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Post by bashamwonderland on Feb 19, 2017 13:02:06 GMT
I'm sure she loves football but her voice just isn't right for commentary. Leave it to the men. Umm. What? Male commentators sound better than female commentators.
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Post by bashamwonderland on Feb 19, 2017 13:07:18 GMT
The excitement and energy which a male commentator can muster just can't be replicated by women. I'm sure she loves football but her voice just isn't right for commentary. Leave it to the men. Good to see the 1950s are alive and well. Silly little old me, I should have stayed in the kitchen instead of driving to Boro and back. As for male commentators, of course there are some true legends, but personally I'd rather listen to the speaking clock ( if that's still a thing) than Andy "state the bleedin' obvious" Townsend. Anyway, cracking day out, cruel result but heads held high and on to the rest of the season. So my point about how male commentators are infinitely better than female their female equivalents is as though I was advocating that all of our female fans (one of whom came to the game with me and celebrated as wildly as the men) should have stayed at home yesterday? Such an overreaction.
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Post by followtheox1 on Feb 19, 2017 13:22:21 GMT
Seeing those highlights makes me more upset they were there for the taking a stupid penalty and two quite frankly awful bits of left back defending account for the 3 goals. Please can mapp play people in their proper positions for the rest of the season. The third goal was not the fault of Johnson. If anything it is Ledson who was at fault. Look at the highlights, he didn't track his man leaving Johnson to try and mark two defenders, the one ledson should have tracked and the one he should have been on.
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Post by trekkers on Feb 19, 2017 13:39:33 GMT
As a regular at the Riverside for the last 17 years or so I can definitely say Oxford brought the best support I have ever seen there. Being based in Oxford I had the pleasure of travelling with friends on one of the OUFC Supporters coaches even though I'm a boro fan (I did keep this quiet though) It was an amazing day. Oxford played so well, as well as I thought as I never under estimated their approach or spirit. I won't talk about what was and what could've been during the game because we all have our partisan views and opinions. You will definitely be pushing for playoffs and hopefully Wembley again in the Checkatrade cup. You Oxford fans are a credit to football and the club. Thank you for an enjoy and thrilling day.
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Post by oxfordyid on Feb 19, 2017 17:43:08 GMT
What a cracking day out yesterday was
We started slow - having maguire on the right really isolated Edwards and with the cm's having to cover off it left too much space in that hole in front of the back 4.
We still played some decent football first half but they did look a class above.
Second half was unreal, we looked the better side and we really saw the class of some of our players. I really can't see why the likes of Lego and lunny can't make it right to the top
Gained alot of respect for boro too. I thought their fans were fantastic - and friendly and chatty before and after the game. Fair play!
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Post by Mark on Feb 19, 2017 17:52:16 GMT
Something Charlie mentioned on the Swindon game the other week was that they didn't announce our scorers.
Yesterday I didn't see them replay our goals on the big screen, but did their own. It was it that I was too busy celebrating to notice until after they'd been shown?
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Post by lambchop on Feb 19, 2017 18:29:03 GMT
Something Charlie mentioned on the Swindon game the other week was that they didn't announce our scorers. Yesterday I didn't see them replay our goals on the big screen, but did their own. It was it that I was too busy celebrating to notice until after they'd been shown? This is my biggest bug bere.... we seem to be the only club that announces home and away scorers..... I actually complained to the club because they used to say "******'s first goal today scored by......" to me this is saying that they are going to score another. They've stopped doing that but still announce away scorers when others don't.
