I keep thinking it can't get any worse...

[GodalmingYellow]

The dilema of course is that clearly changing the manager every few months is not helping, but is Patterson the right manager to give time to?

I am afraid that my current view is that he is not.

DP came in stating that he preferred 4-4-2. I am not sure that I have ever seen Oxford United play well in a 4-4-3 formation. After Cambridge when we played OK in my view (although were playing against a much better side), why totally change the formation?

The totally inept and spineless performance in the second half (we only had one shot- Trainer's miss in the first few minutes) is a huge worry though.

Overall whilst there are occassionally some promissing signs, I am not convinced that the motivation, tactics, players are generally suggesting that we will get any better next season where we need to be in the Play offs as a minimum.

Sure, give DP to the end of the season, but things do have to get much better.

I doubt that you've ever seen any side play 4-4-3!!

You are absolutely right to attribute a significant proportion of blame to Patto for the reasons I set out above. I don't think anyone would argue with that. The question is what, if anything should be done about it. I was anti the appointment process (or rather lack of) that went on for the appointment of Patto, but we are here now. From my vantage point, I've seen enough in Patto and the players he has brought in and the style and commitment shown in previous matches to remain firmly of the belief that he needs significantly more time.

Only a continued run of significant defeats and poor performances would have any chance of changing my mind on that.

[Mally]

Oh, and next time let's rip the chairs out. We don't own the bloody things, Kassam does. Let him deal with it.

Yeah and when you get home shit in your living room - after all you don't own it - you're either renting or it's mortgaged so the bank owns it really.

[ty cobb]

1. Yemi is not a winger. Either play him down the middle or not at all.

2. Trainer looked far more up for it then others, got the ball down, ran with it and looked a good player. Why then take him off and leave Hand on who was having another shocking game - I hope Patto doesn't have favourites.

3. Quinn is not a good centre back. He hoofs the ball evertime he gets it and up against a decent physical striker he struggles.

4. Murray is a good player, even amongst all that rubbish.

5. Richards and Craig Mc are not goalscorers, Duffys all round play is far better then Richards and he scores goals. He may not jog after a defender like Richards does, but I don't really care.

6. Turley is not the best keeper in this league. He wouldn't even be in my top 5. If he's injured give him a rest and give Worrall some experiance - there's nothing to play for now.

7. One other team got over 1000 fans yesterday in our league, even if gates go down to 3000 we should still have a far higher budget then anyone else - where on Earth has the money gone this season.

8. The half time show is proving to be the only thing that is bringing a smile to my face at the moment.

[boris]

1. Yemi is not a winger. Either play him down the middle or not at all.

Agree

2. Trainer looked far more up for it then others, got the ball down, ran with it and looked a good player. Why then take him off and leave Hand on who was having another shocking game - I hope Patto doesn't have favourites.

Agree

3. Quinn is not a good centre back. He hoofs the ball evertime he gets it and up against a decent physical striker he struggles.

Thoroughly agree

4. Murray is a good player, even amongst all that rubbish.

Largely agree (I'm not sure Murray is that good a player, but still better than all that rubbish

5. Richards and Craig Mc are not goalscorers, Duffys all round play is far better then Richards and he scores goals. He may not jog after a defender like Richards does, but I don't really care.

Disagree. McAllister has shown enough to suggest that he's a decent scorer, while Richards' all-round play is superior to Duffy's (and I'm not a Duffy basher, except when he deserves to be bashed).

6. Turley is not the best keeper in this league. He wouldn't even be in my top 5. If he's injured give him a rest and give Worrall some experiance - there's nothing to play for now.

Agree

7. One other team got over 1000 fans yesterday in our league, even if gates go down to 3000 we should still have a far higher budget then anyone else - where on Earth has the money gone this season.

Outlandish rent for the stadium, and outlandish wages for substandard players

8. The half time show is proving to be the only thing that is bringing a smile to my face at the moment.

I can't speak for your face, but yes, I'm enjoying the kids' stuff too.

