The international break unwrapped

From what’s the point to that’s a point! Cameron Brannagan adjusted his ball to give us a 2-2 draw with Coventry City which sent us into the international break with a spring in our step and our first point of the season.

The good vibes continued with the signing of Bulgarian YouTube supercut machine, Filip Krastev. Elsewhere, Stephan Negru went on loan to Bristol Rovers while Owen Dale left for Plymouth.

The real bombshell was the ‘mutual decision’ to cancel Elliott Moore’s contract. Much like his heading, Moore’s season never really got off the ground and as he started to slip down the defensive pecking order, he decided to look elsewhere, most likely a move abroad (anyone got Des Buckingham on speed dial?).

Jerome has; the freshly mullet-n-tache’d hipster Des broke his silence in an interview for the Dub. He was politely non-committal about his departure from Oxford and his decision to manage in Saudi Arabia. Jerome didn’t push him too hard, which was wise given the Saudis preference for chopping journalists into little pieces for asking challenging questions.

The international break broke with contrasting stories from the management team; Gary Rowett went full dad-bod thirst trap with a holiday to Portugal, while Craig Short revealed he’s been scammed out of millions of pounds.

Otherwise, it was all about the internationals – Mark Harris made a couple of cameos for Wales, Greg Leigh got himself some assists for Jamaica against against Bermuda and Trinidad while Will Lankshear gave his England tracksuit a good run out as a non-playing substitute for England Under 21s. Somewhere amongst all that Marcelino Ferdinan went on loan to Slovakian first division side, AS Trecin whose Instagram account probably now has a hundred billion followers.

Foxfacts

It’s been ten years since Leicester pulled off the greatest sporting miracle of all time by winning the Premier League. Ever since they’ve committed to showing what a feat that was by dedicated themselves to being progressively average.

Relegation from the Premier League last year has secured them a place them the liminal world of being too good for the Championship, not good enough for the Premier League. 

This season, they’ve gone all Leicester Two-Goalies with permanent signings of 38-year-old keeper Asmir Begovic and Fran Vieites from Betis. Their loan activities were equally underwhelming with Jordan James, Aaron Ramsey and Julian Carranza coming in.

Still, three wins sees them sitting fourth, but with the creeping death of PSR are they teetering on the edge of that abyss where perception and reality begin to misalign? Think of that time we perceived ourselves to be a club big enough to sign a Tottenham striker when the reality was Jamie Slabber.

Football friend | Matt Elliott

Matt Elliott was like a cruise liner cutting through a rough sea; awesome, majestic and unstoppable. I’m not saying his signing from Scunthorpe in November 1993 was an upgrade, but he replaced Dave Collins (no, me neither).

Alongside Paul Moody, John Byrne and Phil Whitehead, Elliott’s signing, funded by a windfall from the sale of former striker Mark Stein from Stoke to Chelsea, were key pieces in Denis Smith’s jigsaw puzzle. Despite relegation in 1994, being a defender and joining fourteen games into the season, he ended the year as our fourth highest goalscorer with seven goals including one against Leeds in the FA Cup.

The quest for an instant return to the second tier in 1994/5 started well but stalled when Byrne and Moody both hit personal problems. In February 1995, Smith signed Phil Gilchrist, creating one of the club’s great defensive partnerships. While Gilchrist injected pace into defensive line, Elliott’s majesty was on a different plain. 

After the disappointment of the previous season, 1995/6 started slowly but picked up pace. In the final fifteen games, Oxford won twelve, thirteen even, drew two and lost one (get in there) to seep to promotion. It was no coincidence that Elliott was absent through injury for the one we lost. That aside, he carved through the division, scoring a thirty-yard howitzer against Carlisle, a majestic volley against Swindon before concluding the season with a goal against Peterborough which secured promotion.

A strong start in Division Two inevitably brought attention from bigger clubs. With Oxford haemorrhaging money, they were never going to resist Leicester’s bid of £1.6m (the equivalent of about £12.5m in today’s transfer market), a record which stood until Kemar Roofe went to Leeds in 19 years later. At Leicester, Elliott was called up for Scotland in 1997 and was part of their World Cup squad a year later. He captained the club and scored twice as he led the Foxes to League Cup victory in 2000, staying for eight years and playing nearly 250 games. A legend for both clubs.

From the archive | Leicester City 2 Oxford United 3 (1993)

Ten days before Oxford visited Leicester in November 1993, the two sides were at either end of the First Division. A 2-0 win over Derby lifted us off the bottom while Leicester were beaten by Stoke, dropping them to fourth. Still, a trip to Filbert Street, where Leicester had secured 16 out of 18 points and were unbeaten in 10 months, was a daunting prospect for a side with two out of a possible 24 points on the road.

Prospects looked dim early on as Nick Cusack stayed true to Brand Cusack, blasting over in front of an open goal. Moments later, David Speedie responded by crashing a shot off the post. Oxford held out until two minutes before half-time when Matt Elliott dragged back Julian Joachim for a penalty which was converted by Steve Thompson. 

Now here’s a sentence you don’t hear often; two minutes after half-time Oxford threaded together a thirteen-pass move involving eight players which led to Nick Cusack heading in the equaliser. For the record, the full passing sequence was Ford, Cusack, Allen, Lewis, Elliott, Ford, Robinson, Elliott, Magilton, Cusack, Magilton, Rogan, Cusack. Wow.

Oxford were possessed, slicing through Leicester like an over-caffeinated sushi chef. Jim Magilton was controlling the game like a tech billionaire manipulating seventy year old boomers into a hateful social media rage for profit.

Just after the hour, Magilton’s deep corner reached Elliott, John Byrne headed towards goal, but the ball was parried into the crowded box where Anton Rogan charged in to blast home from two yards out. 

With eight minutes to go, Oxford were dreaming of three points when Phil Whitehead came to collect a swinging Gary Mills cross. Unable to collect, the loose ball dropped to Mike Whitlow whose shot deflected off Mike Ford into the bottom right-hand corner for 2-2.

Oxford were now praying for a point, but this didn’t account for the divinely favoured Alex Dyer. Dyer had played in the top flight with Crystal Palace but he turned out to be one-paced and of an indeterminate position. Even the internet can’t decide whether he was a defender, winger, midfielder and attacker.

Denis Smith brought Dyer on in place of Joey Beauchamp with five minutes to go to see out the draw. The substitute had other ideas, three minutes later he picked the ball up on the half-way line, glided forward and laid it off to Chris Allen. Allen advanced into the box twisting and bamboozling full-back Colin Hill before sliding the ball into Dyer’s path. Dyer dropped his shoulder and accelerated up to nearly walking pace which sent Mills sprawling. With lightening quick feet, he blasted the winner into the net evading a lunging challenge from future Oxford manager David Oldfield. Oxford survived a last second miss by substitute Richard Smith to record their first away win of the season.

Leicester would end up being promoted through the play-offs while Oxford were relegated, but for Dyer, his moment of unexpected genius fuelled his way to becoming a cult hero.

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.