Home Match Day Thread 26/8/23 L1: OUFC v Charlton Athletic

[Northstandboy]

COYY!

 

[Braziliance]

To find three separate groups that supposedly don’t follow / support Oxford, you’ve either been very selective in your selection, or it’s a bloggers cheap throwaway comment to try and increase their five minutes of fame / likes.

As we are not Chelsea and inundated with Nordique and Asian tourists with cameras and half and half scarves, I’m going for the latter and will be giving the vlog a miss as a consequence.

Would be a bizarre lie and I haven't done so on any other video, was simply explaining why I didn't engage with anyone as I didn't get the opportunity.

Do you think I don't think the same happens at the Valley where people may not know anything about Charlton but attend? Would be a bit arrogant and ignorant of me.

In my last 4 videos I have interacted with fans before kick off or after, I was giving a back story as to why it didn't happen this time. Just so people know I haven't stopped doing it as I want my videos to be consistent.

So to clarify, two sets of 3 younger fans, the first set of fans, 2 of them had only attended one game, the other wasn't interested in talking which is fair dos, it's not for everyone.

The second group of 3 just didn't want to talk and one said he doesn't go to enough games anyway, the others didn't add to that.

The third and final were a Dad and his son I presume, they didn't want to, they explained that they had tickets for the game and the Dad was a Leeds fan who attended through work promos by his words, really nice guys regardless & knowledgeable, just didn't want to be on a video.

I wasn't digging out your fans at all, just explaining my own disappointment at my own video and how it wasn't helped that I had bad luck with who I approached as it was after the game and I imagine most fans dispersed due to the weather. The feeling of soulless was due to the location, the result and the lack of buzz, which was no doubt due to the weather where it was chucking it & mainly where I feel where we are at atm. To not get a result away in so many attempts feels abysmal. Whereas on the other hand a lot of sides rock up to our place and get a win, it probably did come across as bitter but it's certainly more aimed at my own emotions as a Charlton fan after these games rather than a concrete view.

You could watch my video for one minute and tell I am not one of those content creators looking for cheap views, I even said off the rip our record is terrible Vs yous and I see it being 2-1 or 3-1. I even predicted the loss after our loss Vs Port Vale..

I don't know what else to say really, I've said sorry for any misunderstanding, I haven't lied about anything just shared my account. Sorry to hear you won't watch but I'm not a liar and I don't make cheap vids looking for 5 mins of fame. I have like 200 subs and it's a league 1 fixture ffs, I'm sure if I was that creative I could think of something better to gather click bait views

 

[Leysboy]

Shame about Holden, after his interview I thought he and Methven were a match made in heaven. Robbo in at Charlton then….

Robbo

It will be Johnson I reckon.

 

[Northstandboy]

SACKED:

General - Dean Holden

Charlton have sacked him after our win over them. https://www.charltonafc.com/news/club-update-dean-holden

yellowsforum.co.uk

 

[Northstandboy]

Good evening folks,

First of all I am going to address my post, in no way was I digging out Oxford fans, if that came across that way I apologise, I am not that type of football fan.

In regards to my comment about 'soulless' that was not a dig at your fans, but the ground itself and just in general the surrounding area, it was a lovely drive on the rural roads but there was no real gathering point for local fans and it seemed to just lack that match day buzz as a result. In regards to the 8 fans that was genuine, I really did speak to 8, not separately, but 8 fans from 3 separate groups. Again not a dig..just pointing out why it was hard to get some engagement. The people I asked either had; free tickets, it was their first game, Oxford United was their second team or they just said they didn't have the knowledge/want to talk about it. Which is absolutely fine, I get that not everyone wants to talk to a camera. I can wholeheartedly say it wasn't a pop, I'm not like that with other fans and always give credit where due. The fans on here who spoke with me were absolutely spot on and nothing but helpful.

For what it's worth I said you were the better team, I predicted you would be the better team and I addressed this in my vlog and forum posts. Just look at it from my perspective, 4 hour drive almost, got caught in s**t weather, conceded a late winner and then when I wanted to engage with some people no one was up for it, i'll state again that's perfectly understandable, not everyone wants some wally approaching them with a camera, but that is why I may have came across negative.

