Working for your favourite football club might sound like the dream job. But they can be an unforgiving and brutal environment to earn a living in. When Ian Davies walked out of The Manor in 1999, bruised by his experiences of navigating the path from fan to employee, few could have predicted it would be over 20 years before he would see us play again.
May 9th 1999 – Oxford United 5 Stockport County 0
(Gilchrist, Powell, Beauchamp, Murphy, Thomson)
The Manor Ground, Att: 6,830
A warm sunny day, and a curling shot from Joey Beauchamp at the London Road end. This was a great note to sign off from The Manor ground on. The goal scorers were also all people I knew and really liked, and for some reason, that was important to me.
Working for a football club you support after previously having been a fan then the ‘Fanzine guy’ was pretty much unique at the time. Myself, having been replaced by a former commercial manager of Barnet (Titans of football in the London Borough of Barnet, now Harrow, I’m sure) I knew it was all done for me. My Faustian pact was up and Mephisto was collecting.
After you hit the iceberg, you can carry on playing the tune or prepare the life rafts. Although, it was too late for myself, I was able to do something to insulate the Oxford United’s Community activities from any potential negative consequences of new ownership. I had worked out it made much more sense for Rosie, Mark Jones et al to be working for a ‘not for profit’ organisation and not for Oxford United itself. So, after a chat with John Relish a fellow trustee (representing the PFA), Oxford United Football in the Community (OUFITC) was established. This new entity also included the successful soccer schools, so in fact was more than self-funding. OUFITC was also (after season tickets) the biggest buyer of OUFC match tickets. The community and schools outreach are simply vital for clubs like Oxford. In my view, Rosie is Oxford United’s best ever signing bar none.
Although, I didn’t formerly leave Oxford’s employment until Mid-August 1999, I decided not to attend the pre-season games in the run up to the 1999-2000 season. I knew I wanted the Stockport 5-0 game to be my final (and happy) memory of both Oxford United and The Manor. I said my goodbyes to Deadly Dave, Darren, Tricky Trev, Pete, Dawn, Hils and of course the match day programme right hand man, Ambrose. Apparently, I said at the time I was worried Oxford would be out of the league in five years. As it happens, I was wrong, it was five years and six months.
Addicts vs Casuals
I have always both envied (and despised) the casual fan who can watch a game or two and then leave it. Can you really have your football fun without the football consequences?
People who had not been at Barking or Marlow, Kettering (at home!) could surely never appreciate the highs of the 80s mid-90s and 2024? This century, I have, fortunately, missed out on the likes of Histon and being gubbed by places I have never heard of (and even worse, I do like a map!) but these would have been right up there I’m sure.
In the 1970s there were just three Oxford fans in my year (Alan, Scott and myself) at John Mason in Abingdon. After a bad defeat, we all knew it was going to be brutal. I feigned illness after the Kettering game, and bunked off school (which was not something I did) the next day.
In the Raging Bull fanzine days, an American got in touch with us. His job meant that he was at the University in Oxford for one year, every seven years. So he would pitch up get a season ticket in the Beech road, go to all the games and then return to the US. As far as I remember, in the pre-internet world, he had no idea what division we would be in or what to expect. It was almost a kind of football time travel. How was this possible? Little did I know!
8,312 days between games
And People moan about international breaks!
How did I get on after the initial tough post Manor cold turkey period after dismissal? Actually, with avoidance (luckily, it’s a family meta skill) it worked out. Some old habits die hard and slowly, I continued to listen to Radio Oxford commentaries and got used to not going to games. The distance made defeats hurt less. The club had a new ‘saviour’ and no one was going to care a damn about me. So I gradually moved on.
I was starting a new career within a month. I completed an MSc. I started a business. Within a year I had bought a house in a lovely village in Le Marche, Italy. This also provided a delightful new opportunity to start again with Football.
I have been going to football in Italy since I was 18. My Italy connections had been somewhat utilised in the conversations with Juventus about a potential link-up with Oxford in 1997. I think I will leave this story to another day!
So, it was not tricky for me to check out the Le Marche football options. Ancona were in Serie A and had a massive out of town, USA style stadium; grills in the parking lot etc. All below lovely Monte Conero, from where people watched games from their vineyards. I tried it, it was OK, but not for me. There was Ascoli, Serie B, depressing 1950s GDR concrete bowl stadium and I didn’t like the fans at all. Lots of Mussolini nonsense going on, not for me, with bells on.
Forza Samb
My last chance was Ascoli’s local rivals, San Benedetto (Serie C) or just ‘Samb’ to everyone. The Stadio Riviera delle Palme is a third sized replica of the San Siro with a capacity of 20,000 or so in 2001. It is also 200m from lovely beaches and great seafront restaurants. San Benedetto is a weird combo in UK terms of Grimsby (the biggest fishing port in the Med) and formerly posh seaside, Torquay.
The Samb fans were (and still are) fantastic and very open to refugees like myself and real ones as well. Note to (some) current Oxford United fans, Samb fans in Curva Nord are always positive, no matter what or how desperately bad it gets. Samb fans get a very good write up in Tobias Jones excellent book ‘Ultras’. They also have some interesting Fan Twinning’s. If you watch closely you will see a big ‘Samb’ flag at some Bayern Munich games.
At Samb, fan negativity to the team is not tolerated! Although, this principle has been severely tested on many occasions. In one home game vs Chieti (I think?) a new young left back, had the worst performance I had ever seen at a professional level. In front of the Curva Nord, in just 45 minutes, he had been responsible for two own-goals, a penalty and an under-hit pass to the goalkeeper. He was substituted at half time at 0-4, roughly translated from the ‘mister’ (manager) ‘to minimise further psychological damage’. Even he was clapped off at half time.
I had arrived at Samb, in a ‘living the dream moment’. In a serious attempt to make it back to Serie B, big money was spent, in what was probably a reckless ‘Risdale like’ gamble. In a turn of bad fortune that has followed Samb ever since, this bet became derailed by the double demotion of Napoli to join them in C1. I was at both Napoli (1-1) games league and play off final. To cut a long story short in adding Grimsby + Torquay does not quite equal Liverpool. I was upset, but went to ‘school’ (OK, the Bar Tre Archi) the next day but there were no consequences. The years went by and I also discovered the extra delights of the combined beach and football day out.
I also watched football all across Europe, from the Azores to Hungary and Greece to Norway and almost all points in between. I took the Caledonian sleeper to watch the Staggies (Ross County) at home in chilly Dingwall. I also got really into England cricket and was lucky enough to be in the wonderful Eric Hollies stand for the pivotal Ashes game in 2005. Life was good.
A social network
Facebook started in the UK in 2006. It was this social media had connected me back with many former Manor colleagues. We were a close-knit outfit and even more so having gone through months of working unpaid in 1998/99. These were times that were strangely, some of the happiest ever at The Manor. Regular deliveries of cake and free beers helped morale quite a bit. The club and fans also felt unusually ‘United’ at this point.
I think it was, and maybe is, fair to say that working inside a football club creates a certain ‘siege mentality’ culture. The cause being the perceived conflict between running successful commercial activities and the ‘ripping fans off’ debate. Whilst attending League Managers Association (LMA) and Football League events, they were a kind of ‘safe space for all involved. I noticed everyone was very comfortable with their rivals, but much less so with their own fans and especially the (local non-football) media. I think it only happened to me once or twice, but being ‘door stepped’ by the media is not much fun. To this day, I have not forgiven the Oxford Mail.
Through Facebook, a number of ex-Oxford United events started to crop up.
In 2012 I had turned out for (Ticket Office) Darren B’s 40th birthday football match vs Raging Fever FC (the newest variant of Raging Bull FC, a team I had started in 1990). Darren’s 11 didn’t exactly win, our back four had a combined age of 200+, but we had quite a good ringer, a certain, J Beauchamp, (I am claiming an assist for his third!). After this game more or less everyone else involved in the match, was going onto the game at the Kassam. Except me, although I had a pint in the Priory and then limped off home to rest the weary limbs.
In 2016. Again thanks to Darren, I got to hear about the Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the 1995-6 promotion season. Weirdly it was at Peers school and not the stadium, which had a great big room designed for such events. That really confused me, as I had not been following any of the behind the scenes stuff at all. Had it been at ‘Grenoble Road’ there is no way I would have gone. So I signed up to get a ‘fan number’ and bought tickets. It was a great night!
In September 2018 the ‘Oxford Rejects’ group was created by Darren, and with Hillary, they organised a get together on 27 October 2018 after the Shrewsbury game (which, of course, I did not go to). I was there for the main event at Franky and Benny’s. ‘Big James’ had found an amazing two for one deal, that amusingly all 20 of us used. After that, a load of us went back to the Britannia on London Road for later drinks. I wrote the following on the FB group chat.
29-10-18 ‘Many thanks to Daz and Hils for organising this catch up. It may sound odd but I have always thought that I was the only one to suffer a painful exit from OUFC. So it was really interesting to hear stories from Mick M and Mary. I had no idea about any of this. I have always been proud of what we did in these years and my main regret was not being more pushy on persuading Robin to let us take over the new stadium commercial stuff. I think that history may have turned out better for all at OUFC…..’
