Tag Archives: oxford united.

The Youngest Of The Old

04 Monday Dec 2017

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Saturday 25th November 2017 ko 15.00

League 1

SOUTHEND UNITED 1 (Cox 19)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Thomas 22)

Att 6,797 (566 away)

Entry – Complimentary

Programme £3

It would be a mistake to lump Roots Hall into the category of venerable UK football grounds. I’ve covered visits to the likes of Fulham and Brentford here, but Roots Hall has only been home to Southend United since 1955, although the original Southend United did play games on a pitch on this site on formation in 1906. But until 1988 when Scunthorpe United moved from the Old Showground to the hideous Glanford Park, Roots Hall was the youngest ground in the Football League. Continue reading →

Unease

20 Thursday Apr 2017

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Sunday 2nd April 2017 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

COVENTRY CITY 2 (Bigirimana 11 Thomas 55)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Sercombe 75)

Att 74,434

Entry £60

Programme £5

A trip to Wembley is an experience to be savoured isn’t it? It ought to be the pinnacle of your club’s ambition, and an experience where you take in every moment as if it were your last. So why did I come very close to not going, or even watching it on television? Continue reading →

The Indian Sign

12 Sunday Feb 2017

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Sunday 4th February 2017 ko 12.00

League 1

swindon town (Dabo 18)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Sercombe 70 Hall 73)

Att 10,658 (3,000 away)

Entry £25

Programme £3

Teamsheet 50p

“Can’t I stay and go for a meal?” Oxford fan at swindon station after the game.

“You’ve been singing “swindon’s a sh!thole I wanna go home,” all afternoon, go home!” The policeman’s response.

I suspect that if I were not an Oxford United fan I’d quite like the County Ground, and I’d stop typing the place as the CoUNTY Ground! It does have that mixture of old and new I like, but nothing, repeat nothing will ever make me like the madness that is the “Magic Roundabout!” Continue reading →

Start Spreading The News

08 Sunday Jan 2017

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Saturday 7th January 2016 ko 15.00

FA Cup 3rd Round

ROTHERHAM UNITED 2 (Ward 51 Adeyemi 90)

OXFORD UNITED 3 (Taylor 41 Edwards 80 Hemmings 88) Maguire missed penalty 36

Att 5,618 (1,292 away)

Entry £13

Programme £2

It’s a tradition that families gather round the radio or television to listen to the FA Cup draw. Everyone has their list of clubs they’d love to see they’re team play, but top of my list was, perhaps, a slightly unusual one. I wanted my side to play Rotherham away.
My reasoning was entirely selfish, the New York Stadium (it lies on an island called New York, would you believe), was the only stadium I needed to re-complete the 92 Football League and Premier League grounds. It would have been reasonably straightforward to blast up the M1 to get it done one midweek, but the story of Rotherham United’s homes is a tale that requires telling with attention to detail.

Continue reading →

Bearing Fruit

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Saturday 9th July 2016 ko 15.00

Pre-season Friendly

SOLIHULL MOORS 1 (Hayden 68)

OXFORD UNITED 1 (Thomas 54)

Att 620

Entry £10

Programme £2

For a newish ground Damson Park is far more interesting than you’d expect. It’s only been a football ground since 1998, when the stadium was constructed from the remains of a golf driving range. Have a closer look at the cover behind the goal and imagine practicing your swing… The afternoon proved to be far more interesting than the mere location though. Continue reading →

His and Hers

29 Wednesday Jun 2016

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Saturday 25th June 2016 ko 18.00

FA Women’s Super League Division 2

BRISTOL CITY WOMEN 4 (Farrow 18 43 Emslie 28 42)

OXFORD UNITED WOMEN 1 (Umotong 25)

Att 475

Entry £8

Programme £2

Part of the fun of being one half a footballing relationship is when your two favourite sides meet, or in this case the women’s versions! Pondering that last phrase that is rather a British sounding statement, in the UK there’s only Glasgow City that plays high-level football without having an equivalent men’s team. That wasn’t always the case though and I do wonder how many home fans realised that the roots of their women’s team are rather unusual to put it mildly? Continue reading →

My Wembley

10 Sunday Apr 2016

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Sunday 3rd April 2016 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

BARNSLEY 3 (Dunkley 50og Fletcher 68 Hammill 74)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (O’Dowda 29 Hylton 76)

Att 59,230 @ Wembley Stadium

Entry £60

Programme £5

Tea £2

I’m fortunate in that I get to visit Wembley reasonably frequently. It fulfills both sides of my divergent footballing personality. On one hand I’m a traditionalist, for me Wembley is English football’s spiritual home, so when the stadium was rebuilt in situ it was the correct decision. I admit it may well have been entirely logical to build the national stadium in Birmingham, but….. Wembley, is… home isn’t it? Continue reading →

Making Bets On Local Derby Day

08 Thursday Oct 2015

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Tuesday 6th October 2015 ko 19.45

Football League Trophy Southern Section, 2nd Round

OXFORD UNITED 2 (Roofe 41 54)

swindon town 0 Turnbull sent off (violent conduct) 31

Att 9,013 (1,179 away)

Entry £15

Programme £3

It was 6.30 and there I was stood sheltering under the canopy over turnstile 1 waiting for Alan to open up. I watched the other Oxford fans waiting alongside me, and we all had the same expression on our faces. We were nervous, and despite there being 50 or so stood there it was quiet, I could even hear Joey Beauchamp’s footsteps as he walked over to the Quad Bar hospitality entrance. Being an Oxford United legend affords you that luxury. Continue reading →

The Path Less Trodden

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

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Friday 10th July 2015 ko 19.45

League of Ireland First Division

CABINTEELY 0

SHELBOURNE 1 (English 55)

Att 620

Entry €10

Programme €3

The previous day I’d spent a faintly boring few minutes strolling round the bookshop at the airport. These days the sport section is full of Premier League players’ ghost-written “auto”-biographies, and for the most part they follow a similar pattern. Usually a child is discovered by a club, then quickly graduates through the ranks, makes his first team debut, then fame and fortune follow. But what happens to those who for one reason or another don’t make it? Continue reading →

Bubble

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Saturday 17th January 2015 ko 19.30

Greece Superleague

PANIONIOS GSS 1 (Boumale 34) Kolovos missed penalty 86

PANATHINIAKOS 1 (Berg 78)

Att 1,849

Entry €25 (Main Stand)

No Programme

Badge €3

Here’s a tip for you. When you take the €8 metro trip from Athens airport into the capital, the metro platforms are the two in the middle, it is very easy to jump on a suburban train headed to…. !

After you’ve reached Athens itself it costs further €10 for a 5 day mass transit pass for the metro, buses and trams. That is easy enough to buy, the machines have an “English” button, but you do need to validate the ticket via one of the machines by virtually every escalator. There are plenty of warnings about failure to pay or validate, but I’m bound to say I saw no ticket checks during my 4 days here, and there are no barriers either!

Greece’s financial problems were manifest, and not just from the political posters and campaigners for the imminent general election. There seems to be a general attitude of make do and mend, but in no way shape or form has the Greek welcome I’d remembered from childhood holidays been diluted. Continue reading →