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Oxford United dealt unbelievable blow

8:00am Saturday 4th July 2009


The Football Conference reached a new low yesterday when they released the fixtures for next season – by giving ten different clubs a blank Saturday.

One of those clubs is Oxford United, who have no fixture on Saturday, March 6.

United’s general manager and secretary Mick Brown admitted to being “speechless” at the news, while chairman Kelvin Thomas revealed his dismay at the potential loss of revenue.

As well as Oxford and Grays twiddling their thumbs on Saturday, March 6, York and Histon are without a game on Saturday, February 20, Stevenage and AFC Wimbledon miss out on Saturday, February 27, and four clubs – Chester, Kidderminster, Salisbury and Hayes & Yeading – are idle on Saturday, March 20.

It is believed to be the first time since United turned professional in 1949 that a league that has left them without a match in an otherwise full Saturday programme.

Brown said: “I’m staggered. I was speechless when I heard, but it’s indefensible.

“We did not even receive a courtesy call to inform us, we just discovered it by default.

“It’s just illogical and will disadvantage us because we’ve got an additional midweek match,” he added.

The Conference, who came under fire last season because of their poor working procedures and inconsistencies in deducting points from clubs, seem to have got in a mess after agreeing to requests to avoid certain dates or too much travelling on a Tuesday.

Conference general manager Dennis Strudwick says the blank Saturday problem has come about because they do the fixtures manually.

Conference chairman Brian Lee agreed it was “not ideal”.

Lee said: “It’s just worked out this way and it’s not ideal.

“It’s been pointed out to me by different people that this has happened and I agree, it’s the first time I’ve known it.

“It’s not ideal, but we do the best we can.

“We’ve been trying to avoid clubs having too much midweek away travel, but I take on board people’s complaints about this and they’re noted.”

Oxford kick off next season at home to York, followed by away games at Kettering and Histon, and they have been handed a home match on Boxing Day, against Rushden.

U’s chairman Thomas said: “I’m very, very surprised that lucrative Saturday games are missed off the fixture list, whether it be home or away.

“Not having a Saturday home game will definitely have a big impact on somebody.”

Brown, who resigned from the Conference Board towards the end of last season, said: “All clubs should have Saturday matches – that is a fundamental of the fixtures.

“How you can comply with clubs’ requests at the expense of not filling every Saturday is beyond me.”


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Your Say YourOxfordshire

Zimmer, Oxon says...
9:18am Sat 4 Jul 09

Lee's Comments 'It's just worked out that way and it's not ideal.It's been pointed out to me by different people that this has happened and I agree it's the first time I've known it.It's not ideal but we do the best we can'.How complacent is that for a CEO !
WELL MR LEE YOUR BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND YOU SHOULD DO THE DECENT THING AND RESIGN>
Do you not realise that a lot of clubs are on a knife edge and this sought of ALL MIGHTY GAFFE DOES NOT HELP THEM.
GET OUT AND TAKE YOUR CRONIES WITH YOU!

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sarge, Headington says...
12:10pm Sat 4 Jul 09

why was there NOT a vote of no confidence in Lee and his shoddy admin team at the conference AGM- hes and his 'team' are a liability - last seasons antics showed it, this is the cherry on the top!

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Terry Chandler, Oxford says...
2:59pm Sat 4 Jul 09

Brian Lee- "it's not ideal but we do the best we can"
Say's it all really, time to go methinks.

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dave from witney, says...
4:24pm Sat 4 Jul 09

It's up to the clubs to get rid of Lee, the average supporter can do nothing but dispair at the total lack of efficiency and professionalism that Lee and his administration show. Northwich were kicked out and re-admitted by the FA and now Farsley have been relegated with nowhere to play just a few weeks before the season starts. The bloke is a clown and the clubs should get together and say to him enough is enough

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Old zimner, Oxford says...
4:14am Sun 5 Jul 09

we played many games last season on a friday, and missed many saturdays methinks there is an ulterior motive behind this complaint. We will make more TV money this year by being at the top, so 1 saturday is not a problem

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Old zimner, Oxford says...
5:44am Sun 5 Jul 09

