On This Day

[Hog]

Carlisle: Swinburne; Hoolickin, MacDonald, Coady, Watson; McVitie, Parker, Metcalfe, Bannon; Hamilton, Staniforth

This is a bit random but the Watson in the Carlisle team was Gary who had joined them from Oxford in the summer. When he was in the yoof team he and I used to travel in from Abingdon on the same bus to St Aldates where I got off to be a college servant and he continued up the Manor. We always had a natter. He made his debut as a 17 year old against reigning champions Forest in the League cup (when United lost 5-0 but he actually played quite well!) and despite it being the biggest game of his career so far he was still on the bus the next morning!

I think he had a couple of seasons at Carlisle before being released and he went to play in Australia for a while. Used to bump into him in The Ox where he told how mad it was flying to away games and playing in front of 20,000 crowds. It didn't work out though and he picked my brains about my own career change and ended up as a copper back in Carlisle! Last I heard he was CID and he must be due to retire soon.

As I said, random!

[OUFC4eva]

I remember Garry Watson - he used to live behind the Boundary House pub
In Appleford Drive, Abingdon. He and Hugh McGrogan signed for Carlisle at the same time
for not much money.

[Hog]

That's him but more the other end of Appleford Drive. Went to Fitzharris. Sorry to be anal but he's the only OUFC player I've ever known personally (unless you count PRB who I spent a week on holiday with in Torremolinos when he was still at Chelsea!)

[ty cobb]

September 19th 1998

United are humiliated at the Stadium of Light as Peter Reid's Sunderland rout them 7-0.
This was, and still is, a club record defeat with the U's 2-0 down inside the first
five minutes.It was United's second visit to the new Sunderland stadium.

I saw the goals for the very first time here in a recently released video - it's horrific.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h36alz8swYI

U's: Whitehead; Robinson, Whelan, Gilchrist, Marsh; Beauchamp, Gray, Smith, Powell; Thomson, Windass

SAFC: Sorensen; Williams, Melville, Butler, Gray; Summerbee, Ball, Mullin, Johnston; Dichio, Bridges

Att: 34,567

Ouch especially as that was one of our better teams from that era!

[OUFC4eva]

September 24th 1977

On this day striker Peter Foley scored a quick fire hat-trick in the last ten minutes
of this match versus Chester at the Manor. Mike Kearney with Chester's goal.
It was the first time for five years that a U's player had scored three goals in a game.

United won 4-1 with Les Taylor netting the other goal.

U's: Burton; Kingston, Clarke C, Bodel, Fogg; Duncan, Jeffrey, Taylor, McGrogan; Foley, Curran

Att: 4,283

[OUFC4eva]

September 26th 1987

On this day 30 years ago Robert Maxwell, chairman of Derby County,
landed his helicopter to see his new club play at the Baseball Ground
for the first time.

Maxwell became the Rams chairman a few months earlier after resigning
his position at United on 31st May 1987.
He then put his son, Kevin, in charge at the Manor Ground.
Oxford won 1-0 thanks to a first half header from
Neil Slatter - deputising for the injured Gary Briggs - but Maxwell was
to leave the match well before the final whistle.

U's: Hardwick; Bardsley, Slatter, Caton, Dreyer; Houghton, Hebberd, Shelton, Hill; Saunders, Foyle

Rams: Shilton; Sage, Blades, Wright, Forsyth; Callaghan, Williams, Gregory, McLaren; Gee, Davison

Att: 15,711

[OUFC4eva]

September 27th 2008

On this day in 1961 Nick Merry was born - however this was not a happy 47th birthday
for the then U's chairman, as he saw his team defeated and embarrassed 2-1 at the
Dripping Pan by Lewes FC. United even took the lead through Joe Burnell but two
second half goals from former U Michael Standing and Sam Gargan did for the
under pressure Darren Patterson's struggling side.

This proved to be Nick Merry's last U's game as chairman as he was forced to
resign his position just a few days later. Owner Ian Lenagan replacing Merry
with Kelvin Thomas on October 2nd 2008. Patterson was to be sacked the
following month.

U's: Turley; Clarke, Foster, Osborne, Carruthers; Odubade, Murray, Burnell, Trainer; Guy, Constable

Rooks: Banks; Thomas, Breach, Mayo, Barness; Wallis-Tayler, Standing, Gargan, Keehan; Rowland, Taylor

Att: 1,156

[OUFC4eva]

September 28th 1968

United travelled to Villa Park but are beaten 2-0 by Aston Villa
in this second tier fixture. Villa scorers were Brian Godfrey (above)
and Barry Hole.

U's: Barron; Lucas, Clarke C, Kyle, Beavon; Sloan, Atkinson R, Atkinson G, Shuker; Bullock, Gaston

Villa: Dunn; Wright, Edwards, Turnbull, Aitken; Ferguson, Deakin, Mitchinson, Hole; Godfrey, Anderson

Att: 17,083

[OUFC4eva]

September 29th 1975

On this day United tumbled out of the League Cup 2-3 after a second round, second replay at the Manor.
This Monday night game went to extra time and Charlton striker Derek Hales (above) netted his second goal
of the game to send the Valiants through. This proved to be manager Gerry Summers' last game in charge
of the U's - chairman Tony Rosser and his board came to a unanimous decision to terminate Summers' contract
with immediate effect after a poor start to 1975-76. His assistant, Mick Brown was appointed as the clubs'
new manager just three days later. Summers had been in charge for just under six years.