In regards to the football itself you were comfortably the better side in the first half, second half I would say we edged it. I was envious of some of your players, Elliott Moore and Stephan Negru looked imperious at times, Marcus McGuane is comfortably the best player I've seen this season and the young lad Tyler Goodhram looks a real prospect. I am actually quite jealous of the quality you have.

Despite all the good advice I had on here in terms of location and where to go, I had some real life problems that prevented me getting to the game earlier and as a result I hit bad traffic so was in a real rush to get to the ground, I tried to get some clips in but it was after the game had ended and fans had dispersed, which lacked that match day feel as a result.

I am annoyed at myself for how easily words can get lost in translation or misinterpreted but I wasn't being disrespectful I can assure you. Well worth the 3 points and I wish you luck for the rest of the season (except when you play us )

On the return tie at ours I'll speak to some of yous and hopefully I won't be as rushed and as it will be travelling fans, I presume the engagement will be better.

Finally I'd like to say on the off chance the people I spoke to view this forum (only based on themselves saying they don't follow Oxford United religiously) you were still spot on to talk to and I appreciate the time of day regardless.

For anyone that wants to watch I have to say I didn't quite enjoy editing it as much, I really missed the fan engagement from both sets and that immensely adds to the vlog, I also missed your first goal as I was switching batteries (sods law) just wasn't a good day for it.

That's the video, appreciate any engagement, there's my reaction and your celebrations to your late winner and I hope again, on the return tie I can actually talk to some of you.

Hope that clears everything up

tl;dr:

- I'm not a footballing snob
- I agree with your fans that you deserve a ground in a better location
- Please put pitchforks down

One of your points is about lack of meeting up for fans.

That’s the disadvantage of not having the stadium in a busy city centre.

 

[RgYellows]

So to clarify, two sets of 3 younger fans, the first set of fans, 2 of them had only attended one game, the other wasn't interested in talking which is fair dos, it's not for everyone.

The second group of 3 just didn't want to talk and one said he doesn't go to enough games anyway, the others didn't add to that.

The third and final were a Dad and his son I presume, they didn't want to, they explained that they had tickets for the game and the Dad was a Leeds fan who attended through work promos by his words, really nice guys regardless & knowledgeable, just didn't want to be on a video.

I am too old to be your target market for this sort of thing, much prefer a written blog to enjoy with my Wethers Originals and bovril. However, you come across as a well-meaning guy. You’re gracious in defeat, which would be my biggest problem with trying to do what you do. So here is my ill-informed advice.

The picture you just painted doesn’t match what you said on your own forum, which I went and found because of this minor brouhaha:

“I approached around 8 different Oxford fans and not one of them supported Oxford, all said it's just their non premier league team and go for the sake of it.”

In your post on this forum, 4 of 8 said they didn’t support Oxford fanatically. It still seems reasonable to someone old like me, that pretty much anyone in their right mind would say whatever they had to in order to end the discussion and get their place in the car park queue. Now that Leeds are relegated, you also haven’t mentioned a single Premier League team.

Loose wording might seem small, but it is going to be a big deal in media content. As an outsider wanting positive feedback when commenting on other people’s football clubs, especially so. Often - despite your apparent impression of our club on Saturday - people see their club as being second only to family. Imagine you’re making a vlog about someone’s sister and want their feedback on it. Imagine how careful you’d be with anything that might possibly be taken as a negative.

A lot of this will sound like playing a character, and that’s what people in these videos are doing. If you want to post your unfiltered opinions on games and clubs, as a Charlton fan, I’d probably do it through an ‘personal’ account separate to the ‘professional’.

 

[Sarge]

Robbo

It will be Johnson I reckon.

Boris?

 

[Leysboy]

Boris?

No the little sod that was briefly at Sunderland, and left Hibs last week.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Lee Johnson was sacked a couple of days ago by Hibs and would be the ‘easy’ appointment with no compensation involved and he managed Sunderland when Charlie Methven was part of the ownership at the Stadium of Light.

