Oxford United's gamble pays off as Worley proves the hero (From Oxford Mail)

Shrink has cured me of automatic promotionitis. To state the blindingly obvious, if you come above the eighth placed team even on goal difference then you are at least into the playoffs.

From 2000-2001 to 2011-12 , the eighth placed team in the fourth tier has got between 68 and 72 points on ten of the twelve occasions.

One was United – 69 points in 2002-3.

The other two were 63 in 2005/6 and 74 in 2003/4

Approaching the half way stage , to get 70 points we need to get 44 points from 24

If we lost only 6 (phew) of the 24 , then we would need 44 points from the remaining 18 matches . Win 13 draw 5 and lose 6 (ouch) would give us 70

I can’t see us reaching the lottery of the play offs - can you, Mr W?

Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

VOYY indeed . Not answered my question have you bobbyashley. Can you see us making the lottery of the playoffs? ... I thought not

oldun wrote:

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

VOYY indeed . Not answered my question have you bobbyashley. Can you see us making the lottery of the playoffs? ... I thought not

COYY - not VOYY - those inebriated fingers

So the gamble paid off. But this is hardly a vote of confidence in Marsh sitting on the bench. This could shatter his confidence if Wilder has no faith, what's the point of having him on the bench and then putting a defender up front?

oldun wrote:

oldun wrote:

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

VOYY indeed . Not answered my question have you bobbyashley. Can you see us making the lottery of the playoffs? ... I thought not

COYY - not VOYY - those inebriated fingers

Until it’s mathematically impossible to make the play off I wouldn’t count us out
We could still have a good season even if we don’t make the play offs
JPT final at Wembley still on plus a good FA cup run
Still if you wish to look on the negative side all the time why don’t you go and support another team, we don’t need moaners thanks all the same

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:

oldun wrote:

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

VOYY indeed . Not answered my question have you bobbyashley. Can you see us making the lottery of the playoffs? ... I thought not

COYY - not VOYY - those inebriated fingers

Until it’s mathematically impossible to make the play off I wouldn’t count us out
We could still have a good season even if we don’t make the play offs
JPT final at Wembley still on plus a good FA cup run
Still if you wish to look on the negative side all the time why don’t you go and support another team, we don’t need moaners thanks all the same

I love the club - maybe even more than you do (maybe not) . Win the JPT (big deal) , reach 4th round of FA Cup - end 8th . For me, a very disappointing season - we need promotion. You still avoid answering my plain question "can you SEE us making the lottery of the play offs"?

oldun wrote:

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:

oldun wrote:

bobbylashley wrote:

oldun wrote:
Even if you look at the oh so unlikely target of 63 to reach the lottery. We need 37 from 19 if we lost 5 of the 24. That would need 9 wins 10 draws and 5 defeats would give us 63. If we lost 7 then we would need 10 wins 7 draws and 7 losses to get even 63 points. Us fans can you see United getting 63 (6 fewer than we came 8th) ?

Boring !!!! Never lose the faith come on you Yellows

VOYY indeed . Not answered my question have you bobbyashley. Can you see us making the lottery of the playoffs? ... I thought not

COYY - not VOYY - those inebriated fingers

Until it’s mathematically impossible to make the play off I wouldn’t count us out
We could still have a good season even if we don’t make the play offs
JPT final at Wembley still on plus a good FA cup run
Still if you wish to look on the negative side all the time why don’t you go and support another team, we don’t need moaners thanks all the same

I love the club - maybe even more than you do (maybe not) . Win the JPT (big deal) , reach 4th round of FA Cup - end 8th . For me, a very disappointing season - we need promotion. You still avoid answering my plain question "can you SEE us making the lottery of the play offs"?

Yes

OK - we disagree - how I hope to be wrong. About 44 points tneeded . Lose just 4 more but win 12 and we are there. Ditto win 13 and lose 6. I don't expect to be raising a toast to your prediction - I suspect that most Us fans agree with me - it is highly unlikely that we will reach the play off semi finals

Marsh is a slight player with little experience of bruising games -often not right for tactics/opposition/c
ontext. I certainly didn't notice he had e.g Robbie Hall's ability and would have had no worries about putting him into the fire but I could be proved wrong

I think Bobby Lashley has taken one too many tombstone piledrivers to the head.The target for this season was alwas promotion. We were told the manager had the budget and the support to achieve this. Fact of the matter is that Wilder has blown that budget and filled the squad with players who wouldn't even get into your local Sunday League side and players who spend more time on the treatment table than on the pitch.

Getting to a pointless final in a pointless trophy and the FA Cup Third or Fourth Round does not constitute a successful season. This season has been about as disasterous as it could possibly have been and there is only one man responsible for that. Yet remarkably he remains in a job that he is clearly no longer capable of . The last 12 months have shown us that he is incapable of building a squad capable of mounting a serious promotion challenge.

He blew it last season and he has blown it this season. Managers who have achieved far more have been sacked for so much less than what we have been put through.

Promotion is a distant faded dream. The reality is we're far more likely to get out this league via the trapdoor. And anyone who says we're too good to go down, are burying their heads in the sand. History has proven that not to be the case.

