno chocolate bars.
* LESSONS LEARNED: There are many, but the biggest lesson I learned was from a professor in America when I was in college there, who said you can’t control other people’s opinions, so don’t get to caught up in what people say. It’s a good way to control stress – worry more about what you are doing rather what others are doing. And be positive in life, much more fun than being negative.
* DULLEST JOB: I have worked a lot of jobs since I was 12 but probably the first one was the dullest and coldest – a paper round in South London, where I grew up.
* GREATEST SHAME: That not everyone has a positive outlook on life.
* LIFE LONG HERO: Trevor Brooking. What a player and a gentleman. I’ve been lucky enough to meet him a couple of times now.
* OLDEST FRIEND: Phil Morris. My best man and a good friend.
* WIDEST SMILE: Family-wise, watching the kids have fun in something they are doing. Professionally, seeing all the Oxford fans in Broad Street and en route to the city from the open-top bus after the Wembley win. They were amazing scenes.
* FAVOURITE DREAM: Oxford United playing West Ham in the Premier League.
* BIGGEST REGRET: I’m not a great believer in regrets, but if anything I probably would say that I didn’t understand the reasonable talent I had as a player and regret that I didn’t work at all to achieve anything with it.
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