Football League Trophy

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ty cobb
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by ty cobb »

As with most football administrators he comes accross as an idiot and won't admit to having got it wrong. However, he's not saying anything new here is he? The future of the competition will be decided by clubs voting for it. He is correct in saying the competition needed something doing with it. He also confirms that B teams in the league is not going to happen.

So as Oxford fans we've made our point and the club have listened and will be voting against the same format next year. If other teams decide to vote to continue the competition then I struggle to see how a boycott of the final will make any difference apart from harming the club in lost revenue (fair play to those fans sending cheques in).

I refuse to let Shaun Harvey and his idiotic opinions spoil a memorable day out for me and the family - Sunday will be about Oxford and Coventry doing battle at Wembley in what will be the biggest game of some of the players careers who have worked hard to earn the right to play at Wembley in a final.
Myles Francis
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Myles Francis »

ty cobb wrote:He also confirms that B teams in the league is not going to happen.
No he doesn't. What he says is:

Some of it was uncertainty about whether it was the thin end of the wedge in terms of trying to get B teams into the established league programme. There was never a suggestion, from anybody at the EFL, Premier League or the Football Association, that this was a precursor to that.

That statement is a very long way from "it's not going to happen".
If other teams decide to vote to continue the competition then I struggle to see how a boycott of the final will make any difference apart from harming the club in lost revenue (fair play to those fans sending cheques in).
You know what, Ty, sometimes people engage in boycotts knowing that it's unlikely to make a difference in the overall scheme of things. But they do it because of something called principles. Trying to guilt trip people by suggesting that they are "harming" the club is pretty low and, to be blunt, perhaps the club shouldn't have voted for it in the first place?!
Edit: Actually, no, it's not a low blow. It's the point of the boycott - to make cubs realise that voting for this again is likely to result in harm to their pockets!
slappy
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by slappy »

Plenty of guilt tripping going on by the boycotters too.
ty cobb
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by ty cobb »

A boycott of a clubs matches does harm the club though - isn't that the point of the boycott ultimately? You are essentially protesting to the club about their voting for the proposal, depriving them of match day income to try and get them to change their minds - which they did, so it worked - it's not meant as a guilt trip am just curious as to what the boycott is now aiming to achieve aside from depriving the club of income/support? I would suggest any protest should be directed at the clubs/EFL who are thinking about voting for B teams next year rather than against OUFC.


EFL puts definitive end to controversial plan to include Premier League B teams
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -structure


There will not be B teams in the league, can you point me to anything which suggests otherwise? Missing Oxford at Wembley because they've experimented with a trophy not many cared about as a trial seems a bit odd to me.

For me supporting the club and in particular the players for a huge effort this year overrides any principled stand of trying to make the club pay because they made the wrong call at the start of the season.
theox
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by theox »

ty cobb wrote:There will not be B teams in the league, can you point me to anything which suggests otherwise? Missing Oxford at Wembley because they've experimented with a trophy not many cared about as a trial seems a bit odd to me.

For me supporting the club and in particular the players for a huge effort this year overrides any principled stand of trying to make the club pay because they made the wrong call at the start of the season.
You can flip that first statement around though - Why risk attending and giving the EFL ammunition to support B-Teams when, as you say, it is a trophy not many cared about? Surely, if no cares, this is the easiest boycott ever?

The whole 'I'm doing it for the lads' argument is nonsense. If you (and all others who have raised this argument) really meant this you would have been there for the whole tournament not just turning up when there are already many thousands of irregular attendees going. Surely the lads most need your support when the crowd is on the low side, recent league games for instance...

I don't care whether you are going or not but just be honest about why you are going which is probably one (or, more likely, a combination) of the following:

a) I fancy a relatively stress-free day out at Wembley.
b) I'm going with friends and family and it will be a nice day out.
c) I'm having a day on the lash with my mates.
d) It's OUFC in a cup final at Wembley and any argument about B-Teams is not going to be put me off.
YF Dan
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by YF Dan »

Wish the players had let us know they were observing the boycott in the final.

Disappointing day. Never mind, we move on with a decent pay check at least.

Not going to make any more comment til I've watched the highlights.
Shoobedoo
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Shoobedoo »

First time I've come away from Wembley genuinely disappointed with an Oxford performance. Whether it's the number of games we've played this season, or just too many key players simply having an off day, we were just *miles* off the team we know we can be.

I think tactically we got it wrong too; Hemmings can't play up front on his own (actually, I wonder what Hemmings can do, in all honesty); Johnson needed to be further up the pitch. We needed a proper left back (Skarz, or if his pace has gone, then Ruffels). What did Maguire do, other than slow down the play and pass backwards?

A real opportunity for a bit of silverware wasted.

Hey ho, see you all at Walsall.
Hog
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Hog »

Agree with all of that and I was particularly frustrated at Johnson apparently show boating in the first half at 0-1. How long is Hemmings' contract?
Radley Rambler
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Radley Rambler »

From Mirror Sport this week:

Harvey added: “It demonstrates the strength in depth of professional football in this country. I don’t know of any other country in the world where you could get a third tier team against a team from the fourth tier and get 70,000 fans along. It's incredible.

