Why not make a weekend of…Macclesfield

Use the Oxford United Fixture list as a touring itinerary of our amazing country and..

Here’s a tour from a couple of locals:

Things to do and see:

• Macclesfield offers great access to the Peak District. There are many walks to be had in the area. A summary of some can be found here: http://www.macclesfield-outdoors.co.uk/walking/
• Take a trip, via the famous Cat and Fiddle Inn, to Buxton: http://www.visitbuxton.co.uk/
• Got a thing for Silk? Who hasn’t? Then visit the Silk Museum: http://www.macclesfield.silk.museum/index.htm
• Are we alone in the universe? Find out at Jodrell Bank Science Centre: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/visitorcentre/

Looking for somewhere to stay?:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g191278-Macclesfield_Peak_District_Cheshire_England-Hotels.html#T_CAT_HOTEL_MOTEL

Looking for something nice to eat:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g191278-Macclesfield_Peak_District_Cheshire_England.html

I want pubs near the ground:

http://awaydays-client.salgo.net/away-ground-guide.html#macclesfield-town

How do I get to the ground?:

http://www.footballgroundguide.com/macclesfield_town/

I want to go on the train:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/s/timetable/times

History and stuff:

The name Macclesfield derives from the words “Michael’s Field”. It is thought that this derives from Saint Michael Jackson who frequented fields in this lovely part of Cheshire. Michael had always been keen on gloves made from silk, and found that only the quality of the silk produced here, was fit for his tender hands.

He ordered the building of the Macclesfield Canal so that he and bubbles had a direct link to his home at Neverland USA. It’s thought that he penned the song “Dirty Dianna” in memory of his girlfriend, Dianna Eckthorpe, who lived in Buxton Road, Macclesfield. She’s always had a bit of a reputation.

SEE U’s THERE!

Behind the Scenes

It will be events before the game against Aldershot that will live longer in the memory than the match itself.  My mate’s (@YellowTim) daughter was chosen to be one of the mascots and I was lucky enough to be invited as one of Betsy’s five guests for a tour around the ground before kick-off.

Now, I’ve done a stadium tour before (the one on the fun-day) but this was something different.  For one, it was a tour of the whole ground (the upstairs bits as well) but most importantly, this was the club on a match-day.

There are a couple of clichés you hear whenever a new person joins a football club they are:

• “It’s a good set-up here”
• “They’re a good bunch of lads”

I tend to take them with a pinch of salt because you hear them all the time.  However, when you have first-hand experience of the “set up”, and the “lads”, these words really come to life. These are no glib sentences, they really mean something.

The place seemed to be run with the greatest of professionalism.  We met Kelvin, Chris and the players all who were so giving of their time.  Every single player gave time to sign an autograph and/or have their picture taken with the kids.  As you walked through the corridors there were interchanges between the backroom staff that gave a feeling of vibrancy and hinted at the match-day clockwork efficiency that was unravelling around us.

Kelvin and the mascots - could be the name of a band?

At the start of our tour, Kelvin mentioned how we would see him at certain parts of the tour, and sure enough there he was meeting guests, interacting with staff, making things happen.  The breeze blocked ground floor interior has been brought to life with pictures of recent successes; the Managers office, devoid of windows, was particularly inspiring in this respect.

The upstairs rooms around the executive boxes and the board rooms hint more towards the proud history of the club, with pictures of previous teams and the well stocked trophy cabinet.  I don’t know what I was expecting; but in short, this felt like a PROPER football club. By this I do not mean so much the building, but the people; from the players through to the back room staff, including the brilliant lady who did the tour around the ground, making the mascots feel like VIP’s throughout.  I know now, more than ever, that our club is in VERY safe hands.

Onto the game: I woke up with a bad feeling about it.  However, after 20mins I thought we were going to be comfortable winners.  The tactics sheets I’d seen up on the wall of the dressing room was working perfectly, but then Aldershot went and got a player sent off.  As you so often see, it was the ten men who benefitted most from this.

