Away Match Day Thread 25/02/2026 - MDT: Stoke City v Oxford United

[Carpy]

 

[Big Ronaldo]

The issue of no goals is the pivot point at which we fell out of this league.
It doesn’t always mean that the strikers have to score them either.
Helic, Brown, long, Placheta all chipped in to get us through.
However, this season, Rowett seemed to concentrate so hard on being difficult to beat that we sold off our attacking intent in order to ‘keep it tight!’
I don’t particularly blame him for that if he felt that we couldn’t apply affective pressure but I rarely thought this season that we were really on the front foot, especially at home.
Easy games are hard to come by in the championship. I don’t know, perhaps Rowett should have been dispensed with sooner but as for now, we may as well take the gloves off and have a proper go at teams as I would sooner that than go down with a whimper.

 

[Oufcrealist]

Given relegation is a near certainty then loan players will almost certainly disappear. What players will be left after that who are on contracts

Wouldn't be surprised if some players have relegation clauses in their contracts.
In particular the newer signings.

 

[Raymond O'Leary]

Even God would be saying I built the earth in 7 days and nights but sorting OUFC out is impossible.
We've made so many stupid mistakes at all levels at the club since staying up. We are getting what we deserve, unfortunately. Sad fact of life in football the only guy who is held responsible is the head coach even when you literally tie his hands behind his back and blindfold him. The lack of true accountability is appalling.
We look like a lot of different departments all working to very different goals and the outcome is visible for all to see.
Not scoring goals has been the failure that will relegate us. That is the visible symptom of our malaise not the route cause of our current illness.
The worry is this could easily extend into our move to League 1.

Sort of yes and sort of no. Agreed on the absence of a coherent, logical recruitment strategy. We seem to recruit quantity, not quality.

The lack of goals is one symptom, but we also give away far, far too many soft goals. As is mentioned elsewhere we get dominated in midfield, so there is no midfield creativity, we don't create chances or half chances for the forwards, and we don't protect the defence.
The problems are in both boxes, and midfield.
And that is absolutely the failure to recruit enough quality. Another post discussed the 35 players who have come in since we were promoted. 35!
Good businesses add value in their processes and transactions.
Assume that the current squad cost £12m.
How much are those assets worth now? So big book value losses plus the ongoing salary costs, because we are paying Championship wages.
This will presumably have issues for the next two or three years. Either PSR (if we survive) or Salary and Cost Management Protocols if in League One.
As I said in an earlier post, ten real quality players would have been more cost effective and would have made a difference. 35 players where few stand out implies no real strategy. And that is with three different full-time head coaches.
If I were Erick there would be accountability, and changes, from the Chairman down for throwing my money away.

 

[windmill]

blind faith- and hope. And unwavering support for my team

Sarge. The word And is usually discouraged to start a sentence unless you want to emphasize something important. That is clearly evident here!

 

[RgYellows]

blind faith- and hope. And unwavering support for my team

Me and you both Sarge!

 

[stokeu]

Would appreciate any DM about this.

So, another game in what was my adopted home for 20 years, having left the rolling green Cotswold gateway for the wonders of an under invested city, clinging to its past “glories” as they are all slowly but surely abandoned as Manchester in particular and Birmingham somewhat, suck investment in, and rural Cheshire becomes ever more the wannabe replacemen for where I’d left and where I now call home. A city where we seem to rarely do well and I’ve left Vale Park after pleading with stewards to let me out after 60 minutes of hell.

Stepping off the train in the grade II listed station that has seen millions invested in making it so much more inaccessible to the community it serves, a solo chorus of “Yelllows” attracted no interest from the clearly bored safeguarding officer lazily draped over the barrier by the disabled access point, the wan, zombie public on their way home or changing for a trendier destination nor from any lurking Naughty Forty who presumably now would be in their rickety sixties.

Walk through Stoke, past the Glebe with a look through the widows showing it was less busy than a normal Friday night, though it’s just an hourish till kick off, past the Council offices where they are trying their best to go bankrupt but looking for a £10 million bail out from the Government to keep pursuing their aim to build a multi storey car park annually whilst doing sfa for the City, and onto Campbell Road, passing the ghost of the Victoria ground now an estate of tiny roomed new builds backing onto the noise from the A50, the near derelict pub opposite and the Billy Whizz tyres emporium.

Ahhh, Campbell Road, just off which was where I first lived here in a 2 up, 2 down with no upstairs toilet all those years ago. Apparently you could hear the cheer from the Britannia ground when Stoke scored, but I only lived there 12 months so never had the pleasure. The Chinese takeaway is gone, replaced by a chip shop serving warm,soggy, overly greasy chips that needed much more salt and vinegar to take away the taste.

Moving on, in isolation, thinking maybe I had had a massive miscalculation and arrived hours or even a day early or late the empty and desolate Plough motel loomed large, a “destination” for a game of pool and a badly kept beer so long ago, immortalised now by the name of the bus stop and the bin where my chip papers went.

Signs of life, the Michelin roundabout where it seems ok to be in the left hand lane and turn right, over the A500, the Trent tinkling in the silvery moonlight a few miles from its origin on its way to the North Sea , past the to be replaced sometime end-of-life incinerator, past the beer barge up the hill and round to the away end, where the sniffer dog declared me innocent as did two body searches and into the ground.

Obligatory pointless light show, words for a generic Stoke song (!) on the giant screens and off we go.

