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- 5 Dec 2017
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Why would you do that? I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in the away end with Reading or Swindon fans. Would rather not go!I sat in the away end with Reading fans recently and I have to say Oxford were quiet. Reading fans were chanting about libraries.
Even in the 4-2 win recently Oxford were hardly vocal
Blame whoever decides that once we go 1-0 up that tactically we should just pass the ball around at the back. Bodin made the mistake but Brannigan nearly got caught 5 minutes earlier. Our players are not good enough to do it. Make a mistake in that area the chances are you conceed. I understand that doing it to try and pull your opponents team forward to create space but the pace at which we do it and the lack of control when we do it, makes the tactic niave.
When we attacked at pace we created so many opportunities, but when we play this awfully boring passing at the back the only option appears to be a long diagonal to the winger and hope something happens.
You’d have to deal with @ECYellowWhy would you do that? I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in the away end with Reading or Swindon fans. Would rather not go!
wasnt that proclaimed on one of Jim Smith's motivational notes pinned up in the changing room during the back to back promotion glory years in the 80sThis 100%
Attack is the best form of defence.
It would be pretty weird if everyone around you had the same feelings.
I do agree that there was often a lack of options when Negru / Brown were on the ball, but at the same time the whole point of going backwards and/or playing along the backline is to drag the opposition out of position and create space further forward. When the passing is slow or a player dawdles on the ball for too long it allows the opposition to stay in or recover their shape. Des made the same point on Radio Oxford after the game yesterday, to be fair.Who do you expect brown to pass to when everyone is hiding Behind there marker he passes it to Bennet then Bennet will pass him it back his passes it brannagan , brannagan passes him it back no one moves for the ball in this team
Yes, exactly. It's all there to be made into a positive and the fact they have created such a stink instead is a major red flag. If we had some proactive leadership then things would feel different. Fans would be more engaged and there would be more of a buzz about the club. If we had 'football people' running the show then they could even incentivise groups of fans to start improving the atmosphere on match days by working with them to bring noise and colour back into the stadium. There is probably something in the other reasons others have said like age of fan base and style of football but for me, I can't remember feeling so disassociated from my club.The absolutely baffling thing is that so many things are massively in our favour for there to be a positive feeling amongst the fans and the club more generally.
We're as close as we've ever been to potentially leaving behind a stadium that virtually everyone hates
We've got the deepest potential pockets in our history with billionaire backers
We're in the play-off places and have massively turned around last year's car crash of a season
We've bought in a number of highly rated players and reverted back to something resembling a productive trading model
Crowds are generally on the up
That our senior management team have therefore managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in terms of how the mood of the fanbase is currently, is remarkable. Last night's game was therefore an excellent microcosm of the club generally.
Swindon I would draw the line atWhy would you do that? I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in the away end with Reading or Swindon fans. Would rather not go!
2 more points dropped tonight. What is Des’s win % looking like now and how does it compare to what we will need to achieve 75/76 points?
I’d imagine we are currently a fair bit short of what is required.
Why would you do that? I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in the away end with Reading or Swindon fans. Would rather not go!
I think the fundamental issue is our fans do not have and possibly do not want a top 30 mentality. We have a management team that wants and understands that philosophy. We have been brought up as a family based club, we thrive on togetherness, more like a family than a corporate entity.Yes, exactly. It's all there to be made into a positive and the fact they have created such a stink instead is a major red flag. If we had some proactive leadership then things would feel different. Fans would be more engaged and there would be more of a buzz about the club. If we had 'football people' running the show then they could even incentivise groups of fans to start improving the atmosphere on match days by working with them to bring noise and colour back into the stadium. There is probably something in the other reasons others have said like age of fan base and style of football but for me, I can't remember feeling so disassociated from my club.
Instead, we're told that we've been overcommunicated with, despite senior management failing to deliver their promise to deliver a fans forum before the end of last season. They've also cut the 5 minutes fans forums and distanced themselves from OxVox.
