Guest writer Ian Davies discusses one of the most successful ever Oxford United sides

Which (or who?)  was the greatest ever OUFC team? Very hard not to say the 1984/85 promotion team? The Milk Cup winners? And Guinness Soccer Sixes? of course.  Those options for me, are just too obvious.

I have long laboured under the impression that my love of ‘niche football’ was probably something to keep quietly to myself. Although, having recently discovered the works of ‘Awaydays’ Ellis Patten, ‘Stuntpegg’ and ‘Fusion John’ etc. on YouTube , I am now feeling more comfortable in ‘coming out’ so to speak. I have always especially been a fan of niche OUFC. So away trips to OUFC Reserve and Youth team games, on quite a few occasions, bring back many happy memories.

Best ever OUFC team for me? I would certainly make a case for the OUFC Football Combination team (Reserves) of the early 1970s as being the best ever OUFC team. At this time the first team was at the beginning of a slow painful decline, so the reserves’ regular success and almost being Champions of the League was a real tonic, against a grim backdrop.

The ‘Ressies’ also had something of their own fan base and would pull in gates of more than 5,000 to the Manor. As I was living in Headington for a part of this time, I would watch everything at the Manor. Games were free if you had a season ticket, but plenty of people also paid to go along, including my form teacher at John Mason School. He would regularly espouse the merits of the Reserve games at Oxford with a passion only matched by his love of Marxist theory. Personally, I have found the OUFC argument as a more coherent doctrine to follow.

Some of you may know: after finishing my employment at OUFC in 1999, I took a few years off OUFC, well 22 years to be specific. Let’s just say, there is something rather unappealing going to a stadium (self-named) by someone who sacked you. In any case, in the terminology of the world of Rock and Roll, I had ‘other (obscure football) projects’ to pursue.

In ‘groundhopper’ terminology, I have now ‘done’ (not every single team!) the top eight levels of football in Italy and the top five in Portugal. Especially easy in Italy, as my Italian team ‘Samb’ have taken care of Levels 3-8 on their very own. Thankfully, for Samb, this was an ‘open return ticket’, and we are back where we belong, aka failing to gain promotion back to Serie B. We do also have the first league derby with Ascoli for 39 years. The kick-off time (Wednesday, 29th October, 2025, at 3:00 PM): a working day, and the schools are being closed, gives you an idea of what this is going to be like. Ellis, Stuntpegg, John, etc. get yourself over to the Riviera delle Palme for this one!

On my OUFC return, I found that, as a concept, Reserve team football still exists but is usually hidden, the phrase ‘behind closed doors’ haunting (almost) every fixture. The one exception being OUWFC, who had a reserve team, (Oxford United Development) and games were not behind closed doors.

The Development (Dev) team was basically a mix of Academy and ‘try out’ players and on occasion recent signings who needed a game. Like most people, I was unaware of the existence of this Oxford team until my pal Mark told me his niece (Faye Murphy) was playing against Oxford United on 05/02/23 for Hashtag United Reserves and did I want to go? I mean does a bear wear a funny hat?

Not quite my first experience of Women’s football in Oxford, as I had seen the 1993 Women’s FA Cup final at the Manor Ground, with Arsenal winning 3–0 vs. Doncaster Belles. Attendance: 3,547. I remember this game as being rather ‘attritional’. A bit like how I imagine the trenches in WW1 to have been– and I don’t mean the Football on Christmas day bit.

So, I was not sure what to expect at the ‘Devs’ game, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the standard of play. I enjoyed this game a lot, with Amy Woodhead and Jenna Legg (still a great OUWFC player) standing out for me. This one ended up as a close game, a mere 3-0 win for the OUFC Devs. (FA declared attendance: 35). After this match, Mark and I became regulars at Court Place farm for OUWFC games.

The next year, niece Faye was back in the centre of midfield vs. OUFC Devs, this time with London Seaward Reserves. She did a good job of making life more difficult (and also somehow avoiding a booking!) but was strangely, in my view, subbed off after 65 minutes with the score at just 4-0.  This may not have been a great tactical move by the Seaward manager, as in the last 25 minutes, another 5 goals were scored to make it 9-0 for OUFC Devs (FA declared attendance: 20 for this one). Faye signed a professional contract for London Bees in the summer after and then unfortunately did her ACL, so wishing her a speedy recovery from this horrible injury.

So how good were the Devs?

The League stats speak for themselves.

Looking at the League tables, we can make some conclusions. Apart from MK Dons, no one else had the necessary ‘Kryptonite’ to deal with the Deadly Devs. To use an (OUFC adapted) analogy, for the opposition, it must have been like being in a school team turning up and realising that the opposition had both Trevor Hebberd and Cam Brannagan (Ellie-Mae Richardson and Amy Woodhead) in the centre of midfield, and for good measure Joey (Lucy Trinder) on the wing.

                                                                                          P             W           D            L             GD         P

2022/23 – 1st       Oxford United Development      20           19           0             1*           57           57

*MK Dons Development 1-2, no idea what happened here!?

2023/24 – 1st       Oxford United Development      16           15           1*           0             68           46

*The one blot being 2-2 away to MK, although a red card for Georgia Hayes maybe explains this?

The FA Reserve South East & Central Division does not sound very impressive on its own. You only really fathom the scale of their superiority by adding in the National Reserves Cup (so for every Women’s team below the WSL). Where all of the other regional league winners get involved. Of course, they won this National competition in 2023 and then, of course, retained the Trophy in 2024.

FA WNL Reserve Cup 2023 vs WBA: 2-2. Won 4-2 on pens. Played at Burton Albion

FA WNL Reserve Cup 2024 vs Bournemouth. Won 4-3. Played at FC Manchester

The Oxfordshire County Cup final 2024 was also contested by the OUFC Devs, who beat Oxford City Ladies (senior 1^st team) 1-0 in Kidlington, in front of a really big crowd. OUFC’s first win in Kidlington!? To be followed by a more recent, (August 2025), Laura Bell inspired, Dev like, 14-1 victory. (was it just me? but the ‘1’ was rather a chump!).

On the way to the final. The Devs beat Barton United Ladies 21-0 in the first round in a foggy game played at Court Place farm. ‘Full credit to Barton who never gave up and fought for every ball till the very end’ – OUFC website.

The Barton fans were really good fun, creating a great atmosphere cheering basically everything that was not a goal for OUFC. I remember they were especially loud with winning of throw ins, winning a corner or shot being rather too aspirational. I’m sure they also did fine work in upping the Oxford City bar takings that week. In the next rounds of the cup, Procision Oxford and Thame United Ladies were beaten on their way to the final. The Devs scored 44 goals in just these three games, of course they conceded none.

Alas, no development team appeared in 2024/25. Where are they now? Ellie-Mae Richardson and Lucy Trinder are now very much in the OUWFC first team squad; three of them (Amy Woodhead, Issy Kinsella, and Jess Gray) are now in the USA on football scholarships. I think I got to see the Devs play just five times in total. So happy I did get to these games, both for happy football memories and they did also lead me into the OUWFC games. For me, the best use of my time on a Sunday afternoon since Football Italia finished.

I was personally very sad to see the demise of the Oxford United Development team. I had not seen an official explanation at the time: financial or competition based? Having since spoken to the OUWFC GM, Gemma Sims, it was just based upon the fact that they were so much better than all the other teams, they ‘were not learning anything’.

There is a well-worn football expression, ‘you can only beat what is in front of you’, and the Devs certainly did that! So, Oxford United Development maybe not the most well-known OUFC team in our history but they were surely the Deadliest OUFC team ever!

Ian Davies