'We haven't come this far to only come this far'

It is not built yet and there are hurdles still to negotiate, but the decision by Cherwell District Council to grant planning permission for Oxford United's new stadium at The Triangle is a seismic moment.

The odds of it being built have now tipped in the club's favour - for they no longer have the burden of proof to contend with.

Over the past two and half years, they have had to demonstrate that the site was viable, and that they had a plan for traffic and travel and the ecology of the site.

Often they have been trying to prove a negative – that there would NOT be problems. It has been United that have had to pay handsomely to do so. Now that burden is on the shoulders of those who will still seek to derail it.

The 14-1 vote in the planning committee was - after an exhaustive four-and-a-half hour, single issue meeting - emphatic. Even opponents concede that the mood music from central government suggests that it will be signed off by the secretary of state.

The granting of planning permission triggers a further one-year extension to the license agreement at the Kassam Stadium (pictured) – 2028 is now the hard deadline to move out, but the new stadium does not just build itself.

Funds of more than £100m need to be raised – a very significant financial challenge to a club that all the while has to fight tooth and nail to sustain its Championship status.

So does it happen? Oxford supporters have known for ever that the club owning its own stadium is key to its sustainability. They have put their collective shoulders to the wheel, behind the know-how of its board, its staff, and the financial investment of its owners.

Millions of pounds have been ploughed into the planning process, exactly because a new stadium is so vital to the club's future.

I am reminded of that Oxford United banner at Wembley last year: "We haven't come this far to only come this far."

Right now, finally, the club has wrested back control of its own destiny.