Home Match Day Thread 20/02/2024 L1: OUFC v Northampton Town

[Northstandboy]

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[chromeyellow]

I agree we need people who "get" league 1 football fans- we also need people who can organise the finance for a multimillion pound new stadium. Tim can do the latter. We need someone who can do the former and can be a better publci face of the club.. Thohir and co are more concerned about the impact of the latest Indonesian elections

 

[JimSmith2]

So what kind of banter would you like to see allowed that is currently being prevented by the police? Racism ok with you? Sexism? Let's have some examples, please.

Anything that is within the law and regardless of whether it offends done but not others.
It’s called freedom of speech.

 

[chromeyellow]

Anything that is within the law and regardless of whether it offends done but not others.
It’s called freedom of speech.

racism sexism and other abuse are often against the law.

Fortunately stupidity is within the law so you don't have to worry on that score.

 

[JimSmith2]

I

You think i should be agreeing with you?

No, but you should not abuse someone on account of you disagreeing with what they have to say.

 

[JimSmith2]

racism sexism and other abuse are often against the law.

Fortunately stupidity is within the law so you don't have to worry on that score.

Yep and calling people stupid just because you don’t agree with what they have to say is also within the law.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

we also need people who can organise the finance for a multimillion pound new stadium. Tim can do the latter.

Can he?

Maybe he can, but on what terms and at what cost?

 

[chromeyellow]

Can he?

Maybe he can, but on what terms and at what cost?

If we are going to build a new stadium we need someone who has that skillset, and also has the confidence of the current owners.
Not building a new stadium is also not an option I believe

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Looking back at the highlights, Sam Long had nothing to do with their second equaliser.

Negru fails to deal with a punt upfield from their centre back and is partly impeded by their forward coming back from offside position. Matete then fails to clear out the second ball and then it’s plain sailing for their goal.

But blame Sam, follow the herd.

Repeat he had a decent game last night and the pelters he’s generally getting is simply unfair.

Also social media is just a cesspit. Some ‘OUFC’ old boy calling out Long for being a c**t,

All this and we’re fifth. Depressing.

I think it was Long's inexplicable back pass from deep in their half (he was in the right wing position) to Cumming (about 1.10 into stoppage time on the full match replay), that Cumming lumps upfield and is returned by their Centre Back (where you picked up the story above), which most frustrated me. For some reason the full match replay has the Northampton commentary on this video and even their commentator describes it as a "bizarre" pass.

It was literally a 70 yard back pass to the furthest player back for us (Cumming) when Long was pretty much the furthest forward player. It was also a first time pass - he didn't even take a touch, and I would argue that there were several safer and easier options closer to him. Long also failed to get back all that quickly to support Negru when he was struggling to control the ball as you described, in the build up for their second equaliser, and the rest is history.

Long DID do some good things last night. I did think he got forward well and overlapped at times but he also did some other questionable stuff and this was not the only example of lumping it backwards when an easier short pass was on. He also looked better defensively whne he had Murphy helping him out on the right. There were several times when Murphy got back quickly to help him out - he didn't get that to the same degree when Dale came on.

It is things like this, where we invite pressure onto ourselves for no good reason (and Long was by no means the only one guilty last night) or don't take the game to the opposition which is currently making us our own worst enemies.

That said, had Goodwin connected with his second chance, or Gregly's shot been on target (he didn't miss one in the warm up!) or had Tylers cheeky chip come off, we'd have been out of sight by this point!

 

[ECYellow]

If we are going to build a new stadium we need someone who has that skillset, and also has the confidence of the current owners.
Not building a new stadium is also not an option I believe

Building a stadium that is not on financially viable terms to OUFC for the medium and long term, would be as catastrophic as not building a stadium at all - the sum of all their parts would result in the same outcome eventually - liquidation.

What has Williams demonstrated to you or the wider fan base, during his time at OUFC that would suggest that he has a) OUFC's long term security at front and centre of his mind; and b) What evidence suggests that he has worked on a project that has seen him oversee the financing of multimillion pound construction of a new stadium development?

 

[chromeyellow]

He was Chief Finance officer at Inter Milan


Chief Financial OfficerChief Financial Officer
FC Internazionale MilanoFC Internazionale MilanoJul 2015 - Feb 2021 · 5 yrs 8 mosJul 2015 - Feb 2021 · 5 yrs 8 mosMilano, ItalyMilano, Italy

• • Member of Senior Management Team
    Major Refinancing Projects
    Commercial, Marketing, Brand Finance
    Playing Contracts, Transfer dealings
    Stadium and Venue Finance
    Financial Reporting and Compliance
    Compliance with UEFA Financial Fair Play
    Treasury Management, Refinancing, Banking and Investor Relations

 

[ECYellow]

He was Chief Finance officer at Inter Milan


Chief Financial OfficerChief Financial Officer
FC Internazionale MilanoFC Internazionale MilanoJul 2015 - Feb 2021 · 5 yrs 8 mosJul 2015 - Feb 2021 · 5 yrs 8 mosMilano, ItalyMilano, Italy

• • Member of Senior Management Team
    Major Refinancing Projects
    Commercial, Marketing, Brand Finance
    Playing Contracts, Transfer dealings
    Stadium and Venue Finance
    Financial Reporting and Compliance
    Compliance with UEFA Financial Fair Play
    Treasury Management, Refinancing, Banking and Investor Relations

I don't recall Inter Milan moving to and financing a new ground. Not that i am that much up to speed on my Italian football, in truth.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Lol. Imagine posting someone's LinkedIn as evidence of their skillset

 

[chromeyellow]

Are you saying he wasn’t Chief Financial Officer of Inter Milan, or that a Chief Financial Office Officer of a Champions League Club doesn’t have to deal with the areas he identified?


