Thetownend.com

Is full of shite. A 16 page feature entitled 'Chasing the Dream' - From relegation candidates to play-off hopefuls.

Fuck me they must have been bored  :bye:  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I am going to be a Northwich fan tomorrow  8)

Desperate.

They have a genuine chance today and they'll stuff Northwich - just hope Burton continue to bottle it and that Kidderminster win too.

I'll be astonished if Burton and Torquay don't play out a bore draw.

I would, as if Kiddiminster win and Stevenage fail to lose, Torquay would fail to make the playoffs

Pfft, that'll never happen :)

I was under the impression that Torquay were more interested in denying Oxford a Play-Off spot than trying to win promotion.

Hardly. We can still creep into the playoffs, which was unfathomable three months ago. It's a big deal in Oxfordshire and we're expecting 9,000 today.

The Oxford Mail is a load of gash though.

not all of oxfordshire its not, wantage and faringdon dont give a shit.

Or Didcot.

or bampton (i guess, i'm not there)

Surely the same can be said for Wiltshire towns? But for the purposes of banter... I'm going to contribute too....

or Ascott d'Oyley  :)

My man with his ear to the ground in the Kingston Bagpuize/Southmoor conurbation tells me the level of indifference is reaching epic proportions. And Tubney couldn't give a tupennys

Chipping Norton dont give a fuck.

Apart from the egghead that sits in my local

Ex Oxford resident living in the far south west wishes them only misfortune  :nod: :nod: :nod:

Milton-under Wychwood isn't bothered either.

I've decided to watch Torquay United vs. Burton Albion. Blair Sturrock on the bench for the Devon lot.

Not far from me then!

Burton beating Torquay.

Ex-Oxford Chris Hargreaves equalises for Torquay.

Witney says whatever.

Quite unbelievably - Oxford 0-1 Northwich.

And Clist has been booked. He's never going to be a major star with a name like that.

What's happened in the torquay game that means it's not half time yet?

Clist was formerly a favourite of Danny Wilson's at Bristol City before dropping down the divisions.

H-T 1-1 axs.

It started at ten past 4 which I'm sure was Setanta's doing.

ah, looked a bit weird on bbc when all the other games were in HT.

Yep, it was scheduled for 4, it wasn't delayed - so I think Setanta want all the games to finish so that they know what's what at Full Time.

Torquay 2-1 Burton.

If Cambridge score 3 then they could go up as Champions.

Torquay even getting a draw would finnish off Oxford.

Oxford Mails 16 page supplement is a bit like the Adver's reporting of our home game against Cheltenham last season. Anyone would have thought that was the war of the roses.

Are you sure?

BBC still says 0-1?

I meant that Torquay is 1-1.

Oxford are now level 1-1.

1-1 at Oxford.
Seems its kicking off a bit there now.

There's still a lot that needs to happen to get them in the POs.

Indeed.

OXFORD LOSING OXFORD LOSING OXFORD LOSING :D

.. 2-1 against RELEGATED Northwich at home.

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ahhh, those poor 10,000 who turned out on the off chance of a play-off place.

The Kassam is a good place for important games.

Leyton Orient, Exeter in the Play-Offs and now lowly Northwich Victoria.

Torquay win - it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Hahahahahahahaha

And Kettering.

Am I over-reacting? I went mental when the Northwich goal went through.

Did O*frod have a game today?  Last time I looked they were below Salisbury and Forest Green.

If only for another 5 points this season.

Bad luck.

Back in October it was possible for us to be in the same division as Oxford next season.

Back in October it was possible for us to be in the same division as Man United next season.

So you're saying yes I did over-react?

 :)  It's been a good weekend.

Huzzah!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, another season in the pub league.

We're staying uuuuuuuuuuuup
They're staying dooooooooooown.....

I think their fans quite like it down at their more natural level...they seem to think they're a massive club, with their gates of 4000, and at that level it does stand out.

Not sure they'll like Luton, giving it large, next season.

I have a horrible feeling they will go up next season though.

Who Luton? Hope so.

Nah the scum.

Think it's more likely that they'll be one of the clubs that fall down the financial black hole.

I hope so Reg, I really do.

There are only 2 clubs who I wouldn't give a fuck if they went out of business.

Franchise and Pox.

I thought Oxford had loads of financial problems?

I wouldnt want Oxford to die,does that mean im not proper Swindon?

I wouldn't want Oxford to go bust either, but I enjoy their failings - a lot.

Just read that a Pox fan hit a Vics player with a corner flag.  :idiot:

I heard that it kicked off - that'll be a hefty fine for the club.

They had a few people run on the pitch before they scored including a streaker i believe. Then when they scored a whole load of the idiots ran on and one grabbed the corner flag. Think it got to the point where the northwich manager was trying to get his players to leave the pitch.

