We're all feeling the pain - Oxford United boss

9:40am Monday 19th November 2012 in U's News Photograph of the Author By David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

Chris Wilder looks on as his Oxford United side fall to defeat at Chesterfield on Saturday Chris Wilder looks on as his Oxford United side fall to defeat at Chesterfield on Saturday

CHRIS Wilder says he fully understands supporters being unhappy with Oxford United’s league position.

But the U’s manager stressed the players and staff were hurting just as badly.

United dropped to 18th place in npower League Two following a last-gasp 2-1 defeat at Chesterfield on Saturday – their tenth loss in 18 matches.

Johnny Mullins had put the visitors in front after 60 seconds, but the Spireites levelled in first half stoppage time and netted a 91st-minute winner.

United felt the officials, who also turned down two penalty appeals, played a part in both goals for the hosts.

But Wilder acknowledged results have not been good enough, something which was deeply felt by players and staff.

“I understand people won’t be happy with the league position and if they think we are then, they don’t really understand the mentality of the staff and the players,” he said.

“We are all committed 24/7. Go and ask my family what part Oxford United play in my life and how much focus and attention it takes up. “We give it everything and we’re coming up short at the moment. It’s not happened many times, but we are as a group.”

The United boss compared the season to keeping a series of spinning plates turning.

In addition to being on the receiving end of some questionable refereeing decisions, the squad’s problems with injuries resurfaced.

Top scorer Tom Craddock will be out for between three and six weeks with a rib problem, while fellow striker Deane Smalley is missing until the new year following an operation on his groin.

Wilder, who has to regroup his squad for tomorrow night’s trip to Barnet, said: “I do still think there are a hell of a lot of things going against us. “The last two games we’ve not got (penalty) decisions and they do play a part.

“People talk about making your own luck, but I think sometimes things go against you.

“It’s a big blow to lose a player like Tommy that’s bang in form and a partnership (with James Constable) that’s looking pretty decent.

“Deane Smalley’s had an operation and will be out until mid-January, these are things that are definitely going against us.”

He added: “It’s a continual spinning of plates, but we have to hang tough and dig in. “We certainly have to affect it pretty quickly.

“It’s been a mixed bag of performances in the last three games and the results say we’ve picked up one point from nine, which is not enough to get in touch with teams at the top.”

Comments(22)

adlibber says...
11:14am Mon 19 Nov 12

It is now impossible to take Wilder seriously. His rants are juvenile and frankly an embarrassment to the club and fans. Lenagan needs to offer fans an explanation of how he intends to deal with what is clearly becoming a crisis. Wilder cannot address the problems he has no idea what to do other than cross fingers. Attendances will drop further the longer this farce goes on. I've never known so many clichés to be used by any other manager. Wilder exudes more cheese than a Dairylea factory in full production. He really needs to go now as do several 'stars' in this very poor team.

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bigchet says...
1:07pm Mon 19 Nov 12

the anti cw posters on this site really need to take a reallity check. they are fully entitled to their views and ive no doubt that they are fully concerned as we all are about the way the season is going, but the plain fact is that the club is strapped for cash and could not afford to get rid of cw and bring in a new man even if they wanted to. the latest injury news makes grim reading and all we can do is get behind the players and staff and hope that we can ride out this difficult time.

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oldun says...
1:33pm Mon 19 Nov 12

18th in Div Four - silly me for being very, very disappointed . Strapped for cash!! - nearly all of the clubs in our division are strapped for cash (partic those who - despite not having to pay rent - exist on crowds of under 2500 ) The play offs are a lottery - will Mr Wilder take us into the top three at the end of the season? If you think he won't , then join the throng

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oldun says...
1:33pm Mon 19 Nov 12

18th in Div Four - silly me for being very, very disappointed . Strapped for cash!! - nearly all of the clubs in our division are strapped for cash (partic those who - despite not having to pay rent - exist on crowds of under 2500 ) The play offs are a lottery - will Mr Wilder take us into the top three at the end of the season? If you think he won't , then join the throng

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oldun says...
1:33pm Mon 19 Nov 12

18th in Div Four - silly me for being very, very disappointed . Strapped for cash!! - nearly all of the clubs in our division are strapped for cash (partic those who - despite not having to pay rent - exist on crowds of under 2500 ) The play offs are a lottery - will Mr Wilder take us into the top three at the end of the season? If you think he won't , then join the throng

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oldun says...
1:34pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Apologies for the triple posting - partic as I am just singing from the usual hymn sheet

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oldun says...
1:57pm Mon 19 Nov 12

"Go and ask my family what part Oxford United play in my life and how much focus and attention it takes up." - hopefully not the 24/7 he mentions (OK that's just a 'figure of speech" ) . I would hope that all managers of pro football clubs would be incredibly highly committed and focused and have no doubt that CW is more so than many

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RADIOFAN says...
2:29pm Mon 19 Nov 12

.I despair sometimes. I really do.Some Oxford fans seemed to have been brainwashed by radio commentators, local newspaper reporters.manager and players into thinking that this Oxford side are somehow just going to flick a switch and start flying up the table because they are that good but the truth is they are a midtable side at best. Oxford supporters deserves so much better. Injuries are just a excuse now. I mean apart from Craddock and i admit he is a big loss but i do not think there is anybody else who could come in and improve the team one little bit. I mean its not like we have a twenty five goal a season player or a free scoring midfielder to come back. We have a very unbalanced squad full of very average players. In all i would say we have about four players who could play at a higher level and that is all. The truth is we have a very average team in a very poor league and under the management of Chris Wilder going absolutely nowhere. So why are we waiting ?

