News RSS Feed


Chairman apologises over cancelled game

5:39pm Saturday 26th December 2009


Oxford United chairman Kelvin Thomas has apologised to U's fans following the decision to postpone today's game with Rushden and Diamonds.

He said many fans had already made the journey to the Kassam Stadium when the referee decided that too much of the pitch was frozen - at 1pm.

In a statement issued this afternoon, Mr Thomas said: "The club is so disappointed that this game has not taken place.

"This is one of the frustrations that come with not owning the stadium.

"We have been in constant dialogue with the Stadium Company and their ground staff, since before the bad weather last week, about the importance of this game, and at the end of the day the pitch was not ready for play as appropriate.

"This is a game we were all looking forward to and for it not to go ahead is shocking to say the least.

"Once again our fans were coming out in numbers, with a crowd of 10,000 plus expected, and I am very sorry if people feel let down."

Tickets will still be valid for the fixture when a new date is set, or refunds will be made available, Mr Thomas said.


More News stories

Your Say YourOxford

tpebop, Oxford says...
8:39pm Sat 26 Dec 09

I think Mr Thomas put a few too many noughts in the numbers expected

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

bennyboy3004, oxford says...
8:41pm Sat 26 Dec 09

what an embarassment for everyone connected with the club. we were just about to make our way to the ground when we found out. why was there no warnings from the club the game was in doubt. didcot managed to get there game on, so how could oxford united (a 'professional' club) not manage to.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Joe Cooke, Oxford says...
9:49pm Sat 26 Dec 09

John Aldridge was right, Mickey Mouse! stop taking the fans for a ride.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Yellowtaff, Swansea says...
11:48pm Sat 26 Dec 09

oxford united professionial football club 0
Oxford United Infrastucture 1

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Brenda Jackson, Hook Norton says...
9:03am Sun 27 Dec 09

Shocking, absolutely SHOCKING that the match was PP after the weather had improved significantly -In fact it was spring like!
That the Club appears to have twiddled its thumbs -HOPING the stadium company had protected the vunerable area under the South stand
is just not acceptable, the pitch could and SHOULD have been playable -with some Professional work, clearly the Club is blaming Stadco - so maybe they should be suing them for loss of revenue that they will surely feel when the match gets played?
After all the hard work done by the Chairman and manager etc etc this latest 'PR Blunder' undermines it i'm sorry to say.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Richard Wickson, Ellesmere Port says...
10:05am Sun 27 Dec 09

My son and i drove a 350 mile round trip to have lunch at the stadium and see the game, we got 1 out of 2, the lunch was good but the Boxing day fayre we really wanted was the game to go ahead, The first we knew the game was even in doubt was Jerome on Radio Oxford saying (about noon) that there would be a 1pm pitch inspection and he didnt think it would pass it. A total c*ck up by the club, they can blame the stadco all they like BUT its the Football Club that play on the pitch and therefore make their living from it so they should have been and from now on MUST be a lot more pro-active, apparently the pitch was watered on 24th when the forecast was for teperatures to drop, even a basic gardener like me knows that you dont water before a frost is expected unless you are trying to break up heavy soil, were they trying to ruin the pitch?? A total b*ll*cks by the club so many of us support avidly and we so often get kicked in the teeth, its not good enough and for me, despite supporting the club for 50 years, yes they were Headington United back then, i will think twice before travelling at this time of year for a game again, like Brenda Jackson said, "the weather was spring like" and the game should have been on, the pitch should never have been allowed to be in the condition it was, i went to Cumnor Cemetry and the grass/ground was soft even where the Church gave shade. Its not acceptable and somebody needs sacking!

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

hughcurran, london says...
10:39am Sun 27 Dec 09

was mick brown involved in this fiasco? i wonder, i wonder, i wonder ???

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

disco80, oxford says...
10:50am Sun 27 Dec 09

you cant blame the club, because Firoka own the stadium the football club cant touch the pitch in between games.The part time groundsman is employed by Firoka and couldnt give 2 sh*ts about the pitch, hes just a contracted person to come and do abit of work a few times a week. Its a complete shambles we are in and until we can one day own the stadium things like this will happen. It's like around the stadium there are t.v's that dont work and they will never be replaced by Firoka, but why would kassam replace them as long as we pay him the rent he doesnt care. Chris Wilder had it spot on in the radio interview when he said about having someone with 10 million in the back pocket. until that happens it will continue to be a joke!!!