[DLT]

Sorry. I decided not to turn up and the players thought they could take the day off as well. All my fault.

'Outlandish Rent'! Do you really think so Boris? It surely includes the provision of grounds staff, safety officer and I presume all the stewards, payment of rates, electricity etc.

If the club could attract larger crowds they have the capacity to generate gate revenue of at least 150K a match. That should make paying 400K a year, without any staff/employment costs a bargain surely.

The fact that Merry can't attract 8-10K a game crowd is his fault. May be Merry should have negotiated a different deal based on club performance.

[ty cobb]

Sorry. I decided not to turn up and the players thought they could take the day off as well. All my fault.

'Outlandish Rent'! Do you really think so Boris? It surely includes the provision of grounds staff, safety officer and I presume all the stewards, payment of rates, electricity etc.

If the club could attract larger crowds they have the capacity to generate gate revenue of at least 150K a match. That should make paying 400K a year, without any staff/employment costs a bargain surely.

The fact that Merry can't attract 8-10K a game crowd is his fault. May be Merry should have negotiated a different deal based on club performance.

I can't think of many occasions that Oxford have ever attracted 8-10k crowds - hardly Merrys fault. But yes he should have negotiated a different deal, one where when we play in the non-league we're not paying rent based on Championship crowds.

[Snake]

The stadium charge is made up of £275k rent and £125k maintenance. I know £275k is a lot of money, but it’s not as much as this £400k that keeps on being quoted.

For the £125k the club get a groundsman, business rates, electric, non-matchday security, cleaning and general stadium maintenance. All of that stuff would have to be paid for if the Stadium was bought. So for £400k read £125k in the future.

And yes, if appears that WPL got stitched up like a kipper at a National Naïve Convention when it came to drawing up the deal. But then again, I don’t think for a minute they thought that we’d be relegated or that Jim and then Patto would make such a dog’s dinner of the on-field business.

At least this season the club won’t have to pay too may win and promotion bonuses, or have employed as many stewards or police.

It’s all just getting rather sad, and we’ve got another 11 games of this season left to endure.

[DLT]

Sorry. I decided not to turn up and the players thought they could take the day off as well. All my fault.

'Outlandish Rent'! Do you really think so Boris? It surely includes the provision of grounds staff, safety officer and I presume all the stewards, payment of rates, electricity etc.

If the club could attract larger crowds they have the capacity to generate gate revenue of at least 150K a match. That should make paying 400K a year, without any staff/employment costs a bargain surely.

The fact that Merry can't attract 8-10K a game crowd is his fault. May be Merry should have negotiated a different deal based on club performance.

I can't think of many occasions that Oxford have ever attracted 8-10k crowds - hardly Merrys fault. But yes he should have negotiated a different deal, one where when we play in the non-league we're not paying rent based on Championship crowds.

I seem to recall we attracted that figure several times last year, if we had gone up surely we could have maintained that level.

How much do London Irish, Wasps and Saracens pay? A comparison would be interesting.

[Baboo]

1. Yemi is not a winger. Either play him down the middle or not at all.

2. Trainer looked far more up for it then others, got the ball down, ran with it and looked a good player. Why then take him off and leave Hand on who was having another shocking game - I hope Patto doesn't have favourites.

3. Quinn is not a good centre back. He hoofs the ball evertime he gets it and up against a decent physical striker he struggles.

4. Murray is a good player, even amongst all that rubbish.

5. Richards and Craig Mc are not goalscorers, Duffys all round play is far better then Richards and he scores goals. He may not jog after a defender like Richards does, but I don't really care.

6. Turley is not the best keeper in this league. He wouldn't even be in my top 5. If he's injured give him a rest and give Worrall some experiance - there's nothing to play for now.

7. One other team got over 1000 fans yesterday in our league, even if gates go down to 3000 we should still have a far higher budget then anyone else - where on Earth has the money gone this season.