 

[Oufccraig45]

Charlton fans are going to boycott if Lee Johnson ends up there

 

[pwoufc]

Slightly odd question, but anyone know why Nathan Cooper was not doing the stadium announcements? And who was doing it?
From the North Stand, you could barley hear what the guy was saying.

Nathan wasn’t doing it because he was doing more on radio oxford for Saturday. You can’t hear in the box where it is controlled and you are relying on hand signals from those around and pitch side, which on Saturday included Nathan who was sat doing radio oxford just in front of the box. There are now issues with one of the speakers near to the box so getting levels right for the stadium is pretty much impossible as it stands as the sound in the area where it’s controlled is effected and different to normal. This may be an ongoing problem. And then you have to take into account that adverts are different levels of sound etc. So basically it’s all guesswork and adjusting to the signals from outside the box and what works one week may not the next with the speaker adding to the issue. So maybe you won’t hear Nathan next week unless they can sort levels out again with the broken speaker in mind.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1695835815576838474

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1695835815576838474

Clearly a little bit of a prankster raising up the old left back debate straight away!

 

[Braziliance]

I am too old to be your target market for this sort of thing, much prefer a written blog to enjoy with my Wethers Originals and bovril. However, you come across as a well-meaning guy. You’re gracious in defeat, which would be my biggest problem with trying to do what you do. So here is my ill-informed advice.

The picture you just painted doesn’t match what you said on your own forum, which I went and found because of this minor brouhaha:

“I approached around 8 different Oxford fans and not one of them supported Oxford, all said it's just their non premier league team and go for the sake of it.”

In your post on this forum, 4 of 8 said they didn’t support Oxford fanatically. It still seems reasonable to someone old like me, that pretty much anyone in their right mind would say whatever they had to in order to end the discussion and get their place in the car park queue. Now that Leeds are relegated, you also haven’t mentioned a single Premier League team.

Loose wording might seem small, but it is going to be a big deal in media content. As an outsider wanting positive feedback when commenting on other people’s football clubs, especially so. Often - despite your apparent impression of our club on Saturday - people see their club as being second only to family. Imagine you’re making a vlog about someone’s sister and want their feedback on it. Imagine how careful you’d be with anything that might possibly be taken as a negative.

A lot of this will sound like playing a character, and that’s what people in these videos are doing. If you want to post your unfiltered opinions on games and clubs, as a Charlton fan, I’d probably do it through an ‘personal’ account separate to the ‘professional’.

Thanks for your reply,

That is meant to say OR* go for the sake of it. One of the fans jokingly jested one of them supported Chelsea and as Leeds have just been relegated they're still fresh in the mind as a prem team. Probably should have waited to post like I usually do as that's where mistakes happen and I tend not to even speak on camera till I'm home so I can think about the game etc. Worth saying that I didn't say all Oxford United fans, just the ones I came across. In regards to the queue this was after the game and when the queues were completely gone, I hang around to take some clips of the ground and just check out the area because I was running late.

It really is just down to this, I did approach that number of fans, only one said they actually supported Oxford United properly but he didn't want to speak, the Dad and his Son knew some players but obviously told me they got to the game via free tickets and the other group genuinely all said it was their first game for 2/3 of them & I thought I heard one joke his mate was a Chelsea fan.

I didn't then say every Oxford United fan at the ground wasn't a true supporter, just that the ones I approached didn't want to be on the video and those were the reasons I gathered why. I usually always approach fans before the game where the interactions are good, this was my first time trying after the game & I think just due to the conditions and a bit of bad luck it didn't go down well.

You're right though, it's something to consider and shows how easily things can go wrong. For the record I actually think Oxford United were well backed for most of the game, home ties usually result in away fans making the most of the noise at every ground and whenever yous are at The Valley you're well backed.

I have to say the only comment that I really did mean was the ground, I like grounds that emerge on you in a town or city with local facilities, I was also informed by Oxford United fans that their deal for the stadium was a bad one and they can't wait to get out. It's location is terrible for access etc, can't remember a worse away day for parking and getting out. That's the only real negative I have about the club, I thought you were worth the 3 points and I liked the back and forths between the fans.

