A thread I hope to look back on at 2.30pm on Saturday 2nd May with some embarrassment, but I'm not sure I will. Even the RadOx boys seemed resigned although not sad about it. It may well be done tonight but almost certainly by Saturday.
Overall, I'm really not too bothered by it. Every pundit predicted we'd be down there, the league was certainly strengthened by having Birmingham and Wrexham in it and we simply didn't keep pace with others. The thought of us being 'safe' at any point has never looked on.
I don't look at this as a catastrophic failure or an embarrassment. Our points total isn't akin to Derby's infamous 2007-08 season or even our own record breaking 2000-01 season where we didn't even scrape to 30 points. It's a relegation born out of not being quite good enough to finish ahead of three other sides. As relegations go, it feels rather benign. It's certainly less of an issue than 2006 was.
Relegations aren't always down to a single factor. Some will have more significance than others and others will be secondary, but all add up. As a means of understanding the season, I've tried to summarise them below.
Disappointing recruitment in the summer
The big one for me. Only two permanent deals were struck in BDK and Spencer. Five loans joined before the end of the window closing yet Luke Harris returned to Fulham in January and Krastev was sent back in February. Ben Davies has made only 11 appearances for us and Nik Prelec has played 25 times with only one goal to show for it. Not enough quality, not enough numbers in the right areas and critically overlooked the midfield - I'll come back to that.
Indonesia tour
A tour the manager didn't want. We learned little from it, didn't even win it on ploughed fields and ended up coming back with even more injuries after some robust tackles from the opposition. It generated an OUFC meme for the ages but nothing more
.
Gary Rowett - overstayed his welcome?
He was the hero of 2024-25 in making us tough to beat, but something didn't feel right this season. He hated the tour as above and came across as a niggled, frustrated character at times. We hadn't recruited for him but for the club and he soon ran out of ideas ('I don't know how many drawing boards I have to go back to'). By the Charlton game after which he was sacked, he seemed to be either phoning it in, awaiting January for reinforcements or expecting the sack. Would removing him any earlier made much of a difference?
Injuries
Every team has them, granted. However, we lacked the numbers in midfield for the start of the season. If you lose a midfielder in Brannagan and you essentially only have Vaulks and BDK to call upon (Sibley was out of favour and LHarris was off too), we were done for from late December to January. This goes back to recruitment. Not enough midfielders and no #10 either - we'd lost an option in Goodhram there as well.
Positive January signings but they needed time
Four permanent signings joined (+ Nik Prelec as a loan-to-permanent) plus four loanees. It's the window we should have had in the summer. The main difference is that you have time to fine tune and practice with the squad in the summer. Give them run outs in PSFs or take advantage of the early EFL Cup game to bed them in. Nearly all started to click and find their roles but that had to be done at the expense of a near winless February.
Matt Bloomfield
Probably no ones first choice and looking likely to have another relegation on his CV in similar circumstances to that he had at Luton (although more expected this time around). We've improved slightly under him but that's mainly because we've moved the dial a touch on what we brought in over the winter. He's made errors, for sure (Norwich at home, CB as a 10 last night) but show me a manager who hasn't. I'm not piling much blame on him as we were always swimming against the tide. The questions are now if he'll be here next season and, if so, is he the man to take us forward?
Bloated squad
A sub-category for recruitment and squad building although it's worth mentioning. We've ended up with too many players. Senior players in Finlay, Goodwin, Thorniley, Kioso, Dale, Negru, Sibley and Bradshaw have all been loaned out. El Miz, Phillips and Moore left in different circumstances. That's poor recruitment and management of the squad. It's ended up being a waste of a season for GO'D and Ferdinan too.
All that said …
The good
League 1 is fun. We'll have at least one new team we've never played before (and maybe even KR's Salford too). Derbies against Reading and Wycombe plus the possibility of Swindon. It'll be a competitive league next year but won't have a Wrexham or Birmingham to skew things. EFL Trophy to play some youngsters, first and second rounds of the FA Cup for novelty away days and - above all - hopefully a chance to experience a winning feeling a bit more often.
There are no guarantees to promotion but learn from our mistakes, recruit better all round and we can succeed.
