General Oxford United Squad 2023/24

[dickwalton1964]

Let them have him and work a deal for
Lewis Mayo

Surely any new manager will want to look at every contracted player, clean slate and all that. I’d like to think Des has been in contact with the likes of Findlay with a view to welcoming them back, improving them as players and potentially reintegrating them in to the squad and maybe team.

 

[ECYellow]

Surely any new manager will want to look at every contracted player, clean slate and all that. I’d like to think Des has been in contact with the likes of Findlay with a view to welcoming them back, improving them as players and potentially reintegrating them in to the squad and maybe team.

That requires the player wanting to be in the South of England, rather than in Scotland where he is from and where his family are settled.

 

[m]

That requires the player wanting to be in the South of England, rather than in Scotland where he is from and where his family are settled.

...and of course being suited to the manager's playing style.

 

[holdsteady]

Surely any new manager will want to look at every contracted player, clean slate and all that. I’d like to think Des has been in contact with the likes of Findlay with a view to welcoming them back, improving them as players and potentially reintegrating them in to the squad and maybe team.

With Findlays passing? If he improves that 100% it will still only be on a par with an under 9s player.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Surely any new manager will want to look at every contracted player, clean slate and all that. I’d like to think Des has been in contact with the likes of Findlay with a view to welcoming them back, improving them as players and potentially reintegrating them in to the squad and maybe team.

Sorry, but Findlay was pretty awful for us. The amount of times he simply passed the ball to an opponent, failed to control it and was robbed or passed it straight into touch was ridiculous - unless he has somehow magically improved, there's no point in welcoming him back to the club, the squad or the team. The extended pursuit and eventual signing of Findlay on a long and expensive contract is one of the oddest sagas of the last few years, IMO. The moment we saw him play it looked like a mistake.

 

[holdsteady]

Sorry, but Findlay was pretty awful for us. The amount of times he simply passed the ball to an opponent, failed to control it and was robbed or passed it straight into touch was ridiculous - unless he has somehow magically improved, there's no point in welcoming him back to the club, the squad or the team. The extended pursuit and eventual signing of Findlay on a long and expensive contract is one of the oddest sagas of the last few years, IMO. The moment we saw him play it looked like a mistake.

It was the times he just played what should of been a very simple pass out of play in our own half that got to me, no pressure and you can't make a ten yard pass, genuiely the worst passer I have ever seen.

 

[Oxford84]

It was the times he just played what should of been a very simple pass out of play in our own half that got to me, no pressure and you can't make a ten yard pass, genuiely the worst passer I have ever seen.

The worst at passing,but the rest of his game was ok.
Strange how a professional can be so bad at simply passing the ball.

 

[BrockBuster]

Think you could maybe accommodate him in the side if you had a keeper who was really good with his feet and in a back four who were all comfortable on the ball, but absolutely no chance in an Eastwood/Cumming side with Moore and say Brown back at LB alongside him.

Just torturous.

 

[TailsWeWin]

The worst at passing,but the rest of his game was ok.
Strange how a professional can be so bad at simply passing the ball.

And yet he is clearly playing well at Kilmarnock who are higher in the league than they have been for some years. Perhaps they don’t require him to pass the ball to his teammates?

 

[Foley]

He has started 17 of our 49 League One games in that year.

Or 23 of the 87 League One games over the term of his contract, thus far.

That is the risk.

True.
The only thing that I would say to slightly counter this, is that he has proved over more than a third of a season, that he can be a top player in this league ( and he fits into our style).
So with all new players coming in, will they fit in, will they be able to do it for us, always have some risk attached for new signings.

 

[Foley]

Findlay will be very unlikely to leave on a permanent deal. You'll struggle to find anyone north of the border who are a) interested and b) willing to meet his salary that Karl kindly gave him. I fear it will be another season long loan for Findlay with OUFC paying some of the wage.

Yes likely to he another loan.
Surely it was the board who approved the wages and the recruitment team who also backed this?
If KR had the power to dictate salaries and pay whatever he wanted the Board need to look at themselves.

 

[holdsteady]

The worst at passing,but the rest of his game was ok.
Strange how a professional can be so bad at simply passing the ball.

You would think that would be a fairly simple part of the game, then you watch scottish football and you think maybe not.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Think you could maybe accommodate him in the side if you had a keeper who was really good with his feet and in a back four who were all comfortable on the ball, but absolutely no chance in an Eastwood/Cumming side with Moore and say Brown back at LB alongside him.

