As an experiment for this season, I’m going to start preparing a pre-match amuse-bouche and a bimble around the Oxford United vaults. I’ve yet to come up with a good name for it; Tom Newsy doesn’t work, so for now we’ll complement the usual post-game Match Wraps with a pre-game section called Unwrapped.

The summer unwrapped

A curious summer; brand building in Indonesia, discovering and then misplacing ancient woodland at the new stadium and a signing regimen which has focussed on quality over quantity. 

Whether any of this represents a problem is to be confirmed; the Indonesian tour may solidify the commercial foundations of the club, the stadium wrangles look set to be the final desperate actions of people who know the game is up and the signings may indicate that we’re maturing into an established Championship club.

Equally, the tour may be an unnecessary distraction, the ‘AncientWoodlandGate’ another shot in an endless war of attrition designed to warn off investors and the lack of signings an indication that budgets are tightening and, by extension, we’re becoming less competitive.

Time will tell, but I suspect it’s more the former than the latter given the positive news from Cherwell District Council regarding planning permission for the new stadium. The Championship seems to be even more endearingly dysfunctional than ever with the Disneyfication of teams like Wrexham, Swansea and Birmingham, the clanking incompetence of Sheffield Wednesday and Hull alongside a transfer market fuelled by parachute payments and rampant ambition. All this is driving clubs into ever more eccentric territories to find talent. Although there’s plenty to be concerned about, there’s lots more to look forward to. A strategy of being sensibly well-funded might be enough to see us succeed.

The start of the season is more of a post-pre-season nowadays, a gearing up before September’s international break. That said, looking at the bigger picture, Portsmouth at home on the opening day should be a fixture with points attached to it. You could even describe it as vital.

Pompeyfacts

Of the 24 teams in the Championship last season, only four will start this year with the same manager. Three were promoted to the Premier League, the other one was John Mousinho at Portsmouth.

Having been bottom at the beginning of December, Pompey eventually eased away from danger with enviable calm, ending the season in 16th, a point and a place ahead of us.

Their summer has had parallels to ours; signings have been slow and eclectic. Australian Adrian Segeric signed from Sydney FC before John Swift arrived from West Brom. Mark Kosznovszky rocked up from MTK Budapest along with Luke Le Roux – my drag queen name, should I ever choose to take up that great profession – from Swedish side IFK Varnamo Unconfirmed reports suggest their derby against Eranu is fiercely contested (one for the kids). Loan signing of Frenchman Florian Bianchini from Swansea makes up the new faces at Fratton Park for now.

Pre-season has been successful, unbeaten throughout, keeping clean sheets in their six games; drawing one and winning the others. They completed their campaign with a 1-0 win over Eredivise PEC Zwolle last Saturday. 

Good Pompeyfact: This is fourth time we’ve opened the season against Portsmouth since 1980, more than any other club in the Football League. We’ve won all three, scoring at least three goals in each. No Oxford manager who has faced Pompey on the first day has made it to the end of the season.

Football friend: Josh Murphy

When Karl Robinson signed Josh Murphy following his release by Cardiff City in 2022, he declared him the best player in League One. But off the back of a season of injuries and ‘attitude problems’, it was a label that lay heavily on the winger. 

Murphy needed time to sort his mind and body out. Oxford fans saw his faltering form as symptomatic of the season’s wider failure as Robinson five-year tenure unravelled spectacularly. After Robinson’s sacking, replacement Liam Manning, told Murphy he was surplus to requirements, and pushed to the margins as Manning’s refreshed squad pushed for promotion.

When Manning left for Bristol City and Des Buckingham took over, something in Murphy clicked. A new baby and an accommodating manager seemed to settle his mind and unlock his form. It inspired a late season run into the play-offs, before Murphy cemented his and Buckingham’s legend scoring both goals in the 2-0 play-off final win over Bolton at Wembley. That summer, his contract up, Murphy turned down a new offer to join Portsmouth.

Last season started slowly, but he built his form and dragged Portsmouth along with him. He ended the season as their Player of the Season leaving a reasonable case to say he was amongst the best players in the division. A true legend of our club who could end up being one of theirs.

From the archive: Oxford United 1 Portsmouth 1 (1982)

Jim Smith’s first full season in charge of Oxford in 1982 started in blistering form with six wins in a row. On the 18th September we welcomed Portsmouth to The Manor on a bright sunny day. Portsmouth had started in similar form and sat just two points behind the Third Division leaders.

Jim Smith’s revolution was starting to bear fruit engulfing the club in a warm glow as the ground thundered with just under 10,000 fans packing the stands.

The blockbuster crowd caused the London Road to bristle with anticipation as the area behind the home end began to fill and grow restless. Suddenly, as if it were pre-planned, Portsmouth fans charged through the crowds en mass, vaulting the turnstiles and running into the home end. Oxford fans reacted violently to the invasion sparking a chaotic riot with the police unable to quell the storm. 

When Portsmouth took the lead from a penalty twenty minutes in, the riot reignited and the game paused. From the tunnel appeared the hulking figure of Oxford owner Robert Maxwell bounding across the pitch followed by a battalion of photographers. Maxwell stood in front of the London Road, laying his hands on the seething mass. The crowd began to calm; Maxwell retrieved a policeman’s helmet before briefly joining the fans as the game resumed.

We equalised through Gary Briggs, dropping our first points of the season, but for Maxwell, the afternoon proved to be a significant PR victory.

Want more?

If you’re a true glutton for punishment, then sign up to the Oxblogger Newsletter, an eclectic bimonthly online fanzine written by the fans for the fans. The Pre-season issue is out now featuring your pre-season predictions, what happens when you fall out of, and back in love with Oxford United, an appraisal of The Soccer Tribe, the defence of non-scoring defenders and the surge of kit reveals.

Plus, the latest Oxblogger Podcast which originally planned to cover the panoply of owners that we’ve had over the decades, but eventually just talked about our current ones. Still, there’s a very good quiz about historical Brians. 

And, if you’ve really got this far and aren’t aware, this season marks the 40^th anniversary of Oxford United’s first season in the top flight, The Glory Years is out now the remarkable in-depth story of our rise through the divisions during the 1980s.