Then came Covid, where do you think my vaccination centre was? I would best describe my reaction to being forced into going to get a vaccination in a location self-named by someone who had fired me as, depending upon your age, ‘Personal Vietnam’, PTSD or Triggered?
The first I knew of Joey Beauchamp’s death was one of these click here ‘former Oxford player dies’ links, before clicking there, I already knew who it was going to be. Deadly Dave put something on Facebook which summed up how we were all feeling and I found incredibly moving. When we re-signed him from our pals from down the A420 I proudly gave him the yellow shirt to wear for the photo call’. He was always quiet but anyone could see he was delighted to be home at the Manor again.
One of my favourite academic theories, is ‘Soft Determinism’. Which is a social science theory which basically says that although everything is determined we can still act voluntarily to an extent. So we are guided into decisions by what is around us but there is some choice going on. Like the best theories a bit of both sums it up. So I had made a decision that I had to make.
And so it begins
Over the years Dave had made a few attempts to get me back to a game, I had always politely declined. This time, he didn’t ask he told me, I was going to the Cambridge game. Meet at the Bear at 12am….So nervously (I had no idea how I would be received by people for the most part I had not seen this century), I arrived at 12.05. I had not imaged anyone would be drinking as early as 12pm. As it happened, I needed not have worried. Indeed, just how many people can you squeeze into the Bear entrance snug?
“Right then, the last 22 years what have I missed?” Here is a sample of the answers – Best player – Chris Maguire, Best game – Swindon away – all of them (how many in a row!!!!) . Most Liked player – Andy Whing, Weirdest away game – Farsley Celtic
Two hours later, a fleet of taxis emptied the Bear and carted us all off to Knights Road, Blackbird Leys.
I asked my other half what she remembered as this was her first Oxford game. She was mainly there for (my) emotional support. ‘You were crying a lot and the pie was really nice’. I also remember we also had a nice real ale, although, we could not drink it with view of the pitch. News to me! Not a rule you get in the Eric Hollies Edgbaston or at Ferencváros nb. where a pint was 15p last time I last went.
I also had to work out where my ‘new’ office was supposed to be from the architect plans I left on my desk in 1999. Broadly speaking it was in the East Stand smoking area. The East stand was rather less elaborate than planned and the club shop was also missing. The concourses were so incredible stark. It felt a bit being in a student room where a million rules meant you could not put blutack and posters on the walls etc. I remember thinking this ground can never be a real ‘home’ for Oxford United. The Manor was maybe a dump, but it was at least our dump.
I do also remember being very happy with the level of fan organisations Ultras etc. Good work then and even more so these days. It was really weird to hear left side / right side London Road chants!
26 February 2022 – Oxford United 4-2 Cambridge United
Taylor, Brannagan (2), Baldock
Grenoble Road, Att: 10,004
I was impressed with Karl Robinson who really got it right off the pitch that day. As I later found out this was not always the case! The game for the most part was conducted with great dignity by (nearly) all concerned.
However, during the game Sam Smith of (then) Cambridge showed all the emotional intelligence of Jeremy Clarkson and Gregg Wallace combined. Perhaps, he hadn’t been to many funerals before? He may be visiting us again with Wrexham next season and I am sure will receive a warm welcome.
On the pitch Cameron Brannagan ran the show, although disappointingly, he was not wearing his ‘magic hat’ during this game itself. Oxford really looked like a good team, much better than I remember this division being.
After the game more beers and more tears. I was not ‘back in the fold’ as such but did start to investigate some of the more curious away games that had not existed in the 20th Century, so Fleetwood and Morecambe were taken in as long weekends. In 2023, I went to the last home game against Accrington Stanley, where the Mighty U’s avoided relegation by not losing by 18 clear goals.
Bolton Wanderers 0 Oxford United 2
In the way that Joey’s tragic death got me back to a game, the arrival of Des, effectively sealed the Oxford United deal for me. So, post Wemberleeee returning to Div 2 (Championship if you must) 25 years after Oxford United 5 Stockport 0, it was inconceivable that I would not get East stand season tickets. I have added an Oxfordshire OUFC flag more recently. The main purpose being as a stress relief device when counting down the last 30! minutes whilst 1-0 up (or 0-0 vs Burnley) trying to remove it and untie bits of string etc. works a treat!
Last season I managed to get to all of the home League games and also only missed one OUWFC home as well. Amazingly, I still have my life in Italy (thank you international breaks!) and fit my work in around all of the fun. So really the best of all worlds. All in all, I would say missing out 22 years of OUFC has worked out pretty well for me!
The Oxblogger Newsletter
This article was first published in the Oxblogger Newsletter, a bi-monthly Oxford United fanzine by the fans for the fans. See the whole issue here and subscribe to get each issue straight to your in-box each.
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