An Open Letter to the BBC Trust and the Football League Show

By Andy Roberts,

I am writing in an optimistic attempt to right a baffling wrong. Four and a bit years ago, BBC One manfully took on the apparently thankless burden of broadcasting highlights of all those difficult fiddly bits of football beneath Her Majesty's Glorious Premier League.

ITV once had a go at it; with a stark honesty they named their show The Championship after the FA and Coca Cola's brave rebranding of The Best Second Tier Division In the World (tm). Their show contained extensive highlights from the Championship while giving just a cursory nod to the Football League's embarrassing undercarriage; briefly debuting the goal clips from Leagues One and Two.

In 2009, when Aunty took on the responsibility of the less glamorous divisions, encumbered as she is by a heavy public service remit, supporters of lower league clubs were buoyed by the notion that they might be afforded a less thrifty share of the airtime. This notion was reinforced by the exciting news that the BBC were giving the new programme the collective and inclusive title of The Football League Show.

This optimism was short-lived, as it became clear that 80 - 90 per cent of each programme would be given over to the Championship, with (most of) the goals from Leagues One and Two unceremoniously shoved to the back end.

So BBC Trust, we don't want you to worry too much about our usual share on the Football League Show, we got used to that pretty quickly. League Two footballers on Twitter can often be found joking about falling asleep before the goals they scored are broadcast. We also look forward to the rare appearance of the unfailing enthusiastic (or unapologetically patronising) Mark Clemmit at our grounds, as it guarantees a larger share of the Football League Show for our beloved side. It's part of the fun.

What we REALLY struggle with though, is the apparent total disregard we're shown in an international week when the Championship is not in play. We're not expecting an hour of extended highlights each... We're more aware of our standing in the world than that. But we do find it enormously difficult to understand why, just because the Championship isn't happening, the BBC thinks that the other two thirds of the Football League have suddenly become disinterested in seeing the goals from their teams' games on the Football League Show.

A simple 30 minute show, with straight-forward goal highlights from most games and a little snippet from Clem or somebody similar (or entirely different)... There must be room for that?

Thank you for listening.

Andy
A retired football commentator, aged 33 and a half.

http://oxpodunited.podomatic.com/ 

Follow @jonnybiscuits Follow @bigbananaboys

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The Importance of Width in League Two

Sean Rigg
Picture by Jon Whiles Photography

At the top level of the game the debate continues to rage about whether the traditional winger as we know it is dead. The success of Spain at international level with their unorthodox and much-vaunted 4-6-0 approach and the increasing popularity of the narrow 4-2-3-1 among Europe's top clubs have combined to push the old tried-and-true 4-4-2 well and truly out of favour – and with it everyone's favourite player: the winger.

But Oxford don't play at the top level of the game and they aren't one of Europe's top clubs (yet!), so emulating Barcelona isn't necessarily likely to bring results in League Two. Having won promotion from the Conference by utilising a direct approach that involved getting the ball up to the front three of James Constable, Jack Midson and Matt Green as quickly as possible, Chris Wilder jettisoned this approach upon the club's return to the Football League. Overhauling the squad in the summer of 2010, Oxford were set up with a continental narrow 4-3-3 formation and an emphasis on passing football and ball retention. The result was a side which played some beautiful football and finished 12^th. Clearly a rethink was needed.

The sad fact is that at our level of football the players are too limited to make such a fluid approach work successfully. Instead the 4-4-2, for all its faults, is a system which all the players are used to and comfortable with and as a result they perform better. The intervening years between those early League Two lessons and now have seen a lot of tinkering and experimenting as Wilder has tried to hit upon the magic formula for success, and although there probably is no single approach that guarantees promotion one thing that has stood out in recent seasons is that good wing play can be a major factor in a side's success at League Two level.

Take Port Vale last season as a notable example. Lots of people pinpointed the impressive goalscoring form of Tom Pope as the reason for Vale's unexpectedly successful season, but he was only able to find the net so often because there was a steady supply of chances landing at his feet (or on his head or anywhere else really), most of which came from the wingers. Ashley Vincent and Jennison Myrie-Williams were a devastating force last season, as demonstrated when they were allowed to roam free during the 3-0 demolition they inflicted on us at Vale Park.

