Constable's lifted by DVD collection (From The Oxford Times)

JC at his best is a fearsome weapon, and you are on the way Beano. Keep up the hassling and the work rate and the goals will sort themselves out. Terrific strike on saturday too.

Obviously good support and man management by the coaching staff - something I and many others have never doubted. Despite all the flak from the obsessively negative brigade that post here, even in the darkest times of recent months the unity and spirit in the camp have been remarkable, a sign of good, strong, positive management. Well done, CW. Keep it up.

BigYellowScarf wrote:
Obviously good support and man management by the coaching staff - something I and many others have never doubted. Despite all the flak from the obsessively negative brigade that post here, even in the darkest times of recent months the unity and spirit in the camp have been remarkable, a sign of good, strong, positive management. Well done, CW. Keep it up.

Would that be the same man mangement that stripped Beano of the captins armband, dropped him like a stone when he didnt sign for Swindon, continued to leave him on the bench at the tail end of last season when our front 3 consisted of Morgan, Montano and Rendell - all of whom coudlnt hit a barn door let alone the back of the net!

Lets be honest, the only reason Beano is back starting games (and getting some form back as a result of a run of starts / 90mins on the pitch) is because Wilder is desperate through injuries.

To be honest, i thought Beano was finished at Oxford. The way he was playing, when he did get on the pitch was so poor. His recent resurgence is so good to see and so welcome! But to applaud good man managment from CW is laughable!

Doctor69 wrote:

BigYellowScarf wrote:
Obviously good support and man management by the coaching staff - something I and many others have never doubted. Despite all the flak from the obsessively negative brigade that post here, even in the darkest times of recent months the unity and spirit in the camp have been remarkable, a sign of good, strong, positive management. Well done, CW. Keep it up.

Would that be the same man mangement that stripped Beano of the captins armband, dropped him like a stone when he didnt sign for Swindon, continued to leave him on the bench at the tail end of last season when our front 3 consisted of Morgan, Montano and Rendell - all of whom coudlnt hit a barn door let alone the back of the net!

Lets be honest, the only reason Beano is back starting games (and getting some form back as a result of a run of starts / 90mins on the pitch) is because Wilder is desperate through injuries.

To be honest, i thought Beano was finished at Oxford. The way he was playing, when he did get on the pitch was so poor. His recent resurgence is so good to see and so welcome! But to applaud good man managment from CW is laughable!

I'm not expecting you to agree, but:

(a) For most of the time you're talking about, JC was either suspended or less than semi-fit.
(b) You're wildly guessing what went on behind the scenes based on your blinkered assumption that CW isn't up to it, and judging by the way the corner's been turned, your guess may well be wrong.
(c) Look at the squad as a whole and how it's stayed together. It's always blindingly obvious when a manager has lost a dressing room, and never for one moment have they looked like a squad that's not behind the management.

Come on you yellows.

BigYellowScarf wrote:

Doctor69 wrote:

BigYellowScarf wrote:
Obviously good support and man management by the coaching staff - something I and many others have never doubted. Despite all the flak from the obsessively negative brigade that post here, even in the darkest times of recent months the unity and spirit in the camp have been remarkable, a sign of good, strong, positive management. Well done, CW. Keep it up.

Would that be the same man mangement that stripped Beano of the captins armband, dropped him like a stone when he didnt sign for Swindon, continued to leave him on the bench at the tail end of last season when our front 3 consisted of Morgan, Montano and Rendell - all of whom coudlnt hit a barn door let alone the back of the net!

Lets be honest, the only reason Beano is back starting games (and getting some form back as a result of a run of starts / 90mins on the pitch) is because Wilder is desperate through injuries.

To be honest, i thought Beano was finished at Oxford. The way he was playing, when he did get on the pitch was so poor. His recent resurgence is so good to see and so welcome! But to applaud good man managment from CW is laughable!

I'm not expecting you to agree, but:

(a) For most of the time you're talking about, JC was either suspended or less than semi-fit.
(b) You're wildly guessing what went on behind the scenes based on your blinkered assumption that CW isn't up to it, and judging by the way the corner's been turned, your guess may well be wrong.
(c) Look at the squad as a whole and how it's stayed together. It's always blindingly obvious when a manager has lost a dressing room, and never for one moment have they looked like a squad that's not behind the management.

Come on you yellows.

A)To be fair, Beano did himself no favours with Red cards, Im not a 100% on his fitness tho? He has sat on the bench often enough in that period, or started a game here and there. How many games has he actually missed due to lack of fitness? If he isn’t injured, why isn’t he fit to start games of football?

B)I can’t agree on the corner being turned yet, we have beaten 2 poor teams in Accrington and Wycombe. The performance against Port Vale was abysmal, they ripped us open time, and time again. Let’s hope you are correct tho, with the run of games coming up, we should pick up a few points and pull clear of the bottom half. Overall I see the remainder of the season being very similar, a few wins here, couple of defeats to follow…..basically no consistency to mount a serious challenge.

C) Bradford at home & Vale away were hardly performances that would indicate the squad were right behind the manager. The Bradford game in particular was terrible, no one looked interested.

