6/08/22 - L1: OUFC v Cambridge United

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So we ended up with 7,462 home fans, meaning I was about 100 out on my projection.It was almost exactly 400 up on last season's opener against Charlton, so not bad, but a bit less than it should have been if the club hadn't completely messed up season tickets, commercial, and general marketing this summer.

What threw the total attendance prediction out was the P**s poor turn out from Cambridge. Less than 600 after two wins is very poor in my opinion.

I was right about a win, any win, though!!!
Our attendances have pretty much every year been abit lower in August due to the holidays so 8k with only 600 away fans was pretty good
 
So we ended up with 7,462 home fans, meaning I was about 100 out on my projection.It was almost exactly 400 up on last season's opener against Charlton, so not bad, but a bit less than it should have been if the club hadn't completely messed up season tickets, commercial, and general marketing this summer.

What threw the total attendance prediction out was the P**s poor turn out from Cambridge. Less than 600 after two wins is very poor in my opinion.

I was right about a win, any win, though!!!

Harsh criticism of club Colin.
 
Harsh criticism of club Colin.
I don't often criticise the club, and certainly don't like doing it, but I'm far from alone in feeling the summer has been poor from a ticketing, commercial, and marketing perspective.

In no particular order we have had the following:

Season tickets went on sale later than many other clubs, and missed the optimism that could have come from selling while last season was ongoing and we were winning games.
The ludicrous decision to prevent potential new season ticket holders from buying a ticket until July, by which time we'd had two months of no transfer activity and a malaise among the fanbase setting in.
The poor marketing of prices staying the same when in fact they went up in most cases.
The amateurish £10 charge for a physical card when anyone with an ounce of sales/marketing nouse would have promoted it as a £10 reduction if you go digital.
The Britannia Lounge debacle, which then had to be scrapped.
The inability of the marketing team to get a shirt sponsor.

I could go on, and there's one other element of incompetence that I'll keep to myself for reasons of confidentiality, where some very low hanging fruit was jeopardised (and nearly lost) by incompetence and a lack of communication from those responsible for it, so I can't see how the club's summer (in)actions can be described as anything other than poor. I watched on as other clubs were publishing strong season ticket sales all summer and we weren't even making them available to prospective new customers.

Sorry PRB, I'm as positive as the next man, but the club has been poor in so many areas that aren't even that difficult to get right!
 
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It was as bad a performance as I have seen at home in more than 18 months.

My real concern, is 90% of the side is the team that we have seen play some wonderful football over the last 12 months or more.

We appear not to have decided on how we want to play. We either want to play out from the back and through the thirds or we want to be boring, predictable and direct. Easty started well and was trying really hard to play the sweeper keeper role; it lasted 7 minutes. We then decided to go long and direct, aiming long balls to the three little amigos up front, Matty, Bodin and Murphy.

Playing our electric winger in a three man midfield was odd. He was ineffective doing it too.

We got into our rhythm once Bran was swapped with McGuane and Cameron played the '1' in the 4-1-4-1 formation. We started to have possession, from 60 minutes on. That's Cameron's best position. We create and have little creativity. I think the game changed with James Henry and Lewis Bate coming on, adding some impetus, energy and creativity. Henry ended the game with the most creative assists. He could have been MOTM.

Tyler G was excellent again, just as he has been in pre-season. Young, fearless and brave.

Elliot Moore, bar his several late headed attempts on goal, was pretty poor too.

And we're now bidding silly money on players, big bucks on Hardie who has had a good couple of seasons. I really struggle to work out what we're trying to do.
 
I thought it was a stodgy and unimpressive performance. The Cambridge players were at times allowed to just run forward to the edge of our penalty area without a challenge, we looked toothless up front for the majority of the game, the passing was awful and mostly sideways and backwards and we were sllllooowwwww and oh so predictable. If we aren't going to pass and move the ball quickly through the midfield or provide decent service to the wide players then there needs to be a complete rethink of how we are going to play - booming diagonals and attempting inch perfect passes over the top just aren't going to work. It's a good thing Cambridge were poor up front. We all know the holes in the squad - I do hope KR and his bosses can see what's in front of them. Of course the afternoon was saved by Goodrham (and Bate and Henry bought a bit of class to the proceedings as well).

C+ : must do better.
 
It looks to me like we are a little undercooked for the season start.
We are by no means the only club in league one in this position so it may well be that we will get lucky with with a few glossless performances until we click into gear.
Not ideal by any means. A situation best avoided but we are here so we just have to get on with it.
 