The importance of quality wide players was emphasised again on Saturday when Chesterfield ended our unbeaten start to the season. Of course, when you've assembled a squad like theirs it's easy to look good but as we're discussing style of play rather than personnel I think they still serve as a very strong example of how to play at this level. Chesterfield constantly look to stretch the play and get their wide players on the ball and as a result Gary Roberts and Tendayi Darikwa gave our full-backs trouble all afternoon. Most Oxford fans agreed that Chesterfield were the best side we're likely to come up against this season and part of the reason for that success is the way they use the flanks. Their goal on Saturday, for example, came from a ball in from the left.

Alfie Potter
Picture by Jon Whiles Photography

And then, of course, there's us. With Alfie Potter and Sean Rigg we have two of the best wingers in League Two within our ranks. When both are fit and we really utilise the width they offer they can be unstoppable – as they were at Portsmouth on the opening day of the season. Rigg's injury perhaps highlighted how fundamental the wingers are to our chances this season, with just one win from the four matches he missed (not including Torquay and Chesterfield, both of which he played some part in). We've already touched on this point when discussing Oxford's younger players, but by replacing Rigg with the naturally central Asa Hall our attacking potential was considerably reduced.

This lack of cover out wide – particularly if O'Dowda isn't considered ready for first-team football yet – is possibly my biggest concern about the team at the moment. Rigg and Potter won't play every match this season, and being wingers they won't necessarily play brilliantly in every match either, so we need more options that can come on and deputise to ensure that we maintain a wide threat. That could be the difference between the flashes of brilliance we've seen so far and a consistently strong season.

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League Two Preview 2013-14

With the new season fast approaching most of the transfer business throughout the Football League should now be done and dusted. We all have a good idea of the comings and goings in the Oxford United squad but how do we fare when it comes to the other clubs in the league? If you are anything like me you will have seen the odd piece of transfer news but don't really know what has gone on during the summer at the other clubs in our division (old and new).

At a glance, there are two teams whose transfer activity really stands out - for very different reasons! Plymouth have brought in eleven new players, while Hartlepool have added just one. This in itself sends out a message to each of the other League Two clubs. Plymouth are obviously looking to make a serious push for promotion and reclaim their place in the third tier of English football at the third time of asking. Hartlepool, on the other hand, are either very content with the squad they already have or are financially in a tight situation. In contrast to their one signing they have let eight players go from last season either via the transfer market or due to contracts not being renewed. This leaves them needing to sign seven players just to make up the shortfall from last season's relegated League One squad. Of course, in the end it makes no difference how many players you do or don't sign, if the results don't come on the pitch during that 90 minutes it's going to be very long and and stressful season!

Out of all the signings that have been made by all the clubs there are a few that stand out as those marquee signings and a couple that will have that 'one to watch' tag attached to them.

Rory Delap
Ex-Republic Of Ireland international Delap has joined Burton on a one-year deal from Stoke after being released. He is predominantly a midfield player but can also ply his trade in defence and is famous for his long throws, having been touted to represent Ireland at the Olympics after these throw-ins were noticed during Stoke's promotion winning season. He is known for his fitness and work-rate during games and is sure to be one of those calming influences in the centre of the park. Able to break up play and and hold the ball up well he will be a valuable asset to Burton, who just failed to make the promotion grade last season.

Gary Deegan

Gary Deegan has enjoyed football at clubs such as Bohemians, Coventry and Hibernian. He is another midfield player with real quality who was a fans' favourite at Hibs. He joins Northampton Town on a one year deal after a successful trial period and will be looking to help the Cobblers recreate the successful season they had last time around after narrowly missing out on promotion to League One in the play-off final.


Richard Cresswell

Cresswell is another one of the old and bold in the league this season. He was pivotal in helping York avoid relegation towards the back end of last season, scoring twice in five appearances. A forward having played a lot of his career at Premier League and Championship teams such as Leicester, Preston, Leeds and most noticeably Stoke with Delap he will add a wealth of experience to a York side who struggled last season.



Sander Puri (One to watch)
25-year-old Sander is a relative unknown in the world of English football having played the majority of his football abroad  so far. The Estonian international who has 52 senior caps to his name started his professional career at the age of 19 at one of Estonia's biggest clubs, FC Levadia Tallinn. He was close to signing with German Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund twice in 2008 and Scottish Premier League club Celtic in 2009. The winger subsequently went on to sign for fellow SPL club St. Mirren in March 2013 until the end of the season before signing for York City on a two year contract in June.

