Firoz Kassam told Oxford United's fans on Wednesday night that if he wasn't able to turn around the club's fortunes inside two years he would probably not remain as chairman.

Firoz Kassam"How long I am here depends," he told around 250 supporters at a fans' forum at The Kassam Stadium.

"Hopefully it will be a very long time, but if I can't turn it around in 12 to 18 months you (the fans) will be wanting me to go and I would have to seriously consider my position."

Yet Kassam was given an easy ride by supporters, despite the stalling of moves to bring in new players.

United, who finished 21st in Division 3 last season, the worst in the club's history, have released around a dozen players.

But, despite talks set up by boss Ian Atkins with around half a dozen prospective new signings, there is no new blood yet at Oxford.

Kassam told fans that, having been stung in the past in bringing in players on high wages, he did not want to make the same mistake again.

"We are in discussions with five or six good first or second division players and we hope to be able to make announcements over the next couple of weeks."

Atkins was frank in revealing who he wanted to bring in.

"A right back, left back, central midfielder and two strikers," he stated. "Two of the main positions are a right back and left back that we've been talking to."

Atkins said he had two players in mind, and Lee Maddison, who did well for the team while on loan last season, was also in his thoughts.

Oldham's Scott McNiven is one of those Oxford are known to have talked to and they have also been in touch with Hull's Mike Edwards and Mark Greaves.

Sadly, the fans' question-and-answer session was a shambolic affair with most of the audience unable to hear the questions because of the noise from people at a conference in the Quadrangle Suite above, and because of a lack of microphones.

Kassam apologised for the noise and said that the conference above had over-run.

One supporter grumbled: "How could they not have a roving microphone for a fans' forum? Did they not think people would ask questions at a question-and-answer session? It shows where this place's priorities lie."

One supporter stated during the forum that he didn't believe the players, and in particular the centre backs, that Atkins brought in last season were any better than the ones that were there before.

United's manager conceded: "The last six games I thought they were poor. Andy Crosby was driving up and down the motorway from Brighton, which didn't help, and in some circumstances they got dragged down by others around them.

Using the example of Phil Gray, he added: "A lot of players who have been brought here in the last three or four years have been in the twilight of their careers and it's not worked."

Read more on the U's on This is United