When was the last time there was a streaker at the CG? I can't think I've seen one there (which is a good thing  :)).

Ciren Ginge (whose name escapes me) did it a few years ago as a bet. He went into the disabled enclosure for the game ensuing easy access to the pitch.

Then spent ages worrying that he was going to get a section whatsit banning order thus fucking up his World Cup travel plans. Must have been 2002 I suppose as 2006 feels too recent.

It's not Andy is it?  ;)

Don't get the  reference 4D?

Sorry, it's a bit vague. Sounds like it could be a Little Britain sketch.

:D

Fair play to the pox,another season in the conference,superb  :bye:

I recall a bloke streaking on St Patricks day at the CG once.Sick fucker :D

aaaah I see :) Andy and Lou. I don't watch Little Britain.

Next season will be their 4th in the Conference.

I await the annual ''we're gonna win the league this season'' media bullshit in the Poxford Mail.

Don't think they could afford a fine...so a points deduction is more likely  :)

Bit I liked was apparently some of their fans were so desperate to get home, that they climbed over the fence to get out.

With the end of the season they had you can't really blame them. I think they'll go up next year.

...reading around the Non-League pages on this internet - alot of non-Oxford fans are annoyed that Chris Wilder referred to the Conference as a "poxy league". Even if it's true, he shouldn't be saying that especially as they've failed to get out of it for the past 3 seasons.

Tougher league next season with Luton and AFC there as well. Can see the scum failing again not that I care because it's funny. Oh and yes they are already saying they'll go up next year but they have said that 3 years running.

The conference is an ace league.  I wish we were in it.

I enjoy watching it - I wouldn't want to be in it though.

I always start in the conference on the last pre-FM CM (the last one my computer can comfortably handle), I take it further though, I generally get promoted first season so I then apply for the conference jobs available and do the same thing again.

I never fail. Ever.

Setting up yourself as a non-league specialist is so much more fun than all that football league bollocks.

Another season with our 'rivals' two divisions below us in the Non League.

Time to find some new rivals.

Don't be silly it doesn't work like that. Anyway, one mega bad season and we're in the same division as them.

I'd like to see Supermarine get to the Conference...it'd be fun to see them play O*frod.

Nah that would be weird.

Supermarine should never get within a division of a league we've been in.

It was amusing enough to see them play Salisbury City.

Also, once the Play-Offs are done Oxford will learn which two of the following eight teams they will be playing next season....

Hampton & Richmond Borough, Eastleigh, Hayes & Yeading United, Chelmsford City, Gateshead, Alfreton Town, AFC Telford United or Southport.

Gateshead, Telford and Southport have all been in the conference fairly recently haven't they? Maybe Hampton and Richmond too, although might be imagining them.

The old Telford and Gateshead were in it pre-Oxford. Southport have played them I think.

haha wankers

Gateshead were a league club well before O*frod....I've seen us play Southport, a few times...Eric Redrobe  :)

As were Durham City who have also had a good season, although they have reformed since their 1920's league heyday.

I might go to the 2nd leg between Gateshead vs. Southport next Sunday.

A good weekend all round then. Even better that thier fans will get the club a decent fine. As for waiting for the NV fans - ha, ha - what saddos. Did they smash up their tandem?

Betting scandal possibly looming over the Conference - Andrew Mangan is in a bit of trouble already from his Bury days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/8019718.stm

Oxford were doing this sort of thing even in their final seasons in the 3rd tier.

Its like their shitness has preserved their early 1980's attitudes.

They need fences. Electric ones.

 Ashington were in Div 3 N at the same time....South Shields were in Div 2, and had a string of top ten finishes, think it was the The General Strike which did  for them

I have really enjoyed the events of this weekend, but I think we could really do with 2 games a season v Oxford.

The rider, is that we'd have to be better than them still.

Think it makes cock all difference...if you look at the history of the fixture, apart from its early days, it's never been that well supported, compared to other more attractive games.

They normally don't bring too many, and the Manor was a crap hole with a modest capacity.

Back in the 60's or whenever it was that Oxford fluked their way into the football league, was there a consensus that they weren't really worth bothering about, like some fans see the likes of Yeovil and Cheltenham now?

When did the rivalry get going?

Well regardless of numbers, it is the reciprocated hatred that makes for a proper rivalry and we haven't had that for getting on towards a decade now.

We still sing songs about them, they still sing songs about us.

Apparently Reading still sing songs about us too, isn't that sweet?

Yep.

Look at the last season we played them, which may just have been in the 21st century...the crowd for their visit early season was surpassed by that of Shitty Reading Rovers, Peterboro and more or less matched by the visits of ColU and Looton.

I don't see Reading as a main rival personally speaking, we haven't played them much in the last 20 years, and I live as far away from Reading as I do from Newport. I'll always see the Bristol clubs as main rivals.

