Don't normally go to away games

[ty cobb]

Pleeeeeeeeeease Myles, 7 points from Wilders last 3 league games, that's more than we've managed in the last 9 league games (5 points from a possible 21) the wheels had not come off under Wilder this season, although we did have a wobble over Christmas. Yes Pompy at home was awful but Wycombe away was fantastic.

Go on then point me to the game which broke Wilder. Was it Pompy away, or Scumdon away or Scumdon at home?

Judge Wilder on this season, it was going very well and we were foolish to let him go.

[GodalmingYellow]

Wilder is gone Ty, whether right or wrong. Effectively, he walked out on us and bottled it. You need to move on, I am afraid. Your posts are all along similar lines.

Thanks Pat as insightful as ever, interesting phase bottled it.

Fact is this is Wilders team and when we finally fall out of the play offs and mathematically can't go up his leaving will be very much part of the conversation as I and a number of people I watch with feel this was the trigger for where the season started going wrong and raises a number of questions about ILs ambition, lots of rumours on Sat that Tisdale was first choice but couldn't agree Compensation with Exeter so we went for the cheap choice, and whatever you think of GW he was a much cheaper choice than some of the other names mentioned as being in the frame.

The problem we have is that speculation of what may have been had Wilder not left is and can only ever be speculation. One thing is certain, promotion was far from guaranteed and capitulation from the position we where in was also a strong possibility under Wilder as well. He did have the previous. I also don't believe that we can pinpoint the rot setting in to the exact date of his departure. Agreed we had beaten Wycombe and Torquay but lets not forget the previous three home games against Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Portsmouth. We were abject and the Portsmouth game annoyed me most. He set us up at home to not get beaten by an a side so lacking in belief that with any amount of invention on our part were ready for the taking.

There was potential for this collapse with or without Wilder, unfortunately there will be those who will only ever see this as black and white.

Wilder played his hand aggressively and had his bluff called. He felt he had no option but to leave. I for one would have been annoyed if IL had folded and given him the extension. He had not as yet this season done enough to warrant it.

We have 6 games left and we need to start by beating Fleetwood Saturday and we can play a part by raising the roof. But I fear there will be that sense of anxiety filling the air.

I think the anxiety on Saturday will depend upon how the team plays in the first 10 to 15 minutes and whether we get a goal to spur the crowd on. If we concede early, I can see the crowd (wrongly) getting on the backs of the team and it could end up being a miserable day.

[GodalmingYellow]

Pleeeeeeeeeease Myles, 7 points from Wilders last 3 league games, that's more than we've managed in the last 9 league games (5 points from a possible 21) the wheels had not come off under Wilder this season, although we did have a wobble over Christmas. Yes Pompy at home was awful but Wycombe away was fantastic.

Go on then point me to the game which broke Wilder. Was it Pompy away, or Scumdon away or Scumdon at home?

Judge Wilder on this season, it was going very well and we were foolish to let him go.

I can't make out quite why you are so pro-Wilder Ty. It seems to go beyond the usual supporter manager distant relationship.

Wilder did an OK job at OUFC. Not sparkling by any means, but pretty good. And he gave me my long desired day at Wembley with OUFC, which is something I will never forget.

Anyone who says Wilder did better or worse is imho spinning a yarn for the purposes of their argument, rather than basing their argument on the facts.

Wilder will be judged this season, less by OUFC than by Cobblers, as the Cobblers Chairman allowed Wilder to spend widely on Wilders favoured loan players. It isn't working. their home defeat on Saturday was a marker that his initial impact at Cobblers has worn off. I predict Northampton will be doomed to Conference football under Wilder.

Wilder is not a unique manager, and there are plenty who are better than him. So his departure has had impact only to the extent that we did not replace him reasonably quickly with someone equally or more competent. It is the delay, that has wrecked our season, resulting in us having to endure ML as a rather less competent manager for a quarter of our season.

In my view GW will be very hard pressed to turn the Ark around in the available time frame now. It will be a strong test of his competence, and a play off spot is the minimum acceptable result for the budget and players available. The consequences of failure may well be a large drop in season ticket numbers, and the inevitable impact on future budgets.

I also think many of the senior players have to take a big chunk of responsibility. The drop in standards, even allowing for managerial incompetency, has been shocking to say the least. They owe the club and supporters big time now, and those out of contract in the summer must expect demands on their talent like never before.

When push comes to shove though, failure this season will be down to the prevarication and procrastination of Ian Lenagan. Fiddling while Oxonia burned.

