Should I go to the match?

[amershamwrighty]

I guess what might make me feel a bit better would be some acknowledgement that CW understands how we feel when we have witnessed a 'disappointing' performance, or series of them.

But I have heard or seen nothing. I haven't been to many away games this season, but I don't recall seeing him on the pitch at the end applauding fans who made the trip &amp spent their cash doing so.

My perception - and it is only that - is that I should be thankful, through thick and thin, that I am lucky enough to have him at the helm of the football team that I have supported for decades. Well - sorry, but I don't feel that way.

[Kernow Yellow]

People are considering not attending matches at the tail-end of a season when we've nothing to play for. That's hardly a shock is it? Attendances and interest levels rise when promotion or relegation issues are at stake - fact. And while we're all disappointed not to be in the play-off mix let's not pretend things are at some kind of low ebb at the moment - most of the last 8 years have been spent struggling below where we are now.

As for Wilder's comments, he seems to be acknowledging that he is under pressure, and that decisions about his future are going to have to be made. Hardly 'breathtakingly arrogant' is it? He then goes on to imply that he thinks he has earned the right in the meantime to carry out his job without being abused and undermined by supporters, and I would tend to agree with him.

None of which is to say that I strongly agree with the decision to continue employing him now. My ambivalence is being severely stretched by another implosion on the field. But let's not over-dramatise the situation. We've had it a whole lot worse recently, and Chris Wilder in general has been a good manager for this football club. As Old Abingdonian says, the levels of negativity and vitriol from the stands and internet are ridiculous and hysterical.

[Paul Cooper]

Maybe it is the world that we live in. Having said that it seems very different in Rugby, If England beat a very poor Scotland or Italy the press and fans seem to think that all is good in the world. In football, a draw in Montenegro (who are a decent side despite their low population) and the critical gates open. All the players don't care, they are rubbish with no technical ability and can't keep hold of the ball, Hodgson is inept tactically etc (some of it maybe true!)

So the media hype things up and the supporters over react. I do tend to agree with CW that you shouldn't get carried away with a win or a defeat. Some of the alleged chants agaisnt CW are terrible and unnecessary. He has not done what was expected and has in my view underachieved. He should go and probably should have already gone, But that is up to IL. I doubt if CW is paid huge amounts and he has a family. So he wouldn't walk out would he?

The accusation of 'arrogance' is a classic against any manager nearing the end. Denis Smith, Horton and other Oxford managers have been accused of arrogance. Surely any manager will have his own views and will want to not go along with the fans onn decisiosn on players/ formations etc? It seems to me that managers can go from 'having no Plan B' to being a 'tinkerman' within weeks.

So in reality CW is probably no more arrogant than most managers. He could definitely improve his PR and constantly tell the supporters how great they are (even when they scream and shout and tell him to F*** off). He should go, has become stale (or the club has). But that is IL's choice and I think that he should put CW out of his misery - if he has to pay him off then he may well just have to do that.

I wouldn't be surprised if CW does OK in his next job. I hope that he will have learned a lot at Oxford!

[ty cobb]

I have been/still am a Wilder supporter but the recent results are making me think his time is up, the injuries aren't that bad at the moment yet we've been very poor.

However, if I was IL I would want to have someone in mind when deciding whether I should pull the trigger and how much I was willing to put in over the next few seasons. Unless someone can correct me our wage budget is about 11th best in this division, this has still resulted in large losses this season which IL is rightly annoyed about so got rid of Kelvin. This gives the impression that he doesn't want to increase the wage budget, with lower crowds we may actually see the wage budget decrease.

So if this is true has Wilder done such a bad job this season especially given the injuries. I think Wilder is pretty good at having a small budget, but when he gets a bit of money to spend he sometimes struggles, the signings he has made since getting promoted have generally been poor, either because they are no good (Smalley) or they are good but always injured (Leven).

So if IL wants to go for a big push for promotion next season and wants to throw a bit more money at it, helping to attract a good manager (who will want to come to a league 2 club which is looking to cut wages?) then now is a good time to let Wilder go. However, if he wants to reduce losses then I would suggest Wilder is not a bad manager to keep in this situation.

