Can it get any worse (on the pitch) than this? What is going wrong with Oxford United, eighth in Division One in November 1996 when Matty Elliott was sold to Leicester? Does the blame (if indeed there is any blame) lie with the chairman, the board, the management, the players, the supporters? Just who is responsible for making a once proud cup-winning side the laughing stock of the football league? Rage Online has considered the evidence, and what we’ve found does not make pretty reading. Radio Oxford called our analysis “stinging”.

We feel that the chairman, Firoz Kassam, whilst arguably not primarily interested in United for the football, is currently blameless. We understand his caution in not wanting to invest in the team until his investment in the stadium was shown to be worthwhile. We are confident that he shares our concerns and that it is not in his best interests for United to start in the new stadium as a Division Three team. The board consists of only two other directors, neither of whom have any input, financial or otherwise, into the on-field aspects of running the club.

The supporters have been as loyal as can reasonably expected. More so, in some instances. There is only so much dross that can be served up before people have had enough. Many supporters travel long distances (petrol availability permitting) to watch United and, considering what they’ve been forced to witness for the last three or four seasons, their patience has been quite incredible. They might be close to breaking point now, but it is certainly not the supporters who can be blamed for the club’s current crisis (and yes, we use the word “crisis” deliberately).

The players obviously have to take some share of the responsibility. They are, after all, the ones who are on the pitch failing to do the business. Some players give their all, but football is a team game and those few individuals who clearly care cannot be expected to carry the team on their own. However, the players, however inept, are on the pitch attempting to carry out the instructions they’ve been given. It is not their fault if some of them are not good enough but still find their names on the team sheet. The root cause of United’s problems lies elsewhere…

It is the job of the manager (and the backroom staff) to motivate the players, to choose the team and the tactics, and to choose the formations used. On all these counts the current managerial team has been found wanting.

Quite clearly the players have not been motivated at all during this season’s league campaign (the United players motivated themselves for the away game at Wolves and the first half of the home fixture). The team often includes players who have not and do not perform regularly (Tait, Fear, Murphy, others) and players who are quite clearly not up to Division Two standard (Anthrobus, Murphy, Simon Weatherstone, others). The tactics tend to be too defensive, or inappropriately cavalier and the formations tend not to be suited to the players (Robertson and McGowan are not fast enough to be wingbacks, Murphy is not a winger etc.).

Clearly new players are required – defensive cover at left back, a creative midfielder (we’ve not had a quality player in that position since Jim Magilton) and one, if not two, proven goalscorers. But, even with these additions to the squad, with the current management team in place United will continue to struggle whoever we buy, borrow, beg or steal.

It might not be what Firoz Kassam has in mind, and he might find it difficult to find replacements prepared to take on this shower, but really it is a radical solution that is needed, not tinkering. We might get accused of being hasty, of being disloyal, of being bandwagon-jumpers, but Rage Online’s conclusion is the only one we can reasonably propose: