I might be in the younger generation of football fans, but I've followed Oxford United for all my life, and like to think of myself as a real fan, not an armchair supporter who checks the league table once a month, but goes to a game whenever possible, and follows every moment possible. I've been with Oxford from the high's of my lifetime, such as winning the play-off final at Wembley in 2010, to the lows of spending the previous four season with cold Tuesday night trips to the Northern heights of Gateshead in the Conference or even the dizzy heights of almost causing a huge shock in the FA cup against Chelsea just before the turn of the Millenium, my first real footballing memory. The years I've spent following Oxford have taught me that football is more than just a game, it's a Religion.
In my very first season as a fan I had to suffer the worst fate possible to any football fan: relegation. I might not have fully understood as I do now but even at an age as young as I was I knew this was a bad time at the club, even though we took a 5-0 victory over Stockport County on the last day of the Division 1(Now the Championship) season we were relegated by 3 points. On the brighter side of the season; while the club was in financial turmoil, Tazmanian/Pakistani businessman Firoz Kassam bought the club for £1 and took on our £10m+ debts and recommenced the building of our new 12,500 seater stadium, which he in turn named the Kassam Stadium after himself.
in the '99/2000 season we had another abysmal year, though as I said earlier we almost pulled off the FA cup shock of the season against Chelsea, losing out to a late penalty at The Manor, we gained and lost the services of Joe Kinnear, David Kemp and Alan McLeary in the season, and only avoided relegation to Division 3(Now League 2) in the last week of the season.
The next season proved to be a sad end to an era for The Manor Ground as we were relegated from Division 2 to Division 3, where we remained, in and around the play offs until the '05/'06 season when we were again relegated to the Conference, a day where you just cannot help but cry. In these years in Division 3 we went through managers Ian Atkins, Graham Rix, Argentinian Ramon Diaz, Brian Talbot and the man who returned to the club to try and save the club from relegation Jim Smith.
We then spent our first year in the Conference looking favourites for an instant return to the football league until a poor run of form cost us the title, and then a penalties defeat to Exeter in the Play-Off Semi-Final ended our hopes of promotion. The next season started off badly, and Jim Smith was replaced by Darren Patterson who stayed for about a year when he was replaced by our current manager Chris Wilder. We put an incredible run together under Wilder but just missed out on the play-offs due to a 5 point deduction for fielding an ineligble player. But our talisman James Constable won the player of the season award and things were looking up for us. This was also the season that we smashed the Conference attendance record at a match against Woking, an atmosphere that really lit up the ground.
We ended the '09/'10 season in fine form, third in the Blue Square Premier table, drawing us against local rivals Rushden & Diamonds who we beat 3-1 on aggregate to qualify for the final. Walking down Wembley Way to watch, with over 33,000 other Oxford fans, us gain promotion after a 3-1 win over York City has to go down as my happiest moment in football. It was a day that I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Our first season back in the football league ended with us finishing five points outside the play-offs and we are now hunting for promotion to League 1. This season has also seen us re-united with our arch rivals Swindon Town who we beat 2-0 at their home ground in front of 12,113 fans, and have already sold out for the return fixture in March.
In these 12 years I've had of being an Oxford United fan I've shed tears of joy, and tears of dejection, but in all truth... I wouldn't swap it for the world.
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