Just torturous.

He's great if we facing a massive barrage of high balls, but not that many teams play that way now, certainly not the good teams.

 

[Common Villager]

Question for those using Murphy's recent form to justify giving him a new contract: does it not concern you that he's only found real form in the last 6 months of his contract?

The situation is reminding me of Asa Hall. He always seemed to go on a crazy goal scoring run towards the end of his contract, and we'd offer him a new deal/try to sign him on, forgetting he'd be crap the first 3/4 of his contract.

As I've said before, any deal offered to Murphy needs to be heavily incentivised on a performance (not just appearance) basis, and in truth I think he'll get a better offer elsewhere, which I wouldn't begrudge him signing.

 

[Swaby39]

For someone who pretty much posts every day about how great Liam Manning was I think you can excuse one post that recognises that Murphy is one of our better players without sulking about it!

Nothing to do with Manning other than that it marks the period of time YOU brought up.

Your statement is a complete fabrication. You said he’s been one of our better players for a year when in fact he made no meaningful contribution to the team until Buckingham joined which was in the middle of November, so not even 6 months ago.

He didn’t even start in Buckingham’s first 4 or 5 games in charge either. So really it was Christmas before he even started to show up. And, coincidentally, 6 weeks after that was missed through injury!! So it’s just so wildly untrue to say what you said that I had to point it out.

Nobody can deny how good he’s been since the start of February but why make stuff up when that’s a legitimate enough argument on its own?

 

[Swaby39]

The worst at passing,but the rest of his game was ok.
Strange how a professional can be so bad at simply passing the ball.

In fairness, the way Des currently has the centre backs distributing the ball coupled with how we currently defend, there may be a future for him in this team yet. There’s nothing Ciaron Brown currently does that Findlay couldn’t and the one thing he could typically do despite being absolutely stripped of confidence by Robinson was defend the box and from what I can see he’s had a decent season in Scotland.

Terrible bit of business so far, but the change of manager might just give him an opening if he wanted it.

 

[Up The Manor]

Without Stuart Findlay being brought into match day squad at end of season we would now be a league 2 club now . The recruitment team must of seen something ,we chased him for 12 months.
There's far worse offenders earning a living and starting games currently . .

 

[werthersoriginal]

Nothing to do with Manning other than that it marks the period of time YOU brought up.

Your statement is a complete fabrication. You said he’s been one of our better players for a year when in fact he made no meaningful contribution to the team until Buckingham joined which was in the middle of November, so not even 6 months ago.

He didn’t even start in Buckingham’s first 4 or 5 games in charge either. So really it was Christmas before he even started to show up. And, coincidentally, 6 weeks after that was missed through injury!! So it’s just so wildly untrue to say what you said that I had to point it out.

Nobody can deny how good he’s been since the start of February but why make stuff up when that’s a legitimate enough argument on its own?

He was good under Manning at the end of last season. But wasn't picked earlier this season, presumably because he didn't fit into Manning's nerdy tech version of soccer. Anyway he's just a player, don't know why people argue about him so much. We don't really know if Des will still be in a job so it's a bit pointless speculating about which players we'll sign on.

 

[Swaby39]

He was good under Manning at the end of last season. But wasn't picked earlier this season, presumably because he didn't fit into Manning's nerdy tech version of soccer. Anyway he's just a player, don't know why people argue about him so much. We don't really know if Des will still be in a job so it's a bit pointless speculating about which players we'll sign on.

I think Murphy is one of the more heated topics because for 3 quarters of his contract he has embodied everything wrong with the football side of our club over the past few years and there is a fear of making the same mistakes again.

Maybe Manning was unfair on him. But Robinson paraded him around like a trophy and had this supposedly golden relationship that yielded precisely nothing from him. So I’m afraid in the minds of many, this 2 month purple patch which Des deservedly gets credit for does little to convince us to factory reset an opinion formed over nearly 2 years of disappointment. It’s a start, however. All I ask is that the club act responsibly this summer as a huge opportunity to right the last of the wrongs is staring them in the face.

 

[m]

Without Stuart Findlay being brought into match day squad at end of season we would now be a league 2 club now .

I understand that this is an opinion which you've every right to hold, but would you be so kind as to explain what it means?