25 matches without defeat, and then Peterborough United. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oxford United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oxford United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Oxford United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jamie McDonnell is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oxford United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Aidomo Emakhu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Oxford United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Currie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Colechin and Oxford United agree another 4 years.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Oxford United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Aidomo Emakhu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jack Currie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Davide Mazza after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A brace, and Adama Sidibeh takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adama Sidibeh provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.30, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Myles Peart-Harris and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Jack Currie falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oxford United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oxford United can pretend not to have heard.
Myles Peart-Harris and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Takudzwa Gwanzura is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Add another name to the list: Colchester United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Leo Snowden. The answer from Oxford United has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ole Romeny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Oxford United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Something was said to Aidomo Emakhu and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oxford United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oxford United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Jack Currie falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chesterfield waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oxford United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oxford United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Oxford United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oxford United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Exeter City is saying, and nobody at Oxford United is enjoying the guessing.