A day in Morecambe

Oxford United have only visited Morecambe twice.  Once in the Conference to their old Christie Park ground, and last year back in the football league to the Globe Arena.  Both games were 3-0 victories to United. 

This year we booked our train tickets well in advance, and to make sure I was on the same trains as the Barking mob, I had an early start at 7:02 from Guildford station. 

I left home just before 6:30, and rather than walk 10 minutes to London Road station for an hour into London with no newspaper or coffee, I instead opted for the 25 minute stroll to the main station for a 45 minute journey to Waterloo.  At this early hour for me, and being December, it was still pitch black, the stars were out, and it was a full moon too.  Surprisingly there was little traffic or activity at that time in the morning.  I did spot "laughing man", a 50 year old man who drinks in the evenings in a pub near the station, lives at home with his mother and has a Sid James type cackle which you can hear from 100 yards, walking with purpose along the Upper High Street - it is a mystery where he was off too, or where he had been at that time in the morning. 

Arriving at the station, at least Costa Coffee was open, and so I caught the train to Waterloo.  From there it was a simple tube journey along the Northern Line to Euston.  At Euston, there were a few other fans on their journeys North: Wolves fans off to Old Trafford; and the lesser spotted Stevenage fans were off to Preston, wearing "bah humbug" Christmas hats.  

The Virgin Pendolino to Glasgow is a nine carriage train, however the first four are first class, with barely a handful of people in each.  The last five are standard class, fairly crammed, and as usual, coach C is where the pre-booked tickets are allocated, next to the buffet car.  For a 'bargain' price of £15, you could upgrade to first class, but for a bag of peanuts, water, railway tea or coffee, and a bit more space it was hardly worth it.  On the 8:30 at least there was space to move from designated seats so we could travel up together, with one of the Stevenage Boro fans a few seats behind.  As we were arriving at Preston, it emerged that the other handful of Stevenage fans had sent someone off from coach D to find the odd one behind us, but had given up looking at the buffet car and left him to himself.  

Billy Ray Cyrus at Lancaster station

Just before 11 we arrived at Lancaster, with half an hour to wait for the train to Morecambe.  There wasn't time to leave the station, so we contented ourselves with ground spotting of Lancaster City from Platform 1, wondering if hopping over the fence would count as a ground 'visited'.  Instead, there was just an 80's mullet to spot waiting for our train.  The train to Lancaster was a simple two carriage Northern Rail service, and Morecambe is barely three miles away.  After stopping at Bare Lane - a strange village which seemed to have nothing more than houses, a corner shop, and a tanning shop, we were on our way to Morecambe.  The Guard asked if we were departing at Morecambe, and advised us to leave from the rear carriage.  Seconds later it was announced that Morecambe was the final destination, so why asked where we were getting off I don't know.  

Cafe not open today

Morecambe itself is a mixture of a town.  From the station there is a retail park of Morrisons, sports shops, Frankie & Bennies.  The town centre seems quite run down, and further out is a mixture of bungalows and caravan parks.

Barrow is over there somewhere

Eric

  However, the council have spent some money on artwork: a path to the seafront with quotations built into the pathway;  sculptures of seabirds on a roundabout; and of course the Eric Morecambe statue on the seafront.  Just like last year, we posed for pictures, before heading off for refreshments.  The seafront, unsurprisingly at this time of year was pretty much deserted, and so onto Wetherspoons it was before getting a taxi to the ground.










  

play off final

The Globe Arena is only about a mile from the old ground, and a mile from the station, but is in fairly open surroundings, rather than hemmed in by houses and restricted access.  This year they allowed away fans into the clubhouse bar, which had an impressive photo mural of their play-off final victory against Exeter to take them into the football league in 2006/07.  Alongside was a bookie taking bets on both home and away sides, and I invested in £5 on Peter Leven to score first.  

We entered the ground just before kick-off, pausing briefly for 'meat pie, gravy and mushy peas', which took up the first 15 minutes of the match.  The Globe is not that much bigger than Christie Park, but has a good sized main stand with executive boxes, bar and function rooms.  The stands either end of the pitch were both covered steep terraces, with a shallow uncovered home terrace to our right opposite the main stand.  Morecambe is stuck in the heartland of Northwestern football, with the Manchester, Liverpool clubs, Blackpool, Wigan, and so on all within easy reach to watch the game at a higher standard.  Unsurprisingly, the crowd was less than 2,000 - however the Morecambe fans have a band of trumpet players and drummers to keep them entertained.  

Main stand

The match itself ended 0-0, but we did see Anthony Tonkin and Tom Craddock play a full 90 minutes following injuries and illness, and Adam Chapman also made a welcome cameo appearance in the final few minutes.  

After the game, with frozen and numb toes from the cold, we headed back by taxi to the station (£5 for six of us), stopping for freshly fried cod and chips at the amusement arcade (£4.95), catching the train back to Lancaster, and then waiting for the fast train back to Euston.  With a few strong coffees inside us, we also bumped into a group of 10 or 15 Oxford fans off on their way back to Blackpool for a Saturday night out.  

Finally our Euston train arrived, and this time we first had a ranting Wigan Athletic fan and his son for company - his point being that he was a loyal supporter, and how everyone else from Wigan was either a Manchester or Liverpool fan.  [Wigan had won 2-1 away at West Brom, so what he was doing on our train was a mystery].  He departed, and we then had Andy, a Portsmouth fan.  He lives in a road backing onto Fratton Park, and was complaining how for the Southampton match coming up, he has to have a written letter from the police allowing him to leave his front door and walk along the street.  [The Southampton fans are being bussed in].  Like us, he books all his tickets in advance, and his tickets from Portsmouth to Burnley were £19.50 each way.  Mine from Guildford to Morecambe were £16.50 each, and those from London were £14.50 each.  Compared to an on the day price of around £80 return, it is baffling why the train companies insist on their four nearly empty 1st class carriages on our service.  

We (or rather the Barking mob) reminisced about old clashes with Portsmouth, and away trips all over the country.  Arriving into Euston just after 9:30pm, Andy and I rushed for the Northern Line to Waterloo - getting their just before the 10pm fast train to Guildford and onto Portsmouth harbour.  

Finally at 10:33pm I was back in Guildford, with just the short walk back up the hill and home.   Guildford has "night angels": hi-vis jacket wearing do-gooders who look out for clubbers and other young adults in any difficulty at the end of their nights.  As I crossed at the pelican crossing at the the bottom of town, a young man walked up to the night angels, congratulating them on a fabulous job, marvellous service, before getting to the point and asking if they had a cigarette lighter.  They did, sparked up his cigarette, and all went off happy.  

Finally at around 11pm I was home, some 16 hours after starting off and 560 miles later - all for a Nil Nil draw. 

Football tributes

On my previous post, I considered football statues.  I think they are best left until after the player or manager has passed on.  This normally allows a significant number of years reflection to judge their contribution to the game or their club, whereas an immediate tribute can seem hasty in later years - In cricket for example, the England Ashes winning team from Summer 2005 all received MBEs in the 2006 New Year's Honours, but then went on to lose the next Ashes series 5-0 in Australia.

 
So what else is available?

Retiring the shirt number

Long established in American sports, where a baseball team will have squad numbers up to the 70s and 80s.  In football, this started off with genuine legends such as Pele and Bobby Moore - however now it seems that clubs may also retire a shirt following a premature death such as for Adam Stansfield at Exeter, and Dale Roberts at Rushden & Diamonds. 

As sad as a footballing death is, the club endures, and there is a sense of history when for instance the Manchester United number 7 shirt has been worn by George Best, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo.  Similarly, a centre forward will want to be number 9, and there is a certain pride in being allocated that number. 

The 12^th Man concept also sees some clubs retire that number, with the fans being the notional 12^th man in the team. 

