FAN’S VIEW  2025/26 – SWANSEA AWAY

Pre-match musings: Point hugging

I take my hat off to the OUFC fan who coined the “point hugging” phrase. In just two words it nails the happy with a point, or not, debate. It could take hold and become a permanent part of football vocabulary for many years to come.

My answer to many questions often begins with one word. That word is “depends” and that is very much so when it comes to being satisfied, or not, with a point. Circumstances are never quite the same and often with hindsight revision of an initial opinion may be necessary.

Throw in that the manager is obviously much more tuned in to what’s what than us mere fans in the stands and we are where we are.

So, with hindsight, that point at Norwich looks much better than it did at the time. The Canaries have a new manager. His first game in charge was a 4-1 drubbing at Birmingham, but he’d hardly got his foot in the door. His second game was against us and his third game brought their first home victory of the season, 3-1 against QPR. Rangers were on decent form going into that game. They’d drawn at Sheffield United, beaten Hull, who at the time had been 5^th and won away at Blackburn.

Scoring as late on as we did at Carrow Road, even though it only brought one point not three, was bound to provide a boost.

Boost carried on to the home game against Ipswich? Probably, but there were audible groans when fans saw the team sheet with Mark Harris starting. Gary Rowett was proved right again. Sparky scored and we won the game. We’ve got games thick and fast and other players that we’ll need have been kept quite fresh.

Pre-match musings: The opposition

I say it over and over, (nearly) every game is a big game. And this one is truly massive. Last season our visit to this part of Wales was one of those very rare games when it didn’t really matter for either club. We’d just made it to safety and, after plummeting down the table in January and March, Swansea had easily ensured safety with a five-game winning run in April.

Not so this time around 18 games into the season. They’ve lost their last five and losing 3-2 after being 2-0 at the Hawthorns last week must have been debilitating.

So how will Gary Rowett approach it? Like at Norwich? Really go for it to exploit fragility of a team lacking confidence in front of their own fans and possibly risk leaving ourselves open? I would not want to have this pressure on me to make the right decision.

Would an away point be a disaster? It would keep them two behind us in the table and ensure that we couldn’t end the day in the bottom three. Not very ambitious thinking that though, is it?

About a year ago the Swans were taken over by wealthy American owners. In April this year Luca Modric became a minority investor and Snoop Dog did likewise in July. That’s all about profile but Wrexham they are not. They have not taken off and I suspect their fans are underwhelmed to put it mildly.

Swansea sacked Alan Sheehan on 11^th November from his post as manager of the club. He had only been appointed on 30^th April after a successful spell as caretaker. Vitor Matos took over on November 24^th. He’s hardly had time to get his methods over to the players so we don’t know what’s coming in his third game in charge. He’s seen a bit now and has had a few days to work on things.

I’m travelling with the thought that there are no easy games in the Championship and the next game is the hardest game.

Another thought firmly implanted in my head is that at this stage of the season we’re not doing as well as we were a year ago. Not so really. 18 points were gathered after 18 games in both campaigns. In 2024/25 that left us three points off the bottom three in 17^th place. This time those points mean 20^th and just one point above the team in 22^nd position, Pompey thus supporting the theory that it is more competitive down the bottom end than it was last campaign. That said, with Wednesday even more dead and buried than they already were with their additional points deduction, we strugglers are only trying to avoid two places.

Trip to Wales & pubs

Over many decades of watching OUFC my travel arrangements have changed from time to time as have, to some extent, the people I travel with. Some have dropped by the wayside for whatever reason.

Train is now the first choice providing suitable times and cost are not prohibitive. Having an old gits railcard helps. No longer being able to fill a car from home base and getting fed up with driving are key factors too.

So, with a split ticket deal it was train deep into Wales and back for just £37.95. Not a princely sum. Big downside having to get up at incredibly stupid o’clock, 6:00 am. On the plus side if all went well, I’d be arriving in Swansea at 11:30 and there are two pubs in the Good Beer Guide very close to the station, one of which opens at 11:00 and the other 45 minutes later.

This worked perfectly. All trains were on time and I was in the No Sign Bar by 11:45. This was an echo of Norwich away. The pub itself was very appealing, the beer not quite so. It’s historic, first established in 1690. It used to be called Mundays Wine Bar and was reputedly a haunt of Dylan Thomas. It doesn’t look very big from the outside. Narrow it may be, but it goes way back. My drinking partner agreed about the beer, some of which died much too quickly in the glass and that was with trying three different styles. It seemed to be quite food orientated when it filled up later on. We had a very friendly welcome. “Are you CAMRA members?”. Yes, we are. Do we look the type? “You’ll get 50p a pint discount”. So, £7.80 for two beers. Nice.