Our support was great and we gave a good display when the players came out.  Understandably, we were not so good in the last quarter of the match but throughout we were willing the team on.  While our support was not “ultimate” I would say that this initiative added numbers to the crowd and provided a second consecutive home game with up-lifting support.  A bit like a bra, we are, I suppose.

The result has not left me too downbeat though, because from what I saw earlier in the day, I know that only positive things can come from such a good set up, with a great bunch of lads.

Player of the month

One voice, singing in the darkness

I love this video because it’s a great example of how one person, given the right circumstances, can make something big happen.  In this case a (probably) inebriated fool who’s just having a bit of fun.  It reminds me of that game a season or two back when one guy started singing a simple song, the “Come on Oxford” song.  It was a particularly dull match and from (my poor) memory I don’t think there was anything particularly inspiring happening on the pitch. 
 
However, he took the responsibility to inspire the team with his incessant chanting.  Incessant he was, despite the fact that none of the miserable gits around him were joining in.  However, persistence was this guy’s middle name and he just kept at it.  He didn’t care about standing out or ‘looking stupid’ he just stuck to his task.  Eventually, at least 5 minutes later people began to take note, this was something significant, he just wouldn’t shut up.  He really cared.  So someone joined in. 

I’m not going to go down the “another and then another” route because you know where it leads, and it will sound like I’m talking about “One voice, singing in the darkness”.  Ultimately though, it was commented on even by the Managers and Players of Oxford United as something significant due to the atmosphere it created.
 
This guy – like the dancer in the video did something incredible.  It takes commitment and motivation beyond the needs of self-image to start something like this.  If we all just took responsibility to make the effort and do something (regardless of what others may think) then imagine what is possible.  This, for me, is the spirit in which Ultimate Support Saturday should be regarded.  We can make our home a place that we love, and that other teams fear.  Do something remarkable – inspire other fans, inspire the team.

Ultimate Support Saturday

I was trying to figure out the other day exactly WHY it’s now the norm for away fans to outsing home fans.  I guess that there are a number of factors here.   First of all you have the camaraderie of being away.  Usually, you are in a minority bundled together into a small space (although not always from our own BSP experience!).  This brings about a feeling of British spirit and inspires effort above and beyond.  I don’t want to go all Desmond Morris on you, but I expect if we get down to the bones of it there’s something quite tribal about the whole thing with primal-instincts of the visiting tribe coming in to play.
 
Secondly, I think as a home team you assume you have the advantage in numbers and that less effort is therefore required to support your team, often waiting for the team to do something before feeling the need to sing.  Certainly in our case, we are not as good at home as we are away.  The game against Port Vale, however, was a step in the right direction, and a path on which we must continue. 
 
The question you have to ask yourself is; should a group of fans who call themselves the 12th Man accept ‘the norm’?  If the spirit of the “12th Man” is to be EXACTLY THAT: inspirational enough to be the advantage of an extra man on the pitch, then waiting for the rest of the team to do something is not in the right spirit.  If a player were acting in this manner we would not accept it.  Therefore, we have a duty to do our bit from the start.  Loud vocal support behind the team through the duration of the game, if we go behind, we try even harder. 

Ultimate Support Saturday is our chance to demonstrate that we mean business and show the rest of the footballing world what being the 12th Man ACTUALLY MEANS.  It’s just one match, but maybe just maybe, it could be the catalyst for something bigger.
 
If you want to be a part of this, sign up to the Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=104480869615610 but most importantly turn out for the Aldershot game, bring a few mates, and sing your bally heart out right from the start until there’s nothing left in the tank.  Together we can make this happen.

Lovin’ it, Lovin’ it, Lovin’ it

“Do you really like it.  Is it, is it wicked?”  These were the words famously sung by DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies back in 2001. If the context of this question was yesterdays game against Port Vale, then the answer is most definitely; “yes”.