Professional football will never go back to a simple 1-11 for each game, but when players start picking their own numbers it seems a bit too much: Vitor Baia with 99 at Porto; Bixente Lizarazu with 69; and David Beckham picking 23 when he was at Real Madrid, supposedly after Michael Jordan’s basketball number, as club captain Raul was the number 7 (Beckham’s number at Manchester United). 

Naming a stand?  

Sir Alex Ferguson now has a stand named after him at Old Trafford, well deserved after 25 years and numerous trophies and titles, despite still being manager.  Unsurprisingly Manchester City didn't follow their supporter's vote to name one end after legend Colin Bell.  Chelsea have the Matthew Harding Stand, named after their early 90's chairman who died in a helicopter crash.  More recently, Crawley Town also renamed their South Terrace after recently deceased club director, part owner and lifelong fan Bruce Winfield, who just missed seeing their promotion to the football league. 

Stands were traditionally named either after the road they backed onto (London Road, Cuckoo Lane), or geographically (North, South, East, West).  In more modern times, stands are available for sponsorship, such as the Manor Hospital stand, or the Oxford Mail stand.  This does mean that once the sponsorship deal is finished, the naming rights can be sold off again. 

It seems though that once a stand is named after a person, it can’t be un-named, and so endures until a ground is redeveloped or the club moves.  West Ham have the Trevor Brooking stand for instance, but if and when they move to the Olympic Stadium, commercial sponsorship will probably take over. 

What else?

A popular option seems to be naming executive boxes or suites after players;  

Newcastle have Shearer’s bar;  

Wembley has the Bobby Moore Club for Club Wembley ticket holders (which has the Bobby Moore Restaurant and Bobby Moore Room).  

These allow a club to recognise individual players, coaches, or managers fairly early after their retirement, and with executive boxes several can be named, assuming of course their are sufficent boxes.  Also, a restaurant or bar can be refurbished and renamed if necessary, rather than the permanency of a stand name. 

Football statues

Arsenal FC have recently unveiled three bronzes of club heroes to celebrate their 125th anniversary:

Herbert Chapman - led the club to their first league titles in 1931 and 1933,

Tony Adams - most successful captain in a career spanning three decades;

Thierry Henry - top goalscorer with 226 in eight years.

Chapman:  Before his arrival Arsenal were unknown.  Chapman however had survived a football ban before the first World War whilst at Leeds City, being implicated in an illegal payments scandal.  Arsenal would win five titles in all in the 30's, although Chapman died of pneumonia in 1934 after the first two;

Adams: a one club player from an apprentice in 1984 to 2002, although not without his much publicised troubles with gambling, drink, and even a spell in gaol following a drink driving conviction.  In 2000 he founded the Sporting Chance clinic, "a safe, dedicated environment, where sportsmen and women could receive support and counselling for the kinds of destructive behaviour patterns that exist in the world of competitive sport, but that are often denied."  He has though been relatively unsuccessful since then in management, and is still just 45.

Henry: Joined Arsenal after several years at Monaco, one at Juventus, then after eight years at the Gunners went to Barcelona for three, before heading off to the USA for the New York Red Bulls. Whilst he is top scorer, he only spent part of his career there, is still playing, and is perhaps better noted for winning the World Cup in 1998 and the Euros in 2000 with France.  The Irish will remember him for controlling the ball with his hand twice in the World Cup 2010 qualifier play-off, which led to a William Gallas goal and Ireland being eliminated.  He also has a reputation as being rather easy to go to ground under challenges. 

In my view it is a bit too early to start putting bronzes up of Adams and Henry.  Adams I feel would merit one in the future - as the days of a one club player are long gone.  Henry though hasn't even retired from the game yet - and although 226 is a remarkable tally, I reckon it takes a good few decades to weigh up anyone's contribution to a club, particularly if they are still alive and well.  Newcastle United haven't erected an Alan Shearer statue, but apparently plans are afoot to do just so, alongside one for Jackie Milburn as well in time for the Olympics next year.

As football statues go, I like the following

Sir Matt Busby

Dixie Dean

Sir Stanley Matthews

Billy Bremner

Brian Clough

Emlyn Hughes

Bobby Moore (at Wembley)

England captain Bobby Moore being carried shoulder-high by Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, with Ray Wilson looking on.

At Southampton the first Ted Bates statue was a bit too much like Jimmie Krankie, very short legs and a hand bigger than the football he was holding. Similarities with Milan Mandaric were also pointed out. 

so they had another go

What on earth is an emergency loan?

So often we hear that a player has signed on an 'emergency loan', when there seems to be no emergency at all.  In reality, they are short term loans for between four weeks and three months.  To understand them needs a careful reading of the Football League's rules regarding players' contracts, and how a team can bring players in (or send players out) during the season. 

Full contract
Perhaps best to first undertand a full contact.  This is for players over the age of 17, and will be a contract to 30th June in any year.  Any renegotiated contract with increased remuneration has to be for at least one more year than the current contract.  So once a club has signed a player under contract, he is at that the club until the end of the season, or any season thereafer. 

The Transfer Windows
Players can only be signed on a full contract or on a standard loan during the football transfer windows.  In the Football League, these are from the end of one season to midnight on 31 August, and then midnight on 31 December to 31 January.

Standard Loan
A standard loan can be for either a half or full season, and must be to the time when either of the transfer windows reopens, so are either to 31 December, or to the end of the season.  Only a season long loan can be recalled by the club, and only in the January transfer window.  A club can have a maximum of four loan players under the age of 23 and four over 23s in the season.  No more than two over 23s can join one club from another in a season. 

Emergency Loan
In reality, these are just short term loans of four weeks to three months.  They are permitted during the Transfer Windows, and then again from seven days after the Transfer Window has closed until the fourth Thursday in November, so from 7 September 2011 to 25 November 2011 this season.  In the second half of the season emergency loans can be made from 7 January 2012 to the fourth Thursday in March (the 22nd March).  Emergency loans must be between 28 days and 93 days long, and recalls are only allowed after 28 days.

Youth Loan
These are basically the same as Emergency Loans, except the youth player must continue to be in the programme of education put in place for him.  The 93 day maximum loan period does not apply, but the loan cannot be beyond the player's 21st birthday.

Emergency Loan of Goalkeeper
This is perhaps the understandable Emergency.  Where all professional goalkeepers are certified unfit or are suspended, an emergency goalkeeper can be signed for seven days, renewable every seven days (again the other 'keepers must be certified unfit), subject to a maximum of 93 days for any one goalkeeper. 

Loan players on the team sheet
A maximum of five loan players (standard, emergency or youth), excluding emergency goalkeepers can be named on a team sheet.

Loans from one club to another
A maximum of four loan players (standard, emergency or youth) may join one club from another, but one additional youth player can be loaned.

That is about as much as is digestible, without delving into the realm of non-contract players.

Paolo Di Canio's thoughts ahead of the derby game

Swindon Town manager : Paolo Di Canio
Since yesterday morning I woke up thinking about Oxford and I felt straight away the butterflies in my stomach.

I think this rivalry is bigger than Lazio and Roma. In Rome the rivalry is big but they play twice a year. Here, they don't play often, so the rivalry has grown.

It's the most important derby of my career.

This is absolutely a very special game and for us it should be a World Cup final.

"He's [Oxford United Striker, No. 9 James Constable] a big Swindon fan through and through - the Oxford fans know it.

If my players put in even 10 per cent of the fans’ desire for this game, they will be okay, with 100 per cent we will win easy but even if they bring with them 10 per cent of the fans’ desire to give their best then I will be very happy because then we are in a right way.

The 11 who will start on Sunday must be an 11 who can play football but also give their heart. I don’t mean that a good technical player will not play but they have to show that even if they are not proper nasty people, that is what they have to become in a positive and professional way.”