Have Coventry already been relegated and officially demoted then or does Mr Harvey (the Chief Executive of the EFL!!) not know what division EFL clubs are in - ye Gods, now that really is incredible.

In addition - he is carping on about young player development and how we'll be listening to the England players of the future saying 'I got my big break in the Checkatrade' and he has also confirmed that he is planning to attract Liverpool and Manchester Utd to join the competition and yes he keeps referring to 70,000 fans turning up to the final as evidence that the competition is healthy.

Still.....hope everyone had a nice day out.

Oh and whilst I'm on this - Ian Lenagan - 'I'm a rugby league man not a football man' is the Chair of the Football League - why?
OUFC4eva
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by OUFC4eva »

Overriding feeling is that we fluffed a great chance of silverware - we looked a gifthorse
in the mouth. Oxford were easily the better footballing team despite playing below par
but Coventry's name was clearly on the Trophy - the big moments went their way for sure.

How we did not level the score at the death is beyond comprehension.
It looked a cert goal. Cov had three efforts on goal and scored from two.
Two or three U's players will have nightmares after that.

Overall a great day out with friends - thought it was generally
well organised. Pre match atmosphere was electric. Not one
Cov fan was expecting to win - that worried me. This is Oxford!

MAPP disappointed but shouldn't be too down. His team play the right way
and we have the makings of a very good team. Wasn't to be.
Dr Bob
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Dr Bob »

We had a bench where, if the starting 11 did not score, the only attacking option was Sercs (I texted a mate with this worry even before kick-off) - unless you put Skarz or Ruffels at LB and pushed Johnson forward. We were set up far too narrow - with Hall in particular coming inside too often, giving Edwards little option out wide. Johnson was looking to play the money ball well before we conceded, rather than playing the simple pass. Also, repeatedly when he got the ball Rothwell was absolutely refusing to go on the overlap, even when Johnson was signalling and telling him to, again giving us no width. We played at about 5 miles an hour until the last 20 minutes or so. We had both Lunny and Ledson playing deep, with little or no drive coming from midfield. As for Hemmings, I have tried to stay positive about his goalscoring abilities, given how many he got last year. Yesterday was the day I gave up looking for positives and accepted that clearly the defending in the SPL is terrible.

Cov were nothing great, but they did not have to be. That was an absolutely pitiful Oxford performance. I agree that we could and should have scored in those last few minutes, but Cov had the lead and defended it with their lives. We should not have been in that situation in the first place.

For me, last year was about having a nice day out. This time it was about winning - and at no time did we look like doing that. Not happy.
ty cobb
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by ty cobb »

Although MAPP has got plenty right in his time the purchase of Hemmings and the tactics of the final were not one of them. Hemmings is not a lone striker so to buy him to play as one seems daft. He seems low on confidence at the moment which would be the case for a striker in and out the team but I just haven't seen enough from his this season - there were some good balls in the box which he didn't get on the end of, although Hall should have squared it to him.

And then when things weren't working why did Apps persist with it for so long. We were crying out for Sercs (who sounded pissed off afterwards) to bomb forward and get on the end of things. And Rothwell, who I think is a good player, was lost on the wing, we should have pushed Marv forward and put Skarz at left back. Saying all that we should have got a draw with Hall through on goal and what looked like an unmissable chance at the end.

Such a shame and the feeling of being gutted by everyone I spoke to suggested the competition did matter despite what happened in earlier rounds. Yes it remains disappointing that both SH and IL continue to try and justify what they have done and their programme notes did not inspire confidence.

The feeling of smugness, and of taking the morale high ground from the messages recieved after the game from some boycotters (and on here) really do grate though. Hate to break it to you guys but boycotting the match did naff all - EFL have an agenda and the programme notes said the latter rounds of the competition were well supported regardless of the final. Sitting at home does nothing but deprive the players of support and the club of income (and yes theox I do think they'd rather see a full Wembley at the pinnacle of their career then a empty Kassam on a tue night). If you feel strongly come along, make a point (such as the black ballons with no B teams on which stopped the game for a few seconds) and then get behind the players. You are not better than those who went so yes RR I did have a nice day out with friends and family despite the result - you don't get the chance to come together as a whole community very much and we'd have been far better if like Coventry (who have far more to moan about) we'd have stayed United.
Isaac
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by Isaac »

Without wanting to go back over the arguments, I'm interested in those who went this year - would you go again next year if the final was Oxford v Swansea B team?
ty cobb
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by ty cobb »

Isaac wrote:Without wanting to go back over the arguments, I'm interested in those who went this year - would you go again next year if the final was Oxford v Swansea B team?
For me it would be a yes. The players would have worked hard to get there, winning a cup at Wembley would be for some of them the highlight of their career and it would not be as special a game for them if no fans were there. I also think there's something great about a Wembley final - it is the whole city coming together in one go, which is why I went to see Oxford City when they played there many years ago.

That for me trumps the idiots at the top for undermining the competition by letting B sides in. I have seen us get thrashed at Histon in the league, I ain't missing us winning a decent trophy at Wembley.
recordmeister
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Re: Football League Trophy

Post by recordmeister »

More importantly, if the argument for including B teams was to enable better development of some of the English players who aren't getting regular first team football at their parent clubs, let's look at the value of playing Lego after his return from the u21s. Was that good for his development? I'd say not.
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