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OxRoxBox says...
4:27pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Err everyone . . . look at the likes of West Brom at the moment? On a sensational run of form against all the odds surely? They could be, at best, described as a (generously suggested) mid table team with no particular stand out stars couldn't they?
The difference is Steve Clark has all the things missing in our beloved OUFC. Passion/motivation/c
oaching prowess and some luck with injuries. They have not got bucket loads of cash compared to the rest of the Prem

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adlibber says...
4:43pm Mon 19 Nov 12

bigchet wrote:
the anti cw posters on this site really need to take a reallity check. they are fully entitled to their views and ive no doubt that they are fully concerned as we all are about the way the season is going, but the plain fact is that the club is strapped for cash and could not afford to get rid of cw and bring in a new man even if they wanted to. the latest injury news makes grim reading and all we can do is get behind the players and staff and hope that we can ride out this difficult time.
So we should all put our heads in the sand and at the end of the season pop our heads up and see where are yes?

Cash is an excuse Port Vale were going under before being rescued yet they were still good enough to be in top 3. Wilder has no excuses he's had plenty of time to put things right- he's signed too many poor players and he is incapable of finding any consistency. Not getting rid of a manager because we can't afford to pay him off is on a par with gambling with the clubs future anyway. At worst we could be back in the conference and gates would plummet or we search lower leagues for someone doing well and take a punt-like we once did on Wilder. The worst thing we can do is nothing as it's clear Wilder is spent.

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Beau champ mummy says...
5:14pm Mon 19 Nov 12

adlibber wrote:
bigchet wrote:
the anti cw posters on this site really need to take a reallity check. they are fully entitled to their views and ive no doubt that they are fully concerned as we all are about the way the season is going, but the plain fact is that the club is strapped for cash and could not afford to get rid of cw and bring in a new man even if they wanted to. the latest injury news makes grim reading and all we can do is get behind the players and staff and hope that we can ride out this difficult time.
So we should all put our heads in the sand and at the end of the season pop our heads up and see where are yes?

Cash is an excuse Port Vale were going under before being rescued yet they were still good enough to be in top 3. Wilder has no excuses he's had plenty of time to put things right- he's signed too many poor players and he is incapable of finding any consistency. Not getting rid of a manager because we can't afford to pay him off is on a par with gambling with the clubs future anyway. At worst we could be back in the conference and gates would plummet or we search lower leagues for someone doing well and take a punt-like we once did on Wilder. The worst thing we can do is nothing as it's clear Wilder is spent.
Hear hear this is worst side I have ever known and I have seen a few

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AR Davis says...
6:16pm Mon 19 Nov 12

CW signed the players
CW plays the players in different positions
CW & Staff have not got a clue about how to defend a corner and God knows what else. Same old bloody excuses. CW needs to go NOW!!! THE FOOTBALL BEING PLAYED IS AWFUL, SENSELESS AND ****

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OxRoxBox says...
6:33pm Mon 19 Nov 12

AR Davis - no splinters in your backside sir or madam! Not one to sit on the fence and frankly I agree. There will be no splinters in anyone's backsides if this continues . . . seats will be emptier. The only positives will be the odd Cup tie against better teams with good support . . . this downward trend is a spiral like the water going down the plughole it is hard to stop and gets more and more powerful as we get sucked back down towards the Conference . . .........!

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learned says...
7:49pm Mon 19 Nov 12

what is the likelihood of us keeping Johnny Mullins...the best player of the season by a mile....Raynes is just awful !!

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OxRoxBox says...
9:17pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Oldun we need your opinion . . . you are the voice of reason?????

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The Wolf says...
8:40am Tue 20 Nov 12

OxRoxBox wrote:
Oldun we need your opinion . . . you are the voice of reason?????
You must be joking?!?!

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oldun says...
10:58am Tue 20 Nov 12

The Wolf wrote:
OxRoxBox wrote:
Oldun we need your opinion . . . you are the voice of reason?????
You must be joking?!?!
Absolutely - that would be worrying. Someone who keeps knocking on about 442 and not playing Heslop (partic on the wing) and who points out that 4 consec wind COULD lift us from 18th to 12th must not have his cage rattled. Old codger hasn't got a clue, Heslop great -433 great - CW doing brilliantly since Feb and superbly to take us to 3rd in the Conference. Oldun expects too much of his 'village club'

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OxRoxBox says...
11:07am Tue 20 Nov 12

Oldun - you are, as ever, the voice of true reason. I cannot, honestly, believe anyone disagrees with your pearls of wisdom . . . I agree!

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oldun says...
11:16am Tue 20 Nov 12

OxRoxBox wrote:
Oldun - you are, as ever, the voice of true reason. I cannot, honestly, believe anyone disagrees with your pearls of wisdom . . . I agree!
CW doing brilliantly taking this village club to the heady heights of 18th - thanks

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OxRoxBox says...
11:20am Tue 20 Nov 12

It could be 19th soon. I am currently sat next to a Plymouth season ticket holder at work - the depression in the air is worse than the weather outside here in Theale!

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oldun says...
11:38am Tue 20 Nov 12

OxRoxBox wrote:
It could be 19th soon. I am currently sat next to a Plymouth season ticket holder at work - the depression in the air is worse than the weather outside here in Theale!
Oggie oy. Oggie oy. Time they set Trelawney free. Orrrrrgyl - another non village club - long suffering fans

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OxRoxBox says...
11:55am Tue 20 Nov 12

To be honest Oldun he is a carrot cruncher Pasty munching Devonian but a great bloke and their perilous position is the same as ours.
They want their manager out too but he has only been in the role 5 mins unlike CW

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