Now, it's not often that you can say this confidently without worrying about being sued, but either Mike Reed does not know the laws of the game, or he was just determined to give a penalty to Chelsea. He admitted as much himself. When shown the replay of the incident after the match, he stood by his decision. I'm a fair(ish) man. I accept that Referees have a tough job, and I accept they make mistakes. No problem.  However, to not put his hand up afterwards and admit being wrong, when the only other person in the world who agreed with him was the same bloke who plummeted to earth like a sack of spuds, suggests either a lack of knowledge of the laws, or worse, a deliberate intent to give a penalty to the bigger club. Either way, he should never referee again, but he is sadly, and he's doing it tonight, here.

Last season, he sent off Martin Gray against Leeds, and gave a string of dubious decisions (including a very questionable penalty) in the Premiershit club's favour. The year before, he awarded Chelsea another penalty in the last moments of their game against Leicester. Is he shamelessly biased towards the big clubs? Is he being paid by the FA to ensure the big-boys get through (more TV money, innit?) Or, has he simply not got the bollocks to give a decision against a big team for fear of getting an earful of abuse next time he has to officiate the prancing Premiershit ponces? Pick any one from three. It's probably a mixture of the above.

So, here we are in a replay that should never be, and yet all I hear now is how pleased we should be. After all, think of all the money it's going to bring us.

So, we're going to get £150-200k for tonight's exercise, as we would at Hillsborough in the next round. I would much rather have taken the win last Monday, rather than having to play another game tonight. After all, think of the fixture backlog we'll face after we win.  We've got a league to concentrate on, you know.

Of course, given this weekend's developments, it's quite possible that, if we win tonight, we won't actually be around for the next round. Here's one for the Howlands to look up: Has a team ever gone out of business days before playing a fifth round FA Cup tie?

Part two of the amazing life of Oxford United concerns the sudden resignation our friend Mr K.Cox, the Managing Director of our club. People who regularly read YF will know that we have long been admirers of the work he has done for the club. After all, if it wasn't for KC, we would have half the debts we have know, nor half the stadium we have now, nor half the creditors we have banging on our door.

Can you believe that someone whose last land development project backfired with debts of $100m, whose company was investigated by the US Inland Revenue, and someone who would probably be arrested should he ever step foot on US soil was put in charge of a stadium and land development project? Did no-one ask about his previous employment when he was appointed? You are allowed to ask for CVs and references, lads.

Whether he was responsible or not or the total failure of his last project (we must assume his innocence until proven guilty etc.), surely you look to appoint someone with a record of success, especially for the considerable salary he commanded. Clearly not in our case.

So, where do we go from here? Presuming we've still got Deano and the Manor (and my sources are 80% sure Cox wouldn't have sold them both by the time you read this), the only viable option left is the London Irish deal. In my dreams, this is how it would work. London Irish take over Minchery Farm, and complete it with us negotiating some sort of free or very cheap tenancy. This frees us of around £8 million of our debts, leaving us with a mere (!) £6m deficit to play with. The bulk of this we clear with the sale of the Manor for £4-5m. With debts of a million, if we're properly run, we could survive and become the community club the fans deserve. Simple, eh?

Of course, nothing is that simple. A huge part of me cannot help but think that, as Cox was the only Director of the club to have ever faced the creditors, his suspicious departure/downfall will signal the end of the creditor's already frayed confidence in the club.  Our only hope of survival, sadly, is to move to Minchery. If, just say the bloke who was overseeing the project was exposed as a $100m failure/fraudster, you might start to question the likelihood of it ever reaching completion. It is quite possible that a creditor could pull in a debt, and thus send the club into administration, and then anything could happen. Only time will tell.

My feeling is that we will have a hard time of it now, but his departure will only be good for the club's longer term future. We can now start to move in the direction the fans want, with mass representation on the board and a chairperson who cares for the club. We may never get a sugar daddy, but we can make sure that we never get a Cox again.

There are rumours spreading that, if we lose tonight, Deano will be sold to Huddersfield by the end of the week. If this is true, just a week remember after Mr Truthful Cox announced there would not have to be any more sales this season, we are condemning ourselves to relegation. So, the Big Man has returned, but as yet, he doesn't look match fit - although he still causes problems. Deano has been a star this season and his goals just get better and better. The thought of him, Big, Joey and Powell in the same side is as good as any front four in the division. It is a line-up to keep us up. If you sell the key link to it, we go down.

By today's standards (ie if Ashley Ward is worth £3.5m,  and John Hartson £7.5m), Deano is probably worth over £10m, because he's better than them both. Huddersfield, despite a wealthy benefactor, will not be able pay more than a £Million. There is no point selling him now: he is too valuable to the side.

Tonight could be one of the greatest nights ever should we win. Even if we don't, it is our chance to tell the Premiershit where to go, and show potential investors what a great club we are and how truly passionate Oxford fans are about our club. We now have a chance to save our club and make it truly ours.