Oxford United fans are preparing for a "doomsday scenario" and plan to take over the U's if the club goes into administration or receiver- ship.

Steve Hanks, the chairman of the supporters group FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United's Life), spoke last night of his organisation's intention to create a community-owned club "if the unthinkable ever happens".

Addressing an audience of around 600 people at a public meeting in Oxford Town Hall, Hanks said that while FOUL were hoping that a new buyer could be found, they were almost resigned to the club going under.

"What we all really want is the club to be sold to new owners," he said.

"But most sensible people think that the only thing that can result from the current situation is a receivership.

"If that happens, it will be the biggest football receivership ever. If we are to pull something out of the other end, then we have got to have the support and the mechanisms for a takeover in place.

"The intention is to get together a body of United supporters with the skills to allow us to attempt that type of survival."

Hanks pointed to the example of AFC Bournemouth, a club recently threatened with extinction and now owned by a trust fund of supporters (51 per cent) and by local businesses (49 per cent).

"We think we more prepared than any other club would be at the moment," headded. "We have actively started to get the right type of people together to do something.

"But we are still looking for corporate financiers, accountants, corporate lawyers, PR and advertising people.

"Ideally, we hope to find people who are fans of Uni- ted, but I suspect that at the end of the day we might have to go to specialist firms for some help."

Hanks admitted he was unsure how much money a consortium of supporters would have to raise, but said he expected it to run into millions of pounds.

"I wouldn't want to put a number on it. We don't know what the true finances of the club are.

"Interested parties like (stadium builders) Taylor Woodrow and the city council would have to give us a lot of support for it to work. But with a half-built ground already, they would have to consider anything.

"It is too early to speculate on the details. We would see it as being owned by the community for the community, but exactly what the composition of any deal would be, I don't know.

"I don't think we would ever be able to say that we are definitely in a position to execute a rescue, but having the structure in place is better than having nothing."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.