Ex-mock mayor in the hot seat (From Witney Gazette)
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Ex-mock mayor in the hot seat
2:41pm Thursday 23rd March 2006 in Witney
Woodstock link . . . in 2001, left to right, Woodstock mayor Ian Lenagan, Nick Merry as the mock mayor, and actor Chris Chittel, known as Eric Pollard of Emmerdale
BUSINESSMAN and former ex-mock mayor of Woodstock, Nick Merry, is making a remarkable return to Oxford United as its new chairman the club where once he dreamed of being a hero on the field.
He looked destined for a glittering footballing career as a youngster, but fate dealt a hand which saw success come in the field of business. And it is that which has allowed him to mastermind the takeover of the club last week.
He was a schoolboy player of much promise, as a pupil of Marlborough School, Woodstock, who was selected for the England Schoolboys.
He signed for Oxford United in 1978, but spent only one season at the Manor Ground, before moving into non-league football with Witney Town, after an unsuccessful trial with Norwich City, then in the first division.
Brought up in Woodstock, he quit football to concentrate on the antiques business back in 1982 the same year that Jim Smith took over as Oxford United manager.
But he wanted one more chance at a football career, and moved to America, to try his luck with the Kansas City Comets, in the Indoor Soccer League.
After that, he invested in Florida-based MicroDentex, a dental biotech firm, of which he later became president and major shareholder.
He has always maintained his links with Woodstock, and in 2001 was elected mock mayor of the town.