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 19, 2017 18:59:54 GMT
Something Charlie mentioned on the Swindon game the other week was that they didn't announce our scorers. Yesterday I didn't see them replay our goals on the big screen, but did their own. It was it that I was too busy celebrating to notice until after they'd been shown? This is my biggest bug bere.... we seem to be the only club that announces home and away scorers..... I actually complained to the club because they used to say "******'s first goal today scored by......" to me this is saying that they are going to score another. They've stopped doing that but still announce away scorers when others don't. Middlesbrough announced our scorers! I just want to say how impressed I was by Boro as a club. From the pubs before the game to their frankly stupendously good restaurant to the game itself, I was surrounded by friendly, passionate, knowledgeable people. They haven't 'gone plastic' but have maximised their potential, thanks to the vision of Steve Gibson. If you had said to me, or any of them, that this would be their club when we played them at Ayresome in front of less than 10,000 then I don't think anyone would have believed it. Their posh seats said to me yesterday, looking at our support (massive, intense and loads of songs) 'You're a big club . When are you going to build something like this? It's transformed us and made the whole region proud' I sort of bowed my head and muttered something about it being a difficult situation. Which it is. Of course it is. But the lack of big vision surrounding our club really pains me. So many clubs with limited potential have had big dreams realised (and sometime ludicrously so, a la Darlington). We've even had someone like Winkelman do something really difficult like try to create a big club from scratch. But in a place where all the ingredients are there (good history; strong core, massive catchment, no competition) it seems we're doomed always to think small, stay behind the eight ball and be un-strategic and short-termist. Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC.
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Post by berliner on Feb 19, 2017 19:07:15 GMT
Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC. Probably exactly the same thing: Oxford 168,000 population, Middlesbrough 174,000 Boro bankrupt in 1986, OUFC nearly so start of the 90s New grounds built in the 90s Surrounded by clubs and towns/cities of similar statures (Reading, London vs Newcastle, West Yorkshire catchment area) Oxford university vs Teesside Polytechnic I have no doubt that we could be a Premiership/top Championship club...we got Kassam and they got Gibson, sadly.
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 19, 2017 19:24:41 GMT
Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC. Probably exactly the same thing: Oxford 168,000 population, Middlesbrough 174,000 Boro bankrupt in 1986, OUFC nearly so start of the 90s New grounds built in the 90s Surrounded by clubs and towns/cities of similar statures (Reading, London vs Newcastle, West Yorkshire catchment area) Oxford university vs Teesside Polytechnic I have no doubt that we could be a Premiership/top Championship club...we got Kassam and they got Gibson, sadly. Oxford's population is irrelevant. Only 18 per cent of our fans come from Oxford. The relevant figure is the catchment area of 800,000 (one of the biggest in the whole UK and far bigger than Boro's). What you say is right, but fatalistic. There is still time. There is the opportunity to do something really special. And then there is building a small temporary stand in an empty space!!
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Post by foley on Feb 19, 2017 19:31:01 GMT
This is my biggest bug bere.... we seem to be the only club that announces home and away scorers..... I actually complained to the club because they used to say "******'s first goal today scored by......" to me this is saying that they are going to score another. They've stopped doing that but still announce away scorers when others don't. Middlesbrough announced our scorers! I just want to say how impressed I was by Boro as a club. From the pubs before the game to their frankly stupendously good restaurant to the game itself, I was surrounded by friendly, passionate, knowledgeable people. They haven't 'gone plastic' but have maximised their potential, thanks to the vision of Steve Gibson. If you had said to me, or any of them, that this would be their club when we played them at Ayresome in front of less than 10,000 then I don't think anyone would have believed it. Their posh seats said to me yesterday, looking at our support (massive, intense and loads of songs) 'You're a big club . When are you going to build something like this? It's transformed us and made the whole region proud' I sort of bowed my head and muttered something about it being a difficult situation. Which it is. Of course it is. But the lack of big vision surrounding our club really pains me. So many clubs with limited potential have had big dreams realised (and sometime ludicrously so, a la Darlington). We've even had someone like Winkelman do something really difficult like try to create a big club from scratch. But in a place where all the ingredients are there (good history; strong core, massive catchment, no competition) it seems we're doomed always to think small, stay behind the eight ball and be un-strategic and short-termist. Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC. Mmm interesting views as usual Charlie. I get where you are coming from so far as the huge latent potential of the club. I just hope and assume that you are not just putting these comments on a forum but are speaking to Oxvox and Darryl ....
