FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.9: CHELTENHAM AWAY

Going for the record number of injuries?

On Friday Karl Robinson was quoted as saying, “It doesn’t look as though any of the injured players will be available for the weekend but the spirit was there and we played well on Tuesday night so we just get on with it and we prepare properly looking to get a win on Saturday.”

Agreed, there was great spirit. Agreed we played well but only up to a point. We never looked like winning. Never mind it was against Palace and we so admired what the youngsters did but will that be enough to win us many league points? I’d like to think so but am not confident.

There are still some people who think our injuries are down to bad luck. “These things happen. It is what it is. We’ve just got to get on with it”. Of course luck plays a part to some extent and any player can pick up a nasty and possibly career ending injury if the gods are against them. From time to time though clubs will take a punt on a player who has suffered bad injuries and has been unable to play for lengthy periods. It’s a risk assessment presumably talked through by a collective of the management, those holding the purse strings and the medical staff before the final decision is made. (Over the years I have learned it can be dangerous to presume anything but we all still do it).

Someone signed the rental/service charge contract with Firoz and the way we’ve pissed significant amounts of money up the wall on wages for players who are crocked, makes me wonder if that person is the one doing our negotiations with agents who are trying to get the best deals for their guys.

I know this is a subject that I keep coming back to but it angers me so much and once more I’ll add that I feel incredibly sorry for these young men who are nearly always in the treatment room instead of out on the pitch.

So,

Sam Baldock: A player that we were drooling over when we got him last season. A player that we were pleased to have signed in May on a two year contract but with a huge caveat: if fit. Last season his appearances for us were thus: 3 mins as a sub; played 71 mins and scored one; played 74 minutes; played 90 min and scored one; came on for 27 mins. Then Burton at home, scored two in 4-2 win, badly injured his knee and went off in the 51^st minute. Not seen again since. There were still nine games to go after Burton. The thinking amongst most Oxford fans was that if Sam had stayed fit we would have made the play-offs at least but he didn’t stay fit and he’s still not fit. On August 18^th Karl said that Baldock was six weeks away. By then at least a quarter of the season will have been and gone.

Marcus Browne: Another player we were well pleased to have back but with that oh so important qualification of fitness. We signed him in January on a two and a half year deal. From the Northern Echo 31/01/22: “Browne’s departure brings the curtain down on an injury hit two-and-a-half years on Teesside. He became Jonathan Woodgate’s first signing in the summer of 2019 but has only gone on to play 22 games and score two goals as a series of knee injuries kept him out of the side”. And from the Oxford Mail a few days ago: “There were fears Browne had suffered his second anterior cruciate ligament injury in less than two years, having missed 13 months from January 2021 to this February”. Because it is not as bad as first thought the club are “cautiously optimistic” about his latest injury. Small mercies but it is his knee again.

Josh Murphy: Hardly played any football last season. Cardiff loaned him to Preston where he didn’t start a league game. He came on 18 times, once at half time but the earliest in the remaining games was the 67th minute. Taken form Wales Online, 22 April 2022: “Cardiff City winger Josh Murphy’s miserable season has gone from bad to worse after his loan club Preston North End bombed him out of the squad with immediate effect, with reports citing “punctuality and attitude” problems. But the player’s season has lurched from one disappointment to the next, with lack of game-time and injuries blighting his stint with the Lancashire outfit”.

Yanic Wildschut: Bits of info gleaned from a bit of searching the web. “On 31 January 2014: Wildschut was sent on loan to ADO Den Haag until the end of the season. After injuries delayed his debut …. “Despite suffering another injury ….” For Bolton in 2018: “Numerous injuries meant he only played 18 matches over the season.” And 2019: “Yanic Wildschut will be out of action for up to three months after damaging ankle ligaments during the Emirates FA Cup match against Walsall.”

Jodi Jones: Not current listed as being injured but he has only played the first half against Swansea and just five minute in the league coming on as sub twice. He has had not one but three cruciate knee ligament ruptures. In May the BBC reported, that he was “released by Coventry after six injury disrupted years”.

Marcus McGuane: He had a thigh injury when he was with us on loan that he picked up in January 2021. It was picked up when making a pass which is something of a worry. It was expected that he would be out for a few weeks but he suffered a setback and didn’t play again that season. Last season having signed permanently he didn’t look like the player we had on loan but this season he very much has done. His latest injury is to his calf.

Alex Gorrin: He appeared to be one of those very fit guys who just doesn’t get injured but he tore an ACL in the home cup tie against Bristol Rovers in November last year and didn’t play again that season. A terrible blow for the lad and a big miss for us. He was given a new one year deal this summer. Understandably it takes time to get back up to speed. He had 17 mins against Derby, played the second half against Swansea, when he scored by charging down the keeper’s clearance and five minutes at the end Morecambe. Now he’s out with a hamstring problem.

Elliott Moore: Has had a few spells but nothing significant as far as I can remember that had me ever thinking we’re not going to get much game time out of him. It’s a quad issue that is currently keeping him out.

