The week unwrapped

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, the good news is that we’ve now had two clean sheets after the 0-0 draws with Bristol City on Saturday and QPR on Tuesday. And, we’ve got some shiny new signings. 

The bad news? Despite Matt Bloomfield’s unbeaten start as Oxford manager, in the last decade, only six clubs have survived from an equal or worse position than we’re in.

So, we’re on the brink, despite the signings of Jamie McDonnell, who made an impressive debut off the bench on Tuesday, and Jin Woo Jeon who was introduced to the crowd. The club have issued a version of our third kit with Jim Woo’s name in Korean on the back, which looks absolutely limbs. The risk of parting with £67.50 to get your hands on it, of course, is that he turns out to be rubbish. I think I might get one which I’ll keep with my Ivo Pekalski shirt.

Elsewhere, special mention for Oxford United Women for their blistering 3-1 win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. One down with fifteen minutes to go saw a stirring comeback. They play Charlton in the next round. While we’re at it, we should also mention the Under 18s who beat Colchester United 2-1 in the FA Youth Cup. With the men still in their FA Cup, three FA Cup wins in May should cushion the blow of relegation.

Foxfacts

Do you want the bad news or the good news? We travel to the King Power Stadium for the first time on Saturday to face Leicester City. The bad news is that Leicester are one of the giants in the division, far bigger and more prestigious than us. On paper it should be a complete formality.

The good news? They’re rubbish in all sorts of ways. Financial issues mean they managed to sign just two goalkeepers in the summer and have done little to improve their situation since. Meanwhile they’ve shipped out a tonne of players following their relegation last season.

The impact is evident, they’re currently 14th in the table and have struggled to find any kind of consistency. 

Of course, we’re rubbish too, so none of the above is meant to make this a sure-fire thing, but, at some point we’ve got to upset the applecart. Why not make it on Saturday?

Football friend | Phil Gilchrist

Some people just go together; Scott had Charlene, Vic Reeves had Bob Mortimer, Batman had Robin and Matt Elliott had Phil Gilchrist. In 1994/5, things were going well, we’d just been relegated to the third tier, but looked certain to make an immediate return to the second tier. We won our first six games of the season and were undefeated until October. Despite being knocked out of the FA Cup by Marlow we continued to forge ahead with our promotion push.

Then things started to go wrong; Paul Moody and John Byrne both had personal problems and Byrne left for Brighton. Goals dried up and we lost five in a row including a humiliating 2-0 home defeat to Wycombe. Part of the problem was a strangely lopsided defence, we had Mike Ford and Les Robinson, both stalwarts, with Matt Elliott, perhaps the best signing the club had ever made. The issue was that Denis Smith needed a second central defender.

Phil Gilchrist arrived from Hartlepool and was the perfect complement to Elliott. Gilchrist’s pace brought dynamism to Elliott’s grace. While they couldn’t prevent our promotion charge from stalling, it set things up for the 1995/6 season.

That story has been told many times, but the fabled back five of Gilchrist, Elliott, Ford, Robinson and Whitehead were the anchor on which it was all built. It’s no coincidence that we failed to register a win in any of the four league games in which the Gilchrist/Elliott combo was broken up.

Elliott left for Leicester the following season while Gilchrist hung on until 1999 when he too was taken into the Premier League by Martin O’Neill. He was on the bench as Elliott scored twice to beat Tranmere in the League Cup final at Wembley at the end of that season. He stayed until 2001 when he headed off to West Brom.

After a spell at Rotherham, he rejoined club captain as Oxford descended into the Conference. He nearly steered the side to an instant promotion in 2007, but injuries gradually caught up with him and he left the following season. 

From the archive | Leicester City 2 Oxford United 3 (1987)

Not an especially well known classic from the Glory Years, but a cracker none-the-less. The two sides had some good set-tos in the 1980s; Oxford registered their first ever First Division win at The Manor when they destroyed The Foxes 5-0 in 1985. They also managed to share a rollercoaster 5-5 draw.

For this Littlewoods Cup tie in 1987, there was already a bit of needle in the game. Dave Langan had been loaned to The Foxes but Oxford had prevented him from playing in the fixture. Langan went to the press to air his frustrations so club secretary Jim Hunt published the clause in his loan contract that allowed the club to block his playing. It was pretty much the end of Oxford’s love affair with Langan and a sad way for it to end.

The game itself was a cracker. Mike Newell’s double put The Foxes in control after less than half-an-hour. Goals from Dean Saunders and Gary Shelton either side of half-time brought Oxford level. In the final minute, Shelton snatched the winner; quite literally as he handled it before surging through the Leicester defence.

We rubbed salt in the wounds with another cup win two months later beating them 2-0 in the FA Cup at The Manor.