The numbers that sing are quite tiny, the vast majority of fans, aren't too bothered by the fact we haven't played them for years.

Of course, looking from their end, the average scummer is a curious beast, and they do resent our superiority. For them, being an O*frod fan is as much defined by hatred of us, as by supporting their own team.

...and remembering the 1980's.

Is that to keep the fans in :D

Well about 4 or 5 years in the 80's.  I recall going to O*frod 79/80, 80/81 when there were paltry crowds maybe 6 to 7,000, no atmosphere and generally crap games.  If you wanted an edge back then, you got it when Pompey came to town.

I remember the game a few seasons ago when Pompey came to town and were on the brink, they had the bank and the town end...great atmosphere.

He just meant Pox have realised it's their natural level, like calling Div 4 "The Rochdale League"

Oxford Fan,

Did you go to the game today?

If so, what happened?

I think this forum is the last place he'll be coming this afternoon.

axs must have had a good day, he still thinks it's the afternoon...I hope OF will make the effort to come to the TEF knees up.

I had a nap this afternoon and it's thrown me right out of sync.

Oxford Fan was signed on when I started my post, but had gone again by the time I had sent it. :doh:
He'll be back.

It's about time we got them in the F.A. Cup but hopefully with a better result next time round.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/pictures/oxfordshire_galleries/oxfordunited260409/view/86958.Come_on_you_yellows_/

some funny photos there to treasure :)

[url width=450 height=299]http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/resources/images/891560/?type=gallery[/url]

They should add the word hit to their 'bulls' nickname.

They are the bulls aren't they? Just that the animal on that fat kids scarf looks bull like.

its an Ox over a river Bob

as in

Ox
Ford


Hereford are the Bulls

Dammit - Oxhit doesn't really work!

Not being silly, Rich.  There seems to be a prevailing view among many of our fans that the rivalry with Oxford is hard coded in to the DNA of any self-respecting Town fan...which is complete horse shit.

Oxford are a relatively new club.  They only entered the League 50 years ago.  Read the history books, and it's clear that derby games vs Pompey and Reading were the games that really used to set the pulses racing.

The commonly held view that Oxford is our main rival is borne of the fact that those of us in our 20s, 30s and 40s remember being a bit younger, beating them 4-1 on more than one occasion and it getting a bit nasty on the terraces.  But - unless we play them again soon - that will pass.

What resonance does Oxford have with any of our fans under the age of 18?  None what ever.  There's no saying what will happen in the next 5 or 10 years...but unless the gap closes and we start playing them again, 'hating' Oxford will increasingly be something just talked about by old men in pubs.

And apart from anything else - Oxford are really shit rivals anyway.  I'd far rather we upped our own game, maybe got promoted back in to Div 2 and started playing City and Reading again on a regular basis.  As others have said, we don't even get decent crowds vs Oxford.  Pompey would bring 5,000 to the County Ground, given the chance.  Reading would bring a fair few as well.  Those are the games I would really look forward to.

I think the crowds would be better now.

The last time we played Oxford at home was just after Euro 2000. They brought about 1800 fans.

Basicially if you went you were on your own. Not like now where they have 80 police escorting thousands of fans for derby games like saturday. Since about 2002 the policing for these games has been total saturation. That security has upped the crowds.

Basically Im saying that a lot of Oxford fans were either too scared to come last time, or didnt think it worth the hassle.

Also a lot of it comes down to where you live for me I have always hated Reading more than either Bristol teams due to the fact of the amount Reading shirts where we live but Oxford still remains the number one but as you say the longer they remain in the wilderness the more I am starting to just see them as another Salisbury City (a close by non-league side)

Well, get him: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/o/oxford_utd/8020561.stm

Seems the 'Pox' see themselves as too big for the Conference!

One David Duke plays for Durham City these days...

i got told to grow up by a pox fan. apparently we have more problems than them and will definitely go down next season.

how deluded :)

Well at least we've got 4 stands !!!

Picture 9 of 28 is a cracker

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/pictures/oxfordshire_galleries/oxfordunited260409/view/86961.Come_on_you_yellows_/

I love the blokes peering over the fence!

The Oxford Mail has all news of the pitch invasion in the 'news' section rather than the Oxford United section.

Its something that media have done for a while, putting any reports of trouble in the front rather than the back, thus distancing it from the football. However, when the fans actually invade the pitch and kick the opposition players I cant see how they can justify not putting it on the backpages!!!

I've been reading this thread, just not replying!


In previous seasons we've always hoped to challenge just because our budget is much bigger than the other sides down here. Wilder knows his stuff and has completely turned round his inherited squad. Given the summer and his own faces, we should be alright


The Manor was a beautiful ground! I still miss it.


Do you mean the aggro and 'streakers'? At 0-1 a man ran onto the pitch in pants and a vest. None of the stewards seemed to know what to do, so he legged it down to the fence end and scaled it. Nice work and quite amusing at the time.