Our Championship adventure is nearly over. Let's smile that it happened and hope to do it again sooner rather than later.
Overall, I'm really not too bothered by it. Every pundit predicted we'd be down there, the league was certainly strengthened by having Birmingham and Wrexham in it and we simply didn't keep pace with others. The thought of us being 'safe' at any point has never looked on.
I don't look at this as a catastrophic failure or an embarrassment. Our points total isn't akin to Derby's infamous 2007-08 season or even our own record breaking 2000-01 season where we didn't even scrape to 30 points. It's a relegation born out of not being quite good enough to finish ahead of three other sides. As relegations go, it feels rather benign. It's certainly less of an issue than 2006 was.
Relegations aren't always down to a single factor. Some will have more significance than others and others will be secondary, but all add up. As a means of understanding the season, I've tried to summarise them below.
Disappointing recruitment in the summer
The big one for me. Only two permanent deals were struck in BDK and Spencer. Five loans joined before the end of the window closing yet Luke Harris returned to Fulham in January and Krastev was sent back in February. Ben Davies has made only 11 appearances for us and Nik Prelec has played 25 times with only one goal to show for it. Not enough quality, not enough numbers in the right areas and critically overlooked the midfield - I'll come back to that.
Indonesia tour
A tour the manager didn't want. We learned little from it, didn't even win it on ploughed fields and ended up coming back with even more injuries after some robust tackles from the opposition. It generated an OUFC meme for the ages but nothing more
.Gary Rowett - overstayed his welcome?
He was the hero of 2024-25 in making us tough to beat, but something didn't feel right this season. He hated the tour as above and came across as a niggled, frustrated character at times. We hadn't recruited for him but for the club and he soon ran out of ideas ('I don't know how many drawing boards I have to go back to'). By the Charlton game after which he was sacked, he seemed to be either phoning it in, awaiting January for reinforcements or expecting the sack. Would removing him any earlier made much of a difference?
Injuries
Every team has them, granted. However, we lacked the numbers in midfield for the start of the season. If you lose a midfielder in Brannagan and you essentially only have Vaulks and BDK to call upon (Sibley was out of favour and LHarris was off too), we were done for from late December to January. This goes back to recruitment. Not enough midfielders and no #10 either - we'd lost an option in Goodhram there as well.
Positive January signings but they needed time
Four permanent signings joined (+ Nik Prelec as a loan-to-permanent) plus four loanees. It's the window we should have had in the summer. The main difference is that you have time to fine tune and practice with the squad in the summer. Give them run outs in PSFs or take advantage of the early EFL Cup game to bed them in. Nearly all started to click and find their roles but that had to be done at the expense of a near winless February.
Matt Bloomfield
Probably no ones first choice and looking likely to have another relegation on his CV in similar circumstances to that he had at Luton (although more expected this time around). We've improved slightly under him but that's mainly because we've moved the dial a touch on what we brought in over the winter. He's made errors, for sure (Norwich at home, CB as a 10 last night) but show me a manager who hasn't. I'm not piling much blame on him as we were always swimming against the tide. The questions are now if he'll be here next season and, if so, is he the man to take us forward?
Bloated squad
A sub-category for recruitment and squad building although it's worth mentioning. We've ended up with too many players. Senior players in Finlay, Goodwin, Thorniley, Kioso, Dale, Negru, Sibley and Bradshaw have all been loaned out. El Miz, Phillips and Moore left in different circumstances. That's poor recruitment and management of the squad. It's ended up being a waste of a season for GO'D and Ferdinan too.
All that said …
The good
League 1 is fun. We'll have at least one new team we've never played before (and maybe even KR's Salford too). Derbies against Reading and Wycombe plus the possibility of Swindon. It'll be a competitive league next year but won't have a Wrexham or Birmingham to skew things. EFL Trophy to play some youngsters, first and second rounds of the FA Cup for novelty away days and - above all - hopefully a chance to experience a winning feeling a bit more often.
There are no guarantees to promotion but learn from our mistakes, recruit better all round and we can succeed.
Our Championship adventure is nearly over. Let's smile that it happened and hope to do it again sooner rather than later.
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