Robinson is a clown

This could make quite a lot of sense. Bicester has good rail links, is close to M40 and is being developed as a new 'garden city' so there will be real population growth. It's also cheap as chips when compared to a location within the Ring Road.

The Marketing Department could also sell VIP Bicester Village and OUFC Sporting Experience packages to the Chinese market.

You’re forgetting one thing, the daily accident at J9. Half the fans wouldn’t get into the ground until half time ?
 
I’ve been defensive of Robinson so far but he’s becoming tiresome.

The latest public criticism of a junior player, who’s clearly low on confidence, is unacceptable. Robinson, I infer, believes himself to be a master man-manager, yet, when our on-loan keeper, fresh from the latest batch of non-support from his own fans, picks up the paper today, he will see that Karl believes in public humiliations.

Unbelievably poor man-management and my tide is turning.
It’s a shame Robinson said the things he did about Mitchell. We now find out that Easty is out for a further 6 weeks so we have to rely on a young keeper who’s probably now feeling a little shell shocked. Robinson was probably put on the spot a bit during the post match interview but, as others have said, maybe he needs to learn to take a breath before speaking. More than once he’s dropped himself in it a little bit with his candidness
 
I am disappointed with the constant 'haranguing' of players in the media, specifically on radio interviews. I like Robinson but I am concerned that the default position after a poor performance or defeat is to hang players out to dry. We've seen so far this season, most of the back four, notably Garbutt, get a verbal shoeing, we've now had a junior goalkeeper, who has been getting better with each appearance, get both barrels on Sunday.

He was given Sam Smith after months worth of pursuit, yet has hardly featured. Our left back, has lost his place to a utility player. We sent one of our best pre-season players, out on loan to Woking. We seem to have an issue with Tony McMahon who no doubt is upset he lost his place to a superb Cameron Norman - McMahon wasn't even available on Sunday.........?

We seem to be all over the place and I've been a staunch supporter of Karl to date.

However, I'm more concerned with what's happening away from the pitch - our only positive that I see, is an exceptional ticket office staff. I'd be more concerned with a middle-management staff that don't look like they're doing a very good job, let alone a full time one.
 
Next 3 matches will be telling.

- Wycombe
- Walsall
- Wimbledon

That takes us up to the 10 matches most have spoken about.

Ive had some time so been poking around with numbers, quality of chances etc all pretty basic, but from what I can tell:

Walsall are in a bit of a false position, Wimbledon are performing better than the league suggests and Wycombe both with regards to the table and numbers suggests they are performing as expected.

A win on Saturday is looking important for the fans and KR
 
There was a top coach/manager at the game on Sunday, but unfortunately that ship has sailed. Unless Tiger can back him, and if Tiger was to pull the trigger on KR.
 
I think even KR will accept that his job is at risk.
Tiger's stated vision of OUFC being part of what the world perceives as "Oxford" is hardly going to happen when the team keeps losing and sits down at the bottom of League 1.

I can't see Thai Airlines putting that up as a reason to travel! Nor are Singha Beer going to be too pleased with the image being portrayed.
If KR doesn't get things going in the right direction, and soon, then he will be saying bye bye.
I would suggest that unless the entire squad were caught drink/drug driving or similar then the only thing that matters is putting the brands in front of the public captive audience and that would include the terrible football TV appearance and I'd rather we won for our playing endeavours not marketing.
 
I am disappointed with the constant 'haranguing' of players in the media, specifically on radio interviews. I like Robinson but I am concerned that the default position after a poor performance or defeat is to hang players out to dry. We've seen so far this season, most of the back four, notably Garbutt, get a verbal shoeing, we've now had a junior goalkeeper, who has been getting better with each appearance, get both barrels on Sunday.

He was given Sam Smith after months worth of pursuit, yet has hardly featured. Our left back, has lost his place to a utility player. We sent one of our best pre-season players, out on loan to Woking. We seem to have an issue with Tony McMahon who no doubt is upset he lost his place to a superb Cameron Norman - McMahon wasn't even available on Sunday.........?

We seem to be all over the place and I've been a staunch supporter of Karl to date.

However, I'm more concerned with what's happening away from the pitch - our only positive that I see, is an exceptional ticket office staff. I'd be more concerned with a middle-management staff that don't look like they're doing a very good job, let alone a full time one.

Care to expand on what you mean in your reference to 'middle-management' staff? Why do you think they are not doing a very good job?

Genuinely interested..
 
I would suggest that unless the entire squad were caught drink/drug driving or similar then the only thing that matters is putting the brands in front of the public captive audience and that would include the terrible football TV appearance and I'd rather we won for our playing endeavours not marketing.
I would rather we win as well!
 
Care to expand on what you mean in your reference to 'middle-management' staff? Why do you think they are not doing a very good job?

Genuinely interested..
Me too. Does Rosie come under that label? From the outside he seems to do a good job.
 
Well that didn’t last long!