Predicting the outcome of the season is always a tricky one to call, but I think the likes of Northampton, Burton, and Cheltenham know what it takes to reach that play off position and with them all strengthening their squads it would surprise me if they didn't have a good season again. From the four teams that have come down from League One I'm expecting Portsmouth to have a half-decent season (as much as it pains me to say it!). I also think Scunthorpe were unlucky not to avoid the drop last year and with them adding nine new faces to the squad they already have they will have a good season.

As we all know though our league is a tough one. The teams that have came down shouldn't think they will go straight back up and that they will 'walk' the league. The two newcomers from the Conference will have a difficult time cementing the place they have earned. Newport have added some familiar faces with Football League knowledge to their team sheet and Mansfield have been there and done it and know exactly what is required by a Football League team. Both will work hard I'm sure, but sometimes it takes more than blood, sweat and tears, sometimes you need a little bit of good old lady luck!

For those interested you can find all the coming and goings within the league here. It's fairly comprehensive but it doesn't take into account youngsters who have turned pro - they will ultimately add something to the team if played.

Follow @andywilmer

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Where Did It All Go Right?

As usual at this time of year, with no football to watch and comment on, our footballing attentions tend to be divided between two activities: transfer gossip and deconstructing the season just gone. It's popularly agreed that our season was undone by a quite ridiculous injury list which ruled out key players for much of the season, leaving us woefully undermanned for the rigours of a 46-game season.

That's probably quite a decent starting place to begin analysing where things went wrong for Oxford last season, but what about those sides who are now preparing for life in League One? Where did it all go right for them? Each of the four promoted sides last season – Gillingham, Rotherham, Port Vale and Bradford – are clubs of a similar size to Oxford and all had been in League Two at least as long as us but none seemed to be able to find that winning formula until striking gold this last term. In this post we'll take a quick look at what made each of these sides successful last term in the hope it will reveal some of the secrets to League Two success.

Champions Gillingham are an interesting place to start our analysis, because they finished the 2011-12 season a very similar position to ourselves. Like us, they finished the 2011-12 season in poor shape, dropping out of the play-off race late in the season and finishing just two points and one place above us in eighth. Unlike us, Gillingham then took the decision to change manager with the incoming Martin Allen pinpointing Gillingham's defence as the area to strengthen. In 11-12 the Gills conceded 62 goals; this year they reduced that to a miserly 39 – easily to best record in League Two. In addition, Gillingham kept an impressive 18 clean sheets this season.

The sale of Paulo Gazzaniga and sell-on clauses for Matt Jarvis and Ryan Bertrand provided Allen with some cash to play with prior to the start of the season and he spent it well, bringing in Stuart Nelson, Adam Bartlett and Leon Legge to shore up the defence. Between them the Gills defence were able to reduce their opponents' goalscoring opportunities, leaving them to face hopeful potshots – the Gills conceded just once for every 12 shots they faced last season, an impressive figure (by way of comparison, our defence needed an average of just seven shots to be breached).

By contrast, Port Vale's approach focused on improving their attack. Again, Vale finished the 2011-12 season in a similar position to us and would have finished one point ahead of us if not for a points deduction. With the prolific Marc Richards leaving before the start of the season there was some concern about whether Vale would be able to replace his goals, but Tom Pope unexpectedly discovered where the net is and scored a quite incredible 31 goals as part of the 'best strikeforce in the league' as Vale finished the season as the league's top scorers, with 87.

This was due in large part to the impressive wingers Ashley Vincent and Jennison Myrie-Williams who supplied a steady stream of balls across the face of goal for Vale's strikers to latch onto. Vale's attack was by far the most clinical in the division, requiring less than five shots to find the net on average (by comparison, Oxford averaged more than seven shots per goal scored).

Rotherham, with 74 goals scored, appeared to take a similar approach to Vale, though their situation is probably the least relatable for Oxford. The positive momentum created by their move to the New York Stadium and the piles of cash handed to manager Steve Evans to assemble an abnormally strong squad are unlikely to be recreated here at any point in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, they do provide an important example of the importance of building a head of steam and finishing the season with momentum behind them.