You are not fit to call yourself a CEO unless you take responsibility for everything beneath you.
I have a feeling that the upcoming fans forum is timed so we only really talk about the new stadium, and Tim and Grant have seen to this so that they can dodge as many questions as possible about their stewardship of our club. If it does end up getting them too uncomfortable then I imagine it will be the last forum we see for a long time.
I do think there is an element of truth in some of the senior management decision-making, language and communication driving a wedge between fan & the club. If you want to manage the club in a way which doesn’t ’over-communicate’ with the ‘customers’, and concentrates on ‘match-day activations’, ‘retail launches’ and marketing campaigns because that’s what ‘Top 30 clubs’ do - but then on the pitch we perform like a team which looks in no way equipped to remain in the top 10 of this division on current form, let alone the league above - it naturally fosters an environment of uncertainty and disconnect from the fans. We are quite literally being held at arms length, but then told to back the team because we’re ambitious…without any material gains/evidence to support that.
Combine that with a really poor season last year, blowing up after Christmas the year before, getting smashed in the playoffs by Blackpool a year before that and messing up the Wycombe Playoff Final in Covid etc and there is understandably a bit of hesitance and lack of belief among long term supporters.
And that’s before you take into account that our ‘brand of football’ this season is incredibly dour and at times difficult to watch. Last night I thought we played ok and (as others have said) I could see a semblance of a ‘plan’ and a methodology in how we were trying to attack & score. But it wasn’t scintillating at all. It was methodical, plodding and - when we got it wrong - utterly bewildering to watch.
I brought my wife to the Wigan game last Tuesday and she commented on how boring it was - but also noted how the crowd seem to come to life for a few minutes after Brannagan’s shot that hit the woodwork. Basically making the connection between a moment of excitement/attacking intent and a rise in crowd volume. I think that’s pertinent. And why the atmosphere was somewhat better when KR’s attack-minded teams were playing well. When you watch us at the moment there is so little to ‘latch on to’ and bring a crowd to life.
BTW I also completely agree that modern football, the way ticket prices just keep going up and up at a pace wages just don’t, and the drive towards making football stadiums a more ‘family friendly’, inclusive environment - whilst very important and necessary (sorry to all the folk who think it isn’t) - has had a knock on effect on atmospheres. It’s not just our club that has this issue. We have some particular nuances on it, such as the poor treatment of the Ultras driving a wedge between the club and a huge chunk of previously loyal supporters of a certain age bracket, a crap stadium which doesn’t retain noise, has an open end and no amenities around it to foster community spirit, the spontaneous generation of songs, a pre-match meeting point etc - but take a look at other forums/social media outlets There are lots of clubs having this exact same discussion
I think there is a difference between stopping fans knocking the s**t out of each other and turning games into a library where everyone sits down down, never says a word and is a customer. Its gone too family friendly for me, as a kid I liked the edge, the swearing, the noise etc and it keeps you interested as you get older into your teens, twenties. At the moment we are doing ok at getting kids along but once they get a bit older they lose interest, especially with the price of football nowadays, with ours, and football in generals, ageing fanbase who is going to replace the fans who get to old to go or pass away? Those people who stopped going at 18 because it was a boring, expensive experience where they were made to feel unwelcome just because they are young, boisterous and a bit rowdy, not the family crowd football wants? Can't see it, they will have found something else to do.
The absolutely baffling thing is that so many things are massively in our favour for there to be a positive feeling amongst the fans and the club more generally.
We're as close as we've ever been to potentially leaving behind a stadium that virtually everyone hates
We've got the deepest potential pockets in our history with billionaire backers
We're in the play-off places and have massively turned around last year's car crash of a season
We've bought in a number of highly rated players and reverted back to something resembling a productive trading model
Crowds are generally on the up
That our senior management team have therefore managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in terms of how the mood of the fanbase is currently, is remarkable. Last night's game was therefore an excellent microcosm of the club generally.