 It goes to prove that it really does take a low to enjoy a high to its very full.  On 90 minutes the board goes up, 4 minutes added on.  “Where did he find them from?” we all thought.  Fears turned into reality 2 minutes in, with Vale getting a goal and their ecstatic fans understandably cock-a-hoop on the pitch.  “We are top of the league” they crowed rescuing a point in injury time.  However, they had forgotten that it was 4 minutes that the fourth official had held up, not 2.

They had also forgotten that they were playing Chris Wilder’s Oxford United, a team characterised by never giving up, tenacity and a competitive will to win.  And so it came to be that Matt Green’s flick out to fanny with the outside of his boot was beautifully converted and the Oxford United faithful, magnificent fans went into rapture.

This four-minute period served as a metaphor for our last four and a bit years.  To appreciate something good, you have to experience the lows.  The highs you get from achievement are only realised if you have worked hard for it.  Worked for it we have, and deserve it we do.

Do you really like it? We’re lovin’ it, lovin’ it, lovin’ it we’re lovin’ it…

like

that

Cod moves in mysterious ways

The trip to Cheltenham was worthwhile despite an uncertain start.  Let’s start with the A40.  If you live in Witney and have to travel into Oxford on a daily basis, then you have my sympathy.  Quite how you cope with putting up with that on a daily basis is beyond me.  I set off reasonably early, but even then I was nervously looking at my watch remembering my last trip to Cheltenham with its delayed kick off.

Then upon arrival, I was greeted by a girl with her mate, maybe 10-12 years old.  She looked at my shirt and without hesitation said “Oxfurd’s gunna lose big time”.  Now at her age I WOULD never have talked to someone my age in the way she did.  Incredibly disrespectful to her elders I thought.  However, then I thought, perhaps she’s NOT being rude, perhaps she actually had the power of insight; to see what was yet to be, and that she was sparing me from suffering to come.  In days of old she might have been the wise woman who lived in the woods….. 

“I have word from the wise woman, Sire.”

“What say’st the woman of the woods about our fortunes on the field of battle?”

“She says ‘We’re gunna lose………………………big time'”

So with a heavy heart dwelling on either, the youth of today, or our upcoming fortune I strolled to the chippy.  I was served a delightful fish shaped pieced of batter that should have come with the warning “May contain traces of cod”; cod being what I had paid for.  Once I’d got to the fishy end of the batter I dropped it on the floor (unintentionally) and was left to lament on cod moving in mysterious ways.

So all being said, I was having a bad run of luck before the game even started.  Then on the pitch the early signs were, that the soothsayer of doom who I had met outside the ground had spoken with great insight.  We lose captain Creighton to a toe injury and Cheltenham score the spawniest of goals.  The signs at that stage were that we might get demolished.

The second half begins, and our support (quiet for spells in the first half) rallied inspiring a goal from Jack that seemed impossible in the first half.  From that point on our support was incredible, united in adversity against a referee whose one-sided handling of the match was obscene.  The players performed with a new belief and it seemed that from that point there was only one team in it.  Unfortunately the second goal did not come, but it felt more like victory than defeat.  Snatching a draw in this manner is always sweet, but particularly so when the signs before were so very bad……  Destiny, it seems, can not be predicted and the unlikely CAN happen.

Why not make a weekend of….Crewe?

Use the Oxford United Fixture list as a touring itinerary of our amazing country and..

Maybe this is why?:

Things to do and see – Highlights are listed below:

Railway Age – An insight into Crewe’s locomotive industrial past

Stapelely Water Gardens – See exotic plants and animals and a really big garden centre

Beeston Castle – Only 10 miles away, it offers one of the most spectacular castle views in England

Surrounding Area – There are nice walks in the area. The towns of Congleton and Nantwich are worth a visit.

A much more comprehensive list of attractions can be found here, including links to some of the places above:

http://bit.ly/bkcX5e

 

Looking for somewhere to stay?:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g499507-Crewe_Cheshire_England-Hotels.html

 

Looking for something nice to eat:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/RestaurantSearch?geo=499507&pid=&q=Crewe%2C+United+Kingdom&cat=&src=

I want pubs near the ground:

http://awaydays-client.salgo.net/away-ground-guide.html#crewe-alexandra

How do I get to the ground?:

http://www.crewealex.net/page/Directions/0,,10414,00.html

I want to go on the train:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/s/timetable/times

History and stuff:

Alexander the Great, the famous Macedonian King founded the town of Crewe on his “Conquest of Cheshire tour 318BC”. Immediately recognising the potential of the town he decreed that trains should be invented and so it came to be that Crewe became the heart of the railroad revolution.