At one point the Millers appeared to be out of the automatic promotion race after a poor run of form, but as the season neared its end they found the form they had been threatening (effectively beginning with their 4-0 demolition job at the Kassam at the start of March). Rotherham finished the season with six wins from their last eight games to pip Port Vale for second place. But who knows, if they hadn't had that confidence-boosting win over us at just the right time, they might well have found themselves in League Two next season as well. There is definitely a lesson to learn there about using the momentum gained from those kind of results to build up a head of steam – something Oxford notably failed to do last season.

Like Rotherham, Bradford also spent money this season – money which hadn't been made available in previous seasons – but it was a gamble which ultimately paid off with two Wembley appearances helping to pay off any shortfall they may otherwise have had. However, that is a gamble that Oxford seem unlikely to make this season after posting some big losses in previous years, but there are still lessons to be learned about reversing a team's fortunes and building a winning mentality.

Bradford had been trapped in League Two for six years without really looking like getting out of it and after an 18th-place finish in 2012 it needed something drastic for them to turn it around this time out. Manager Phil Parkinson cleared out a lot of deadwood, building the side around important senior pros such as Gary Jones and supplementing them with young, hungry players. Like Port Vale, Bradford uncovered a goalscoring gem in Nahki Wells this season, whose goals have been indispensable to the Bantams' promotion campaign. To what extent is it luck that these players performed this season and what are Oxford's chances of replicating that?

So have we learned anything from this exercise? Clearly each of the sides who promotion this season have done so in their own way and there is not one simple formula for winning promotion from League Two. But as the club seeks to move away from its previous policy of making big-name injury-prone signings like Michael Duberry and Peter Leven, the above examples do at least show how it can be done. The question now is can Oxford emulate that success?

Many thanks to the excellent statistical website Experimental 3-6-1 for their League Two attack and defence stats, which proved invaluable for this article.

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The Race for the Playoffs

With just six games remaining of the season, we now have a clearer idea of who will be filling those all-important places at the top end of the table. With the top 3 places likely to be occupied by any combination of Swindon, Torquay, Crawley, Shrewsbury or Southend, our focus is on ensuring qualification for the lottery of the playoffs. Southend, currently five points ahead of us, may be catchable, but our real competition for a playoff spot is from Cheltenham, Crewe and Gillingham. With four points separating these teams, the competition for those final two playoff places will be fierce, so let's take a more in-depth look at the run-in to assess who will be filling the playoff places on May 5^th, and who will be looking enviously upwards.

The January Sales

A new year approaches and that means one thing: out with the old and in with the new. January, and the opening of the transfer window, sparks a frenzy of movement in the football world as managers, chairmen, agents and players get to work on securing the moves that may come to shape the rest of the season. So what are our hopes and fears for this transfer window?

League Two's Surprise Packages

In every league, in every season, there's at least one club who exceeds everyone's expectations by doing remarkably well. They may win promotion, qualify for the playoffs, or even just beat the drop against the odds. For example, who would have predicted that Accrington, Stevenage and Torquay would have qualified for the playoffs last season? When I wrote my League Two season preview a few weeks ago, I wrote about who I expected to be challenging, but tried to keep half an eye on potential surprises this season. In this article, I'll try and expand on that by examining the sides who look set to cause a few surprises this season.

2011-12 League Two Season Preview (Part 3)

The third and final part of this rather wordy series is here. Featuring the remaining 8 League Two clubs (last but certainly not least): Dagenham & Redbridge, Accrington Stanley, Barnet, Hereford United, Cheltenham Town, Macclesfield Town, Burton Albion and Morecambe. Also, if you haven't already, don't forget to read parts 1 and 2.

2011-12 League Two Season Preview (Part 2)

Following on from part 1 published yesterday, here is part two of our League Two season preview, featuring Aldershot Town, Southend United, Plymouth Argyle, Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United, Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City. If you haven't yet read part 1, featuring previews of Crawley, Northampton, Bristol Rovers, Torquay United, Swindon, Oxford, Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon you can do so here.

2011-12 League Two Season Preview (Part 1)

The new season will soon be upon us and so it's time to take a look at how clubs will be lining up in a few weeks time. Despite being something of a fallow period for us fans while no matches are being played, this period between the end of one season and the beginning of another can actually be an incredibly busy one for football clubs. Within the flurry of transfer activity around over the past weeks some clubs have been spending big whilst others are cutting back, some looking to make minor improvements while others rebuild from scratch, and while some clubs grab headlines others go about their business quietly. So who looks set to challenge and who is in for a season of struggle?