ThatSlopesATwelfthMan
Active member
- Joined
- 15 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 523
My memory is shite so correct me if im wrong but didnt Peps band of misfits include Curtis Nelson, Joe Rothwell, Ryan Ledson, Alex Mowatt, Josh Ruffels, Rob Dickie and Shandon Baptiste?
It did but Rothwell, Nelson and Leggo were already lined up to move and on the way out, none signed new contracts when offered.
Mowatt was a loan. Dickie and Baptiste youth players we subsequently developed and sold for good money. Ruffles an athletic but limited journeyman who transformed into arguably L1s best attacking full back and was also sold for good money. None were Pep signings, all legacies of the previous regime and model.
KR was a vain, emotionally unstable chancer with a truly grim nasty streak but it is rewriting history to claim he broke a successful team up. What he did do was turn Oxford into a version of himself: a short-termist, high risk/high reward casino team who could play scintillating football when the cards fell kindly but never able to step back, think about the percentages or plan for the future. By the final season he'd gone full on Leaving Las Vegas.
Ancient history now but with all the recent tumult and some pretty clear signs of board level problems it is worth remembering how we got here. Clotet and Robinson were both hired during times when leadership was chaotic. Both were given cart blanche authority and little attention was paid to support structures and long term strategy. We've now made two progressive manager appointments which indicate lessons learned in theory but lots of horrible signs they've not been in practice. It seems our current highly rated but relatively inexperienced coach is being asked to do multiple jobs under trying circumstances and great pressure and with minimal support. Unlike KR I doubt Buckingham sees that as a good thing.
The latest Oxvox update was carefully worded but scathing. Until the board start showing some basic signs of leadership I'm worried.