The week unwrapped

Games come at Christmas like Lewis Haldane, thick and fast. We’re now at the point where the mince pies no longer taste right and nobody knows when to put the bins out. Amazingly we’re less than a week into the post-Rowett era which started OK with a barnstorming 2-1 win over Southampton on Boxing Day. If past experience is anything to go by, that really sets us up for a frustrating 2-0 defeat to Swansea tonight.

No, you shut up.

Swanfacts

Swansea are one place and four points ahead of us going into this game but they seem to be cosplaying a relegation threatened side at the moment. Three wins in their last six and a very narrow defeat at Coventry on Boxing Day doesn’t feel like a side preparing for the drop.

This, however, might suit us; a team that tries to play but hasn’t won away since September could be to our taste. Swansea may not seem the most obvious relegation candidates in the division and we can’t catch them even if we do win, but we want to pull teams into a relegation fight where we can. With a majority of our home ties during the second half of the season against teams in the bottom half of the table, the fixtures could be to our advantage.

Football friend | Jeremy Charles

But for a split second at Wembley, Jeremy Charles’ time at Oxford may have been largely forgetful. It’s not an understatement to say he came from a footballing dynasty. In 1958 his dad, Mel, was described as the best defender at the World Cup by none other than Pele. His uncle John was amongst the greatest British footballers that ever lived.

Jeremy started his career at Swansea City just as John Toshack was leading the club to four promotions in four years. Charles scored the goal that secured top flight football and then again in their first game in Division One. Despite the club finishing 6th in 1982, Charles’ year was dogged by injury. The dalliance with the big time was fleeting and as Swansea slipped back down the division, Charles moved to QPR.

Like his dad and uncle, Charles was a big, strong and versatile who was equally at home in defence and up front. It was this quality that attracted Jim Smith to bring him to Oxford. Billy Hamilton, Oxford’s potent striker in their own drive to the top division, was becoming bogged down with injuries, Charles looked like a perfect replacement.

He was in and out of the side at The Manor. He scored in our first two home games in the First Division, but as the season progressed, Maurice Evans placed him on the transfer list, looking to bring in the even bigger hulk of a player, Billy Whitehurst, in his place.

Oxford edged towards Wembley in the Milk Cup, Charles scoring in the semi-final against Aston Villa at The Manor. For the final, Evans opted for the Welshman over Hamilton because he was less of an injury risk.

The rest is history, with four minutes to go at Wembley John Aldridge’s strike was parried by Paul Barron into Charles’ path to side-foot in for 3-0 to secure the cup. Charles was now imprinted on Oxford United’s history.

It was a short-lived high, in 1986/7 he was ever-present until the first round of the Milk Cup against Gillingham, where he sustained a knee injury. Despite many attempts to come back, the injury would eventually end his career.

From the archive | Swansea City 1 Oxford United 2 (2000)

The 2000/01 season was one of such vast failure, it should be treasured like a fine wine. Let’s just recall the tale of the tape for those asleep at the back. In the 44 years since three points were awarded for a win in the Football League, that season we achieved the second fewest wins, second fewest draws, largest number of defeats, second highest number of goals conceded, sixth highest goal difference and fourth lowest points total. We only scored one more point that Bolton did when they were relegated from League One in 2020, and they played 10 games less due to Covid.

By November 2000 we’d accumulated just five points having won one game and were already 12 points from safety. Swansea were 18th but already beginning to get a sinking feeling.

We headed to The Vetch having secured precisely zero points on the road. We were already on our third manager of the season with Denis Smith leaving in September and interim manager Mike Ford being succeeded by David Kemp, who was taking charge of his second game.

After 12 minutes Steve Watkin put The Swans 1-0 up with a tap in from short range. Five minutes later, Joey Beauchamp fired in a wonder-strike from 30 yards to equalise. Eleven minutes from half-time, current Brentford manager Keith Andrews, on loan from Wolves, made it 2-1. Despite having the worst defence in the division, we managed to hold on for our first away points of the season.

The return game was our penultimate game at The Manor. By this point we were already relegated, along with Swansea who were in 23rd. After ten minutes Manny Omoyimni opened the scoring before Jason Price pegged Oxford back fifteen minutes later. On the hour, Jamie Brooks scored and Matt Murphy sealed the win two minutes later. It completed our second double of the season after beating Northampton home and away.

The game would prove to be the last win at The Manor and the last game for severely browbeaten Kemp who was fired shortly after. Frankly, it couldn’t get any worse and yet, it absolutely did.

Take the Oxblogger Survey

Now we’ve reached the mid-point in the season, it’s time to take stock and see how we’re doing. The Oxblogger Mid-Season Survey is now open. Give your ratings for the players, manager and owners, and your predictions for the rest of the season.