Then a raah idiot from down in front of where I was sitting took his vest off and tried to do the same. He ran the length of the pitch but the stewards took him down with a couple of attempts and he was unable to escape.

This is all in the space of a couple of minutes. Other fans were understandably getting a bit pissed off with the delays. Next a skinny bloke goes for it. Lots of booing. Ran around the middle of the pitch as the stewards had blocked the fence off. Billy Turley decided he'd had enough, shouts and him to get off the pitch. He didn't, so Turley flattened him and starts to drag him off the pitch. Stewards take over and remove him.

Then we took our free-kick, and scored. 1-1. About 100 of our fans go on the pitch, one grabbing the corner flag. Preece called his Northwich players off the pitch. Match delayed for five minutes.

Understandably alot of our fans were annoyed at the ones who went on the pitch. Things started to get a bit messy in the Oxford Mail stand, people squaring up and a couple of fights. 'Are you Swindon in disguise?' being sung at the invaders - which they didn't like too much.


Definitely would be better crowds. When I started going to the Manor regularly around 2000, the general opinion was that Swindon away was not a trip you made. Just wait for the home match.

Now I think we'd look at bringing a decent couple of thousand at least.

Playoffs next year then OF?

The bigger clubs are a shoe in, so Luton and Chester should be OK.

and dont forget wimbledon, wrexham and mansfield, youre not really a big fish down there anymore are you?

Just a sign of the quality of teams down here and how tough it is, its getting better all the time as the bigger teams are coming down and staying down.

If we can replicate anything near our form in the last half of this season we'll be right up there though

Are Vests the vogue in Oxford?

I think with the amount of decentish teams within the Conference, a division I genuinely enjoy watching, in mind - it makes Chris Wilder's "poxy league" comments a tad uncalled for (not winning any favours there either).

Oxford were in the leagues with Luton, (either) Torquay or Cambridge, Wrexham, Mansfield, Rushden, Kidderminster... It's a strong league considering it's not FL.

Like League One - next season we could have Leeds, Norwich, Southampton and Charlton to play - yet many of us will call it a poxy division!

I wont, our division next year looks fucking great fun with loads of tasty away days.

Rich,

Are you going to the Newcastle game tonight?  :football:

N'ah - I thought about it... Only a 3 minute bus journey away.

I might go to the Middlesbrough match though.

Norwich 2-0 down tonight.

Looks a quality league next season!

Well happy to be staying up.

I cant bloody wait already, I'm going to try and do all of our away games,as after a fair few years of sporadic attendance i've got the bug back. a lot of it is to do with the forums (here and MOS) as it's always good fun meeting up and sinking a few.

Brentford away is the one I'll look for first. Then Charlton and Southampton. Then the rest.

Don't now why, always liked Brentford away.
-------------------------------

0-0 tonight then. Going to be a good one that.  But suddenly I can see Sunderland and/or Hull going and Newcastle scraping through. Nothing suggests this'll happen, but I bet it does.
--------------------------

KR's views won't be the same if you he goes to the games.

The pubs on each corner of the ground help.  :beers:

Oh yeah, that and the terrace.

All covered now.

KR's views won't be the same if you he goes to the games.

Pets is a bastard, he's had photographic evidence and 3 indepent witnesses, and he still keeps waffling on, he'll be getting a serious wedgie next time i see him.

Andy Scott the Brentford manager is already looking forward to next season and with so many southern
based teams,he's hoping that they can regularly pull in between 10 - 12 thousand for those games, at
Griffin Park.He's also  won the award for manager of the year in London from the BBC.

I was speaking to a Brentford fan yesterday and he reckoned that for their final game at home to Luton
on saturday,they're expecting a crowd of 12 - 14 thousand.

nooooooooooooooo (unless it's raining!).

just going back to pox, note that they had more home fans than us saturday, were they giving away free tickets or something? Going to 10k from an average of 4.5 or something, is quite a jump. I assume Northwich didnt bring many?

They had a promotion on Saturday called 'Fence By Me' in which a person that bought a ticket for the game gets a free chance to name the fence behind the goal. The winning choice will be announced live by Alan Titchmarsh on the new series of Groundforce.

To be fair, they've had quite good attendances all season though?

they have, I meant an average of 4.5k in my original post, which is by far the highest for the conf, however a jump to 10k is still something..

titter titter @ bobs orange...

Great ! 10k disappointed Oxford scum then, shame it wasn't more !

I haven't read the rest of the thread, however I'm assuming this is a joke right?

I heard it was won by Ron Seal.

Brilliant!!

Half time music by Kid Creosote and the Conference.

There were about 70 from Northwich.

Official count was just over 100... But in fairness I'm nit-picking!

They put away fans in the other terrace now, the one with 2 tiers, seating at top and terrace at the bottom of it.