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

dave from witney, says...
11:03am Sun 27 Dec 09

Many years ago I can remember going up to the Manor at Christmas to help clear the snow after an appeal by the club, this was probably before Radio Oxford and most definitely before the internet. Why with the publicity machine that is available nowadays, did the club fail to make the fans not aware that the game was in ANY doubt. When we agreed to this one sided stadium lease a full time groundsman was employed, Kassam's wallet has decreed that he was sacked and a part time approach was made. The club should have fought this then, I am not getting at those groundsman, they can only work the few hours that they are employed, but the club should have insisted that ONE person was responsible for the state of the pitch.....just like years ago with Les Bateman at the beloved four sided Manor.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Richard Wickson, Ellesmere Port says...
11:12am Sun 27 Dec 09

I too wonder, Hugh, does sound a bit like one of his concoctions, i only said yesterday while at the stadium i wondered where he was but he was nowhere to be seen. In reply to Disco80, WE can and I DO BLAME the CLUB, they or at least Woodstock partnership got into bed with Firoka when they bought the club and agreed this ridiculous lease on the stadium, it was never going to work and now it seems unless a guy with £10 million PLUS in his pocket walks thru the door we are B*ggered to say the least, lets all do the Euro-millions on Friday and pray for a win!

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

YellowRose, Witney says...
11:27am Sun 27 Dec 09

John Aldridge was misquoted in the press! In his book, which I read recently, he wrote about the QPR incident. He actually said it was a Micky Mouse SITUATION the players found themselves in. He was not referring to the club and he regretted it. Mind you, that was one of many scrapes he got himself in over the years on and off the pitch! Come on you YELLOWS!!

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

disco80, oxford says...
12:16pm Sun 27 Dec 09

To Richard Wickson i was only meaning you cant blame the club if the pitch was unplayable. i was gutted it was called off too

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Joe Cooke, Oxford says...
12:32pm Sun 27 Dec 09

Yeah your right Aldridge was misquoted and he did say it was a Mickey Mouse situation. Going back to the pitch Les Bateman when he was groundsmen wouldn't of let this happen, he would of gone up Christmas day on his moped despite getting old, he would of checked the pitch in the days beforehand.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

abijack, abingdon says...
12:46pm Sun 27 Dec 09

Richard Wickson wrote:
My son and i drove a 350 mile round trip to have lunch at the stadium and see the game, we got 1 out of 2, the lunch was good but the Boxing day fayre we really wanted was the game to go ahead, The first we knew the game was even in doubt was Jerome on Radio Oxford saying (about noon) that there would be a 1pm pitch inspection and he didnt think it would pass it. A total c*ck up by the club, they can blame the stadco all they like BUT its the Football Club that play on the pitch and therefore make their living from it so they should have been and from now on MUST be a lot more pro-active, apparently the pitch was watered on 24th when the forecast was for teperatures to drop, even a basic gardener like me knows that you dont water before a frost is expected unless you are trying to break up heavy soil, were they trying to ruin the pitch?? A total b*ll*cks by the club so many of us support avidly and we so often get kicked in the teeth, its not good enough and for me, despite supporting the club for 50 years, yes they were Headington United back then, i will think twice before travelling at this time of year for a game again, like Brenda Jackson said, "the weather was spring like" and the game should have been on, the pitch should never have been allowed to be in the condition it was, i went to Cumnor Cemetry and the grass/ground was soft even where the Church gave shade. Its not acceptable and somebody needs sacking!
Richard i cant fault any of what you say not even the 'Cs and Bs'.Radio Oxford kept quoting Jeromes earlier broadcast.He should have said?any of you thousands coming to the Stadiums company ground please come early,open the gates and let us walk over the 20% frozen part.My son,friend and i arrived as usual at 12:55 we looked through the gap in the gates East/South all we saw were a few people nattering between them,and that was it.One good thing happened we got our Monies back from the Cambridge Farse.What ticket do we use now from our Season ticket Holder.That should have been Match No12.

Report this post »    Register/Sign In »

Comments are closed on this article.



Local Advertisers

Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »