Having moved to Oxfordshire in 2002, I finally persuaded my wife to let me and my son go to Oxford United a couple of times in 2007-8. What I saw impressed me. Here was football in the raw and at a pace I could understand. Premiership football has got so deathly dull as the superstars preen, charge about for a few minutes, fall over and get all antsy with the referee.
Not so at Oxford United, where things are enjoyably more rough and ready. The two games we saw were crackers, with the lunatic goalkeeper Billy Turley impressing above all as he bellowed abuse at his defenders but also saved a brace of penalties in some style. In both games Oxford had to battle for a result which they eventually got, all of which made for a very enjoyable experience.
[I realise this goes against the grain if you have been following your team for years as suffering is an essential part of the experience but there we are. I did enjoy it.]
We somehow missed out on the 2008-9 season, which I tried to follow on the local radio but two young children who haven't seen their dad all week don't readily allow you to wander around with the radio pressed to your ear. I was determined to get to some matches this time around and when I absentmindedly looked up the season ticket prices they were not as bad as I imagined so I put in a request for permission from my darling wife, laced with a range of caveats about how much cheaper it is to go to football this way. I can still remember where I was when she said yes!
So here we were today, brim full of optimism as everyone is on day one. I am still very much a newcomer to this whole business but I have been lucky with my football over the years. Lets hope this rubs off on to Oxford United.
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