Southend United

[rhb]

Saturday sees us (Shrimpers) at The RAW Charging Stadium for the first time, on the back of 3 successive defeats, playing you guys that have conceded 7 in your last game. It just goes to show that there are no such things as easy games in this league. We will be desperate to pick up points to move away from the bottom places and probably you will be just as keen to get past last week.


So how do you think this game will unravel? Support wise, we will be coming mob handed with all 1200 tickets sold, so it should be a very lively crowd for the game.

[clive]

It's an interesting decision to allocate 1,200 tickets to Southend. On the few occasions segregation has been implemented this season I don't think more than 500 tickets were given to the visitors. City have probably decided to take the money, and also avoid visitors going into the home end ! Fair play to Southend for bringing so many.

It's hard to say how the game will go, but if City have to field the same XI that played against Daggers then they will get hammered again. Hopefully some of the missing 11 injured players will be back for tomorrow.

If we could have fielded our best XI all season we would be well clear of the danger zone, but having a small squad has taken its toll against full-time opposition with much bigger budgets.

Still, it is nice to be at this level for a season ( and hopefully more ), and enjoying whilst we can.

All being well, my usual match report will be posted late tomorrow evening

[rhb]

Multiple injuries can be the bane of clubs, especially the ones that are the movers and shapers for a team. We had our leading scorer and our midfield general out for some weeks and the gaps were very noticeable in the way the team performed. They're back now but, with new recruits being gelled into the team, we have lost the fluency of earlier in the season.

With all 1200 away tickets gone it would be daft of your club not to take the extra income. Good luck after tomorrow and I hope you survive the season and we survive the 3G pitch!

[clive]

I'm not sure how today's game ended goalless, and the result doesn't neither side any favours, and both will feel they should have won.

City remain 7 points from safety with games running out but have now kept a clean sheet in consecutive home games. AWB was denied by two top class saves, Ashby hit the bar, and two offside decisions were definitely questionable. On the otherwise, Southend had most of the play but didn't create too many chances. They did hit the bar, and debutant Watson made a couple of decent saves. He looks to be a good shot-shopper but I felt uneasy by his reluctance to come off his line to claim crosses, hence the number of scrambles to clear the ball in the 6 yard box, including the one where Josh Parker got kicked in the head.

The red card was obvious, these days you can't kick anyone in the head regardless of the circumstances or the lack of intent. It is now, rightly or wrongly, deemed to reckless and lacking due care and attention for the other players. The only question was should it have been a straight red

Attached is the usual report for anyone interested

fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/02/oxford-city-0-0-southend-united-att.html

[Rijs]

Great report as ever, Clive. Regarding the ref, I think all we want is some consistency, and a stop to blatant cheating.

[ChrisB]

Thanks for the report Clive: interesting and detailed as always. A good result after last week's mauling, but a few victories are definitely needed over the next few matches.

[viperswhip]

I am new here, normally I would just participate on youtube, but Oxford does not allow comments, which is strange, given the number of views I can't think they would have a hard time moderating it. In any case, I found these forums. I am greatly concerned, I can't seem to find any information on their wage budget, but I can't see us staying up this year given the strings of losses.

Let's get a win this weekend and try to head towards mid-table.

[clive]

Welcome to the forum viperswhip !

I don't see why clubs should disclose their wage bill, unless it is a statutory requirement when filing their annual accounts at Companies House. As far as I can tell from the myriad of legal entities involved in Oxford City, they all file accounts for small companies so do not need to disclose wage costs.

It has been stated that City have the lowest wage bill in the division, which makes sense as there is little point in bankrupting the club for some glory in the sun for a season or two ( lessons from the past have been learnt ). I think most would accept City are a small club, with the lowest average attendances in this league ( which are double last season ! ) and are punching well above their weight.

I have no idea how much the players are being paid, but we also reportedly had one of the lowest in National League South when we won promotion.........

I don't think many of the players are here for the money. Some have been with the club for a long time so are settled, some are local, others come as the club has a reputation for developing players to go on to a higher level ( which is why many clubs are happy to loan their youngsters to City ), and some want a just want a chance to rebuild their careers and be in the shop window.

[ChrisB]

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly Clive. It seems to be a well-known fact that City's budget is well below others in the division (most of whom, by all accounts, are full-timers) but I have never felt the slightest bit of interest in what the actual figure might be.

That City have reached the dizzy heights of Step One on that budget is a tremendous achievement, but, like you, I am very glad indeed that they haven't tried to throw money (that they haven't got) after trying to maintain that status. It may well be that the end of the season brings a return to Step Two, but that would hardly be the end of the world...football will continue at Marsh Lane.