One Team

Completely agreed Fevs. Today was all about getting a result. It was pretty clear if we played badly and lost it would’ve got toxic, but fair play to the lads they battled well and fought out an unlikely win against a very impressive, attacking Sunderland team. Max did brilliantly today and kept us in it but as a team they defended well. Just a shame we didn’t see more in the way of attacking ourselves, but the win is the most important thing.

Fair points Graham.

I wonder if the club captaincy will change at some point. He seemed to be the players choice but for me the captain has to be the first name on the team sheet, and I don’t think that’s Weinmann these days. Personally I think James is better captain material.

Looks sold out on the web site now

Shows what decent pricing can do, but in any event our fan base is superb for our level.

Post of the year! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ‘popular posts’ in one thread.

Just the best thread on OTIB in weeks. Quite emotional reading Nige’s post, still feels like he’s with us in some respects. He certainly gets us I think. Great OP from @Silvio Dante and comments from @Kid in the Riot and @Olé. I’ve said elsewhere I do wonder if this may be a case of unfinished business. Highly unlikely I know and there would need to be quite a change in the club, but I’m sure Leicester City felt the same at the time.

Brilliant Fevs! I’ve not too dissimilar in that he reminds me of the android David in the Prometheus and Alien Covenant movies, both in looks and approach. Oxford fans have said he’s slightly robotic and emotionless! Even the note about David on Wikipedia could be taken almost literally [almost!]. David [Liam] is an android serving as a butler, maintenance man [Head Coach] and surrogate son to his creator, Peter Weyland, the founder of the Weyland Corporation. While he assists his human companions [players] in their interstellar expedition [league and cup games] to meet their creators, the extraterrestrial Engineer [Brian Tinnion], David is obsessed with the concept of creating life of his own [beliefs, principles]. After Peter Weyland is killed [Nigel Pearson is sacked] David is freed from servitude [Oxford United] allowing him to conduct experiments to engineer his own variants of the Alien creature [front foot football]. The David line of androids would ultimately be succeeded by the Walter [who knows?!].

Completely agree. Win the next two games against Sunderland and Hull and it will be much more positive and look like we have turned a corner. Lose them and it will be a pretty toxic atmosphere.

Superb post thanks for sharing your insight. Who knows maybe lightning will strike twice?! Board moves on, Nige comes back to finish the job, we get promoted, consolidate, bring in an experienced European manager who wins the Premier League!

Completely agree. The OP makes a reasonable point but if we play badly and draw or lose it will absolutely get toxic. It did at 2 - 2 against Boro and we’ve lost 3 times and drawn since then. As before though I don’t think it will be aimed at Manning or the players. Conversely if we play well but narrowly lose or draw/win it should be OK.

Good to read a post from someone who was there, but a really big concern. If he’s removed some of Nige’s foundations we could be in trouble.

I’ve said a couple of times on here that when it went 2 - 2 against Boro there were chants of “Nigel Pearson’s Cider Army” and “Jon Lansdown, what a manual manipulator”. If we play badly and/or lose Saturday I would expect the same.

So the morale has gone? Something that wasn’t an issue 6 weeks ago!

“F all”? Really? Reduced the wage bill by over 30%? Shipped out long standing dead wood? Established a positive culture across the whole club? Played numerous youth players and got the best out of the others?

Exactly. They will throw money at their man until it starts to work.

Indeed. Even if we went down they’d probably stick with him. They are damned by their decision making just as much as if they are lauded if it ends up working out.

Indeed. Said it a few games ago that if he had a poor run leading into the Sunderland game and we start poorly/ship some goals it will be really toxic. If results go against tomorrow night we could be pulled right into the relegation mix.

FFS! The second half curse returns.

Good from Sigurdsson got goal side of Vyner and had him on toast. Everything we don’t have!

Red cards hopefully!

Doesn’t look like a direct link to it? Anyone spotted other links?

I don’t know what to make of all that he almost lost me when he said “process”! The opening salvo talks of paying lip service to the new management team, it certainly read like that but then what else could you really expect? He’s not going to come out and say anything negative about Manning or the decision making that led to his appointment. It will be interesting to see if Manning can improve him, but personally I didn’t think there was much wrong with him under Nige’s management.

Great write up Rob. Just watched the highlights and thought we looked pretty good. Tanner’s mistake was awful, but that pass from Dickie that led to the goal was sublime. A point away is always decent but looks like we should’ve won it.

Good write up as always Rob.