Oxford United Manager : Chris Wilder
We will keep our heads down and let them get on with it. You don’t win anything with articles or quotes in the paper, but every manager has their own approach.  But it’s not about me, it’s about my players and it’s about the supporters getting behind us like they always do. 

My Tottenham-supporting number nine will be all out to get the goals for Oxford on Sunday.

Kassam attendance records - the highest

In order, 

12,243: 06 May 2006 - vs Leyton Orient FL2.   away 4,603 = home 7,640

The day we were relegated from the football league.  Orient were given the whole of the North Stand some weeks before when Oxford were seemingly safe. An early goal for United from Eric Sabin was equalised by Craig Easton.  Gary Alexander put Orient 2-1 ahead, before Chris Willmott levelled the score.  Late on, ex United player Lee Steele scored a third to win promotion for Orient, and relegation for United along with Rushden & Diamonds.  United finished with 49 points, Bury, Torquay, Notts County and Stockport were all on 52 points, and a victory for United would have seen them safe. 

12,177: 06 Nov 2002 - vs Aston Villa LCP.  away ???
 
11,963: 03 May 2010 - vs Rushden & Diamonds BSP POS2. away 1,109 = home 10,854

This has the record for the highest number of home fans = 10,854.  The match was the Conference play-off semi-final 2nd leg.  We had drawn the first leg away, but won the second leg, and went on to win the Wembley Play-off 3-1 against York and return to the football league.

11,825: 03 Mar 2012 - vs S***don Town FL2.  away 1,266 = home 10,559
The home tickets had sold out back in November, and the S***don tickets went on sale on the coldest night of the year.  United were down to 10 men early on after James Constable was sent off for an elbow on 10 minutes, but two quick goals from Asa Hall and Oli Johnson put the Yellows 2-0 up after 16 minutes.  With two banks of four, and Scott Rendell up front on his own, United defended resolutely on to claim victory, doing the double over S***don Town, and ending their 10 match winning streak.  

11,673 10 Jan 2016 - vs Swansea City, FAC 3rd round.  away 1,429 = home 10,244
United won 3-2 after going one nil down early on to Jefferson Montero, before a Liam Sercombe penalty on half time drew us level, and two second half goals from Kemar Roofe took us 3-1 up, before Swansea pulled one back to leave a nervy last 25 minutes.

11,647 30 Jan 2016 - vs Blackburn Rovers, FAC 4th round.  away 1,485 = home 10,162
United won 3-2 after going one nil down early on to Jefferson Montero, before a Liam Sercombe penalty on half time drew us level, and two second half goals from Kemar Roofe took us 3-1 up, before Swansea pulled one back to leave a nervy last 25 minutes.

11,645: 08 Dec 2002 - vs S***don Town FAC. away ???

11,121: 26 Dec 2001 - vs Luton Town FL2. away 2,646 = home 8,475

11,065: 26 Dec 2006 - vs Woking BSP. away 306 = home 10,759

10,691: 08 May 2007 - vs Exeter City BSP POS2. away 1,000 (Exeter's estimate) = home Est 9,691 
This was the second leg of the Conference play-off semi-finals.  United had won the first leg 1-0, and were 1-0 up after 27 minutes in the second leg, before Exeter drew one back before half time.  Rob Duffy missed a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Exeter took the scores level over the fixture, and the game went to extra time and penalties.  The match report says differently, but I think we hit the post on three of our spot kicks, and we were left to rot with another three years in the Conference.  Exeter went on to win the play-offs, and indeed were also promoted to League One whilst United remained in the BSP.

10,613: 08 Sep 2009 - vs Luton Town BSP. away 2,331 = home 8,282
Luton Town had been relegated three years in succession, and were now in their first year in the Conference, having had 30 points deducted the season before.  Oxford were no longer the only 'big' team in non-league.  Shortly into the season, Luton were the visitors on a Tuesday night to the Kassam stadium, apparently with many of their supporters unable to get into the match.  Early on, United won a penalty, but it was parried away, however the ball was soon back in the Luton area for James Constable to knock in.  

Jamie Cook, resigned by United the week before, scored a cracker, but this was the highlight of his season.    

10,298: 26 Apr 2009 - vs Northwich Victoria BSP. away 119 = home 10,179
The last game of the season, and Oxford were hoping for a miracle to reach the BSP play-offs, having had a five point deduction earlier in the season.  United needed a win and for other results to go in their favour.  However, the game was lost 2-1, with a pitch invasion marring the game.  Visiting goalkeeper Ryan Clarke gave a thumbs up to the home crowd at the end of the game, and would soon be signing as United's first choice goalkeeper.    

10,049 26 December 2013 - vs Plymouth Argyle.  FL2.  away 699 = home 9,350
Promoted by the club as "The Big Match", it ended up as a big disappointment.  After an even but uneventful scoreless first half, the Us conceded within 45 seconds of the restart, with a shot that Ryan Clarke watched shoot into the far corner to his left.  Asa Hall briefly put us level with a long range shot into the goal in front of the Oxford Mail stand.  Another defensive mix-up saw us 2-1 down, and once Dave Kitson gave away a penalty and it was 3-1 it was very much game over.  A late own goal on 88 minutes gave United a spectre of hope, but there was not enought time to force the equaliser. 

10,138:  2 Feb 2016 vs Millwall, LCP area final 2nd leg.

9,559 16 Feb 2016 vs Northampton.  L2.   away 1943 = home7616

9,870: 24 Sep 2003 - vs Reading LCP.  away ???

9,683 26 Dec 2015 vs Exeter.  away 547 = home 9,136

9,477: 26 Dec 2003 - vs Leyton Orient FL2. away 635 = home 8,842

9,440: 28 Dec 2010 - vs Macclesfield Town FL2. away 86 = home 9,354

Promoted by Bridle Insurance.  

Highest number of home fans in a conference match (incc play-offs) = 10,854 vs Rushden 
Highest number of home fans in a conference match (excl play-offs) = 10,759 vs Woking, 26 Dec 2006
Highest number of home fans in a league match = 10,559 vs Swindon Town

Highest number of home fans in an FA Cup match = 10,244 vs Swansea

Highest number of home fans in a League Cup match = ???

Oxford United pre-season tour to USA

Following on from their first pre-season match for 2011/12 against Didcot Town, Oxford United headed out on Monday for their three match USA pre-season friendlies tour / team bonding week / Seacoast United visit. 

As a first time visitor, it is easy to see why the region is known as New England - apart from the clapboard wooden houses, the surrounding countryside could easily be mistaken for rural Oxfordshire with grassy meadows and woodland.  The local roadsigns and towns however suggest a surreal version of the English placenames that the colonialists named after their own hometowns.  Boston is the biggest city, Manchester is about 20 miles East of Exeter where United were to play their first game, and Dover is a further 20 miles North and inland.

United are based in Portsmouth, about 60 miles North of Boston on the Gulf Of Maine.  The weather has been hot, sunny, cloudless and humid, with temperatures in the 80s.  After a few days training at the high school and on the beach, including taking sessions with a local school, on Wednesday the team went to the evening game between New England Patriots and Manchester United
- although plans for a pre-match barbecue were scuppered by the first rain in over a week. 

Oxford's first match was played at Exeter High School.  From what I could gather, the school relocated a few years back to an out of town site, and from the main highway the drive to the school was about another mile.  The school was surrounded by sports fields, with all weather tennis courts and athletics track as well as grass pitches.  An enterprising Seacoast fan had placed $5 parking signs at the entrance, however the local police were having none of it, insisting that as the school was public property, they could only ask for donations. 