I do think Wilder has run his course with Oxford, however I do hope he can turn the season around and make a challenge at promotion / play offs. For all his faults, he has got us back into the football league, and gave us a great day out at Wembley to remember. I personally felt he should have gone at the end of last season after the implosion that meant we missed out on the play offs.

A serious question for you, do you feel CW can take Oxford up to league 1? If not, then do you feel he should stay on as manager?

Doctor69 wrote:

BigYellowScarf wrote:

Doctor69 wrote:

BigYellowScarf wrote:
Obviously good support and man management by the coaching staff - something I and many others have never doubted. Despite all the flak from the obsessively negative brigade that post here, even in the darkest times of recent months the unity and spirit in the camp have been remarkable, a sign of good, strong, positive management. Well done, CW. Keep it up.

Would that be the same man mangement that stripped Beano of the captins armband, dropped him like a stone when he didnt sign for Swindon, continued to leave him on the bench at the tail end of last season when our front 3 consisted of Morgan, Montano and Rendell - all of whom coudlnt hit a barn door let alone the back of the net!

Lets be honest, the only reason Beano is back starting games (and getting some form back as a result of a run of starts / 90mins on the pitch) is because Wilder is desperate through injuries.

To be honest, i thought Beano was finished at Oxford. The way he was playing, when he did get on the pitch was so poor. His recent resurgence is so good to see and so welcome! But to applaud good man managment from CW is laughable!

I'm not expecting you to agree, but:

(a) For most of the time you're talking about, JC was either suspended or less than semi-fit.
(b) You're wildly guessing what went on behind the scenes based on your blinkered assumption that CW isn't up to it, and judging by the way the corner's been turned, your guess may well be wrong.
(c) Look at the squad as a whole and how it's stayed together. It's always blindingly obvious when a manager has lost a dressing room, and never for one moment have they looked like a squad that's not behind the management.

Come on you yellows.

A)To be fair, Beano did himself no favours with Red cards, Im not a 100% on his fitness tho? He has sat on the bench often enough in that period, or started a game here and there. How many games has he actually missed due to lack of fitness? If he isn’t injured, why isn’t he fit to start games of football?

B)I can’t agree on the corner being turned yet, we have beaten 2 poor teams in Accrington and Wycombe. The performance against Port Vale was abysmal, they ripped us open time, and time again. Let’s hope you are correct tho, with the run of games coming up, we should pick up a few points and pull clear of the bottom half. Overall I see the remainder of the season being very similar, a few wins here, couple of defeats to follow…..basically no consistency to mount a serious challenge.

C) Bradford at home & Vale away were hardly performances that would indicate the squad were right behind the manager. The Bradford game in particular was terrible, no one looked interested.

I do think Wilder has run his course with Oxford, however I do hope he can turn the season around and make a challenge at promotion / play offs. For all his faults, he has got us back into the football league, and gave us a great day out at Wembley to remember. I personally felt he should have gone at the end of last season after the implosion that meant we missed out on the play offs.

A serious question for you, do you feel CW can take Oxford up to league 1? If not, then do you feel he should stay on as manager?

Hello, Doctor 69. This one could run and run! We’re never going to agree because we obviously have very different ideas about how a football club (and the game itself) works. I thought about not bothering to reply because I can’t believe anyone’s going to want to read all this, but decided it would be rude not to. So…

a) I recall JC struggling on and off with (I think) a thigh injury. But I’m not really interested in discussing individual players – we can all have our opinions on who should and shouldn’t play, but opinions is all they are: let’s be honest, we’re not in the best position to judge who should and shouldn’t play – we don’t see them most days of the week and don’t know the vagaries of mental and physical fitness, form in training, etc etc etc. We’re in the happy position of being able to have opinions without responsibility – managing is TOTALLY different.

b) When I mentioned “turning the corner” I was answering your point about the CW / JC relationship, not referring to the fortunes of the team as a whole. Your guess about a falling out, JC being stripped of the armband etc, doesn’t seem to be borne out by what’s happened lately. Who, for example, did he give the armband to when Jake Wright was out?

c) Poor performances don’t necessarily indicate a team not backing the manager. (Please name me a single manager – anywhere, ever – whose teams never give a poor, apparently unmotivated performance.) You know when a manager’s lost a dressing room because after performances like Bradford, or the collapse at the end of last season, it STAYS that way. Instead there’s been a strong reaction from the OUFC squad, and all the noises coming out of the camp have consistently indicated an impressively positive and unified spirit. Great credit to CW.

d) I don’t think any fair-minded person can seriously blame CW for what you call the “implosion” at the end of last season, or the struggle at the beginning of this. The injury crisis has been exceptional – you cannot seriously think of it, as several posters on this site have, as an “excuse”. Finally, in answer to your question, yes, I do think that (provided he has anything like a fully fit squad, with just a routine number of injuries instead of carnage), CW is very able to take us to League 1. Should he stay if he doesn’t? I don’t understand that question, because in my view there’s much more to it than results. I know you won’t agree, but it’s good to talk.