James Henry: Has never been out for very lengthy periods as far as I can remember. Perhaps he has, he’s been here a long time but age catches up with us all. It has been questioned why he was given another two years when he seems to no longer be at the peak of his powers.

There are inevitable questions to be asked here.

Do the players we sign actually undergo a medical?

If they do does that medical have any credence whatsoever?

How many contracts do we insert clauses in covering pay as they play?

How do we compare with other clubs at our level?

Our opponents

Cheltenham won the Conference and were promoted to the Football league in 1998/99 then spent seven seasons in Tier four followed by three in Tier three after promotion via the play-offs in 2005/06. They were relegated in 2008/09 with the worst goal difference in their history, minus 40, and their joint worst win percentage, 19.6%. After six years in L2 they dropped back into the Conference when they were relegated in 2014/15 but came straight back up under Gary Johnson. This is their second season in L1 having their highest ever finish last year when they ended up in 15^th place.

They are currently below us on goal difference. They’ve scored three and let in six in five games but have not conceded in their last two. The last being a very creditable win at Exeter which was some turnaround as the Grecians had hammered them 7-0 at home in the Carabao Cup just 11 days earlier. They have lost their two home league games but they were to Peterborough and Pompey who sit second and third respectively in the League. This is going to be a very hard game.

CTFC is owned by four large shareholders and numerous smaller shareholders. The four main ones are Simon Keswick (26%), an individual represented by the Cayman Islands based CTFC Investments Ltd (23%), former Chairman of the club’s Board of Directors Paul Baker (20%), and the Cheltenham Town supporters’ trust The Robins Trust (10%). Only the latter is directly represented on the board with Dave Beesley (no relation and spelt differently) being a fan elected Director.

How that all works in practice is anyone’s guess but the club appears to be doing fine and punching above its weight. Average gates last season were only 4239, the fourth lowest in the division.

Their “accounts for a small company” to 31/05/21 don’t inform much but the balance sheet showed them in the black to the tune of £1.4m. According to Gloucestershire live they had only the 17th highest budget of teams in L2 that season. Morecambe were the lowest apparently. Both went up and stayed up. That evidence says money isn’t everything. Well not for that jump. L1 to the Championship is probably a different matter.

Cheltenham Town 1 Oxford United 2

Hadn’t expected to see a hare and minotaur staring at us in the sunshine 

Mrs FV and I decided to become a bit touristy ahead of the match and arrived in the spa town at 10:00. We walked to Montpellier Gardens and took in the small Gardens Gallery where I was quite taken with what Gerald Crittle has done with old floorboards.

I was anything but taken with the Garden Café. Cappuccinos, warm sweet milk more like. Why I didn’t go back and point this out instead of attempting to drink the sickly mess before pouring some of it away I don’t know. I’m often a complainer when circumstances justify.

To rub it in, our walk to the Brewhouse and Kitchen took us past what seemed like café after café and coffee house after coffee house serving a tasty cup full of flavour. A good cup of coffee is to be savoured like a good pint of beer. I’d missed out on one and was hoping the other would make up for it.

The beer in the Brewhouse was definitely of an acceptable standard but sod it, time to complain. Chicken, avocado and basil sourdough sandwiches seemed a little pricey at £6.50 (or am I just out of touch?) on the menu but we had one each anyway. After we’d eaten them I paid. Having sat back down again I thought wait a second I’ve been charged £14.30. On my return to the bar I was pointed in the direction of the small print on the menu, a discretionary service charge of 10% will be added to your bill. I let them keep the £1.30 because walking a few yards carrying two plates is such onerous work.

Cheltenham is a very pleasant town but I was getting pissed off with it and that was before the football which has already been disappointing this season and Whaddon Road isn’t a place we usually do well at.

The Sandford Park Ale House raised my spirits. It’s one of the best pubs on the circuit and in my experience the best in Cheltenham by a considerable distance. No music, just conversation. Bar billiards. Choice of eight or so ales. It changed ownership in 2019 but standards remained very high and that can’t be said for all pubs when that happens. No problem when asked to try a drop before buying and the prices are very reasonable. A pint and a medium white wine and soda in there didn’t cost much more than a pint and an orange juice in the Brewhouse.

Faith restored but next we had to negotiate the stewards. I can’t remember what they were like last season but previously they’ve been horrible and aggressively looking for a reaction. This time they were sweetness and light. They were mostly women. Just saying.

I’d moved early to get our tickets and was pleased to see that they’d been sold from the back of the stand first. It really annoys me when the early birds get a poxy front row view.

In the starting line-up both McGuane and Henry plus Alex Gorrin was on the bench. Perhaps I’ve overplayed this issue? No, Baldock, Browne etc. are what I’m really on about. I just fell for Karl’s mind games on this trio. I should have listened to a fan who posted that MM had said he would be fine.

We started the better side so it was all looking rather good but as the half wore on it became clear that although this was the case we weren’t creating clear cut chances against opponents who were quite poor. To be fair to them though Alfie May has a little bit about him and Daniel N’Lundulu, the centre forward on loan from Southampton, was their standout. Big, strong and a bit of a handful. One to wind up opposition fans and players. He did however fade later in the game and perhaps he’s one of those who flatter to deceive.