The only other place we had a drink in was the Queen’s Hotel not far away. It’s a rare local outlet for Theakston Old Peculier. We didn’t have that. No mention of any money off but it was only £4.10 a pint anyway. For real ale the product was very cold. Disguising something wrong with it my mate insisted. It was drinkable.

The match, the bloody match

The effing, effing match. How bad were we? Effing, effing bad, that’s how bad. I’ve been told that even Radio Oxford were critical and they’re never critical.

Let’s remind ourselves of the form the Swans were on. Hurts doesn’t it to think about?

We were passive from the off. We gave the game to them. They looked a very poor side to me. I thought that Swansea were even worse than Norwich but we beat them hands down in being poorer.

We never got stuck in let alone looked like having genuine attacking intent. Nothing forward looking. Not one player showed ability to get round or past opponents and make things happen.

To make matters worse, we lost this one by two clear goals, not just the customary one.

The first we let in was down to poor marking, or so I remember – I refuse to watch it again. It was painful enough witnessing it once.  

Granted the second, which came just nine minutes later, was a worldie. I clapped it. It deserved applause, unlike the shocking fare we were serving up. I normally hang on to half time for the customary pee not wanting to miss a second of the action. This was different, I headed out as the ball hit the back of the net.

Our aim had been to leg it back to the station to try and get the 17:23 home, otherwise there was quite a wait. This was cutting it fine and I knew that a post-match toilet visit could delay us. So instead of waiting for the referee to put an end to the whole sorry affair I left early. I came out of the toilet with the game still going on. I could easily have walked back up the steps and witnessed the final couple of minutes. I had no desire whatsoever to do so. I just leant against a wall waiting for my mate whilst contemplating how shite we had been.

I know that all teams produce performances way below their best from time to time. That’s part of the game, we accept it. But this has to be one of the very worst since we got back into the Championship. We looked as if we didn’t belong. We looked no better than a mid-table L1 outfit that had nothing about it to threaten the top six.

I’ve refused to look at the odds for us to be relegated since the start of the season. On current showings I’d say, 8/13. Just looked at Oddschecker. We’re evens. Get your money on. No only joking I’m not one to encourage gambling. Sheffield Wednesday at 1/1000 made me chuckle but I feel genuinely sorry for fans of that club. The oft used term “long suffering” applies to them.

My current feeling is one of much greater pessimism than I had in December last year. Last season it was new. This season it isn’t and there seems to be something lacking that I can’t quite put my finger on. Many players are disappointing me. And what about the manager? I’ve been right behind him but after this I find it impossible not to knock off a few % points in the “in Gary we trust” column.

But if he’s not responsible for recruitment that would be unfair, wouldn’t it?

How come we beat Ipswich, who smashed top of the table Coventry on Saturday, last week yet contrived to be so awful here? GR got a tune out of them seven days earlier but this looked like someone was blowing into the wrong end of a trumpet and producing one big raspberry.

Yet, the top four in the table, Coventry, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Ipswich have all already visited the Kassam and have not been able to beat us. So, we have to have something about us, don’t we? Even if much of the time it appears to be well hidden away.

And we’ve got players that could make a difference missing.

Cameron Brannagan is something of a talisman, we all know that. Sorely missed. But we probably need to get used to him being injured a lot more than he used to be. He’ll be 30 in May and the way he plays the game means the wear and tear on his body could be quite impactful.

Matt Phillips was becoming influential when he got injured and disappeared but his record of not being available was known when we got him and it is questionable whether the gamble in signing him has paid off. I think not.

Two wide men, Shemmy Placheta and Siriki Dembele, are out at present, but they’re players that infuriate, as much as inspire.

Are there any solutions awaiting in the January transfer window? I’d like to think so, but I don’t.

Trip out of Wales

I think we didn’t quite take the most direct route back to the station but nevertheless arrived at 17:22. Whether we would have been allowed to board the 17:23 we’ll never know. It was with relief that the boards communicated a slight delay. That relief turned into frustration as the delay grew and grew. Just like when we went to Cardiff last season, the Welsh did not want us to leave. I eventually arrived back home at 22:45. I’d been away 15 and a half hours and for what? Others will have similar stories and feelings about the day. On the bright side GWR will be paying out compensation.

Next instalment in the adventure of supporting Oxford United

Adventure? Am I serious?

Blackburn on Tuesday night. Will it happen? If it does, I’ll be there. Am I mad? The answer to that has to be yes.