One of the first supporters to take up new chairman Kelvin Thomas's plea to come and see him reckons the Oxford United's new openness was refreshing.

Jonathan Duckworth, from Shipton-under-Wychwood, has worked in different sporting environments and related how some schemes which work well elsewhere could be adopted in football – and by United.

"We talked about a lot of different things," he said.

"Kelvin's desperate to get some momentum going and there were lots of ideas we discussed, to see how they could be put into practice.

"Just the fact that Kelvin is prepared to open the doors to ideas is a very positive step forward for the club, and it's time well spent from the fans' point of view."

He added: "I've worked in rugby, horse racing and motor racing and we talked about many things.

"He was very open to looking at new ways to generate income, improving customer experience, and build better relationships with the successful business communities locally.

"Oxford, as a city, has a lot of successful business people who don't come regularly to games. The stadium can be full on Boxing Day (as it was two years ago), but is filled with only 3-4,000 other days of the year.

"And Oxford's a fantastic city for its range of different people," said Duckworth, who has followed the U's ever since he was at university, and whose three children are fans.

"Living in the Cotswolds, I told Kelvin there's a lot of people who live near me, in west Oxfordshire, who at the moment go to watch Cheltenham rather than Oxford United, but might easily be persuaded to change if conditions were right.

"I think it's really impressive that Kelvin's prepared to listen to what people have to say. It's a great thing to try and do."

Thomas says he has been overwhelmed by the response to his suggestion for fans to bring ideas to him, and he is seeing people through next week as well as this.