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Oxford United supporters pressure group FOUL (Fighting for Oxford United’s Life) is calling on all football supporters to boycott outlets owned by Morrells brewery, formerly based in Oxford. The reason is that the brewery is threatening to take out an injunction to prevent the club from completing its new stadium at Minchery Farm, on the city outskirts, due to a 1962 covenant on the Blackbird pub at nearby Blackbird Leys. The covenant prevents other premises within half a mile of the Blackbird from selling alcohol, which makes the conference centre, hotel and leisure developments which are going to fund the stadium development unfeasible.
Work was due to recommence on the stadium, which has remained half built for over three years, this Monday, but the threat of the injunction could delay the start. A spokesperson for FOUL asked "Why didn’t Morrells come forward with this covenant four years ago, when planning consent was first sought? How come they’ve chosen this moment, when builders are almost back on site, before presenting their objections?"
The FOUL spokesperson claimed "This is an act of pure greed by Morrells, who obviously don’t care about the consequences of their actions on the football club or the community of which they were once a part. The covenant was introduced to protect the interests of a new pub on a new estate, not to prevent unrelated and unthreatening ventures on the site of what was a sewage works back in 1962. We are asking all football fans to drink elsewhere until this threat is lifted and we are hoping that a mass boycott of all Morrells pubs will hit them where it hurts them most - in their profits."
ENDS