Confusion over a 6pm, 6:30 or 7pm kick-off meant your writer arrived well over an hour early for the actual 7pm kick-off.  Chairman Kelvin Thomas was already at the ground, chatting to various of the Seacoast United coaches and management, and was quick to say hello.  Seacoast is perhaps similar to the United youth and community system, running youth teams at all age levels, but on a much larger scale.  Several of the Seacoast training staff were here from the North East of England to coach the youngsters, which would become apparent later from the stadium announcer's accent.  The rest of the United non-playing tour were along soon thereafter.  Matt from the ticket-office, Jerome Sale from Radio Oxford, Yellow Player Adam and Simon too.  The players then arrived in a cortege of pick-up trucks with Chris Wilder, Mickey Lewis, Andy Melville, Alan Hodgkinson, and Andy Dubowski. 

The Americans take a pride in sports, and the match took place in the William Ball Stadium, which is the school's American Football / Soccer stadium.  This was an astroturf pitch, primarily marked out in white with the grid-iron ten-yard lines and markings, and the soccer pitch in yellow.  There were also blue lines for lacrosse perhaps.  Behind each goal were the American football posts, which were surely tempting some row Z shots and touch-down conversions.  Also two reasonable sized electronic scoreboards, again designed for the gridiron scores.  The "Bill-Ball" had two stands on either side of the half way line, in the traditional bleachers lay-out : uncovered benches, although aluminum rather than old fashioned wood.  The main stand was perhaps 40 rows high on a steel frame contruction, with a decent sized commentary box at the top, and a roof top area for cameramen and photographers.  Beneath the stand was an open concourse offering soft drinks, pizza slices or hot dogs.  Being a high school there was of course no alcohol license.   

At least one other fan had made the trip from England, although later on we did spot a few fans wearing polo shirts with the United logo. 

About half an hour before kick-off, the stand started filling up, mainly it seemed Seacoast United familes and school children.  All of the Seacoast officals wore the club t-shirt, which at least gave the game a semblance of a home crowd, whereas amongst other football shirts were a few Manchester United and Arsenal colours.  A small souvenir stall was set up, with a 4 page team-sheet for a dollar, Seacoast scarves, tops, and a pre-season Seacoast-Oxford t-shirt for $20.  A local mortgage company also had a stall giving out mini-balls, and trying to tempt new contacts with a half-time draw for Redsox tickets if you gave them a business card.  After a half hour warm-up with music blaring out [The Who, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Kings of Leon, ] both teams then came back out to Carmina Burana (the Old Spice music) with a Seacoast youth teams' guard of honour.  Surprisingly there were no cheerleaders.  Both teams lined up for the National Anthems before the main stand with the Stars and Stripes, and Union Flag.  A Seacoast school girl sang both anthems beautifully, first our own, although she did surprise the Oxford squad and myself by continuing for a second verse after we had all cheered and applauded at the end of the usual verse and chorus. 

Onto the game:  trialist Chris Knopka played in goal for the full 90 minutes.  Michael Duberry and Jake Wright at the back; Tony Capaldi and Josh Payne slightly further up; Simon Heslop, Asa Hall and Andrew Whing in midfield; Alfie Potter, James Constable and Jon-Paul Pitman up front.  The game opened fairly convincingly, Alfie Potter darting through the defence from the corner flag to score within 4 minutes.  For Seacoast United Phantoms, apparently eight of the eleven starters were under 20 years old.  However, their youth did not seem to bother them, and they played with a little flair and most of the time seemed assured of their formation and tactics.  Numer 6 Steven Palumbo caught the eye early on, with a few little step-overs and a quick turn of pace catching United out.  Later in the game he would again intercept United's careless passing. 

Seacoast got a penalty midway through the first half, which was duly converted.  The home fans cheered and clapped politely, with a little commentator-orchestrated feet trampling on the stand. 

For the rest of the first half, Seacoast attacked well, and had four good chances, shooting wide when one-on-one, one over the bar, and United looked troubled.  Duberry at the back was most vocal in the team, and seems to be the missing link from last season with his confidence and experience at clearing the ball from danger.  At the front, it seems United had been watching too much Leo Messi and thought that they could run past two or three players at a time and score.  It was not to be.  There was one more good chance for United at the end of the first half when a well struck shot was parried by the Seacoast goalkeeper with his right hand, and then controlled with his left hand as if he were a basket-ball player. 

There was no half time cross-bar challenge, but a few hundred kids were having mini kickabouts, with the United substitutes trying to do some warmups in amongst them. 

Second half, Chris Wilder moved down to the bench from his first half spot below the commentary box next to Kelvin Thomas, and unexpectedly for a friendly there were no changes at half-time.  Eventually, a few were made, Damian Batt and Matt Paterson coming on.  Batt was dangerous with some attacking runs up the right, and for the last twenty minutes United looked the stronger side.  JPP also had a good shot hit the bar and looks a good prospect for 2011/12.  With a few minutes to go, Harry Worley was brought on and played as centre forward, missing a fairly good chance which brought a round of applause from the Seacoast fans. 

After a few minutes of added time, the final whistle went on United's first USA game with a 1-1 draw.  Seacoast jogged off the pitch, United jogged off towards the centre circle I thought for a warm down, but were then sat heads-down in a circle for Wilder's post match school report.  As a fan it felt like we had been playing against a team of plucky youngsters like Barnet or Lewes, and I don't think Wilder will have allowed his players to blame the Astroturf, the heat, new players, or even the lack of fans.  Perhaps JPP, Duberry and Batt will have come away with some credit, but overall 5/10.

Literary masterpieces

Now that the A420 rivalry is to resume, some of literature's finest authors contributions:-

Stewart Lee writing for the Guardian 

"Kate Middleton, a peasant-spawned serf-girl, sodden with the primordial mire of the Swindon-shadowed swamplands."

An Inspector Banks novel

"Office space in London is far too expensive. Our head office is in Swindon. Well, outside Swindon. One wouldn't want to actually be in Swindon, would one"

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

There is not a university in our town, which is Swindon, because it is a small place ... Father wants to move to a different town as well. He sometimes says things like, 'We've got to get out of this town, kiddo.' And sometimes he says, 'Swindon's the arsehole of the world.'

Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch 

For the first time, suddenly, I became aware of all the Swindon fans sitting around us, with their awful West Country accents, their absurd innocent glee, their delirious disbelief. I hadn’t ever come across opposing fans before, and I loathed them in a way I had never before loathed strangers.

Barnet 2 : 2 Oxford - 25 April 2011

or even watch the highlights?

The ground seems to have gained some more seated stands since I was last there, although the entrance turnstiles looked as if they may have been received in a swap for a player transfer back in the 50's.

The family stand in one corner had what appeared to be a marquee fabric roof on it, which was where the seated Us fans were placed. The standing fans shared a low roofed terrace with the away fans, separated by stewards and some netting hanging down from the roof. The tv stand was up a metal ladder, along a small catwalk, and through the roof of the stand onto a scaffolidng platform. For those of us on the terrace, the roof provided welcome shelter from the blazing sun.

To the left behind the goal was a fairly new I think all seated home stand, and a slightly shallower all seater along the side, with small dugouts for the teams. Behind the uphill goal was another small terrace, with a high fence to stop balls disappearing over to the backgardens and houses overlooking the ground.

For a team fighting relegation, Barnet started off strongly playing down the slope at Underhill. They had a couple of very quick young wingers, who may be worth a look at if they go down to the Conference. Loan players Sam Deering and Jack Midson were not allowed to take part, and Jude Stirling also did not make an appearance. For United, Damien Batt was the ex-Bees player.

The Bees fans had their drum to get chants going, and had the usual reportoire of 'ultras' songs (Dale Cavese, Sloop John B) and the traditional football songs too. Their rivalry seems to be reserved for Enfield and Spurs. The Yellows fans were of course more interested in Paul Hart's team's fate, and as Wednesday went 1 up, 2 up, 2-1 and finally 3-1 the full reportoire of rivalry songs was used.