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Post by bicesterox on Feb 19, 2017 19:48:59 GMT
Still got that Tra la la la la la O.U.F.C. going round my head like its on a loop Fantastic day will stay long in the memory, best atmosphere in years Gonna try and find a commentary to see (hear) how we sounded
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Post by monsieurgrumpy on Feb 19, 2017 20:00:45 GMT
The half time highlights on the big screen were all Boro attacks. Not sure they showed the opening Martinez one-on-one (pity he didn't pass to Hemmings who was better placed). But they certainly 'forgot' the disallowed goal.
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Post by ox5 on Feb 19, 2017 20:07:43 GMT
This is my biggest bug bere.... we seem to be the only club that announces home and away scorers..... I actually complained to the club because they used to say "******'s first goal today scored by......" to me this is saying that they are going to score another. They've stopped doing that but still announce away scorers when others don't. Middlesbrough announced our scorers! I just want to say how impressed I was by Boro as a club. From the pubs before the game to their frankly stupendously good restaurant to the game itself, I was surrounded by friendly, passionate, knowledgeable people. They haven't 'gone plastic' but have maximised their potential, thanks to the vision of Steve Gibson. If you had said to me, or any of them, that this would be their club when we played them at Ayresome in front of less than 10,000 then I don't think anyone would have believed it. Their posh seats said to me yesterday, looking at our support (massive, intense and loads of songs) 'You're a big club . When are you going to build something like this? It's transformed us and made the whole region proud' I sort of bowed my head and muttered something about it being a difficult situation. Which it is. Of course it is. But the lack of big vision surrounding our club really pains me. So many clubs with limited potential have had big dreams realised (and sometime ludicrously so, a la Darlington). We've even had someone like Winkelman do something really difficult like try to create a big club from scratch. But in a place where all the ingredients are there (good history; strong core, massive catchment, no competition) it seems we're doomed always to think small, stay behind the eight ball and be un-strategic and short-termist. Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC. Well put Charlie. I too was impressed with the Boro, came across as a community club despite them prem status and not just interested in selling shirts in the Far East! As for OUFC, if people keep working at things then in time fortunes will change and the club can rise further.
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Post by pottersrightboot on Feb 19, 2017 20:36:06 GMT
As I've said earlier, the atmosphere was sensational.
Despite that the behaviour of a few of their supporters was borderline psychotic. They could not believe that we equalised and immediately started targeting Oxford fans in our area. Some were pushed and abused. We are talking about seats on the half way line by the way i.e. pretty close to being best seats in house,
Left a slightly sour taste.
A proper hotbed of football though.
Ps anyone else think the match programme was diabolically poor?
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 19, 2017 20:39:27 GMT
Still got that Tra la la la la la O.U.F.C. going round my head like its on a loop Fantastic day will stay long in the memory, best atmosphere in years Gonna try and find a commentary to see (hear) how we sounded That'll never work - it never gives a fair representation. Take it from me (sat 50 yards away with loads of Boro fans closer) that it was very, very loud. According to the Sunday Times: 'The 3376 fans of Oxford United let cry once more: 'Yellow, Yellows'. It was a stirring, genuine noise from a raucous support'. Enough said!
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 19, 2017 20:41:37 GMT
As I've said earlier, the atmosphere was sensational. Despite that the behaviour of a few of their supporters was borderline psychotic. They could not believe that we equalised and immediately started targeting Oxford fans in our area. Some were pushed and abused. We are talking about seats on the half way line by the way i.e. pretty close to being best seats in house, Left a slightly sour taste. A proper hotbed of football though. Ps anyone else think the match programme was diabolically poor? Yes, the programme was indeed appallingly bad. Remarkably so, as everything else was done so well. The only explanation I can conceive is that it may not be the most literate fanbase, and perhaps they have found that there's not much point bothering.
