Oxford United chief Kelvin Thomas was last night surprised why the U’s were listed as a possible target in a television investigation about football investors.

But he admitted that being talked about as one of the nine football clubs in England with the most potential outside of the Premier League was flattering.

An investigation by the Channel 4 documentary Dispatches, which aired on Monday night, saw Asian businessman Joe Sim, who is involved with London Nominees Ltd – a company which runs a football investment fund – tell under-cover reporters posing as potential investors of several British football teams which they should consider buying.

London Nominees’ football fund channels money from wealthy investors into football related activities.

Sim earmarked nine teams, ranging from the Championship to League Two – of which Oxford was the only club – that he believes could be bought with the intention of getting them into the Premier League and then sold to make huge profits.

And Oxford, along with Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, Derby, Birmingham and Crystal Palace are seen as having the best potential in England.

But Thomas says that suggestion that Oxford has been the subject of an offer is wide of the mark.

“As we have said previously, we have received no formal offers for the football club,” Thomas said.

“However, it is nice to be mentioned in a story about other big football clubs with great potential.

“It shows that the club is doing some good things, however, though there is no intention or appetite to sell.”

The aim of the programme was to prove that a company could take over more than one football team, without being found out by the authorities.

And both Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association, and Greg Clarke, chairman of the Football League, admitted that it was possible.

“There is a process of validation that lets the Football League know who the owners are, but finding who the owners of the owners are gets more difficult to find out, and who the owners of the owners of the owners are is even more difficult,” Clarke said.

Triesman added: “If you hide ownership and hide the financial facts through football funds, it would be possible to get away with it.”

And that is exactly what London Nominees planned to do.

Using their contacts in the game – Bryan Robson was the link for this investigation – London Nominees believe they had a way into clubs.

Their chief executive, fund manager Andrew Leppard told the under-cover reporters: “We can set up a sub-fund to buy a second club.

“We buy one through the fund and another through one of the fund’s investors.

“The good thing about the football fund is that you can buy it and nobody will know it’s you.”

There was no suggestion, however, whether Oxford would have been a sole purchase or a ‘second’ club, in the programme.