James Constable

[slappy]

Forget sentimentality, why did Beano deserve a 2 year contract?
He can only play as centre forward, we've tried him as a foil to other centre forwards without success.
Have we managed to find a good strike partnership that works with him in the last three years? No.
I think he is a good Conference level striker, or one that works with an up-and-over approach to football as a lone centre forward.
But we don't play like that.

Midson went to Wimbledon and ended up joint top scorer in the league with 18 goals (with the exact style I said the line above), but 2 years later he's dropped and out looking for work.

So we could be paying Constable's wages, presumably that of a top L2 striker for 2 seasons, for somebody who isn't a top l2 striker, who would probably be warming the bench and making sub appearances.

Far better to use the wage saved on a proper replacement.

[GodalmingYellow]

Forget sentimentality, why did Beano deserve a 2 year contract?
He can only play as centre forward, we've tried him as a foil to other centre forwards without success.
Have we managed to find a good strike partnership that works with him in the last three years? No.
I think he is a good Conference level striker, or one that works with an up-and-over approach to football as a lone centre forward.
But we don't play like that.

Midson went to Wimbledon and ended up joint top scorer in the league with 18 goals (with the exact style I said the line above), but 2 years later he's dropped and out looking for work.

So we could be paying Constable's wages, presumably that of a top L2 striker for 2 seasons, for somebody who isn't a top l2 striker, who would probably be warming the bench and making sub appearances.

Far better to use the wage saved on a proper replacement.

But you are assuming that failure of centre forward partnerships has been down to Beano, which isn't a very clever assumption.

In the last season of two Beano has been played as a lone striker with Kitson behind. Beano never is and never was a lone striker. He plays off other strikers and gets in scoring positions, the rest is up to the team. The problem with Kitson Beano was that Kitson didn't have the legs to play up front for 90 minutes. Fault there lies with Kitson.

When Beano has been played with Smalley, Beano has been pushed wide with Smalley left in the middle. Beano is a centre forward, not a winger. And in that partnership, Smalley was shown to be lazy and ineffective and with a much worse goals to chances ratio.

The fact is as has already been said, strikers cost the most money in football. We now don't have any strikers, and we've allowed our best striker to leave for nothing. I strongly suspect that the difference between what Beano would accept and the club offered is significantly less than the cost of a new striker with transfer fee or signing on fee.

I find it completely laughable when people talk about Beano not scoring enough, who completely ignore the shocking midfield and appalling service he has received and the situations and positions Beano has been asked to play in. Yet still Beano scored 1 in every 3 games this season, even though for several of those games he was played on the left wing.

It is a stupid decision by the club, which I predict will cause lasting harm in lost ticket sales and lost opportunities for future promotion.

I also find it laughable when the one or two who don't think through their posts properly, talk about the club losing money so we should keep our star player on cost grounds. What utter bollocks. Lack of a promotable squad and lack of star quality next season will be far more costly. Try getting rid of sports science first. That would pay Beano's wages. Try getting a first team shirt sponsor that pays. That would pay Beano's wages.

Next season already looks bleak with a very weak squad left, who with just one or two exceptions, represent the failures the club was unable or unwilling to get rid of, the same failures who cost us promotion this season, together with a band of very inexperienced youth team players who shouldn't be over-played as some were this last season.

I'm almost tempted to ask for a refund on my season ticket.

The last 6 months, OUFC has been run appallingly badly in my view, and this decision is the worst of the lot.

[Myles Francis]

Try getting rid of sports science first. That would pay Beano's wages.

Why stop there? How about we get players to pay for their own food for away trips? Or even make their own travel arrangements? Provide their own kit? That would pay Beano's wages.

Plenty of ways the money could potentially be found, but that doesn't mean it's right or beneficial to do so.

[GodalmingYellow]

Try getting rid of sports science first. That would pay Beano's wages.

Why stop there? How about we get players to pay for their own food for away trips? Or even make their own travel arrangements? Provide their own kit? That would pay Beano's wages.

Plenty of ways the money could potentially be found, but that doesn't mean it's right or beneficial to do so.

Eh?

Only a small leap from completely unnecessary sports science that subsidises the owners other businesses, to make them buy their own kit!

What a bonkers reply.

[Myles Francis]

What's bonkers is your dismissal of sports science as "completely unnecessary".

[slappy]

What's bonkers is your dismissal of sports science as "completely unnecessary".

There's nothing wrong with running up and down Shotover hill, or running round a training pitch with black bin liners on to sweat out the previous night's boozing. Doesn't cost anything either.

It's the future, I tell you!

[YF Dan]

I'm sad to see Constable go, but not surprised. I wouldn't have predicted he'd end up non-League, but there are always clubs being unrealistically bankrolled at that level, so it's not a shock that's how it's ended up. I hope the Eastliegh experiment works out for Beano, but I always wonder about/fear for the longevity of these 'projects'.

We are armed with no facts. So until we are, or more pertinently, until we see how our budget is spent, it's hard to know whether this is a mistake or not.

I most concerned that we are lumbered with Kitson for another season, eating up money, not scoring goals, constantly talking about retiring, rarely on the pitch. How he's gone from what he said after the Plymouth match to sticking out for another season, I have no idea. Well, I do have an idea. And it will cost us wages that could be spent elsewhere. Good business that.

(Did anyone hear the interview where he wondered out loud why failure follows him around? Shudder.