I'm not annoyed about IL not balancing the books, what I am annoyed about is that he agreed to take over OUFC on terms that would make it very hard to balance the books, the rent we're paying (and lack of money coming in from the stadium facilities) make it hard for us to use the high crowds we get to our advantage. Because this doesn't look like ever being resolved the club seem to be drifting, we're not in control of our destiny. The recent survey online asked about a supporters club. I would love to spend my beer money before the match so the profits went to OUFC but that seems like a pipe dream at the moment, all money flows back to Kassam and that's where I think fans should be directing their ire.

With regards to the original point, having moved away from Oxford I am more and more losing touch with the club, spending lots of money on petrol and £20 for a on the day ticket are not worth it especially when I actually have better things to do with my time now then watch us struggle to play football on a awful pitch in a soulless stadium. It would help a lot if I could listen to Radio Oxford on Sat afternoon, but I'm not allowed to and I refuse to pay for yellow player as it often doesn't work and I already pay for Radio Oxford through my license fee so there isn't a lot keeping me in touch with the club at the moment.

[tomoufc]

Thanks for your replies. I'm glad that it generated a polemical debate. It's want I wanted to read, as I won't get it at the match. (Unless you count someone shouting 'wanker' and another 'shut up'.

As it is I've decided to go. Not because I feel reassured that it won't be a thoroughly depressing experience, but because, on reflection, something compels me, something intangible and often fleeting. Walking around the streets of Oxford, as I have just done, with it's gaggles of French school kids (and the matching hats and T-shirts), posh students and upmarket shops, there is much to the city that I doesn't feel mine. The famous college quadrangles have always excluded the townsfolk, pushing the working classes to the periphery. Taking a bus up to the Manor or the Kassam has always been much more that watching a game of football. It gives me a connection to my home, the 'other' Oxford', and my past. So I'm going. And if Craddock scores a wonder goal, or Beano a hat-trick it will just be a bonus.

Regarding the direction of the debate (and it always would go in this direction), I agree with those that look at the financial basis. We're really a lower league club now. We have been since I started supporting the Us (except one relegation season in the second tier). I still think we need fan ownership, as owners come and go and don't always have the best interests of a club at heart. How we would get that, though, is another issue. There seems no way at the moment, save for the council building a new ground at Court Place Farm (they won't for the forseeable future - see the government's austerity drive). For the moment, though, I'm glad we're back in the football league. Should we be doing better? Probably. But we could doing a lot worse. Should Wilder go? Yeah, maybe. But let's give him the respect he deserves. Not 'my lord', but a decent guy who's tried his best and done fairly well.

See you Saturday

[amershamwrighty]

Good decision.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game. I'm hoping for a decent display and 3 points against a club that fancies themselves to be our rivals.

[Kernow Yellow]

With regards to the original point, having moved away from Oxford I am more and more losing touch with the club, spending lots of money on petrol and £20 for a on the day ticket are not worth it especially when I actually have better things to do with my time now then watch us struggle to play football on a awful pitch in a soulless stadium. It would help a lot if I could listen to Radio Oxford on Sat afternoon, but I'm not allowed to and I refuse to pay for yellow player as it often doesn't work and I already pay for Radio Oxford through my license fee so there isn't a lot keeping me in touch with the club at the moment.

I would argue that there's more to keep you in touch with the club than there's ever been before - I remember when buying a copy of the Oxford Mail at Paddington Station was as close as you could get in London to 'home' and news from the Manor. I have also moved away, and every game I attend (except those in Devon) cost me upwards of £100 all in. But that's hardly the club's fault. And surely if attending games requires more planning for you now, why would you pay on-the-day prices, when it takes 30 seconds on the internet to save a couple of quid, and involves less (or no) queueing at the ground?