I don't often criticise the club, and certainly don't like doing it, but I'm far from alone in feeling the summer has been poor from a ticketing, commercial, and marketing perspective.

In no particular order we have had the following:

Season tickets went on sale later than many other clubs, and missed the optimism that could have come from selling while last season was ongoing and we were winning games.
The ludicrous decision to prevent potential new season ticket holders from buying a ticket until July, by which time we'd had two months of no transfer activity and a malaise among the fanbase setting in.
The poor marketing of prices staying the same when in fact they went up in most cases.
The amateurish £10 charge for a physical card when anyone with an ounce of sales/marketing nouse would have promoted it as a £10 reduction if you go digital.
The Britannia Lounge debacle, which then had to be scrapped.
The inability of the marketing team to get a shirt sponsor.

I could go on, and there's one other element of incompetence that I'll keep to myself for reasons of confidentiality, where some very low hanging fruit was jeopardised (and nearly lost) by incompetence and a lack of communication from those responsible for it, so I can't see how the club's summer (in)actions can be described as anything other than poor. I watched on as other clubs were publishing strong season ticket sales all summer and we weren't even making them available to prospective new customers.

Sorry PRB, I'm as positive as the next man, but the club has been poor in so many areas that aren't even that difficult to get right!

"I'm as positive as the next man - unless the next man is Scotchers!!"

I think we're in exactly the same boat, lots to be positive about but far too many things where we've been a little lazy in our marketing approach. You've summed up the key issues so I won't repeat tham, but these have all been compounded by some really poor communication from some of the key areas.

We've still had no formal confirmation on how many season tickets have sold, and whether we hit the 5000+ target. We've seen in recent seasons that our numbers in August are short so we could have done a "holiday club" offer where anyone buying a season ticket but being unable to attend in August could get a free ticket for a friend later in the season as an example. We've had little in the way of a countdown to the season starting, nothing aimed at getting the kids involved within the summer holidays, no creativity, no new initiatives.

We had the "Play it Forward" initiative, but this seems to be badly thought out and badly communicated. Individuals or businesses can pay for season tickets (and parts of season tickets but this was barely mentioned). But how many do we have and how do these get allocated? Could the club have done a matched funding scheme where every season ticket paid for by others equated to a second ticket being available for those in need. We've had all summer to identify community clubs and support networks that we could have gifted tickets to, or offered them at a significantly reduced rate.

We could have looked to relaunch Olly the Ox in a way that was funny and got people talking! We could have done the klaxon on social media. Played up the "new or returning" signing conversations that have been on here. Have a blurred shot of him with a unique hairstyle or tattoos etc. Either way, we could have been really selling the family element and offering iniatives for Olly's Den.

Literally anything could have been done that would have a greater impact than what we've seen this summer, and I'm tired of say it as I'm not sure that it is being heard. I've been very supportive of the Supporters Panel, and I know that there are some really good people at the club doing their very best. It just feels a little amateur and short sighted and I would hope for so much more.
 
Wanted to give a bit of time before addressing the performance yesterday, and whilst the ending was fairytale, the rest of it was poor. I think what worries me the most is how we're lacking a bit of an identity and way of playing, which is weird because we know how a Karl Robinson side likes to set up and play. Not knowing your best XI at the start of the season is allowable, but not even knowing what formation is best and who plays where - when you've signed pretty much all the players yourself - is confusing. Surely when signing a player you have a role and position in mind, rather than just signing a player because they're good. It baffles me that even the bigger clubs don't get this right.

I also think they players can shoulder a bit of the blame for yesterday too. On paper, the players we had out there should be wiping the floor with this Cambridge side, no matter how organised they might be. The likes of Browne, Bodin, Murphy and Taylor have all recently played in the Championship, and just on their own that quartet should have been causing the Cambridge defence a lot more problems.

I don't see us finding our flow in the next few weeks, not until recent signings have settled in and we've brought in a few more bodies, so we've really just got to hope we can eek out more smash-and-grab results like this until we do.
 
Wanted to give a bit of time before addressing the performance yesterday, and whilst the ending was fairytale, the rest of it was poor. I think what worries me the most is how we're lacking a bit of an identity and way of playing, which is weird because we know how a Karl Robinson side likes to set up and play. Not knowing your best XI at the start of the season is allowable, but not even knowing what formation is best and who plays where - when you've signed pretty much all the players yourself - is confusing. Surely when signing a player you have a role and position in mind, rather than just signing a player because they're good. It baffles me that even the bigger clubs don't get this right.

I also think they players can shoulder a bit of the blame for yesterday too. On paper, the players we had out there should be wiping the floor with this Cambridge side, no matter how organised they might be. The likes of Browne, Bodin, Murphy and Taylor have all recently played in the Championship, and just on their own that quartet should have been causing the Cambridge defence a lot more problems.


I don't see us finding our flow in the next few weeks, not until recent signings have settled in and we've brought in a few more bodies, so we've really just got to hope we can eek out more smash-and-grab results like this until we do.
The reason in my opinion is that Browne and Bodin were bizarrely both playing in each others position and need swapping over, Murphy will need a good few matches to get up to speed and Taylor needs much closer support and balls zipped into his feet to be effective, not looping balls that he has to challenge for in the air against giant cbs.

As others have said, all a little bit muddled at the moment. The team is still searching for a direction. Hopefully we’ll keep digging out some points in the few weeks its appearing it still needs to sort out.
 
The reason in my opinion is that Browne and Bodin were bizarrely both playing in each others position and need swapping over, Murphy will need a good few matches to get up to speed and Taylor needs much closer support and balls zipped into his feet to be effective, not looping balls that he has to challenge for in the air against giant cbs.

As others have said, all a little bit muddled at the moment. The team is still searching for a direction. Hopefully we’ll keep digging out some points in the few weeks its appearing it still needs to sort out.
Don’t most seasons start a bit like this? If you look back at previous early season lineups they are often different to what becomes the established team.
 
Don’t most seasons start a bit like this? If you look back at previous early season lineups they are often different to what becomes the established team.
But it's more so for new managers who're working with the previous manager's players as well as new signings coming in. Not knowing where to play Browne and Bodin, both players Karl's worked with for a while now, is less forgivable.
 
We seem to have the players who could compete for 6th place this season and with a couple of additions could go higher. But we need to find the right team balance. Taylor up front at times looks a little lost much like he has done in the last couple of seasons, but he has always come back with a good scoring run. But when it's not working, it really doesn't look good and a change needs to be made earlier or go 2 up top to give him some support. Still not a fan of McGuane. He has undoubtedly tidied up his defensive responsibility side to his game, and we all know he can at times travel with the ball. But he has zero long pass capability and I wish he would pass the ball forward more, too much backwards and sideways and too safe. Maybe that is how he is told to play, but this is stopping us getting up field quickly and preventing decent attacks from starting. I don't think he will last long in that role. He will soon be found out, and it was telling that Brannagan actually moved there for a spell presumably because KR realised that the ball was getting stuck in midfield every time it went via MM. But this is again meaning players are not playing in their best positions. You get the feeling the manager wants 3 at the back and wing backs and this CDM role then becomes redundant. But we can't get the players in to do this either. At the moment we are just about getting away with it, but it will need a fix at some point, and when Baldock is available again it might need a change of formation to 352 to fit him back into the side.

Few things to add to Colin and Scotchegg's points about the club:

The new programme was announced as bigger and better but it seems to have got even smaller and the type font is so small now you strain your eyes trying to read it. The price increase was a bit steep too.

And it was a real shame about not having home shirts available to buy in the smaller sizes ie below XL, I know lots of clubs have had problems with supply but this would have been the biggest selling day of new shirts. It was very noticeable how few fans were actually wearing the new kit.

My daughter went to the toilet when we got into the ground, she came out commenting good on the club for providing period products, except one of the ladies who went in just before her took them all ! Either she has having a really bad one, or this is a sign of the times and she couldn't afford to pay for them so took advantage of the freebies.

And finally whoever thought it was a good idea to put the programme stall in the corridor of the east stand partially blocking the exit when we are all trying to leave needs to have a good think about what they are doing because that was just bloody stupid. Nice bruise on my knee now.
 
We seem to have the players who could compete for 6th place this season and with a couple of additions could go higher. But we need to find the right team balance. Taylor up front at times looks a little lost much like he has done in the last couple of seasons, but he has always come back with a good scoring run. But when it's not working, it really doesn't look good and a change needs to be made earlier or go 2 up top to give him some support. Still not a fan of McGuane. He has undoubtedly tidied up his defensive responsibility side to his game, and we all know he can at times travel with the ball. But he has zero long pass capability and I wish he would pass the ball forward more, too much backwards and sideways and too safe. Maybe that is how he is told to play, but this is stopping us getting up field quickly and preventing decent attacks from starting. I don't think he will last long in that role. He will soon be found out, and it was telling that Brannagan actually moved there for a spell presumably because KR realised that the ball was getting stuck in midfield every time it went via MM. But this is again meaning players are not playing in their best positions. You get the feeling the manager wants 3 at the back and wing backs and this CDM role then becomes redundant. But we can't get the players in to do this either. At the moment we are just about getting away with it, but it will need a fix at some point, and when Baldock is available again it might need a change of formation to 352 to fit him back into the side.