We are crying out for pace up front. If we are assuming that Beano and Kitson were both on decent money, keeping both on would have left very little to bring in someone different.

I wish we'd kept Beano but let Kitson go, (and I would wager GW thought the same), but we were hamstrung by the secret striker's two year deal. I know who I blame for that. We are clearly hitting austerity times ... those wasteful signings and loans of seasons past are coming home to roost.

[GodalmingYellow]

What's bonkers is your dismissal of sports science as "completely unnecessary".

So says the man complaining that we spend too much.

Sports science has done nothing for this club so far. Absolutely nothing. It hasn't changed form, or fitness, or number of injuries, or seriousness of injuries, it hasn't got us into play offs or got us anywhere near promotion.

What it has done is line the pockets of Lenegan, and taken money out of he club that could have been used to fund the wages of the club's best striker for donkeys years.

You keep on buying into the marketing hype Myles. The rest of us can judge on the effects.

[YF Dan]

I have been in favour of the sport science - in theory - at least. Teams in our position (ie financially stricken) need to think of ways of maximising our budget, ie getting the most from their players, avoiding injury, perhaps even signing players based on statistical evidence...ie Moneyball. If that is what we are attempting to do, then it would appear sensible, at least on paper.

Like everything, though, I'm sure it can't guarantee success but if it means we avoid signing a series of old crocks to line their pension pots, that must be a good thing. I would agree though that in terms of injury avoidance, it doesn't appear to have made a huge impact. But then maybe we have just been unlucky. Or maybe we've been unlucky and things could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for the science...who knows.

The interviews I've done with players over the years, I'd say that players do like the sport science and that they look for how they will be looked after by clubs when deciding who to join. But then, I guess, they might just go for who offers the most money too.

GY, I generally agree with many of your views. Are you suggesting that we are paying far too much for this service? Is the service is provided by one of ILs other companies? I must admit I hadn't considered this.

[Snake]

According to the man himself in this transcript “the Board invested nearly £200,000 last summer in creating a top-class Sports Science function at the club.” No mention of ongoing costs mind, and it would be interesting to see how that funding is broken down.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/103797 ... s_manager/

[Myles Francis]

Sports science has done nothing for this club so far. Absolutely nothing. It hasn't changed form, or fitness, or number of injuries, or seriousness of injuries, it hasn't got us into play offs or got us anywhere near promotion.

What it has done is line the pockets of Lenegan, and taken money out of he club that could have been used to fund the wages of the club's best striker for donkeys years.

You keep on buying into the marketing hype Myles. The rest of us can judge on the effects.

You've been in business long enough to know that sometimes you have to invest more simply to stand still. You've also been in business long enough to know that sometimes you invest in something knowing full well that it's not going to have an overnight benefit, but bring rewards in the longer term.

The bottom line is you haven't got the first clue about how effective or otherwise the sports science program is. You're simply pissed off over what you perceive to be IL taking money out of the club. And to suggest what he has done is "line his pockets" is so far beneath you, I'm thinking your account has been hacked.

[GodalmingYellow]

Sports science has done nothing for this club so far. Absolutely nothing. It hasn't changed form, or fitness, or number of injuries, or seriousness of injuries, it hasn't got us into play offs or got us anywhere near promotion.

What it has done is line the pockets of Lenegan, and taken money out of he club that could have been used to fund the wages of the club's best striker for donkeys years.

You keep on buying into the marketing hype Myles. The rest of us can judge on the effects.

You've been in business long enough to know that sometimes you have to invest more simply to stand still. You've also been in business long enough to know that sometimes you invest in something knowing full well that it's not going to have an overnight benefit, but bring rewards in the longer term.

The bottom line is you haven't got the first clue about how effective or otherwise the sports science program is. You're simply pissed off over what you perceive to be IL taking money out of the club. And to suggest what he has done is "line his pockets" is so far beneath you, I'm thinking your account has been hacked.

Oh dear.

I'm not getting into your personal arguments style Myles.

I stand fully by my comments.

[Myles Francis]

So, my earlier reply is dismissed as "bonkers" and I'm not able to judge like "the rest of us", yet I'm the one accused of getting personal? Nice to see that, in essence, questioning someone's mental capacity isn't "personal".

[SmileyMan]

In Waddock's short term in charge, Beano started 5 (subbed once) and came on as sub in 3, so he played in every game. But only scored a single goal. Kitson's stats are almost identical (he even scored and was subbed in the same games) but he one came on as a sub once due to his absence from the first couple of games. So in terms of GW's direct experience, they're identically effective players, and neither is really good enough. So if you're looking to free up some wages to freshen the squad, and one of them is out of contract, it's a bit of a 'no brainer'

It's a fact of working life, no matter what business, that if a new boss comes along, and your contract is up for renewal, then you've got to do better than 12.5% return, I'm afraid.

[Snake]

Sports Science at Oxford United? How hard is that? The majority of the squad are paid not much more than the average UK wage before bonuses (and Beano’s wage was heavily weighted with goals and team success) so it just needs a stern lecture on keeping off the piss and the burgers like the rest of us should do i.e. common sense. Getting the absolute best from your employees body is something that is reserved for the very best paid athletes like Wigan Warriors or Prem players. The last time I went into the dressing room at Minchery Farm there was a list of rules on the wall that went into minutiae detail and the punishments for being bad, like a ten quid fine for not wearing flip flops in the shower. I'd bet that even Usain Bolt spends less than two hundred grand on a 'sport scientist'.