I don’t think there was any arguing at the break that the quality of football being witnessed had not been of a high standard. There are times when L1 serves up some excellent fare but this had not been one of them. Vfm was not being had. Whilst not at Bristol Rovers level of extortion, £26 for an adult is above the reasonable given the smallness of the stands and therefore view of the pitch.

I’ve watched a couple of vlogs produced by young Cheltenham fans and one (MattMS) pretty much nailed it when he’d called it a “really dead game”. His assessment was that “Oxford had been alright but not their usual selves” and that Cheltenham looked “awful”.

For the second half we changed from three at the back to a four with the change being James Golding departing and Matty Taylor coming on. It was though more of the same really. Half chances here and there but no hint of anything clinical from either side. Having burst through, Henry fired one into the side netting from close range which had people in many parts of the ground thinking he had broken the dead-lock. I did for a brief moment. Us scoring from open play? Doesn’t happen very often the way things are going at present.

Us keeping a clean sheet? Yes we look quite solid defensively but that still doesn’t happen very often. So what happened on 63 minutes wasn’t a huge surprise. They got a free-kick on the left and went through one of those standard routines where a player runs towards the ball but stops and the other player stood over it bends it in with his right. Ciaron Brown could only head the ball directly upwards and when it came down a red shirt, a white shirt and Simon Eastwood went for it. Our keepers punch lacked any distance but May couldn’t control it. No matter it fell behind him to the unmarked Taylor Perry who banged it towards and beyond our gaggle of white shirts and Easty into the net.

Quite a pisser. I’m thinking not another sh*t result. I didn’t have time to dwell on it very long though. There was a noticeable determination to put things right, not that we weren’t trying as hard as we could before falling behind.

Three minutes later it was our turn to have a free-kick. Ours was also to the left but much closer to the penalty area than theirs had been. Cameron Brannagan stood over it with Billy Bodin a couple of yards to his right. I thought what’s Bodin doing there facing towards us in the stand on the side? No way can he take it. Cheltenham had a wall of two with a big gap to its right to give keeper Luke Southwood a clear view. Precise angles and positioning all being calculated. Brannagan pokes the ball to Bodin. Southwood thinking it will now be a Bodin strike to his right takes a step that way. That didn’t happen. Bodin trapped the ball killing it dead for Brannagan to run on to and curl in with beauty. That must have been worked on in the training ground, surely.

Less than 10 minutes later the euphoria of the equaliser had subsided somewhat as Bodin got his marching orders. The second yellow was certainly merited, sliding in with studs up. Madness. But I think he was pissed off because just before then he’d had his shirt pulled and had not been awarded a free-kick. As for his first booking from where I was sat – and that was obviously some distance away – it looked harsh. Two players jumping for the ball. I didn’t see anything naughty being done with arm, hand or elbow. What I thought I had seen was another shirt pull on our man but it might be that I have become obsessed with such things.

This was another game (aren’t they almost all?) where the referee and his partners in crime ignored shirts being tugged. As ever we’re not innocent but I’d wager the home side out shirt- pulled us to a ratio of about four or five to one. There was one incident when Sam Long made a run into the far side of the area as a corner was being taken. The shirt pull wasn’t a brief moment it almost turned into a rugby tackle. He let referee Charles Breakspear know his feelings in very vociferous terms and rightly so.

Seems to me we became even more determined when we became a player light. As if we felt an injustice needed rectifying.

It never looked like we were at a disadvantage and 12 minutes later and with just four of the 90 remaining we were awarded a penalty. Anyone who denies that the award was correct is wrong. I’m open to alternative opinion in most things but I’m having none of it here. After passing the ball about Brannagan clipped a cross towards the penalty spot where Brown had advanced which showed our intent to go on and win the game.  As Brown jumped to get a header on goal, George Lloyd waited and put his body in after our man had left the ground. That’s quite dangerous. Our defender headed towards the ground head first. No damage done but there could have been. Not one but two penalties – at the same time Taylor was having his shirt pulled.

Brannagan put the spot kick away in emphatic fashion. It was in and out so quickly that those of us who weren’t behind the goal needed the reaction of our fans situated there and the players to confirm that late in the day we’d taken the lead.

Five minutes were to be added meaning we had nine in total to negotiate to get our first away win of the season. We did this in a completely professional fashion. Taylor and young sub Gatlin O’Donker were superb at keeping the ball near the corner flag.

This was not a vintage performance by any means but there was a spirit and will to win that is not always evident. Without that it is easy to lose to teams like Cheltenham. We’ll need more against the better teams though. Still only one clean sheet in six games and we again didn’t score from open play. No pace down the flanks. Wing back system not really working as an attacking force.

There were nevertheless a few very pleasing individual performances in our ranks. To see McGuane playing and lasting 90 minutes and being as good as he has been so far once more was a real bonus. I thought Henry was much better than he has been but may have been holding that hamstring again when he went off. I’m a big fan of Brown and he did nothing in this for me to change my mind. Then there was the man we kept from Blackpool’s clutches. For the first time this season he looked like a special player.

Karl looks pleased and rightly so