Barnet went one up, before Constable equalised before half-time. Ryan Clarke may have been lucky to be adjudged to have been fouled with the ball in the back of the net, as to me it looked like he stopped the ball with arms outstreched just inside the line, then with an attacking boot coming towards him, pulled the ball into his body, but over the line. Damien Batt sprinted uphill in a dangerous looking attack, only to pull up with a tight hamstring.

In the second half, McLean got bullied into giving the ball away under the attack of a couple of players. As Barnet charged up hill, he stopped still, and Barnet scored their second with a perfectly weighted lob over Clarke who had advanced off his line. McLean was subbed within minutes.

Oxford equalised again through James Constable, and by this time the scores from the foot of league 1 were certain, and the chants moved on to Barnet, and "Barrow - on a Tuesday night". The Bees face a difficult two games to finish the season, away at Accrington, and home to Port Vale, and will I think need four points to have a hope of league 2 football next year.

Barnet - Oxford preview

originally written for Rageonline

I am sure regulars remember the last time we travelled to Barnet's Underhill 'Stadium' in October 2005.  United had packed their black away strip, whilst Barnet 'changed their kit to an all black affair two days before the season started, rather than the orange with black pinstripe shirts that they had notified the league about.' [OWS report] United were left to wear an orange top from the training kit, and red shorts.  The game, under Brian Talbot, was a nil-nil draw. 

Damian Batt featured for Barnet in that game, as did Guilano Graziolo who is currently manager.  For United, Craig Davies featured, who we saw for Chesterfield on Saturday. 

The Yellows enter the last three games of the season in 13th place, yet only six points from the play-offs.  After perhaps the most skilful game of football all season, fans saw promoted Chesterfield meander to a goalless draw against United. 

Barnet are at the wrong end of the table, but a 4-2 away victory against Gillingham yesterday suggests they are no end of season push-over. 

For United, Jimmy Sangare hobbled off, replacement Mitchell Hanson was also replaced, and so Harry Worley will presumably  take the starting line up after his two match suspension.

So-fa so good

Originally written for Rageonline

Chesterfield make their first [edit: competive] visit to the Kassam stadium [they played pre-season in July 2006] and will be celebrating their promotion to League One following the nil-nil draw between Torquay United and Wycombe Wanderers on Friday night.  Chesterfield cannot win the title today, as second placed Bury are only four points behind with three games remaining, including the Easter Monday clash between the two teams.  With average homecrowds of 6,701 compared to 3,967 in their last season at Saltergate, the move to the B2Net stadium has been a success both on an off the pitch.  

Craig Davies will hopefully be welcomed back to the Kassam Stadium, having made 26 starts and 29 substitute appearances for United, scoring eight goals from 2004 to 2006.  He is currently fourth in the League Two goals scorers table with 22, Liam Donaldson of Crewe top with 26, and our own Tom Craddock in 14th place with 14 goals.  

Last week United made the long awaited trip to Accrington Stanley, and saw out a nil-nil draw on one of the poorest pitches of the season.  Jimmy Sangare made an impressive first team debut due to Harry Worley's two match suspension, and will presumably start again today.  Damien Batt was suffering from tonsilitis earlier in the week, and Ben Purkiss took a knock in training, so we may see Stevie Kinniburgh back in the team.  

United will be pleased to be playing back on the lush grass of the Kassam stadium, and at the end of their second year, the University ground staff can be rightly proud of the fine condition of the pitch throughout the season.    

In other matches, if Stockport lose today whilst not mathematically relgated, they will be at least 9 points behind both Northampton and Burton, with three games to play and a goal difference to catch up of around 30 points.  The League 2 play-off places are still wide open, which will lead to an exciting last few games of the season.  In the Blue Square Bet Premier, the play-offs look to be between Wimbledon, Luton, and either Wrexham, Fleetwood, Kidderminster or York.  Financial problems at Wrexham may see them barred from the play-offs if tax debts are not settled first.

A day at the training ground

Back in December in the Oxford United youth team lottery I had won first prize of a day at the training ground, and lunch with the players and coaching staff.  After Mickey Lewis was tied down to a date, I was all set for 12th April.  With several senior players due to play in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, the day was postponed by a week, and so finally the day was set for Tuesday 19th. 

With the luxury of a day-off work, I set the SatNav for Bicester Sports Association, and arrived just before 11am.  On a glorious sunny day, I saw who appeared to be ex-skipper Chris Hargreaves crossing the pitch, but was actually John Armstrong who is the football in the community co-ordinator who was to be my host for the day.  At BSA there are rugby, football and cricket pitches with a set of changing rooms and club-house.  United have been based there for two years now I believe, and with many Midlands based players, the short hop from the M40 makes it within the required one hour travelling time. 

On one pitch, ex U's players Chris Allen was taking a training session with around eighteen youngsters.  I think these were a mixture of the Oxford United Scholars and a few triallists from the community programs that the club runs.  Chris had them split into three sides of six, with three goals coned off, and the aim being for one team to keep possession and score two goals against the other two teams.  After each quick session the players were down doing ten press-ups. 

At the end of that pitch, Alan Hodgkinson was working with the two goalkeepers, Ryan Clarke and Simon Eastwood.  With the ground being baked hard, the two keepers were taking care not to land too heavily when catching balls fired in at them across the goal. 

Moving back to the clubhouse, the senior squad were warming up with a jog around the pitches.  Damien Batt was excused from training with a sore throat / tonsillitis, Paul MacLaren was allowed an extra day's rest, and a couple of other players were doing fitness work in the gym.  There was a triallist with the senior squad, possibly Mamadou Danfa who would appear for the reserves against Luton later in the week.  Mickey Lewis and Andy Melville took the training session, and manager Chris Wilder was watching from distance with a guest.  After some fitness work, there was a short eight per side game on a half-sized pitch.  All of the squad who were training featured, Asa Hall, James Constable, Ryan Clarke, Simon Eastwood, Alfie Potter, Stevie Kinniburgh, Aaron Woodley, Jimmy Sangare, etc.

The fitness coach took them through some stretches to avoid injuries in the heat, and then it was back to the clubhouse for lunch.  Set out like a school dining room, the senior squad were on one set of tables, the juniors on another, and the coaching staff and manager on a third set off to one side.  Chairman Kelvin Thomas also joined us, with Chris Wilder's guest revealed to be visiting sports psychologist Steven Sylvester.  Steven had played first class cricket for Middlesex, and the United men were hoping to sign him up as a ringer for their cricket match against the Oxford Mail team.   Over a lunch of pasta and bologneise, the chat continued about playing friendly cricket, watching International games at Lords and Headingley, and a general chat about football in both League Two and the Premiership.  I tried asking Chris Wilder who he wanted to come up from the Conference with Crawley, but he would not be drawn - perhaps he doesn't want any team to think that he either favours them (or not).   The youth teams were then sent collecting up plates and wiping down the tables, and collecting all of the training equipment  from the pitches.  Apparently 'elf and safety has though decreed that cleaning another player's boots carries a risk of passing on infections, so that is banned.  

As it was pay day, the player's pay envelopes were on a table for collection.  It seems there is a joker or two at the club, as Constable's had "very heavy!" written on it, and Paul MacLaren's "Old Age Pension".

After a half hour talk with Kelvin about some ideas and suggestions for the club, we called it a day around 2:30.  Some of the players were heading back to the stadium for more fitness work, and with the school holidays others were due to call in at kids' training sessions. 

Overall, I was impressed with the team spirit and togetherness that the club has, and how seriously they take training and match preparation. 