Manor Born wrote:
I think Bobby Lashley has taken one too many tombstone piledrivers to the head.The target for this season was alwas promotion. We were told the manager had the budget and the support to achieve this. Fact of the matter is that Wilder has blown that budget and filled the squad with players who wouldn't even get into your local Sunday League side and players who spend more time on the treatment table than on the pitch. Getting to a pointless final in a pointless trophy and the FA Cup Third or Fourth Round does not constitute a successful season. This season has been about as disasterous as it could possibly have been and there is only one man responsible for that. Yet remarkably he remains in a job that he is clearly no longer capable of . The last 12 months have shown us that he is incapable of building a squad capable of mounting a serious promotion challenge. He blew it last season and he has blown it this season. Managers who have achieved far more have been sacked for so much less than what we have been put through. Promotion is a distant faded dream. The reality is we're far more likely to get out this league via the trapdoor. And anyone who says we're too good to go down, are burying their heads in the sand. History has proven that not to be the case.

Well written and well said.

At least two of the many clubs below 5th and us (from 6th to very low) will do better than us over the remaining fixtures - and keep ahead of us - won't they? I wouldn't risk even £1 to win £30 if offered 30-1 on our reaching the lottery of the play offs. Would you?

Not good enough players what Clarke,Whing,Constab
le,Craddock,Potter,L
even, Wright, Worley,Rigg, Raynes,Batt not good enough for a sunday league team really???
What the loanees not good enough JFK,Cox Mullins are you sure
There are a few who maybe not good enough i would agree Heslop, Capaldi,JPP, Smalley but thats what the transfer window is all about.
ill take a quid at 30-1 whose offering that.

bobbylashley wrote:
Not good enough players what Clarke,Whing,Constab

le,Craddock,Potter,L

even, Wright, Worley,Rigg, Raynes,Batt not good enough for a sunday league team really???
What the loanees not good enough JFK,Cox Mullins are you sure
There are a few who maybe not good enough i would agree Heslop, Capaldi,JPP, Smalley but thats what the transfer window is all about.
ill take a quid at 30-1 whose offering that.

I am offering that - I tell you what - in your case (as with CW's other fan BYT) forget the bet - I will happily give you £30 if United reach this season's play off lottery. If it happens then let me know your address . Heslop - awful . So many of the others are lower Div 4 players . Few could cut it in the third tier - too slow many of them. Most of them won't get the chance to find out if they could cut it at that level

Oldun, as ever, the voice of reason! Also to the Manor Born what a sensible and well measured post. I admire and agree with both. From point of view last season we beat Swinedon home and away and that was the mask for a dreadfully disappointing season and now the JPT and FA Cup "runs" are the smokescreen for abject failing in the League. Yes it will be great to go to Wembley but who would swap 90 mins in a Mickey Mouse Cup (by the way where do you even buy Johnston Paints???) for promotion from the 4th Div. Really?

I do not think it is negative to think that it would be fairly unlikely we will make the playoffs.

I find talk of the playoffs delusional. Surely we will remain in the lower half of the table for the rest of the season unless something changes - won't we?

I would be much happier if we had some young (and local) lads in the team. Most of the squad are in the middle of their careers and are where they are for good reasons.
Why not give Tyrone Marsh a go? Whilst we could still go down, we probably won't so why not try something different.

That is what I find most depressing about Mr. Wilder. He repeats himself. He buys journeymen who may still be hungry - but aren't very good.
It is a bit sad that we seem to be going backwards.

Look at the huge crowd behind Ryan in the photo above - surely we are more aspirational than this. Even if full that part of the "stadium" would hold about 20 - 30 fans! COYY lets get out of this little league and think big, back to the days of a full Manor heaving with fans or even our new place all 3 sides packed to the rafters week in week out. Actually that could be our motto at the moment

except

"weak in, weak out!!"

Will someone please do something. The club at the moment is like a leaky vessell drifting on the open sea going absolutely nowhere The manager is trying to keep it secret that that the ship is sinking to keep his job.The chairman has abandoned the ship all together it seems. Its time for someone to show some leadership. Wheather its the players,manager or chairmans fault we have to do better. At the moment it is just not good enough. On and off the pitch. So someone at the club please show some BALLS.

''The gamble paid off for wilder'' WHAT gamble? His team were losing to an ordinary (At best) outfit- so in DESPERATION he threw on the big lump
HOPING he would get him out of the mire- and guess what- wilder got LUCKY!
And he's so chuffed with himself, and he's putting another spin on things, Per usual- we drew AGAIN and it was two points lost, not one point gained.
It's laughable how the wool is being pulled over some peoples eyes, laughable and sad, the team are shockingly bad, the manager is keeping his job because the Chairman is keeping a low low profile and doing -what exactly? As far as we can see, nowt. Tuesday night's match against the mighty Stanley will, i have the feeling be another shocker for U's fans.

Big Yellow Taxi - (CW?) - I have missed you. Don't expect to be giving you that £30 - if Us end 7th or above this season - not your best call?