U's: Burton; Taylor, Lowe, Clarke C, Shuker; Aylott, Jeffrey, Houseman, Heron; Foley, Clarke D

Goals: Lowe, Jeffrey

Charlton:Graham Tutt; Mark Penfold, Jimmy Giles, David Young, Phil Warman; Colin Powell, Richie Bowman,
Keith Peacock, Peter Hunt; Mike Flanagan , Derek Hales

Goals: Richie Bowman (pen) Derek Hales (2)

[OUFC4eva]

September 30th 2000

Struggling United lose again - this time at home to Bristol City 0-1
with Scott Murray netting after ten minutes. The game proved to be
Denis Smith's last match in charge of the U's as Firoz Kassam sacked him
three days later. Kassam put defender Mike Ford in as caretaker manager
but he too lost five in six before David Kemp was appointed.

U's: Knight; Robertson, Richardson, Jarman, Ford M; Lilley, Tait, Whitehead, Beauchamp; Omoyinmi, Mike

Subs: Peter Fear, Jamie Cook.

City: Steve Phillips; Kevin Amankwaah, Keith Millen, Louis Carey, Mickey Bell; Scott Murray, Darren Dunning, Brian Tinnion,
Simon Clist; Peter Beadle, Tony Thorpe

Att: 5,308

[OUFC4eva]

1st October 2003

Ian Atkins' United defeated Torquay United 1-0 at Grenoble Road on this day fourteen years ago
with a 70th minute goal from striker Julian Alsop.Alsop headed a left wing cross from
Matt Robinson past Gull's 'keeper Arjan van Heusden. This was United's first midweek
home win since September 1998 when West Brom were defeated at the Manor.
Apart from former U's 'keeper van Heusden, Torquay also featured on loan 19 year old
Mike Williamson in central defence.

U's: Woodman; McNiven, Ashton, McCarthy, Bound, Robinson; Whitehead, Hunt, Wanless; Basham, Alsop

Gulls: Arjan van Heusden; Matt Hockley, Steve Woods, Mike Williamson, Brian McGlinchey; Joe Broad,
Jason Fowler, Alex Russell, Kevin Hill; Joe Kuffour, David Graham

Att: 5,479

[OUFC4eva]

October 3rd 1981

Financially stricken Oxford defeated Fulham 2-0 at the Manor with goals from Andy Thomas and Peter Foley.
Defender Andy Kingston made his last appearance for Oxford after signing for United in 1976.
Meanwhile on this day, the brilliant book " The Soccer Tribe " written by then United Vice Chairman
Desmond Morris was published and fans got the chance to win copies. The previous month six United fans cycled to Bath and
back to Oxford to raise funds for the club. Those fans were Andrew Buckett, Scott Kennedy, Mick Brown,
Paul Lowe, David Taylor and Andrew Molden. A sponsored walk around Blenheim Palace was also arranged
for Sunday 4th October 1981. Seamus McArdle raised a good amount of funds whilst doing Blenheim.

Fans were attempting to raise £300,000 over the course of the season.

U's: Burton; Kingston, Briggs, Shotton, Fogg; Jones, Jeffrey, Thomas, Smithers; Foley, Cassells

Fulham: Gerry Peyton; Jeff Hopkins, Roger Brown, Tony Gale, Les Strong; Peter O'Sullivan, Ray Lewington,
Sean O'Driscoll, Robert Wilson; Dean Coney, Gordon Davies.

Att: 4,244

[OUFC4eva]

October 4th 1978

The Oxford Mail that day featured the clubs' new modern crest - designed by
Dr Desmond Morris.

United faced Football League Champions Nottingham Forest in the 3rd round
of the League Cup at the Manor. A masterclass from Brian Clough's Forest sees them hammer the U's 5-0
with goals from Anderson, McGovern, O'Neill, Birtles and Robertson.



The match marked striker Hugh Curran's last appearance for United before
retiring in 1979 with a knee injury.

U's: Burton; McIntosh, Briggs, Fogg, Watson; McGrogan, Taylor, Jeffrey, Seacole; Foley, Curran (sub: White)

Forest: Peter Shilton; Viv Anderson, Larry Lloyd, Kenny Burns, Frank Clark; John Robertson, Martin O'Neill,
John McGovern, Ian Bowyer; Tony Woodcock, Garry Birtles

Att: 14,287

[OUFC4eva]

October 5th 1988

The first " A420 Derby" in the League for six years sees the teams draw 1-1 at the Manor on this Wednesday night.
Mark Lawrenson's U's took the lead with Dean Saunders volleying in at the Cuckoo Lane End in the 73rd minute.
However Tim Parkin nodded a Dave Hockaday cross past Alan Judge just two minutes later.
The result was harsh on the U's who were the better side throughout.

U's: Judge; Bardsley, Briggs, Greenall, Phillips J; Purdie, Phillips L, Mustoe, Rhoades-Brown; Foyle, Saunders

Robins: Fraser Digby; David Hockaday, Tim Parkin, Jon Gittens, Colin Calderwood, Phil King; Bobby Barnes, Tom Jones, Steve Foley,
Duncan Shearer, Steve White

Att: 9,387

[OUFC4eva]

October 6th 2007

Struggling United headed north on this day ten years ago to the Metropolitan borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester,
to take on bottom of the table Droylsden who had lost their last eleven league games. However, under pressure Jim Smith’s
United were 3-0 down before Yemi Odubade grabbed a last minute consultation and to make matters worse
United’s embarrassment was screened live on Setanta Sports.

U’s then chairman Nick Merry took to the pitch post match and gave a TV interview in which he gave manager Jim Smith
a huge vote of confidence and urged fans to ‘ keep the faith”. It was a sad denouement to Smith’s Oxford
United managerial career which was to end the following month.

U’s: Turley; Day, Willmott, Foster, Gnohere, Jeannin; Odubade, Quinn, Hutchinson, Trainer; Shaw

Droylsden: Halford; McGuire, Lynch, Tandy, Cryan; Phillips, Daly, Stephens , Murray; Denham, Banim

Att: 1,074