[amershamwrighty]

The wheels hadn't come off under CW, but I believe that up until CW went many of us were deluding ourselves that we were a promotion outfit - we hadn't really played many games against the better sides and didn't win those we did play.

Be honest, how many of the current squad could hold their own against - say - Peterborough ? Our short term aspiration should be the L1 play off zone and I don't really see any of the current squad being at that level. Nicky Wroe came here because L1 playoff contenders Preston couldn't use him. Johnny Mullins - I love him to bits, but the Fat Fraudster thought he wasn't good enough for L1 playoff contenders Rotherham (and although I can't stand the FF, he got Rotherham promoted and has a chance of doing so once again this season) and was probably right. Beano is a good conference-level striker. Would Whingy get in L1 playoff contenders Leyton Orient's team ? Clarkey - best keeper for years and years, but makes mistakes that will be punished in L1.

Wilder has gone : I reckon in his head he went weeks before he physically did. I am still cross about defeats on his watch at home to sh*tty Bristol Rovers and ordinary Plymouth. Against the latter, his dressing room team talk should have been like Henry V at Agincourt, along the lines of "10000 people waiting out there to roar you on - give them a Christmas to remember" - well, he certainly did that, the dour, miserable b*stard.

I've written this season off. We have to play teams like York, Plymouth, Scunny and Fleetwood, for heaven's sake : 4 points from that little lot would be an achievement. After decades of supporting OUFC if there is one thing I've become good at it is managing my expectations.

[Werthers Original]

The game being referred to is Rotherham at home, isn't it?

[Myles Francis]

Pleeeeeeeeeease Myles, 7 points from Wilders last 3 league games, that's more than we've managed in the last 9 league games (5 points from a possible 21) the wheels had not come off under Wilder this season, although we did have a wobble over Christmas. Yes Pompy at home was awful but Wycombe away was fantastic.

Go on then point me to the game which broke Wilder. Was it Pompy away, or Scumdon away or Scumdon at home?

Judge Wilder on this season, it was going very well and we were foolish to let him go.

Ty, you are absolutely priceless. You say we should judge Wilder on this season, then want to use his last THREE games as evidence of good form! OK, instead of 8 points from 18, let's look at his last ten games: 16 points from a possible 30. Some "wobble over Christmas".

Yes, Wycombe away was good. Always nice to beat a relegation-threatened team at their place. But how about Chesterfield at home? Rochdale at home? Exeter at home? Portsmouth at home? Plymouth at home? Or even Accrington away? Where were the decent performances then? Those are the games which make or break a promotion campaign.

Congratulations on finding our three good performances from the past three seasons too. Sadly, I did say the match which broke Wilder wasn't this season, so why you've mentioned Pompey away, I'm not too sure.

The match in question was the 0-4 defeat at home to Rotherham. After that, his teams were ALWAYS sent out not to lose. They weren't going out to win. Pompey at home was in many ways the classic example of this. At a time when we needed points and a decent home performance against a very poor side, Wilder simply didn't have the bottle to go for it.

[Myles Francis]

The game being referred to is Rotherham at home, isn't it?

On the button.

[ty cobb]

I'm not so much pro Wilder as pro not f*cking our season up. Letting your manager who has kept you top three or thereabouts all season (despite a poor run of injuries again) leave to a team rooted to the bottom of the league shows either a massive lack of ambition or a poor knowledge about how to run a football club. We are now seeing the results of such a strategy. Wilders remit was to get us in the play offs this season this was very likely to happen.

Myles those were the highlights of the past few seasons, and what highlights, but there have been plenty of other performances in that time, Burton, Hartlepool and Mansfield away for example this season. You don't get to be top of the league unless you have a manager who knows what he's doing. And Pompy away rather destroys your theory about not setting a team up to simply not lose.

I admit the football was not pretty at times but it was working and Wilder should never have been put in the position that the football leagues bottom team was a more attractive proposition than us. If IL didn't like the football or Wilders strategy (and I can understand why) get rid at the start of the season, I am just so annoyed that we are throwing away the best chance of getting out of the basement division in years.

And look at his injury list, Potter out for ages, Kitson barely able to string a run of games together, Meades still out, these are all attacking players who are important to the team, had they all been fit I imagine we'd have been more attacking but as it was Wilder was doing what was needed, I'd rather we went to Southend with a strategy not to lose than go with a strategy to get a win. By beating us put them right back in the play off mix, ending their awful run and was the worst advert for anyone thinking of coming to watch us.