I won’t say much about the game itself, uninspiring and frustrating in equal measures. Second best too often, but I guess that’s normal as they must have spent 5 or 6 times as much as us in transfer fees. A goal to pop on repeat viewing as possibly the highlight of the season. Read the comments at Yellowsforum if you have some masochistic inclination.

The crowd nearly as quiet as Leicester’s were, and the quietest I have ever heard there in getting on for 30 appearances, the home ends about half full, but still not expected. A walk down to close to another previous address with delusional home fans still talking of automatic promotion and the more sensible heads talking about whether our goal was offside and if VAR should,d be a thing in league 2 -answer: no.

Home in leafy Cheshire by 10:15, sullenly quiet and feeling sorry for all you who may not get home until tomorrow.

They say hope springs eternal, looks like we will be testing that…….

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

No as I said re transfer we need to grow a pair and say it's x or you stay!

Definitely.

 

[38yearsofpain]

Sort of yes and sort of no. Agreed on the absence of a coherent, logical recruitment strategy. We seem to recruit quantity, not quality.

The lack of goals is one symptom, but we also give away far, far too many soft goals. As is mentioned elsewhere we get dominated in midfield, so there is no midfield creativity, we don't create chances or half chances for the forwards, and we don't protect the defence.
The problems are in both boxes, and midfield.
And that is absolutely the failure to recruit enough quality. Another post discussed the 35 players who have come in since we were promoted. 35!
Good businesses add value in their processes and transactions.
Assume that the current squad cost £12m.
How much are those assets worth now? So big book value losses plus the ongoing salary costs, because we are paying Championship wages.
This will presumably have issues for the next two or three years. Either PSR (if we survive) or Salary and Cost Management Protocols if in League One.
As I said in an earlier post, ten real quality players would have been more cost effective and would have made a difference. 35 players where few stand out implies no real strategy. And that is with three different full-time head coaches.
If I were Erick there would be accountability, and changes, from the Chairman down for throwing my money away.

I certainly accept we give away too many soft goals, but the total number we have conceeded equates to mid table champioship. Goals scored equates to where we are 2nd bottom of the championship.
The whole recruitment process appears scatter gun and out of control. What do we recruit for, a playing system, somebody like him, might improve, fills a gap. We appeared to have panicked knowing we were going down but a few signings might keep the fans happy. Whats actually happened is the management weaknesses have become even more apparent.
Fundamentally, we are looking less like a aspiring top 30 club and more like an out of control circus.
I realise the new ground has taken lots of eyes off the ball but the art of good management is keeping all the plates spinning. We've already destroyed a lot of the dinner service.

 

[Front Post]

Can't face reading everything. But some quick bullet points

- Emakhu definitely did something to his groin late on so wouldn't be surprised to see him miss the weekend. (Siriki where art thou)
- I know he set up the goal but the amount of wrong choices Stan Mills makes is infuriating. He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to be doing defensively either which is more a system/manager thing.
- For their first goal to come from a similar breakaway to the one that saw the excellent Cumming save is embarrassing. Again comes back to shape and setup and using the brain. I think they also scored a counter against us in the home game?
- The amount of game time that Romeny gets is criminal.
- Didn't think we were that bad overall but looked to have no clue how we were supposed to be trying to attack. Emakhu absolutely tore Wilmot apart for his booking and then we didn't try down that side again for a while longer.
- Once again no kitchen sink lobbed at it late on despite needing a goal.
- Even if we scrape a couple of wins, I don't see us accumulating enough points to stay up.
- BDK a big blow and Spencer likely to be a while you'd assume.

 

[Slade Yellow]

Sort of yes and sort of no. Agreed on the absence of a coherent, logical recruitment strategy. We seem to recruit quantity, not quality.

The lack of goals is one symptom, but we also give away far, far too many soft goals. As is mentioned elsewhere we get dominated in midfield, so there is no midfield creativity, we don't create chances or half chances for the forwards, and we don't protect the defence.
The problems are in both boxes, and midfield.
And that is absolutely the failure to recruit enough quality. Another post discussed the 35 players who have come in since we were promoted. 35!
Good businesses add value in their processes and transactions.
Assume that the current squad cost £12m.
How much are those assets worth now? So big book value losses plus the ongoing salary costs, because we are paying Championship wages.
This will presumably have issues for the next two or three years. Either PSR (if we survive) or Salary and Cost Management Protocols if in League One.
As I said in an earlier post, ten real quality players would have been more cost effective and would have made a difference. 35 players where few stand out implies no real strategy. And that is with three different full-time head coaches.
If I were Erick there would be accountability, and changes, from the Chairman down for throwing my money away.

This has and is an ongoing problem, we have had different players over the last 7 and longer years. What is glaringly obvious is that we still have the same laxy daisy inexperienced first team coaches that still have zero experience of what it takes to set a team up for the championship.
By just changing the head coaches has yet again shown what a mess our club has been allowed to become.
We offer no threat at all to the opposition virtually every game.
A massive clear out of our bench is now simply a must or it’s back down we go next season!!!

 

[Andy1505]

Tough times?? Were you there in the conference or when we were that close to going into liquidation.. it’s not nice losing but if you think this is tough.. then it’s maybe you that needs to harden up a bit

Yep I was there and went to a good number of away games during those years so yes I know what tough is. And this is tough right now.

I'll still support us but it's really not fun.