Few things to add to Colin and Scotchegg's points about the club:

The new programme was announced as bigger and better but it seems to have got even smaller and the type font is so small now you strain your eyes trying to read it. The price increase was a bit steep too.

And it was a real shame about not having home shirts available to buy in the smaller sizes ie below XL, I know lots of clubs have had problems with supply but this would have been the biggest selling day of new shirts. It was very noticeable how few fans were actually wearing the new kit.

My daughter went to the toilet when we got into the ground, she came out commenting good on the club for providing period products, except one of the ladies who went in just before her took them all ! Either she has having a really bad one, or this is a sign of the times and she couldn't afford to pay for them so took advantage of the freebies.

And finally whoever thought it was a good idea to put the programme stall in the corridor of the east stand partially blocking the exit when we are all trying to leave needs to have a good think about what they are doing because that was just bloody stupid. Nice bruise on my knee now.

I think your final points show that there are some good intentions, but they just need a little more thought. Women at football games have rarely been catered for, and with an ever increasing number attending its great that people are thinking of their needs. Just a shame if someone took advantage, and maybe an indication of current times or just someone being a little selfish.

I will be a little sympathetic on the shirt issue having heard that we placed the order last October and that supply issues are not just an problem for Oxford. It is incredibly frustrating, but I'm not sure we could do a huge amount about it.

The issues about season tickets being scanned, delays at the turnstyles and the programme stall are hopefully first game glitches and oversights that we can quickly put right, but blocking (even partially) an exit is not the greatest move and hopefully no more than user error from someone who may have been working at their first game.
 
We seem to have the players who could compete for 6th place this season and with a couple of additions could go higher. But we need to find the right team balance. Taylor up front at times looks a little lost much like he has done in the last couple of seasons, but he has always come back with a good scoring run. But when it's not working, it really doesn't look good and a change needs to be made earlier or go 2 up top to give him some support. Still not a fan of McGuane. He has undoubtedly tidied up his defensive responsibility side to his game, and we all know he can at times travel with the ball. But he has zero long pass capability and I wish he would pass the ball forward more, too much backwards and sideways and too safe. Maybe that is how he is told to play, but this is stopping us getting up field quickly and preventing decent attacks from starting. I don't think he will last long in that role. He will soon be found out, and it was telling that Brannagan actually moved there for a spell presumably because KR realised that the ball was getting stuck in midfield every time it went via MM. But this is again meaning players are not playing in their best positions. You get the feeling the manager wants 3 at the back and wing backs and this CDM role then becomes redundant. But we can't get the players in to do this either. At the moment we are just about getting away with it, but it will need a fix at some point, and when Baldock is available again it might need a change of formation to 352 to fit him back into the side.

Few things to add to Colin and Scotchegg's points about the club:

The new programme was announced as bigger and better but it seems to have got even smaller and the type font is so small now you strain your eyes trying to read it. The price increase was a bit steep too.

And it was a real shame about not having home shirts available to buy in the smaller sizes ie below XL, I know lots of clubs have had problems with supply but this would have been the biggest selling day of new shirts. It was very noticeable how few fans were actually wearing the new kit.

My daughter went to the toilet when we got into the ground, she came out commenting good on the club for providing period products, except one of the ladies who went in just before her took them all ! Either she has having a really bad one, or this is a sign of the times and she couldn't afford to pay for them so took advantage of the freebies.

And finally whoever thought it was a good idea to put the programme stall in the corridor of the east stand partially blocking the exit when we are all trying to leave needs to have a good think about what they are doing because that was just bloody stupid. Nice bruise on my knee now.
I understood that the toilets etc in the ground are not controlled by OUFC
 
Still not a fan of McGuane. He has undoubtedly tidied up his defensive responsibility side to his game, and we all know he can at times travel with the ball. But he has zero long pass capability and I wish he would pass the ball forward more, too much backwards and sideways and too safe. Maybe that is how he is told to play, but this is stopping us getting up field quickly and preventing decent attacks from starting. I don't think he will last long in that role.
You absolutely cannot want Gorrin in that role then. McGuane is more progressive and passes forwards more in 90 minutes than Gorrin has in his whole Oxford career!
 
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