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Post by Colin B on Feb 19, 2017 20:42:02 GMT
Probably exactly the same thing: Oxford 168,000 population, Middlesbrough 174,000 Boro bankrupt in 1986, OUFC nearly so start of the 90s New grounds built in the 90s Surrounded by clubs and towns/cities of similar statures (Reading, London vs Newcastle, West Yorkshire catchment area) Oxford university vs Teesside Polytechnic I have no doubt that we could be a Premiership/top Championship club...we got Kassam and they got Gibson, sadly. Oxford's population is irrelevant. Only 18 per cent of our fans come from Oxford. The relevant figure is the catchment area of 800,000 (one of the biggest in the whole UK and far bigger than Boro's). What you say is right, but fatalistic. There is still time. There is the opportunity to do something really special. And then there is building a small temporary stand in an empty space!! A lot of good points, in this and your previous post Charlie. But you spoiled it at the end. No one is thinking of building a small temporary stand as part of our future.
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Post by oufcyellows on Feb 19, 2017 20:44:17 GMT
As I've said earlier, the atmosphere was sensational. Despite that the behaviour of a few of their supporters was borderline psychotic. They could not believe that we equalised and immediately started targeting Oxford fans in our area. Some were pushed and abused. We are talking about seats on the half way line by the way i.e. pretty close to being best seats in house, Left a slightly sour taste. A proper hotbed of football though. Ps anyone else think the match programme was diabolically poor? Yes, the programme was indeed appallingly bad. Remarkably so, as everything else was done so well. The only explanation I can conceive is that it may not be the most literate fanbase, and perhaps they have found that there's not much point bothering. Put more pictures in then
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 19, 2017 21:17:39 GMT
Oxford's population is irrelevant. Only 18 per cent of our fans come from Oxford. The relevant figure is the catchment area of 800,000 (one of the biggest in the whole UK and far bigger than Boro's). What you say is right, but fatalistic. There is still time. There is the opportunity to do something really special. And then there is building a small temporary stand in an empty space!! A lot of good points, in this and your previous post Charlie. But you spoiled it at the end. No one is thinking of building a small temporary stand as part of our future. Colin, the comparison is with owners, not fans group. IL and DE have both been good chairmen and are decent men. We are fortunate to have had them, when you consider both a range of their predecessors and the fate of other clubs. However. However. I find it very hard to comprehend how long it took/ has taken both of them to get their heads around the signal importance of the stadium situation. For four and two years respectively, they told all and sundry that there was nothing that needed to be done, and only very, very late did they both grasp the obvious truth that they would aways be fighting with one hand tied behind their back whilst we lease an inadequate 3 sided stadium. There were, and are, no 'easy answers' - as you know better than most - but I just do not think that either of them really grasped what we could be, and therefore the huge disconnect between that possibility and our current surrounds. I remember telling Simon Lenagan, who I have great respect for, that OUFC could average 16,000 plus in the right arena. He looked at me disbelievingly, as if I were delusional. I remember telling Ashton that our whole future depends on getting a suitable place to play. He looked at me as if I were bonkers. 'this place is fine', he said, as if the idea that OUFC would sell out Grenoble Road on a regular basis was barmy. In a way, you need to be a fan to understand a club's potential and the circumstances under which that potential can be realised. That is what Steve Gibson was and what he did. So what I find bemusing is how un-ambitious many of our fans are for us!! When I predicted that we would average 8500 fans in League 1, posters on here said I was over-optimistic. But we will. And in the right stadium in the Championship I would bet a fair amount that we would average 16k plus. Swansea at the Vetch, Boro at Ayresome, Southampton at the Dell, Brighton at Withdean. None of these strong provincial clubs would be where they are now if they had fiddled around the edges. That is my point.
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Post by Colin B on Feb 19, 2017 21:54:59 GMT
Yes, I kind of realised that Charlie, but wasn't sure, so thought by posting what I did that you would respond as you have, which has clarified your comment.
