The week unwrapped

There’s an unfamiliar feeling about the place right now, and I’m not talking about cheese induced gout. No, there’s a palpable sense of sinking around Oxford United right now. After a breathtaking Boxing Day win over Southampton, we entertained Swansea on Monday hoping to complete a perfect Christmas sweep. Once again it blew up in our faces as the Swans waltzed away with three points as we put in one of our more abject displays of the season.

Still, we’re now in 2026 and things always happen when there’s a six in the year – ten years ago we were promoted to League One, twenty years ago we were relegated to the Conference, thirty years ago we were promoted to the second division, forty years ago we won the Milk Cup, fifty years ago we were relegated to Division 3. So, you know what that means don’t you? We’re either getting relegated or winning the FA Cup.

Ipswicho facto

Since our barn burning 2-1 win over Ipswich in November, they’ve won four, drawn two and lost just one. They’ve had a perfect record at home and on Monday beat league leaders Coventry at The CBS Stadium to move into third place. In other words, we’re screwed.

Or are we? Well, yes, probably, but on the other hand, you never know. It would take a degree of complacency from them, a solid dollop of luck for us and for us to re-create the kind of performance which saw us beat Bristol City in September to get anything out of the game.

Will we? No. But, maybe we will. I doubt it.

Football Friend | Phil Whelan

One of the things that characterised the 1990s at Oxford United, was a truly wonderful dynasty of great centre-backs. Andy Melville, Steve Foster, Ceri Evans, Matt Elliott, Phil Gilchrist, Mark Watson and Darren Purse were all either internationals or would go on to play in the Premier League. 

You can track much of Oxford’s plight during that time through its defensive partnerships. For much of the decade, things were looking good until work stopped on the new Minchery Farm Stadium in December 1996 when the little money we had evaporated. A month later, Matt Elliott was sold to Leicester leaving Phil Gilchrist and Darren Purse to pick up the shore things up at the back.

Both players were bankable assets and ripe for being sold to stem our losses, so in May 1997, Phil Whelan was signed from Ipswich. On paper, it was a good signing, he was an England Under 21 international and played in the Premier League, plus he had an accounting degree, making him a genius in a world full of David Rush’s.

But, he lacked the power of Elliott or the pace of Gilchrist and while he was far from the worst performer, a general decay quickly set in across the club. 

In 1999 we were relegated to the third tier and looked to be heading to an immediate double relegation the following season. It was while fighting that battle, Whelan’s defining moment happened.

In March 2000 we visited Cambridge United. Coincidentally, the game was held on the same day as the boat race but it was nearly postponed five minutes before kick-off due to a deluge of rain. Somewhere in there is a joke about a boat race that I simply don’t have the time to construct. 

Despite the pitch being almost unplayable, the referee had a change of heart at the last minute and declared the game on. 

After just eight minutes, Declan Benjamin gave the home side the lead, but it wasn’t until a minute before half-time that Whelan’s moment of infamy came.

After the game, Denis Smith shared a key bit of information from his team talk; “The last thing we said, which we said about 20 times, is you can’t pass back on any account on this pitch, I can’t believe the players at times.”

Yep, Whelan played a suicidal backpass beyond Les Robinson. Before reaching keeper Richard Knight, the ball splashed into a giant puddle. Cambridge’s John Hansen skipped in to make it 2-0. 

It wasn’t Whelan’s only moment of madness, two months later, he managed to dislocate groundsman Mick Moore’s knee trying to pull him out of a taxi at the PFA Awards. A hapless moment in an even more hapless season. It was pretty much his last meaningful act for the club, he left for Southend before the 2000/01 season started.

From the archive | Ipswich Town 0 Oxford United 1 (2020)

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. As the new decade broke, Boris Johnson was celebrating a resounding election victory which allowed him to Get Brexit Done. Upon achieving that great feat, which has proved to be wildly successful, he declared that we were about to enter a ‘roaring 20’s’.

Things were looking rosy for Oxford too, we’d reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup only to be beaten by Manchester City and put the frighteners all over Newcastle United in the FA Cup. In the league we were finally pushing towards promotion and, above all, our away kit was absolutely flames emoji. There was a bit of flu going round; but nobody cared about that.

Ipswich had been relegated in 2019 and were The Big Club in the League One. In late February we travelled to Portman Road for the first time in over 20 years hoping for a second win on the bounce.

After absorbing early pressure, Oxford began to settle to their task of frustrating their hosts. The longer it went on the more frustrated the home side got and we found ourself in a surprisingly comfortable position able to probe at will. 

Then, it happened. Just before half-time, Cameron Brannagan laid the ball off to James Henry who calmly squared the ball into the path of Matty Taylor for a goal of the highest quality. The Henry, Taylor partnership was pure poetry. 

Despite Ipswich’s pressure and then their growing frustration – both in the crowd and on the pitch – it proved to be the only goal of the game and another step towards the promotion places. In the last minute, Ipswich striker, Kayden Jackson was sent off for a bad challenge on Rob Dickie, but a famous victory had been secured. All we needed to do was avoid a catastrophic global pandemic.