You’re right. It’s interesting how much different his interviews are now and how much his body language and tone have changed.
It’s like there was no pressure on him at the end of last season because it was a win win for him. If we went down they weren’t his players and we were too far gone as a team. When he kept us up it’s all his hard work.
Also Pep was so bad and the players he brought in were so terrible all KR actually had to do was remove all but 1 of Peps signings from the team and play what remained from the Mapp era.
Now the pressure is on. It’s his team and his coaching / management. It was okay to slate Peps players and rightly so. But HE brought most of these players in and they won’t thank him for being publicly singled out.
Even in business a good manager will take responsibility and protect and encourage the team.
I think his recruiting has been on the whole quite good. But there are some missing pieces that need to be sorted out in January.
Is he the man? As per the OP yes at the time. Will he last until Christmas? The next few games will be very important.
One thing, he has been unlucky with injuries and suspensions but time will tell.
 
You’re right. It’s interesting how much different his interviews are now and how much his body language and tone have changed.
It’s like there was no pressure on him at the end of last season because it was a win win for him. If we went down they weren’t his players and we were too far gone as a team. When he kept us up it’s all his hard work.
Also Pep was so bad and the players he brought in were so terrible all KR actually had to do was remove all but 1 of Peps signings from the team and play what remained from the Mapp era.
Now the pressure is on. It’s his team and his coaching / management. It was okay to slate Peps players and rightly so. But HE brought most of these players in and they won’t thank him for being publicly singled out.
Even in business a good manager will take responsibility and protect and encourage the team.
I think his recruiting has been on the whole quite good. But there are some missing pieces that need to be sorted out in January.
Is he the man? As per the OP yes at the time. Will he last until Christmas? The next few games will be very important.
One thing, he has been unlucky with injuries and suspensions but time will tell.

"You know, when they forced Khruschev out, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor. He said – “When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can’t get out of, open the second letter”. Well, soon enough, this guy found himself into a tight place, so he opened the first letter. Which said – “Blame everything on me”. So he blames the old man, it worked like a charm. He got himself into a second situation he couldn’t get out of, he opened the second letter. It said – “Sit down, and write two letters”."
 
I believe that KR has been told by Tiger he has until the end of October to turn things around. The report in today’s OM would suggest that all is not well between the chairman and manager. With any funds being held back until the January transfer window adds to this theory. Tiger was not happy on Sunday that’s for sure.
 
I would suggest that unless the entire squad were caught drink/drug driving or similar then the only thing that matters is putting the brands in front of the public captive audience and that would include the terrible football TV appearance and I'd rather we won for our playing endeavours not marketing.

Knowing Oxford we will lose the three league games but dump City out of the cup between the second and third games. That'll complicate things!
 
Didn't Robinson say that after 4/5 weeks of the season we would be firing and no teams would want to be playing us? Didn't seem to bother Coventry much. Hopefully yesterday was a blip in the upward curve......
It looks like our upward curve was the blip, beating a bunch of kids, a lower league team and a Burton team that must have had a very bad day seems to carry less weight than more recent performances and results. I doubt any teams dont want to be playing us.
 
Credit where it's due, it looks like Robinson has taken on a lot of the criticism that came his way and has changed the way he conducts himself during games, and shown flexibility in his team selections.

It took him a long time to find a formation that works and the right players for it, but 5 games unbeaten and only a penalty conceded is a massive step up from where we were. Of course we've played some more friendly fixtures, but we've stopped gifting teams goals and have limited the chances they're getting. And even after today, these 5 games have only resulted in 6 goals but we're creating a few chances and growing in confidence.

And whilst it easier when getting the right results, KR has been visibly calmer on the touchline and in his media work. He has backed players and is seeing results. Mackie is proving his worth, Holmes, Whyte and Browne give us some many options, and the likes of Ruffels, McMahon and Mous have established themselves in the team and provide a lot more stability.

So whilst we might not be booking an open top bus just yet, I think we are finally seeing what KR and his team are capable of.
 
Credit where it's due, it looks like Robinson has taken on a lot of the criticism that came his way and has changed the way he conducts himself during games, and shown flexibility in his team selections.

It took him a long time to find a formation that works and the right players for it, but 5 games unbeaten and only a penalty conceded is a massive step up from where we were. Of course we've played some more friendly fixtures, but we've stopped gifting teams goals and have limited the chances they're getting. And even after today, these 5 games have only resulted in 6 goals but we're creating a few chances and growing in confidence.

And whilst it easier when getting the right results, KR has been visibly calmer on the touchline and in his media work. He has backed players and is seeing results. Mackie is proving his worth, Holmes, Whyte and Browne give us some many options, and the likes of Ruffels, McMahon and Mous have established themselves in the team and provide a lot more stability.

So whilst we might not be booking an open top bus just yet, I think we are finally seeing what KR and his team are capable of.
Agree with that.
First of all he has shored up the defence.
Then 5 goals in the last 2 home games.
The results at Sunderland, Charlton and Southend show that we can be a decent team at this level.
We still need to make the most of the next 4 league games which give us the chance to move away from the bottom 4.
 
Credit where it's due, it looks like Robinson has taken on a lot of the criticism that came his way and has changed the way he conducts himself during games, and shown flexibility in his team selections.

It took him a long time to find a formation that works and the right players for it, but 5 games unbeaten and only a penalty conceded is a massive step up from where we were. Of course we've played some more friendly fixtures, but we've stopped gifting teams goals and have limited the chances they're getting. And even after today, these 5 games have only resulted in 6 goals but we're creating a few chances and growing in confidence.

And whilst it easier when getting the right results, KR has been visibly calmer on the touchline and in his media work. He has backed players and is seeing results. Mackie is proving his worth, Holmes, Whyte and Browne give us some many options, and the likes of Ruffels, McMahon and Mous have established themselves in the team and provide a lot more stability.

So whilst we might not be booking an open top bus just yet, I think we are finally seeing what KR and his team are capable of.

Agree. I wanted him gone after the Luton game but he seems to have found a formula that works ie Mous protecting the back four and turned it around. What odds would you get on us and Plymouth being in the play offs at the end of the season????
 
KR still has so.e way to go as with this squad we are probably a decent striker away from being a team that should be looking to compete for the play offs.
Having said that it is a good thing some times that Club Chairmen see the bigger picture and don't listen to supporters!!
 
Indeed. I wanted him gone, but difficult to maintain that position given our upturn in form. I also wanted MApp gone after his poor start.

Next time a new manager fails to impress during his initial games, I wonder if I'll look back on those two experiences and be more tolerant? Nah! I'm a football fan ....

The difference, imo, was that it was always very obvious how Appleton wanted us to play, and I think we genuinely were very unlucky to lose some of the early games under him. Also, he came in midway through a summer transfer window to a club that was in a real slump and had to almost be completely rebuilt (Appleton alluded to having to completely change the club's philosophy in a recent interview). For those reasons I was always adamant that he should be afforded more time. Thankfully, Darryl/Ashton shared that view and kept him in the job.

Conversely, Robinson had a around a third of a season to suss out what was needed, and a whole summer to recruit accordingly. He failed to address some key areas and we're still suffering as a consequence. Additionally, after the first ten games I think most fans would have been hard pressed to explain what style of play he was trying to implement. We were shipping horrendous goals game after game and rarely looked likely to score save the odd bit of individual brilliance. For all of these reasons, I eventually conceded that he needed to go.

All that said, I think he's done a good job of weathering the storm. The defence, which appeared beyond repair, seems to have been fixed (not least as a result of Mosuinho being deployed just in front of them, something that most fans had been calling for for many weeks may I add!!). I think that the poor start made him carry out some self-reflection, and thankfully he seems to have learnt his lesson. As long as the current form continues, and he continues to apply a more measured approach to his management in general, I'm more than happy for him to stay.
 
The difference, imo, was that it was always very obvious how Appleton wanted us to play, and I think we genuinely were very unlucky to lose some of the early games under him. Also, he came in midway through a summer transfer window to a club that was in a real slump and had to almost be completely rebuilt (Appleton alluded to having to completely change the club's philosophy in a recent interview). For those reasons I was always adamant that he should be afforded more time. Thankfully, Darryl/Ashton shared that view and kept him in the job.

Conversely, Robinson had a around a third of a season to suss out what was needed, and a whole summer to recruit accordingly. He failed to address some key areas and we're still suffering as a consequence. Additionally, after the first ten games I think most fans would have been hard pressed to explain what style of play he was trying to implement. We were shipping horrendous goals game after game and rarely looked likely to score save the odd bit of individual brilliance. For all of these reasons, I eventually conceded that he needed to go.

All that said, I think he's done a good job of weathering the storm. The defence, which appeared beyond repair, seems to have been fixed (not least as a result of Mosuinho being deployed just in front of them, something that most fans had been calling for for many weeks may I add!!). I think that the poor start made him carry out some self-reflection, and thankfully he seems to have learnt his lesson. As long as the current form continues, and he continues to apply a more measured approach to his management in general, I'm more than happy for him to stay.
I am not sure that I agree with a couple of things there.

'Most fans' couldn't see remotely how MAPP wanted us to play. Most fans wanted MAPP out. Many suggested (the usual things) of no Plan B, awful recruitment etc.

Also with regard to Mousinho did 'most fans' want him playing? Some sure but I reckon they were in a minority.

I would suggest that the sorting of the defence was the first thing that clearly needed doing. KR if anything was a little slow in sorting this but wasn't helped by injuries and lack of form. This seems to have been resolved at the moment.

From an attacking perspective, it was interesting yesterday to hear from KR how they have been working a lot on Ruffels getting on the end of the crosses at dead ball situations as he is normally marked by the fourth best header of the ball in the defence (the best headers of the ball mark up Neslon, Dickie and Mousinho) So good seeing these things come off.

Things are clearly looking a lot better, but we badly need another 2-3 wins to get away from the bottom 4 and to start looking upwards.
 
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