I'm a bit concerned about
Oxford United. And yes, if you've read any of my previous articles
for this site you'll realise that's basically the norm for me. But
why should I be concerned right now? The team are still unbeaten,
we're in the top three and we've scored more goals than any other
side in the division. So why then do the fans still seem so
apathetic?
Home attendances so
far this season seem to have picked up where they left off last
season. In fact, they seem to be even worse, despite the club's
impressive start to the season. The 5,290 who watched last Saturday's
1-1
draw with Rochdale would
have been our sixth lowest crowd last season (and is more than 700 down on
the same fixture last term). A crowd of more than 7,000 for the
Wycombe game might seem impressive but when you consider that we were
top of the league going into that match and that when the two sides
met at the Kassam in 2011 (with United 11th)
it was watched by 9,309 it looks every bit as poor as our other home
attendances so far.
As our campaign
fizzled out last season it was easy to understand why disgruntled
fans lost interest and
started to drift away. We were more likely to witness a spineless
collapse to a bottom half team of cloggers than we were to actually
be entertained and the frankly pathetic atmosphere around the ground
offered no respite from the mind-numbing fare on the pitch. But that
was then, this is now. The club has undergone something of a
revolution during the summer, with an overhaul
of the playing squad and a
change
of approach from temporary
loan signings to young hopefuls backing up a side of strong, 'robust'
first teamers. And so far those changes have yielded results – 11
points from a possible 15 and a position towards the top of the early
League Two table.
But some might say it's a
case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. That
'lost 1,000' who were packing out the stands not long ago are now out
of the habit and may have lost touch with goings-on at the club. Or
worse, maybe they've lost faith in Oxford United after years of false
dawns. We've had similarly impressive starts to previous seasons
before now and yet throughout the last decade we've been incapable of
getting promoted from League Two. Why should it be any different this
time?
Realistically, the club
will still need to be in and around the top three in January before
the crowds come back and despite the suggestions of some on Yellows
Forum, I'm not sure that ticket offers or other campaigns will
have a huge effect, except to drain more money from the coffers.
There's not a lot we fans can do about that – other than to coax as
many people as we know to start coming to games, of course.
What we can help is the
atmosphere we create at matches we do bother to show up to. It's not
just the general apathy that has carried over from last season, but
many who are coming still seem desperate to find fault the team. It's
like we've become incapable of mustering enthusiasm for the club,
even when things are going well. Having stretched our unbeaten run to
five games following last weekend's draw I find it astounding that
there were some who decided to boo at the final whistle. I accept it
may have been a small number, but it's not an acceptable response,
given the result and the position the club is currently in.
Comments after the game
declaring it 'more
of the same' possibly offer more of an insight into the seemingly
inexhaustible negativity of Oxford fans. We've been here before and
been let down, so now we're just looking for the evidence that we're
going to screw up yet again. That inevitable disappointment hurts
less when you've been expecting it all along.
All of which creates a
pretty unpleasant atmosphere around the club and certainly not one
which is conducive to long-term success. Fans now expect failure and
are reluctant to acknowledge or celebrate success. We're only five
games into the season and so it's right that we shouldn't get too
carried away at such an early stage, but instead of waiting for the
'inevitable' failure to follow we should be encouraging the team to
build on what has been a positive start and trying to build up a head
of steam – both on and off the pitch. At the moment we seem to be
undermining it.
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