[I would later find that Mickey Lewis, Andy Melville and Chris Allen had all appeared for Oxford United in my first ever game, away in the League Cup 2nd Round replay against Aston Villa on 7 October 1992]

Accrington - Oxford preview from 15 April 2011

Originally written for Rage-Online

Oxford United pay their first visit ever visit to Accrington Stanley's Crown Ground on Saturday.  This may or may not also be known as the Fraser Eagle stadium, however Fraser Eagle went bust in 2009, or prior to that the sponsored name was the Interlink Express Stadium.   Aerial pictures show the ground dropped in the middle of a 5 sided field, with house on 4 sides behind the ground, and open ground on the other side.  Strangely, none of the sides of the ground are parallel with any of the surrounding streets, and there appears to be wasteland behind all but the main stand and the back-gardens of the houses. 

The Accrington story is well known, the original Accrington FC being founder members of the league in 1888, leaving after 5 years, with Stanley Villa taking the name Accrington Stanley 1891 and their league status until the resignation from the league in March 1962, due to debts of £4,000 in transfer fees, £4,000 to the Inland Revenue, £40,000 to other creditors, and £458 of National Insurance, which seemed to be the tipping point.  Oxford took their place the following season, and a reborn Accrington Stanley FC were formed in 1968.  The Stanley swapped league status with United at the end of 2005/06, and the two teams had never played until the home fixture this season. This was a Nil-Nil draw. 

Last week saw United draw 2-2 with Wycombe Wanderers in front of 9,309, the second highest home crowd of the season after the Bridle-promoted Macclesfield game on the Tuesday bank holiday between Christmas and New Year.  The Wycombe game was entertaining, with United going ahead through Potter after 35 minutes, forcing an own goal on 54 minutes, before Wycombe pulled back two goals on 63 and 66 minutes, to leave the tie level. Wycombe will have been happy to take a point after being two down, and keep the third automatic promotion spot, two behind Bury. 

Accrington, whose squad contains many graduates of the Liverpool FC youth academy players, have won their last six home games, scoring 19 and conceding three, to leave them in eigth place on 64 points, although should Torquay's one point deduction for fielding an ineligible player stand, they would move up to seventh. 

United have one enforced change, with Harry Worley suspended after picking up 10 yellow cards, and Jimmy Sangare is likely to make his debut in defence.  With United now seven points outside of the play-offs and with inferior goal difference, the players will be fighting for their contracts.  Nonetheless,
Danny Shelley of Crewe, who are another two points back, is aiming for five straight wins and believes they have a chance. 

At the start of the month, Ilyas Khan took full control of Accrington, confirming he would settle all debts including arrears of players' wages.  Khan however announced his ownership to be temporary, with the aim of having a widely spread ownership with no controlling shareholder. 

Bury 3 - 0 Oxford United. 2nd April 2011

Another trip up North, but this time I had the misfortune to start off on a train full of X-Factor wannabees on their way to auditions.  The first carriage from Guildford had a couple literally bursting into song, so I moved up a carriage to what seemed quieter.  Little did I know, but I had a fascinating glimpse into the life and aims of two students.   One girl opposite had a pair of battered Ugg boots with the soles coming apart, and purple leg warmers.  "Because the auditions this year are in front of a studio audience, you have to be good and talented.  If we get through, we will then be in the judges's house.  But I might need to take another gap year, as I can't can't combine University and X-Factor.  Which is odd as I am studying music at Uni. But I did go to Thailand, Australia, and Thailand already on a Gap Year, but I had saved up £10,000 to do this.".  "I only went to New Zealand", complained her travelling companion.  

So this is what life is like for the youth of today, £10K gap years, or just one country on the other side of the world if you can't afford that, with the ultimate desire of being a tv pop star.  At that point, I put my headphones on to drown out their incessant whines, and continued onto Waterloo.  

At Waterloo, my ticket (Guildford-Bury with a reservation from Euston to Manchester) was rejected at the barrier, which the first worker waved me through.  At the Underground, I again found my ticket spat out, for the worker to say that "your ticket is not valid for the Tube".  I asked him how I was supposed to travel from Guildford to Euston without using the Underground, but was told to "take that up with the company who sold you the ticket".  So I then paid £6.60 for a one-day travelcard, and hopped on the Northern Line to Euston.  Only to get just two stops on to Charing Cross before finding the line was shut for weekend engineering works.  Simple, get the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus and get the Victora Line I thought.  At Oxford Circus, the tube arrived, I sat down, and then nothing happened for several minutes, and taking the earphones out to listen to announcements, I found an 'incident' had closed the Victoria Line.  So taking the escalators to the surface I resorted to a taxi to Euston for another £8.  

Once at Euston, I had time for a coffee before getting the Virgin train to Manchester Picadilly, which took around two hours, and from there it was 40 minutes or so on the Metrolink, which starts off subterranean, winds it way through the city streets and traffic as if a tram, before rattling along an overground line to Bury, with quaint stops such as "Besses O' Th' Barn".  

Bury itself is a traditional Northern town, with an impressive church and art-deco converted picture palace in the centre, alongside a shopping mall of discount shops.  I dodged the chain pubs and walked down the Manchester road down towards the ground, stopping in the Waterloo pub around 1pm.  The landlord was a Bury fan, as were most of the customers, and the real ale was decent as well (Thwaites Original) for I think £2.38 a pint.  They had a range of football match-day snacks of different meat pies and chips, and the mysterious "Blobby" for £1.50, which turned out to be a half french stick with ham.  Bury's Gigg Lane is also used by FC United of Manchester for most home games, and it was bizarre to see their forthcoming fixture list show their next game to be against Northwich Victoria.  FCUM are I think one step below the Conference North in the Evostik league, yet it was only two seasons ago Oxford Untied were playing Northwich in the Conference Premier. 

I carried on down to the club, and into the club-house, which was showing West-Ham 2-0 up at half-time against Manchester United.  Man United got one back, and the only cheers were ironic as one of the Oxford fans has West Ham as their second team.  After Man United equalised, he walked out, and the game finished 4-2 to the Red Devils.  

As for the Bury - Oxford game, Bury's manager Knill had left midweek to join Scunthorpe, taking his assistant and the goalkeeping coach with him.  This didn't seem to upset Bury though, and within a minute, Oxford had taken a corner, seen Bury take the ball down one side of the pitch and lob Ryan Clarke to take a very early lead.  It got worse, and the game finished three-Nil to Bury.  Gigg Lane is an all seater ground, but it seems that the stand the United fans were in is a rebuilt terrace, so the seats are quite widely spread, and there is a shallow start to the terrace, before it steepens up.  I could not discern any executive boxes at all, and there was of course a huge pillar to obscure the view.   At half time, Bury even allowed smokers to exit the stand and puff away outside, but still within the ground. 

Port Vale 1 Oxford 2 : 12 March 2011

I caught the 10:20 from Euston, arrived at Stoke for 11:48, and headed off to look for the bus to Burslem as I'd taken advantage of the £3 plus-bus offer. I'd scribbled down the directions from football ground guide, and I'm not sure whether I got them right, but ended up across the motorway on a dilapidated row of terrace houses, waiting for I thought the 21 or 21A. Even though it was a one-way street, the first bus I got on was going to the other end of the route, so at twenty past twelve a bus finally arrived going to Burslem. Simple I thought, take the left onto the motorway and the ground is apparently only 2 miles away. Except this bus went into the centre of Stoke round the one-way-system, then stopped at the bus station for 10 minutes. After picking up several old ladies who had that jumble sale whiff about them, we finally started off back round the one-way system, before heading off for a tour of the local retail park, "NO CAR CRUISES ALLOWED" (by high court order).