I'm not alone in my views about this, lets see the gate this Sat, new manager, a crucial game against a play off rival, however, with the club seemingly not fussed why should I spend the best part of £50 - we should be easily able to get over 6000 for such a game we'll do well to get anywhere near that even with a BOGOF offer on.

And GW I'd bite your hand off for an OK manager right now.

[GodalmingYellow]

I admit the football was not pretty at times but it was working and Wilder should never have been put in the position that the football leagues bottom team was a more attractive proposition than us. If IL didn't like the football or Wilders strategy (and I can understand why) get rid at the start of the season, I am just so annoyed that we are throwing away the best chance of getting out of the basement division in years.

Wilder wasn't put in that position though was he. It was a position he agreed to. He had a choice. No history re-writing please.

And Kitson, the big headliner, hasn't exactly scored the goals in the numbers we need has he. Nor have any of the strikers that Wilder signed. In all 5 years of his reign we've not had a single 20 goal a season striker. Not one, not even in the promotion season. That tells a big story on Wilder's style of play.

And who else is it that agrees with you Ty, other than the 3 or 4 who sit with you at home games? I would be genuinely interested to know who these legions are, because I don't come across them.

[Snake]

Wilder was given a decent budget after Wembley so two further seasons of relative failure after that to even reach the play-offs should have been enough for WPL to have made the decision. As it was IL dithered and the end result was a change before the final few hurdles of this season and uncertainty amongst players who have contracts running out and mortgages to pay. This kind of management panic scenario normally happens at clubs staring at relegation.

However, the season in not at an end yet despite the doom and gloom on here, but it is now a bit of lottery/the width of a post/dodgy lino decision etc on whether Oxford United start the season in August in League I or the same old, same old...

[Myles Francis]

And Pompy away rather destroys your theory about not setting a team up to simply not lose.

You are Chris Wilder and I claim my £50. Like Terry, I can't quite understand why you are so unable to see both sides of this. It's reminiscent of Danny McArdle's support of David Kemp.

Also, it now seems that you are being deliberately obtuse. Sadly, I'm unable to put this in flashing lights, so I will say it again, but in capitals with a little underlining this time to emphasise the pertinent points. Wilder set up his teams AT HOME NOT TO LOSE. Do you understand now?

Even if I was making the point about away games as well, you'd be doing the same as denying climate change because it was a bit chilly this morning. We actually started the Pompey game with a 4-5-1 line up (well, 4-1-3-1-1 really). It was just that Pompey were so shit and complacent that we kind of struck lucky. For once, we actually pressed home the advantage and reaped the rewards. But why the actual buggering fuck didn't we do the same in the home game? By that time, it was clear what a crock Pompey are but, yet again, Wilder couldn't go out to win the game as he is so scared to lose.

And you're holding up Burton away as a highlight of the season? I'm sure there must be some thinner straws to grasp at, but that one is pretty thin. Burton were down to 10 men after less than 35 mins, and our performance could best be described as "workmanlike". Good result, yes. But highlight? Behave!

[Jimski]

Wilder wasn't put in that position though was he. It was a position he agreed to. He had a choice. No history re-writing please.

That isn't particularly crucial to the argument though. All that matters (to the particular argument at hand) is whether the club tried to keep him or not.

[Ancient Colin]

It's not like he didn't have previous on bad runs taking us from strong positions to relatively weak ones, is it? Even in the Conference promotion season ... 27th Feb six points clear at the top, 2nd April, 8 points off the top after a pullsating P8 W1 D4 L3. And remember the 2011-12 season where we went from 4points above the 8th team to 4 points from the playoffs from end of March into May with a scintillating P7 W0 D3 L4? So how we were playing might be more significant than where we were.

[JoeyBeauchamp]

When push comes to shove though, failure this season will be down to the prevarication and procrastination of Ian Lenagan. Fiddling while Oxonia burned.

Yup. While others have to share some of the blame, this is what truly messed up our season.

[joepoolman]

I feel like I should defend Ty somewhat:

Record this season with Wilder: 1.73 points per game

Without Wilder: 1 point per game

That leaves us 42.2% worse off.

To an extent I do subscribe the theory that Wilder bottled it this season, but once you start talking about that you are talking about it from his point of view and not the club's, which is the point of view that matters to us. If Mr Lenegan had opened talks on a new contract in January as he stated he would several times in December then I believe the manager wouldn't have panicked and we would still be within touching distance of the top 3, if not better.

However what is done is done and what we must do now is support the players and head coach, a support which I think is lacking from a significant minority, and it's that which frustrates me the most.