Rest assured the plans for the current stadium, post acquisition, are both innovative and exciting, and whilst not free of cost, are eminently doable, and planned in such a way that they can be carried out hand in glove with the club's progress. There's a bit of chicken and egg, in so much that some things need doing before we can progress (or to at least to aid progress) and some things can't/ don't need doing until we progress. This goes further than just the stadium itself but the whole infrastructure surrounding it.
Can't say much more than that otherwise I'll be in contravention of OxVox article No 27 and will be immediately expelled to Pitcairn Island!
But I do agree, there is no reason why we shouldn't aspire to be a Middlesbrough/Reading/Swansea/Brighton/Norwich etc etc and the small mindedness of people who have held the club's future in their hands has been a constant frustration to me over the years.
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Post by oufcgav on Feb 19, 2017 21:57:30 GMT
As I've said earlier, the atmosphere was sensational. Despite that the behaviour of a few of their supporters was borderline psychotic. They could not believe that we equalised and immediately started targeting Oxford fans in our area. Some were pushed and abused. We are talking about seats on the half way line by the way i.e. pretty close to being best seats in house, Left a slightly sour taste. A proper hotbed of football though. Ps anyone else think the match programme was diabolically poor? Yes, the programme was indeed appallingly bad. Remarkably so, as everything else was done so well. The only explanation I can conceive is that it may not be the most literate fanbase, and perhaps they have found that there's not much point bothering. I believe they did a 'cheap' cut-down version for the game instead of their normal programme. It was £2 when as far as I can see it is normally £3 - so kind of like the ones we do for pre-season.
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Post by foley on Feb 19, 2017 22:05:26 GMT
Yes, I kind of realised that Charlie, but wasn't sure, so thought by posting what I did that you would respond as you have, which has clarified your comment. Rest assured the plans for the current stadium, post acquisition, are both innovative and exciting, and whilst not free of cost, are eminently doable, and planned in such a way that they can be carried out hand in glove with the club's progress. There's a bit of chicken and egg, in so much that some things need doing before we can progress (or to at least to aid progress) and some things can't/ don't need doing until we progress. This goes further than just the stadium itself but the whole infrastructure surrounding it. Can't say much more than that otherwise I'll be in contravention of OxVox article No 27 and will be immediately expelled to Pitcairn Island! But I do agree, there is no reason why we shouldn't aspire to be a Middlesbrough/Reading/Swansea/Brighton/Norwich etc etc and the small mindedness of people who have held the club's future in their hands has been a constant frustration to me over the years. Colin I appreciate that you can't spill the beans yet. I am sure that most of the supporters will very much appreciate what you are/ will do for the football club. It will be great when we can see what is going on and what future the club could have!! I totally agree with Charlie that the club has huge potential and with promotion we should be aiming for crowds averaging 15K plus ...
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Post by foley on Feb 19, 2017 22:06:28 GMT
Yes, the programme was indeed appallingly bad. Remarkably so, as everything else was done so well. The only explanation I can conceive is that it may not be the most literate fanbase, and perhaps they have found that there's not much point bothering. I believe they did a 'cheap' cut-down version for the game instead of their normal programme. It was £2 when as far as I can see it is normally £3 - so kind of like the ones we do for pre-season. I wonder why with a crowd of 28,000?