Why did they close the comments on our fixtures? Oxford Mail censorship yet again

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hughcurran, london says...
9:49am Sun 5 Jul 09

Zimmer wrote:
Lee's Comments 'It's just worked out that way and it's not ideal.It's been pointed out to me by different people that this has happened and I agree it's the first time I've known it.It's not ideal but we do the best we can'.How complacent is that for a CEO ! WELL MR LEE YOUR BEST IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND YOU SHOULD DO THE DECENT THING AND RESIGN> Do you not realise that a lot of clubs are on a knife edge and this sought of ALL MIGHTY GAFFE DOES NOT HELP THEM. GET OUT AND TAKE YOUR CRONIES WITH YOU!
.no mate, ITS US THAT NEED TO ''GET OUT'' of this POXY league & leave the CRONIES behind lol....

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hughcurran, london says...
9:57am Sun 5 Jul 09

whats done is done! the season has'nt started yet, so lets not get embroiled in this TWATS ineptitude! mr TW, sorry LEE will get his due deserts when he comes to hand over the trophy for us winning the conference! then we can all say byeeeeeee to this mickey mouse league & tell him to stick his trophy where the sun dont shine, SIDEWAYS.....

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south stand upper, haddenham says...
11:47am Sun 5 Jul 09

we all know the rules of the league top team goes up, then the winners of the play- off goes up,lets hope after the Eastbourne game away, we can tell Mr LEE,what he is doing wrong, but lets all focus on the job in hand to finish top of the league,everything else is a side issue,i am sure thats the message CW has for the players and staff and must be our aim for 2009/10 the year of the ox

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Bicester Ryan, Bicester says...
3:33pm Sun 5 Jul 09

Brown said: “I’m staggered. I was speechless when I heard, but it’s indefensible.

MickeyMouse Brown you have a cheek to have ago at others. What you did was indefensible but you are still in your cushy job.

Do the decent thing and F off!

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cleverswindler, Barnsley says...
5:34pm Sun 5 Jul 09

So you know Mick Brown do you? If you did you know he is Oxford Utd through and through, and if he made a mistake registering a player, no-one would feel worse than him I can assure you. For Pete's sake let's move on from this, or are you one of those perfect people who have never made a mistake in their lives.....

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jspompey, northend says...
10:25pm Mon 6 Jul 09

i totally agree that this div is not good for us, but as wit so many div's these days, no one has a free ticket outta here, we need to deliver, an it pains me to say that when we r NON-LEAGUE! that sux bigtime, but, BUT its the reality of where we are now an we have to bite the bullet an accept it, yes we are a 'big' club, yes, lee an his cohorts r incompetent, but it's where we are, best solution? get promoted, simple, an, as all of u, like me, have new hope every season, THIS season, i genuinely believe we have peeps on an OFF the pitch who can do the biz for us, im concernd bout luton, they have a point to prove bigtime an give them their n30 points back last season an there are a fair few other teams who shoulda bin relegated instead, but, thats where they are, like us, lets do it an prove we are even better than them

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Bicester Ryan, Bicester says...
2:59pm Tue 7 Jul 09

cleverswindler wrote:
So you know Mick Brown do you? If you did you know he is Oxford Utd through and through, and if he made a mistake registering a player, no-one would feel worse than him I can assure you. For Pete's sake let's move on from this, or are you one of those perfect people who have never made a mistake in their lives.....
Whether I know him or not it doesnt matter he made a mistake and in the real world you get punished! Unfortunately this club is not living in the real word thats why we are a non league and deserve to be cos of continuous incompetent management of the club on and off the field!


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Old zimner, Oxford says...
3:17pm Tue 7 Jul 09

I think Ryan is right. A mistake of Browns magnitude deserved a sacking, as it cost us promotion and the club £thousands, we can't blame the league for his fu(k up

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cleverswindler, Barnsley says...
6:49pm Wed 8 Jul 09

We are in a mess, not because of one man's mistake, but because of a never ending list of disasters for the last 20 years or so. Easy to apportion blame, only way is to be positive and get behind the team, hard at times I know.

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