Very sorry to confirm it is 'tony Petteford. It seems my views are not unique. Vince leaving is a disaster for the place. "He really knew where his towell was".
The object of recent management/owners at Oxford has been to artificially inflate the value of the company and then to sell it off at a profit. It has never been to keep it running long term. Nothing wrong with this of course, the owners are gambling their money and expect a return. Having bought the place at an inflated and unreal price, the only way they can get a return is to sell it at greater value to someone else. Like the South Sea Bubble however, it cannot go on forever. Marketing on "the Oxford name" and a coat of paint, as Mick Daw initiated in 98/99, can only go so far. In a shrinking market, costs have to be cut, so jobs and pay will go down. Again nothing wrong with this, its the market economy.
The sad part is when people put forward the management view that all is rosy in the garden. Just as elsewhere in any industry, the protestations increase proprtionately to the trouble the company is in. Oxford is not going down the tubes just yet, and hopefully it won't. It does have major problems such as staff/student morale, a situation exacerbated by the CEO's return. On the other hand, the airspace will become less crowded, aircraft availability might go up (but you can buy Oxford aircraft now), and flight safety will increase. The quality of the instructors will remain as high as ever because they have nowhere else to go, or are tied to houses/children in school etc. Most of the instructors (post CAP509)I know are still applying for jobs, and have been ever since they arrived. At the moment everyone in the crew room is watching his/her back. A less Stalinist style of management would alleviate this. Openness and honesty always wins - its a function of leadership. Trying to tell the staff that the latest pay scheme is an "improvement" and is intended to increase their total pay by improving productivity doesn't wash.
Flying at CSE has always been fun, its the bit on the ground that tarnishs the reputation.