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Post by ttg17 on Feb 19, 2017 22:13:47 GMT
A lot of good points, in this and your previous post Charlie. But you spoiled it at the end. No one is thinking of building a small temporary stand as part of our future. Colin, the comparison is with owners, not fans group. IL and DE have both been good chairmen and are decent men. We are fortunate to have had them, when you consider both a range of their predecessors and the fate of other clubs. However. However. I find it very hard to comprehend how long it took/ has taken both of them to get their heads around the signal importance of the stadium situation. For four and two years respectively, they told all and sundry that there was nothing that needed to be done, and only very, very late did they both grasp the obvious truth that they would aways be fighting with one hand tied behind their back whilst we lease an inadequate 3 sided stadium. There were, and are, no 'easy answers' - as you know better than most - but I just do not think that either of them really grasped what we could be, and therefore the huge disconnect between that possibility and our current surrounds. I remember telling Simon Lenagan, who I have great respect for, that OUFC could average 16,000 plus in the right arena. He looked at me disbelievingly, as if I were delusional. I remember telling Ashton that our whole future depends on getting a suitable place to play. He looked at me as if I were bonkers. 'this place is fine', he said, as if the idea that OUFC would sell out Grenoble Road on a regular basis was barmy. In a way, you need to be a fan to understand a club's potential and the circumstances under which that potential can be realised. That is what Steve Gibson was and what he did. So what I find bemusing is how un-ambitious many of our fans are for us!! When I predicted that we would average 8500 fans in League 1, posters on here said I was over-optimistic. But we will. And in the right stadium in the Championship I would bet a fair amount that we would average 16k plus. Swansea at the Vetch, Boro at Ayresome, Southampton at the Dell, Brighton at Withdean. None of these strong provincial clubs would be where they are now if they had fiddled around the edges. That is my point. Fair. I was skeptical after your initial post, thought it was a bit pessimistic, but do now appreciate where you're coming from and agree. That said, I don't think you can blame anyone for not having had the foresight to see us selling out on a regular basis, and beginning to maximize our (as you rightly said) enormous potential. You have to remember that the season before last, less than TWO YEARS ago, we only secured enough points to mathematically rule out relegation with a 0-0 draw at home to york with a handful of games left. Our rise has been meteoric. It is perhaps not fair to say that they have only just grasped how important owning the stadium is, as I'm sure they were aware it was an issue, but, like many, did not expect the issue of its ownership to have become SUCH a pressing issue in SUCH a short space of time.
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Post by georgefryer on Feb 19, 2017 22:42:34 GMT
Great day despite losing. Scenes when Martinez goal went in were nuts. Pretty sure I saw a grown man jump on his mates back only for them both to topple forward!
Thought Lunny was great yesterday despite what someone said, but maybe I'm basing that's on the second half performance. Thought everyone was immense second half. Johnson's defending was shit but like someone said, I imagine he was put their to deal with Traores pace and to stop their right back from coming forward too much. Whether Skarz playing their would have been better overal, I'm not sure.
And credit to I think it was Ledson (or McAleny) for knicking the ball off them so fast after Maguires free kick before back heeling it to Hall to set up the goal. That was epic.
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 20, 2017 8:21:30 GMT
Yes, the programme was indeed appallingly bad. Remarkably so, as everything else was done so well. The only explanation I can conceive is that it may not be the most literate fanbase, and perhaps they have found that there's not much point bothering. I believe they did a 'cheap' cut-down version for the game instead of their normal programme. It was £2 when as far as I can see it is normally £3 - so kind of like the ones we do for pre-season. Yes, but it wasn't just small, but bad. Poorly-written and researched and totally uninteresting. And why would you do a cut-down programme for a 28,000 crowd and a game on third of MoTD?