You may be in the habit of blagging via your LinkedIn profile but I don’t think it functions quite the same way at a company that had a 331 million euro annual revenue

Whilst Williams was there they planned a new stadium which was delayed for various reasons.

I agree that williams is a very poor communicator. However, I do think that he’s an upgrade from Nick Merrry or Daryl Eales.
In five employing someone like williams is one of the things that makes me think that our owners are there for the long haul. And given getting as far away both from Firoz Kassam and the Kassam Stadium is the best thing that could happen for out football club I’m prepared to put up with some miscommunication,

 

[ECYellow]

Are you saying he wasn’t Chief Financial Officer of Inter Milan, or that a Chief Financial Office Officer of a Champions League Club doesn’t have to deal with the areas he identified?


You may be in the habit of blagging via your LinkedIn profile but I don’t think it functions quite the same way at a company that had a 331 million euro annual revenue

Whilst Williams was there they planned a new stadium which was delayed for various reasons.

I agree that williams is a very poor communicator. However, I do think that he’s an upgrade from Nick Merrry or Daryl Eales.
In five employing someone like williams is one of the things that makes me think that our owners are there for the long haul. And given getting as far away both from Firoz Kassam and the Kassam Stadium is the best thing that could happen for out football club I’m prepared to put up with some miscommunication,

Subject to the terms being agreeable.

Let's not fall into the trap of being satisfied with just anything in order to get away from the current situation. Frying pan and fire spring to mind.

Williams is not an OUFC supporter. He has no affiliation to our club, other than being an employee. Will he be as guarded when negotiating terms that are to the betterment of OUFC in the long term? Nobody knows, but i certainly wouldn't just be taking his word for it on the basis that he worked for Inter Milan. He also worked for Man Utd under the Glazers and they are not particularly well received by the Man Utd supporter base, are they?

Tread with caution.

 

[chromeyellow]

these are all fair points- but at least he’s a professional and we’ve had a lot of amateurs. (Firoz Kassam was a serious businessman but never a serious football club owner)

The only people who can possibly protect the long term interests of our football are the planning authorities- Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council,

 

[Joey]

Are you saying he wasn’t Chief Financial Officer of Inter Milan, or that a Chief Financial Office Officer of a Champions League Club doesn’t have to deal with the areas he identified?


You may be in the habit of blagging via your LinkedIn profile but I don’t think it functions quite the same way at a company that had a 331 million euro annual revenue

Whilst Williams was there they planned a new stadium which was delayed for various reasons.

I agree that williams is a very poor communicator. However, I do think that he’s an upgrade from Nick Merrry or Daryl Eales.
In five employing someone like williams is one of the things that makes me think that our owners are there for the long haul. And given getting as far away both from Firoz Kassam and the Kassam Stadium is the best thing that could happen for out football club I’m prepared to put up with some miscommunication,

Am I reading this right? Aside from his roles at Man U and Inter Milan not being particularly relevant, despite him telling us how great he was, his only experience with building stadiums is failing to get one built with Milan?

I don't get why you're happy to let him off with poor performance running the club you support.

 

[chromeyellow]

I'm saying that understanding football finance will be crucial to getting the stadium built.

If you don’t understand finance then you end up doing deals like the one Nick Merry did with Firoz Kassam.

 

[Oxford84]

It’s absolutely mental. He’s not even under that much pressure. Dale should be showing down the line and is ball watching, perhaps has a mind that long is forward so is covering. Matete is an option but Goodwin is the obvious easy ball or even a ball into that area between defenders and keeper. Worse! all of their players are in their half. How do we go from that to conceding?

Hes also got a one on one if he just turns towards the Northampton player.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

The highlights don’t show this and I didn’t see the game but what happened that led to the goal after he made the back pass? Passing it back from there to kill time and help see out the game isn’t the end of the world?

Several things happened. Cumming didn't have a particularly safe short ball so hoofed it up for them to send back at us. Negru got a bit distracted by an offside player and tried to control the ball with his head then lost it quite deep in our own half. They pushed forward and Matete backed out of a challenge. They sent a percentage ball across our six yard box which we didn't intercept and which they got a toe onto.

I know what you mean about killing the game but to do it from that position with so many of our lot up the pitch and then pressing for and equaliser was just madness

 

[spmox]

I thought I saw the plan yesterday. Pass it round slowly at the back to try and bring Northampton out of their low block and free up space for the four behind Harris to operate.

Two problems:

I thought Leigh was on primarily to attack crosses coming in from Murphy/Long on the right. Issues were that Leigh wanted crosses in the air, Harris wanted them on the ground, which meant we only had one to aim for with either type of ball. Also, Leigh didn’t quite commit to his role as a primary goal scoring threat, which might not be surprising for a defender.

Second, Northampton didn’t show much interest in closing us down. We lost patience before they did, and had to hit long passes out wide (where we had issues with our crossing, above).

With hindsight, the solutions could have been:

Harris staying on when Goodwin came on, to have two people properly going for each cross. Losing one of our CMs would have been a small price to pay as they could barely operate in the crowded Northampton half.

We needed someone who could bring the ball out at CB. Brown’s foray in the second half had them panicked and forces them to make a decision. As odd as it sounds, this turned into a game for Thorniley. Especially when the use of two “stoppers” doesn’t seem to provide any more solidity.

Thank you - great analysis!