Soot from steam locomotives became such a problem locally that it became impossible to maintain long flowing locks. Locals therefore took the drastic step of cutting off their hair, inspiring the now wide-spread “Crewe Cut”.

I won’t SEE U’s THERE because I can’t make this one 😦

Fence End Blues

Me:  Four season ticket exchanges to South Stand Upper please

Ticket office Lady: Whereabouts?

Me: Across to the right, as close to the East Stand as you can

Three minutes Later……..

Me: These tickets say turnstile 1-2? Isn’t that the fence end?  Oh please no, not the fence end.  There’s no bleedin’ atmosphere there and every time we do we get beat.

Nuff said

AND he said Elfie again.  Does he not read this blog?

Scores on the doors for our below average support

A is for Alfie

Dear Oxford United Tannoy Announcer,

I would like to correct something that is slowly eroding my sanity: The name Alfie is pronounced with an ‘A’ sound as in Apple and not an “Eh” sound as in Elf.

A page from one of the tannoy announcers school books

I mean, the guy’s already up against it having the surname of a fictional wizard.

 Commentators are not able to talk about his performance without using the words “magical”, “spell” or “wizardry”. And now YOU have to add insult to injury by making him a character from a Tolkein book, or worse, one of Santa’s little helpers. The last time I looked, he’s not pointy eared, and to my knowledge he ain’t that good with a bow and arrow.

So when it’s 14:55 on Saturday and you’re about to read out the teams think about this and put it right, please, for the sake of my failing sanity.

Elfie Potter (I should point out it's been photoshopped)

ps. The rest of your work is great – I especially like the Debt Dr stuff

The Hereford Premonition

Every so often, about once or twice per season (on average) I get this absolute conviction that we are going to win a game. It’s SO certain that it is almost as if the game has already happened and I am thinking back on it as a win. Whenever I have had this conviction it has ALWAYS been right. So, as you can imagine I’m filthy rich from all the money I have made betting on this outcome. 

No, that’s not how it works. It’s complicated, but if I have this premonition then I know I must not tell anyone about it or act on it in any way, or it will not come true (until the game is over). I know, I know, completely irrational, illogical and frankly potty, but there it is. So, to cut a long story short, Hereford was one of those. 

From the moment last week’s game against Morecambe ended, to the moment the referee put his whistle to his lips to start the game, I KNEW we were going to win this one. This was without the knowledge of quite how bad Hereford were going to be, or how well our team were going to play as a unit. Once again the boys made us proud. Chris promised us some entertaining performances this season and he is certainly delivering accordingly. 

It was an odd ground to generate an atmosphere in.  The upper tier was steep (felt dangerous) with poor visibility.  I could not take part in my favourite past time of berating the lino beacuse I could never see him.  The queue for the toilets at half time were epic.  As fans we did our bit:

Our performance rated for Hereford Away

This is a weekend that will live long in the memory. We practiced a bit of what I preach by making a weekend of this game. We had some good food, plenty of celebratory drinks (never trust @yellowtim to order the drinks in a restaurant immediately after an Oxford win) and lots of fun outside of the game itself.

The people of Hereford before and after the game were warm welcoming and a credit to their town, which I would not hesitate to visit again. The memory that will live longest, I think, was our walk back to the hotel from the restaurant when spontaneously our little group reflecting on the day filled the dark empty, echoing streets with a chorus of “E-I-E-I-E-I-O”; two grown men and their kids terrifying the locals.Here’s to Stockport, which, by the way, I’m afraid I have no premonition for (yet) and if I did, I could never tell you…..

Monumental toilet queue at Hereford