Bet you lot are sick of me now anyway with the wall of words I keep throwing up but I think it's really important I don't leave it on a bad note, I'll be sure to work on this in the future in regards to the lazy posting and I hope it's a bit more positive next time. Sorry if I genuinely pissed anyone off as that wasn't my intent and not why I'm doing the videos, I'm too old for that

 

[Braziliance]

One of your points is about lack of meeting up for fans.

That’s the disadvantage of not having the stadium in a busy city centre.

That's what I was trying to get at, it also didn't help I was late getting there so I couldn't find anyone before the game as people were in a rush and so was I.

I imagine like any other away day the day would be complimented by surrounding pubs and generally a city atmosphere. A 4 mile travelling time from the City centre to stadium is just ridiculous though and I feel bad for you lot, I'd absolutely hate it if Charlton was that far away from the nearest train/tube station.

The original plan was to follow the advice I had, park up, go back to the City centre to find people to speak to and then travel back on the bus, unfortunately reality bites and some real life issues intervened and then I got hit by horrendous traffic on the way.

I feel really bad cause I hate smug fans & my aim is to be the opposite of that, the channel is centralised on fans opinions as I made it for the fans, but I completely understand how it came across on reflection.

 

[Sarge]

Nathan wasn’t doing it because he was doing more on radio oxford for Saturday. You can’t hear in the box where it is controlled and you are relying on hand signals from those around and pitch side, which on Saturday included Nathan who was sat doing radio oxford just in front of the box. There are now issues with one of the speakers near to the box so getting levels right for the stadium is pretty much impossible as it stands as the sound in the area where it’s controlled is effected and different to normal. This may be an ongoing problem. And then you have to take into account that adverts are different levels of sound etc. So basically it’s all guesswork and adjusting to the signals from outside the box and what works one week may not the next with the speaker adding to the issue. So maybe you won’t hear Nathan next week unless they can sort levels out again with the broken speaker in mind.

will Stadco/ Firoka sort it out ( broken speaker) asap as a matter of urgency? ... of course not

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Lee Johnson is the very definition of 'jobs for the boys' in football management.

10 years of complete and utter non-achievement, at some decent clubs, and despite this latest sacking he'll still walk into another good one in no time at all (at the expense of someone far more talented).

Once you're on the merry-go-round you can ride as long as you like.

 

[North Wales Yellow]

After a stunning move, McGuane actually attempted to play the wrong pass!

If only he'd passed to Tyler, who was clean through in acres of space, it would've been league one goal of the season!

Harris should have run the the left of the defender. He either could have been played in or made space for McGuane to drive into.

 

[Hamiltons Knee]

Quick mention for Fin Stevens on his full league debut for us, thought he had a very solid game, congratulations.

 

[tonyw]

I have been to Charlton a few times, it’s hardly a hotbed of football. I wouldn’t say the Kassam is dramatically worse than most other English football grounds nowadays, most people go to watch the game not to create an atmosphere, that’s just where we are in this country now. Any other fans saying it’s different at there grounds in league one is lying from what I have witnessed, River plate vs Boca juniors isn’t happening anywhere in England on a Saturday afternoon.

Bit of a side point really......

.....but while the atmosphere at Charlton isn't always that great*, the Valley is a way, way better ground than the Kasstad.
Easy access from public transport; has that enclosed, slightly claustrophobic feeling that a lot of those old school town centre grounds have; and it's more than twice as big.

Would much rather we played somewhere like that, rather than a soulless breeze block in an industrial estate on the edge of town that is only really convenient to drive to.

Hopefully the Triangle will eventually be a big step in that direction.


*atmosphere was pretty good in the away end, mind, when Ryan Ledson popped up to batter it home in the 93rd minute. Or when the Jefferson Louis era started!

 

[outsidethebox]

Great result yesterday. I keep looking at the table... still can't believe we are top!!!

Very early days but turmoil to top in the 166 days since LM was appointed is pretty impressive.