Wrexham

[Kernow Yellow]

Frustrating that Man Utd came out of the hat in the very next ball.

More frustrating was the ball that followed Man United. *

*although I guess it's not that novel anymore.

Nor cheap - http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article ... 29722.aspx -and the Swans go there again six days later in the Prem...

My heart bleeds. Impressive that SCFC are subsidising their fans' tickets though - I'd like to see IL do that in similar circumstances!

Can't believe that game's been selected for TV - well I can believe it, but it's so frustrating when you can watch a fixture like that every week on some TV channel or another. The whole magic of the Cup is that lower league clubs can pull off shocks against the big boys, but the TV companies just don't get it.

Anyway, commiserations for Monday night's result, Snake.

[slappy]

saw this on twitter from the Non-League paper account. @SamElliott_NLP
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Shock breaking news. Manchester United v Swansea FA Cup tie selected for live TV. Every #MUFC game live for over eight years now
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Confirmed: No Non-League clubs will be live on the TV in the FA Cup third round
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Blackburn Rovers v Man City, Arsenal v Tottenham, Forest v West Ham, Derby County v Chelsea and Manchester United v Swansea all selected.
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and each club gets £144k for it - imagine what that cash could do further down the pyramid.
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We were pretty lucky to get two tv games at all. I wonder if IL being on the football league board has helped at all?

[Snake]

SCFC do it for every away game to encourage a greater travelling support. Either a substantial amount of money off the match ticket, free hats and scarves, programmes, free food in the away concourse, free coach travel and even free beer! I think some other Prem clubs are doing the same as away attendances are declining in the top flight leading to a lack of atmosphere at some games if the home team are not winning. For example, Hull City fans got £15 off their ticket price at the Liberty on Monday night. Wouldn’t be surprised if TV had something to do with it as they don’t like their worldwide ‘product’ to be sullied by lack of noise or worse, the sight of empty seats....

[SWA]

No one gives a monkeys about Swansea City on here apart from Snake! This is a forum for OXFORD fans
He reminds me of the poster Baldy over on Yellows Forum

[YF Dan]

SWA - so if another club is doing something proactive and positive to boost attendances and its fan-base, we shouldn't discuss it on here?

My view is, if other clubs have great ideas that perhaps we otherwise wouldn't know about, lets discuss it on here and perhaps, just perhaps, someone at the club might take notice. Wouldn't it be nice if we did some of those things Swansea do?

Let's not forget, Swansea are a club no bigger or better than ours in terms of history, fan-base etc, but they sure as hell are performing better than us at the moment. We should be looking at the reasons as to why that is, and if Snake has got the answers, then let him post them.

And if you don't want to read it, don't bother.

I think it's a little sad that we've clearly lost a regular supporter to another club, but let's face it, we've tested the patience and loyalty of many fans over the years. One day hopefully we'll be playing Swansea regularly at a higher level, and maybe the slithery one will return. In the meantime I'm quite happy for him to be offering an insight into how a club that almost died is now playing in Europe, while a club that should have played in Europe has almost died.

Snake, why not start a thread called "what other clubs do better than Oxford, why don't we do it too?" and if SWA doesn't want to click on it, he won't have to.

[YF Dan]

Am I surprised at BT's choice of ManU v Swansea? My only surprise is that ITV didn't pick it as their first choice. BT desperately need to sell subscriptions, and sadly the horrible Mancs are the biggest pull.

Generally ITV's fixation with the Mancs does them no favours to the neutrals. Even if Man Utd were given a bye to the fourth round, they would have used one of their choices to show Moyes sitting at home picking his nose. How they could have chosen Man U's champions League game on Tuesday over Manchester City's beggars belief, but there you go.

[slappy]

It's an interesting idea. Subsidising 1,000 (or even 10,000 for say this FA Cup game) away supporters by £10 per ticket is a drop in the ocean compared to Premier League TV revenues. With modern stadia and the prawn sandwich brigade, the home game revenue take should more than compensate.

It's nice for these clubs to have that luxury.

[Isaac]

And dropping the prices didn't help for the Barrow game. Although you could argue they could have dropped them further, but I suspect there's not an easy solution to this that gets the attendances up and also increases revenue.

[Snake]

Snake, why not start a thread called "what other clubs do better than Oxford, why don't we do it too?" and if SWA doesn't want to click on it, he won't have to.

If I were to start up a thread like that then there would be only three basic principles.

1. Get the ownership right - a mix of fans, local businessmen, a substantial stake in the club owned by the Trust, and a stable administrative staff. That way you don’t gamble with the club’s future and overspend. The WPL/Firoka model has been a disaster for Oxford United since 1998.

2. Don’t be afraid of changing or losing the manager. If times are bad then get rid because they are crap (e.g. Patterson) and if times are good (like with Wilder now) then the higher the league position the club are in the bigger the queue will be of half-decent managers (and probably better ones) as replacements. http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk ... story.html

3. Get a proper academy system going with decent facilities.