I finally arrived at Burslem around 1pm, to see police outside nearly every pub. After the advice to find the Bulls Head, I ventured in to find a lot of Oxford fans, and I thought perhaps a Northern section sporting very old-school Black and Yellow scarfs. It turned out they were Vale fans protesting at the current ownership. The Bulls Head was a Titanic Brewery pub, and I worked my way through Steerage, Anchor, and Iceberg (£7.50 for a round of three decent real ales wasn't bad). The rest of the group had been tempted by the barbecue burgers in the beer garden, but then the chef produced huge farmhouse banger sausages, and after one of us had tried it, the rest all went back for a taste, and at £1.75 it makes the van catering outside the Kasstad look very low rate. (Apologies to Boris, but I don't think there was a veggie option, unless you include onions and ketchup in a roll).

Onto Vale Park: I've never been there before, but I have heard it described as the 'Wembley of the North'. Pre-match I went round to the club-shop through hordes of Vale fans to pick up a badge, but they had sold out of programmes. The club shop was spacious with a good range of stock.

The ground itself is the widest football pitch I have possibly seen, and there are a good five yards spare grass on each touchline. Us away fans were squeezed in to the middle of a stand behind one goal, the left and right (and even the front four rows) sectioned off by netting. A big electronic scoreboard was hung above us behind the goal, but apart from a small clock in the middle of the stand to our right we didn't have many clues to match or league updates. The rest of Vale Park is a good sized 4-stand ground. To our left was a one-level stand where the vocal home fans all congregated to the left hand corner at the start of the first half. This seemed bizarre at the time, as there is a decent stand behind the goal at the opposite end to the away fans . Between these two was a 'fill in the corners' stand, and again on the other side. To our right was the main stand, which had a double level of executive boxes, and to our right one block of concrete steps presumably ready for more seating if they jump a few divisions. The stewards inside the ground didn't seem too concerned about standing at the back and middle behind the goal. 

Pre-match, Vale's music included Let Me Entertain You (Robbie Williams), who is apparently a Vale fan and shareholder.

The game: For such a wide pitch, Wilder had done his homework and really mixed the team up to give options from wide. With Tonkin suspended, we went for a back four of Kinni, Wright, Worley and Purkiss. I'm no good at formations, but it was Payne, Clist, McLaren in midfield, with Potter and Hackney on the wings, and Midson to run up front. 

Ex Yellow Lewis Haldane is thankfully recovered from his Summer leg infection. We also encountered the giant defender Exodus Geohaghon, one time opponent at Kettering, but also and England C colleague at the Kassam in the same side as James Constable. Geohaghon followed his Kettering manager Mark Cooper to Peterborough, but after Cooper left he fell out of favour and has been on loan to several clubs.

Within the first five minutes one of our players absolutely clattered into their attacker up on the far right of the pitch. The Ref luckily pulled out a yellow, but it could have been red on another day.

Jack Midson had a couple of early one on ones, but just couldn't get his shots on target. Harry Worley had a great game, heading the lobbed floaty kicks away with ease. Jake Wright was solid as usual. Stevie Kinniburgh had less to do it seemed, or perhaps it was just that there was less action on that side, or he just did his job with no clangers to write about.

The penalty decision to Port Vale was pretty easy for the ref, although two players crashing into each other back-to-back could have been waved away. Ryan Clarke went the right way and blocked the shot, but unfortunately the rebound went fortuitiously back to the penalty taker who finished off.

Before the second half finished, Potter's run into the oppo penalty area and shot saw a good save from their goalie, but he parried up into the air, and Jack Midson was poacher to knock in.

The play for us was great when we got it right, nice passing football, spreading out to the wings, or passing into the middle to try and attack from there.

Onto the second half: The Vale fans to our near left didn't reappear, until we realised they had the cunning plan of simply walking to the other end of the stand so they were near the goal they were attacking {Isn't this a bit like Tonbridge Angels and Eastbourne Borough?}. Luckily the crowds of 6,000 mean there is plenty of space, and the far corners of each stand probably aren't very popular. Behind the goal seems better to me, although I did wonder if Vale's ground was so square they could move the pitch 90 degrees.

We played more of the same second half, but on occasion we were attacking and end up losing the ball back in our own area. At least with the pitch so wide, we didn't see Clarke kicking into touch as is usual the last few games.

Suited Jim Gannon has allegedly lost the respect of the Vale players from pub talk earlier, and his frantic gesturing seemed at odds with Wilder.  Wilder recently seems to have decided for the suit and Wenger puffa jacket at away games, whilst still in training gear at home.  

Worley continued his renaissance as the new Creighton, by scoring from I think a corner lobbed into the box around the 70 minutes mark? From then on, it seemed we went to defend with 10 behind the ball, or any attacks got weasled out into the corner. We just about bored the game into submission and finally the ref blew after four minutes of extra time.

There was heavy police presence outside, a combination of the home fans protests, and the likelihood of trouble between United and Vale fans. One man went running past me in the car park towards the low wall at the end of the car park where the Vale fans were looking over and shouting, and next time I looked he was being held by the police in a half-nelson on the ground with his face pressed into the floor.

After one of us finally made it round to the club shop for programmes, we were considering heading back to the Bull's Head as our train back wasn't until nearly 7pm. However, as the five of us walked into Burslem, there was a group of about 30 Vale fans (none in colours of course) about 100 yards behind, and three youths in Adidas Gazelles came jogging past and on into the town centre. Despite the Bull's Head being 'away friendly', at this point we decided a taxi back to Stoke was the safe option.

Lincoln 3 Oxford 1

After the original game back in December 2010 was postponed for the snow, I lost out on my train fare as apparently advance tickets are only refundable if the train is delayed, so £40 down the drain before I even started.   Following the daytime trek by car to Morecambe on mostly motorways, there was no way I was doing a trip to Lincoln on a weeknight, so opted for a train and overnight stay.   As this was a leisure trip on my own, I chose to go first class, which was around £80 for the return trip.  Considering a day-time trip to Manchester costs around that, I thought this was a worthwhile treat. 

Unfortunately this game was on the first of the month, which is one of my busiest work days.  I managed to escape the office at 11:45, caught the 12:30 Guildford-Waterloo, and after a cross-London transfer I left King's Cross for the East Coast Line up to Newark North Gate.  The East Coast trains are possibly the old InterCity 125s, or at least they look that dated.  Still, my first class table seat was spacious and I was offered plentiful tea and coffee or water.  The other passengers hoping for the cooked meals were disappointed to find that was only available on different trains, and had to get by on the standard class toasted sandwiches.  From Newark, there was a chugger one carriage train to Lincoln which took around 40 minutes. 

The train circled into the city around the University campus, before finally arriving in the centre.  I had never been to Lincoln before, but had hoped to spot the cathedral as the renowned landmark from miles away.  The local buildings shielded it from view, and I headed up into the Old Town towards my hotel, still with no views.  The walk got steeper and steeper.  I found myself on the cunningly named "steep hill", and after twenty minutes of huff and puff finally got to the top by the castle and cathedral.  I spotted a Yellow couple and said hello, and they had been to the top of the castle but advised against climbing.  With sweat rings on my shirt, I decided to check in to the hotel and have a cool down.  My hotel was literally built into the ancient walls of the city, and I went for a short walk around the top end of the city to take some pictures of the cathedral and castle. 

What perhaps shocked me most was the Big Issue sellers and beggars based up by the Cathedral, who were quite clearly addicts from their faces and bloodshot eyes.  For the 'posh' end of town I was surprised, but apparently the people who visit cathedrals are most likely to give to 'good causes'. 

I decided to dine at the hotel Grille, which was advertised as recommended to pre-book.  Just guessing, but the speed with which they dished out my 'hot smoked salmon steak' starter from the specials board, and the pork belly main course made me suspect the food was pre-cooked, deep frozen and finished off in the kitchen. 

Later I wandered downhill to the town centre, finally spotting Womble through the Wetherspoons window, and joined his group for a pint.   Down town looked a lot more like the Cowley Road, with a Chinese takeaway called 'Legal Food', which made me wonder quite what the alternative was .  We then went on to the ground, and I took my usual detour to the club shop for a club badge. 