I also don't understand why any exile who wants to keep in touch with OUFC doesn't get Yellow Player. It costs less than a pint of beer per month, much of which goes to the club, and gives you access to live commentaries and extended highlights of every game, plus interviews with players and staff if you like that kind of thing (personally I think there's nothing less interesting in the world than an interview with a footballer, but there you go). The quality is generally fine, despite what others might say, assuming you have a decent internet connection. And more to the point, the club has absolutely no control whatsoever over the fact that league match commentaries are blocked on local radio station internet transmissions - it's a blanket football league thing thanks to rights agreements which generate more money for clubs like OUFC.

[OUFC4eva]

Agree about Yellow Player - it's a good service with our very own
Morecambe and Wise ( that's Williams and Brodetsky
hamming it up every Friday in the Preview Show.

[SWA]

This facebook group is laughable

https://www.facebook.com/events/575116959174836/

[Werthers Original]

Good discussion - but wrong decision! I envied my friend who had to leave early

[Joey's Toe]

I also don't understand why any exile who wants to keep in touch with OUFC doesn't get Yellow Player. It costs less than a pint of beer per month, much of which goes to the club, and gives you access to live commentaries and extended highlights of every game, plus interviews with players and staff if you like that kind of thing (personally I think there's nothing less interesting in the world than an interview with a footballer, but there you go). The quality is generally fine, despite what others might say, assuming you have a decent internet connection. And more to the point, the club has absolutely no control whatsoever over the fact that league match commentaries are blocked on local radio station internet transmissions - it's a blanket football league thing thanks to rights agreements which generate more money for clubs like OUFC.

Yes, but as I (and others) have said on here before, it's the principle of the thing. I pay my BBC Licence Fee (gladly), and I think it's scandalous that the BBC is allowed to get away with trying to sell me the same product twice by expecting me to pay for commentary via &quotYellow Player&quot. If fans up and down the country refused to fork out for it (or club's equivalents), the clubs and BBC might consider doing the right thing and allowing the commentaries to become available to all again.

I'm amazed there's never been a legal challenge to it. It's disgraceful that a licence fee payer in Oxford can listen to the BBC commentary on the radio but I am disbarred from listening to the same commentary via iPlayer radio.

[YF Dan]

I'd be shocked if the BBC was making a penny out of yellow player. It's much more likely the football league stated in the radio rights deal that all online commentaries were given to the clubs on an exclusive basis.

I'd say that Oufc fans have done incredibly well out of the licence fee over the past few years, especially in the conference days. Few other conference teams would have had tv pictures and commentary on every match.

[Kernow Yellow]

Yes, but as I (and others) have said on here before, it's the principle of the thing. I pay my BBC Licence Fee (gladly), and I think it's scandalous that the BBC is allowed to get away with trying to sell me the same product twice by expecting me to pay for commentary via &quotYellow Player&quot.

[/quote]

But the BBC is not trying to sell you anything, let alone twice! They don't have the rights to broadcast football league commentaries online, because the football league has sold those rights to someone else. My YP subscription is paid to Premium TV (the rights holder I presume), and I understand that OUFC get some money out of it too. I have no idea whether one or other party pays the BBC to provide their commentary for the YP service, but I'm glad I get to hear it one way or another.

[Joey's Toe]

Dan/KY - as I say, it's a point of principle. Radio Oxford broadcasts the commentaries to licence fee payers within FM distance of Oxfordshire, and broadcasts all its other programmes online for free. Making an exception for football and expecting us to pay again to hear the commentary is unjust. During our non-league days, when the restrictions were removed, us casual exile fans could keep in touch with the games and follow our club properly - and doing so certainly led me to spend more money on Oxford United (through merchandise and making the effort to get to games) than I do now when I feel the club has deliberately allowed a wedge to be driven between itself and its exiled fans.

The clubs, the BBC and Premium TV are all complicit in this - and when the PTV deal expires it should be reviewed. I doubt the principle will be, sadly, because so many fools have allwoed themselves to be parted from their money in the meantime rather than standing firm.

[SWA]

Great post Joey's Toe ^^^^
I didn't realise that radio Oxford were not allowed to broadcast match commentaries online. That is a pisstake in my book. The club and BBC should be ashamed of themselves...