8. The half time show is proving to be the only thing that is bringing a smile to my face at the moment.

1. Is he really a striker ?
2. Agreed but overall Trainer has been a disappointment this season. Perhaps he was up for it because he had been out for a while. He's no wide man.
3. He often looks reasonable but against better opponents does struggle and yes his distribution is abysmal. Pity we did not keep Corcoran.
4. Yes but he is is becoming Oxford standard.
5. I was a Duffy apologist but I think a fit McAllister could be an asset. I have seen nothing from Richards so far to suggest that he will be.
6. I think Turley is a good keeper but there are some other very good keepers in this league. Hopefully just an off day.
7. Money squandered by Jim.
8. Never watch it - perhaps I should.

[DLT]

And to make my point. I enquired about leasing a warehouse to park some taxis in last week and I was told the rent was 160K per year plus rates and utilities.

I just can't see where these 'outlandish' comments from. An office complex down the road like the one OUFC staff occupy would cost the same as the whole stadium costs OUFC.

[Ancient Colin]

I've asked this question before, but what the hell. What do they do in training? What do they f@c~ing do in training???

Why don't we ever seem to score goals like their third?

How hard is it to practice throw ins? Or even just talk about them?

Why does every other team seem to understand that you need to move and make yourself available for a pass?

Why can't professional footballers do simple basic skills like trapping the ball and passing it accurately to a team mate?

And so on and so on. These aren't particularly bad players by comparison to the players in the sides we play. But week after week we are outplayed by fitter, more commited, more coherently organised, motivated sides with far less resources. Players that show initial promise quickly deteriorate and become one with the general useless morass that is our squad. So what is it? Appalling scouting? Coaching and management? Our location and the fact that the players don't live near the club? Something altogether more rotten and fetid?

My mood's with Hog on this one (and not just because he sits next to me and is twice my size vertically): I just sat there thinking why do I do this, why? It makes me unhappy, it spoils my evening, I'm usually scrambling to get there before or get back somewhere after and it's wasting a large chunk of my weekend to no obvious benefit. The club needs to be thinking about this urgently and be seen to be responding, or there won't be enough people there to make any noise banging the seats of those of us who will be missing. I'm fed up with this, with the endless decline, the little upturns that turn out only to be a pause before another helter-skelter plunge into the depths.

[Hog]

. Oh, and next time let's rip the chairs out. We don't own the bloody things, Kassam does. Let him deal with it.

What a strange thing to say: I can't think that anyone on here would condone that. If you want to get &quotour&quot moneys worth out of the rent paid to Kassam then do what I do in my sad little way and don't tidy up your orange peelings and banana skins (okay, and pie wrapper!!) and leave them under your seat so he has to pay someone to clean them up. (I know it's sad of me but I find my mind wanders to other things while I'm watching the &quotfootball&quot these days .

[Radley Rambler]

The conversation I had yesterday with my friend in the East Stand at 16.45 was as follows:

My friend - Look at the space their left winger's got

Me - Yep, no-one's spotted him

My friend - If he makes the right run here and they lay it back, he's got a simple goal

Me - You mean like the run he's making now?

Both - Bollocks....

I will get a season ticket next year but the main reason is that as a player for Raging Fever, I get to enjoy about 30 football matches against other fans teams and I'm thus near the Kassam when kick-off time approaches. This is now the only reason for me to continue to go (and I've been a season ticket holder for 25 years). I work 50 miles away during the week and my attendance at Tuesday night games this season has dipped significantly. What's more, I don't feel the slight bit guilty about it whereas previously I would.

[Baboo]

Why can't professional footballers do simple basic skills like trapping the ball and passing it accurately to a team mate? .

They can.


Until they sign for Oxford United.

[recordmeister]

Here is a question which occupied a good deal of my train journey home to London with my mates on Saturday afteroon is micky lewis up for the job? and doesn't the club picture of him (as seen in the programme on sat) make him look like he is curling a big poo... (see here: http://www.oufc.premiumtv.co.uk/javaIma ... 262,00.jpg

I like Patto, but don't trust ML to be the coach.