We were placed to the top of one corner of a stand along the pitch, perhaps similar to what away fans experience at the Kasstad.  To our left were some vocal home fans up against the segregation netting.  In the equivalent of our East Stand were a hardcore of young fans who stood all game, banged their drum, and jumped around too.  To our right was a fairly unused Executive Stand, although Oxford fans had taken one box.  Opposite was the main one tiered stand.

So, onto the game. This was a bizarre match where Lincoln went one-up, and then we equalised after their goalie somehow stopped a shot and whilst prone on the ground let the ball slither from his grasp for us to equalise.  The stewards kept their beady eyes on us throughout which was quite disconcerting.  In the second half we started strongly, but then it all went wrong with two comical own goals, leaving Lincoln the deserved 3-1 winners. 

I took the lazy option of a taxi back to the top of town, had a couple of glasses of wine in the hotel bar before retiring to bed.  In the morning I opted for the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.  Good, but not as good as at Lake Louise. 

The morning walk to the station was interrupted by a search for a book shop, which the Yellows I had seen the afternoon before promised me had a Lincoln-Oxford programme from the '70s.  I found the shop, was taking details to let my programme collectors know as the shop wasn't due to open until 11, when the owner started opening up. He let me in early, charged me 99p for the programme, and I headed on back to the town centre and station.  At only quarter past nine the local addicts were congregating on a bench over the canal / river for their morning lagers. 

9:30 saw a two carriage train head to Newark Castle, which was around 25 minutes walk to North Gate.  Newark is a quite well preserved town with obviously a castle, but also converted warehouses and redbrick building.  I finally got home around 1pm, and then back to work to catch up. 

Morecambe Oxford Feb 2011

An enjoyable result from Morecambe yesterday. The Globe arena is a nice new ground, a decent sized main stand, and for us away fans the covered terrace behind the goal was respectable too, steep enough steps that you could see above the person in front, and hefty crush barriers to lean on too. The ground seems to be in acres of space, so I have no idea why they built a wall only 2 yards from the back of the concourse, which made queuing for food and drinks and consuming them as well a bit crowded. Nor do I know why they decided to make the clubhouse bar home fans only, as I'm sure they could do with the extra income from the travelling away fans.

At least at the Globe they have kept the fast food catering to a decent standard, and I was not disappointed by the LHP (Lancashire Hot Pot) with mushy peas. I was dismayed to only find about their award winning match day catering in the programme afterwards, which although expensive at £40 +VAT, I would have loved to have tried (presumably it includes the match ticket and a programme?). They should have followed the Macclesfield example and encouraged away fans to book in advance.

The Us were kitted out in yet another variation which didn't use the Wycombe shirt, this time we had the white shirt, navy shorts, white socks, and was reminiscent of an 80's England home kit. Morecambe went for red shirt and white shorts, like a WC2006 England away kit.

As for the game, I was mystified by the early free-kick given for Clarke handling outside the area. He caught the ball and rolled out of the area, and with the ball just touching the line once play had stopped, looked to the ref, picked the ball up and the free kick was given. If the ball was out then, why not when he rolled out in the earlier movement? This early incident set the Oxford fans against the referee for the rest of the game.

I thought we were lucky not to concede in the first quarter of an hour, as the pressure seemed to be all from Morecambe, and we seemed to give the ball away and get tackled just as easily as against Boro midweek.

This time, the Us did get the result, McLaren's free kick being a nicely worked set piece, and Asa Hall also getting a good goal in front of us away fans. Jack Midson appeared for a ten minute cameo and will be disappointed he did not convert a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, although Constable had similar missed opportunities last week against Rotherham. Simon Hackney came on too, again looking dangerous on the wing, and I think will be a regular substitute on the hour mark to liven things up.

The Morecambe scoreboard was a flashy multicoloured led screen which showed time elapsed by the second, and makes our own two line red scoreboard look decidedly dated. Unfortunately they switched it to adverts as soon as the final whistle had blown, but luckily Darrell had taken a picture with the 3-0 scoreline.

After a quick detour to the bay for pictures by the Eric Morecambe statue and an unsuccessful search for fish and chips, we were filling up at a petrol station on the way out of town, when three Morecambe players jumped out of a Mercedes saloon, to stock up on sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks. This was only about 30 minutes after the final whistle, and they were all in training kit, so it seems that diet, warm downs and showers don't form part of the Morecambe training regime.

On the way back down South, it was easy to see why their crowds are so low, with so many other clubs of a higher standard all within the same north east region.

Gillingham OUFC 05 Jan 2011

This was my first ever trip to Gillingham, and after preparing a coppa and stilton ciabatta for lunch, I left home at half past ten.  I took the 10:48 train from Guildford to Waterloo; Northern Line to Leicester Square; Picadilly line to King's Cross St Pancras, arriving at quarter to midday.  Wandering to St Pancras International, I found I had about 4 minutes to make my way to platform 11 for the 11:55 to Gillingham.   Running up at least three escalators, having my ticket rejected, I finally jumped on HS1 with seconds to spare. 

HS1 has wide and spacious dark blue / light blue seats, which fooled me into thinking I was in first class.  I wondered along a few carriages, before realising they were all the same, and spotting Fantastic Mr Ox at a spare table, joined him for the journey.   I spent the next few minutes wiping sweat from my brow, before settling down for the 100mph journey out East.  The train definitely sounded fast, but as we were in a tunnel until Stratford International, and then again to Ebbsfleet International, there was nothing to see.  HS1 has a ring-tone like jingle after each station to announce the destination and stops, which I first thought was FMO getting multiple text messages.  

Stopping at Ebbsfleet, we looked over to try and spot the Ebbsfleet ground from our Conference days, and spotted the station across from the empty Ebbsfleet car-park.   The High Speed train then trundled on slowly to Gillingham, with Gravesend a good ten miles from Northfleet.  On each side were vast quarries in the chalk, until we finally approached the Medway, and a marooned submarine. 

I had  found out the London yellows meeting point in Gillingham as the Britannia pub, a few yards away from the station.  FMO bought the first round at a bargain £4.90 for a Kronenbourg and a Spitfire (which I haven't seen since University days).  The Britannia was a definite spit and sawdust pub, with tacky carpets, and fake plate-tin advertising signs tacked to the walls.  Apart from the standard signs warning against taking or dealing drugs , there were also notices against bringing your own alcohol into the pub! 

The next round was £5.90, which made us think  either the first one was in happy hour, or more likely an innumerate barman, but still, a good improvement on prices.   The pub soon filled up with more United fans.  

The Priestfield stadium has been improved on three sides for the home fans, with a two tier stand to our left, a one-tier stand opposite us, and a shallow all seater stand to our right, with a bizarre fluorescent blue LED clock.  As for the Brian Moore stand we were put in, it is a temporary standard behind the goal, built on scaffolding.   It towers to around the height of the Oxford Mail stand at home, but is uncovered, and its skeletal nature all too visual.  The United fans were shepherded into into the top tier of the stand, and about 1/3 of the stand to the right was also blocked off. 

Dark clouds loomed, the wind blew, and jobsworth stewards stopped anyone taking camera-phone snaps.   Bouncing at the top of the stand had the metalwork shaking, but nothing too serious.

As for the game itself, the wind took a lot out of both sides, and the two teams ground each other into submission, ending up 0-0 at half time.

At the break, leaving an uncovered stand for a completely open concourse, yet more jobsworth stewards ejected people for lighting up a cigarette even in a far away corner next to the gates.  

Second half saw the clouds darken, and Gillingham looked threatening in the last ten minutes.  Akinfenwa had a wild overhead kick way past the post, and the Gills even had a shot off the bar in the last few minutes. 

Ending the day with a clean sheet was welcome, and we move onto Rotherham at home in a week's time.