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Post by charliesghost on Feb 20, 2017 8:31:20 GMT
Colin, the comparison is with owners, not fans group. IL and DE have both been good chairmen and are decent men. We are fortunate to have had them, when you consider both a range of their predecessors and the fate of other clubs. However. However. I find it very hard to comprehend how long it took/ has taken both of them to get their heads around the signal importance of the stadium situation. For four and two years respectively, they told all and sundry that there was nothing that needed to be done, and only very, very late did they both grasp the obvious truth that they would aways be fighting with one hand tied behind their back whilst we lease an inadequate 3 sided stadium. There were, and are, no 'easy answers' - as you know better than most - but I just do not think that either of them really grasped what we could be, and therefore the huge disconnect between that possibility and our current surrounds. I remember telling Simon Lenagan, who I have great respect for, that OUFC could average 16,000 plus in the right arena. He looked at me disbelievingly, as if I were delusional. I remember telling Ashton that our whole future depends on getting a suitable place to play. He looked at me as if I were bonkers. 'this place is fine', he said, as if the idea that OUFC would sell out Grenoble Road on a regular basis was barmy. In a way, you need to be a fan to understand a club's potential and the circumstances under which that potential can be realised. That is what Steve Gibson was and what he did. So what I find bemusing is how un-ambitious many of our fans are for us!! When I predicted that we would average 8500 fans in League 1, posters on here said I was over-optimistic. But we will. And in the right stadium in the Championship I would bet a fair amount that we would average 16k plus. Swansea at the Vetch, Boro at Ayresome, Southampton at the Dell, Brighton at Withdean. None of these strong provincial clubs would be where they are now if they had fiddled around the edges. That is my point. Fair. I was skeptical after your initial post, thought it was a bit pessimistic, but do now appreciate where you're coming from and agree. That said, I don't think you can blame anyone for not having had the foresight to see us selling out on a regular basis, and beginning to maximize our (as you rightly said) enormous potential. You have to remember that the season before last, less than TWO YEARS ago, we only secured enough points to mathematically rule out relegation with a 0-0 draw at home to york with a handful of games left. Our rise has been meteoric. It is perhaps not fair to say that they have only just grasped how important owning the stadium is, as I'm sure they were aware it was an issue, but, like many, did not expect the issue of its ownership to have become SUCH a pressing issue in SUCH a short space of time. But we're on a 4/5 year plan to get into the Championship!! We're three years in, and not likely to realise that goal this year. So we're sort of on track. I think maybe the truth is that DE and IL were both persuaded into buying the club by football folk, neither of whom had really given the macro business situation much thought. I fear that a lot of football folk have, in the back of their mind, 'well, the rich man will just have to pay more' as their main thought process. And maybe it was only once IL and DE took personal charge of the club that they both started to realise the centrality of the stadium issue. Anyhow, it is what it is. I've seen plans of what Grenoble Road might (just about) become, and - leaving aside access and parking - one can sort of cobble together a 20k capacity stadium. Anymore than that and you're in the business of knocking down stands and re-building from scratch. The cost (from memory) is around 9 million, though, which has to be achieved with no grants, no significant stadium naming rights deal etc. Perhaps DE could use the money he says he offered Kassam to buy the place to expand it instead. That would make sense.
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Post by safc on Feb 20, 2017 9:13:33 GMT
Well I enjoyed that. Celebrated both goals just as if they were Sunderland ones, very unlucky at the end after that second half performance.
All the best for the season.
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Post by Mark on Feb 20, 2017 10:53:09 GMT
Great day yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, but surely I wasn't the only one to wonder what someone like Steve Gibson would do with OUFC. Probably exactly the same thing: Oxford 168,000 population, Middlesbrough 174,000 Boro bankrupt in 1986, OUFC nearly so start of the 90s New grounds built in the 90s Surrounded by clubs and towns/cities of similar statures (Reading, London vs Newcastle, West Yorkshire catchment area) Oxford university vs Teesside Polytechnic I have no doubt that we could be a Premiership/top Championship club...we got Kassam and they got Gibson, sadly. It's finding someone like Steve Gibson though with the cash to spend. Just to get to be a middling Championship side I reckon you'd need to start with £100million. Perhaps £10million to buy "the franchise" / pay off Eales if the club was already in the Championship. Yes that would give him a very decent return, but the hard work of getting to the Championship would have been done. Look how long Sheffield United have been in League 1. If you were offered the choice of buying a League 2 club or a Championship club, ten million might not seem that bad a deal when you think how long it can take to get from L2 to Championship. When Eales took over, he thought paying off Lenagan £4million apparently was an OK price for a L2 club, whereas the CM consortium thought £2million. So a club two levels higher would be worth considerably more, even allowing for the fact that you'll probably lose money running it. In addition, the players at the club now could probably be valued at least £3million. Then say £25million on a suitable stadium, £2million on a training complex, then £5million per year just to stand still without being the lowest budget club in the Championship.
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