THE GAFFER

Ross Jenkins

It’s good to be back at home today and to face another really good test against a strong Fylde team looking to bounce back into the National League at the first time of asking. That’s never easy and brings its own type of pressure but they have coped with that all season and it’s up to us to put a dent in their hopes this afternoon.

We know we are more than capable of doing that and the last home game against Buxton only underlined what we are all about. We showed unbelievable character to keep going like that and to score the winner in the last minute was a fitting reward for the effort the players put into that game. Not great for the nerves but I’ll settle for that sort of excitement again today.

We then travelled up to Macclesfield in a really tricky game where we were facing a team who had caused probably the greatest FA Cup upset this Century to beat the holders Crystal Palace in their last match! That would have been hard enough without illness adding to one or two injuries in our squad. Again, I thought we were excellent and had opportunities to get the crucial first goal but then they scored three goals late in the 90 minutes to give the scoreline a slightly unfair look, I felt.

With no midweek game we have had chance to get one or two of those missing players rested and back in action and we have also added a couple of new faces in Jonny Maxted and Evan Humphries. Johnny won this league last year and will add experience as well as competition: Sam Lewis has been excellent this season and we now have two senior players pushing each other all the way as well as young Max Treml who has done ever so well this season. It’s the same with Evan, and with Aaron Harper-Bailey who joined the other week: we now have competition in key areas and that is only going to help us. We are working hard to bring in other players too as we approach the sharp end of the season.

Finally, a thank you from all of us in the Dressing Room for your fantastic support against Buxton. What a noise and what scenes when that winner went in. Play your part again today and get behind the team from first whistle to last.

 ROSS

A MOMENT IN TIME

A Decision that changed the City of Dreaming Spires

On July 16^th 1948 a decision was made that changed the course of football in the city of Oxford forever.

 At that time Oxford City were the most prominent amateur team in the city, with their White House Ground drawing decent crowds in the Isthmian League  and the team finishing runners up in the previous Oxon Senior Cup in front of 7,796 fans.

 The issue was that the team that beat them in that Senior Cup were the upstart ‘Boys From Up the Hill’, Headington United, whose Chairman Vic Couling was driving them forward,  backed by a thriving Supporters Club and ambitions of turning professional.

 On that evening at Oxford Town Hall the City Members heard a proposition that the club should consider turning professional. One of the main points was that in the past many players had left to join the professional ranks and it was considered that by turning professional the club would stand a better chance of retaining these players.

 After a lengthy discussion the motion was overwhelmingly defeated. Only seven members voted in favour. A proposition to appoint a full-time salaried manager was also rejected.

 Meanwhile Couling urged Headington to turn professional but was similarly rebuffed.

 That pivotal 48/49 season  season saw City enjoy one of their most successful FA Cup runs. After defeating Henley Town, Bicester Town, Huntley & Palmers, Maidenhead United and Banbury Spencer they finally lost to Hereford United, the Southern League professional side, 4-3, after extra time. The winning goal came from a penalty almost in the last minute of extra time.  In the Amateur Cup a record crowd of 9,756 saw Leytonstone win easily by 6 goals to 1.

 Once again at the  A.G.M,  held in June, 1949, a proposition was put forward that the club engage the services of a full-time team manager/coach, but this was again defeated.

An amendment was put forward by Mr. D. E. Phillips, that the services of a full-time team coach be engaged, and was carried by 78 votes to 48. Mr. Bert Edens had been very opposed to this idea and was compelled to resign his position as Secretary. Former Reading captain George Johnson, successfully coaching in Holland, was duly appointed but the bigger decision came later in that same season when,  for the second time in two years, the club was called upon to consider the possibility of turning professional, and an extraordinary General Meeting was held on April 5th, 1950. Another lengthy debate resulted but the proposition was defeated by 200 votes to 64.

 Meanwhile, in Headington, Couling finally got his way and Headington United turned professional upon election to the Southern League in 1949, appointing Harry Thompson as full-time Player-Manager the following season.

 The change in status had immediate effects and OUFC author and Historian Martin Brodetsky says:

 “Headington had been dynamic and the fans were building the Manor Ground but that change to professional was the key moment, The following season two of City’s best players, Cliff Nugent and Peter Sharman, jumped ship - why wouldn’t you when Headington were paying decent wages and clearly on the up? That decision, plus the one to change name to Oxford United a decade later were two of the biggest in the club’s history.”

 Initially City continued to do well as amateurs with good crowds and cup runs but by 1951/2 there was a clear difference: only six wins from 26 games highlighted this and by 1954 they were having to apply for re-election to the Isthmian League…

 If the Committee had pre-empted their noisy neighbours on July 16^th 1948 and voted to become the first professional team in Oxford then football in our city might have been very different…