Owls 0 - 2 Oxford 1st April 1991

[Miffed]

The last time we played Oxford in the league, 30 years ago and it was a game to remember for all the wrong reasons.  Looking at the results that season,  this game was the middle of 3 straight defeats. (Wolves (A) 3-2 loss, Oxford (H) 2-0 loss, and Portsmouth (A) 2-0 loss)

 

I dont remember much of the game itself, except for King Sheridan infamously missing a penalty and a small section of the Kop starting to turn on him. It seems like the team itself was on a bit of a slump overall but it would be John who would take the brunt of the supporters frustrations.  (I also vaguely remember Sheridan sticking two fingers up to the section of the Kop during one game, couldnt tell you which but my memory thinks it was a night game? Anyone remember?)

Luckily for us he was able to take it in his stride and his name would go down in folklore just 3 weeks later at Wembley, bringing back the only major silverware to Sheffield in the past 30 years.

Ive also seen it mentioned before that some people try to claim it never happened.....

 

 

 

We do seem to have a pretty self destructive section of our fanbase at times, one that doesnt seem to learn from our history. Some of which seems to resonates true recently

 

What are everyone else's memories of this game and that drop in form? Did the players have their minds elsewhere?

 

 

 

[mcmigo]

Proves that booing works.

 

he was messing about playing badly. Booed him until I was blue in the face in that match, he upped his game and won us the cup. Who knows what would have happened had good, sensible fans not given him the booing he needed.

 

 

[Pieman]

Brilliant post  
 

People are fixated on mistakes. They can’t wait to pick up on the slightest error, in some bizarre God like belief that they never make mistakes. ‘I mean if all I did all day was play football, I’d be able to ping the perfect cross onto the centre halves forehead, every corner and we’d win 10-0 every week’… 
 

Over time, people then start to see a players attributes in the wider context and the role that they play within the team. As an example, Fox or Palmer are not the best fullbacks going forward and often make make errant passes. However, when they are part of a back four, we somehow seem to be more solid, which is more intangible than the 6 passes into touch. We therefore learn to live with the individual errors, realising the team is better walking off with a clean sheet and a 1-0 win, than Palmer being able to pass to a team mate. The heat goes away and the errors are met with an acceptance as opposed to vitriol and dogs abuse. Of course, when we don’t win 1-0, people will return to the stray passes and rightly so. This summarises the love hate relationship we have with Palmer. He’s good when we’re winning, shocking when we’re not - even though his individual performances seldom fluctuate that much. He’s being judged through the team lense first, individual second. For new players, it’s the other way round.

 

The question I have never understood about Wednesdayites, is why we do not give players the necessary time to bed in. A new team, a new club, a new manager, new colleagues, new style of play, etc. Players need time to build understanding and confidence. For some, that can take up to a year. I’m not saying they get a free pass (see what I did there) for that long, but for Christ’s sake, we need to be more patient than we are at times… Now we are back to having to develop and improve our own players, as opposed to buying the finished article, the crowd does play a part in how quickly players perform optimally. Confidence is huge in elite sport.

[Daniele Giovanni]

1 hour ago, Miffed said:

The last time we played Oxford in the league, 30 years ago and it was a game to remember for all the wrong reasons.  Looking at the results that season,  this game was the middle of 3 straight defeats. (Wolves (A) 3-2 loss, Oxford (H) 2-0 loss, and Portsmouth (A) 2-0 loss)

 

I dont remember much of the game itself, except for King Sheridan infamously missing a penalty and a small section of the Kop starting to turn on him. It seems like the team itself was on a bit of a slump overall but it would be John who would take the brunt of the supporters frustrations.  (I also vaguely remember Sheridan sticking two fingers up to the section of the Kop during one game, couldnt tell you which but my memory thinks it was a night game? Anyone remember?)

Luckily for us he was able to take it in his stride and his name would go down in folklore just 3 weeks later at Wembley, bringing back the only major silverware to Sheffield in the past 30 years.

Ive also seen it mentioned before that some people try to claim it never happened.....

 

 

 

We do seem to have a pretty self destructive section of our fanbase at times, one that doesnt seem to learn from our history. Some of which seems to resonates true recently

 

What are everyone else's memories of this game and that drop in form? Did the players have their minds elsewhere?

 

 

 

They will all be 50 +years old those fans, they have kids too, would not expect them to be any better than their own fathers, like father like son (only worse) 

[matthefish2002]

That game its over 30 years ago now and I do remember him being booed but as I remember it it wasn't more then a few hundred people.

I agree they shouldn't have booed him but it was down to frustration that we were going to lose key game at Easter after the season promised so much.

Didn't happen after he missed the pen it was after Sheridan misplaced a pass late on that lead to Oxfords second goal.

[sherlyegg]

I went to Oxford for the cup game yonks ago.

Wednesdayites were reyt angry mad and it weren't pretty, causing bother all over the town.

Maxwell increased admission prices 5 fold if I remember right...cos he knew 1000's of Wednesdayites were going...think it was £2.50 . He got slated in the press for doing so. We won 3-0, think Tynan got a couple.

Prob the worse I've seen us behave in a no competition regards fans..mid late 70's i think.

 

[OxfordOwl]

I remember going to the FA cup game in 1984. They (OUFC)were on a good run at the time, WIlkinson's boys roll into town and won 3-0! It was a tidy little ground the Manor (much better than the three sided shed that is the Kassam) -I was not an OxfordOwl then merely a WorksopOwl; little did I know Oxford would would be my home for 30 years.

Edited October 1, 2021 by OxfordOwl

[OxonOwl]

7 minutes ago, sherlyegg said:

I went to Oxford for the cup game yonks ago.

Wednesdayites were reyt angry mad and it weren't pretty, causing bother all over the town.

Maxwell increased admission prices 5 fold if I remember right...cos he knew 1000's of Wednesdayites were going...think it was £2.50 . He got slated in the press for doing so. We won 3-0, think Tynan got a couple.

Prob the worse I've seen us behave in a no competition regards fans..mid late 70's i think.

 

 

 

Must have been a bit later. Maxwell didn't get involved with OUFC until the early 80's

 

 

[New Maple Staple]

I was at that game and for my sins, I did boo (briefly). He had a shocker of a game.

 

Can you imagine these days, booing the quality of John Sheridan compared to some of the players who have not been able to fill his boots since.

 

Agree with a previous post, I think it is accepted to boo in the moment but then give them a clean slate the next game or if they do something that redeems themselves. Sheridan showed his character and class by taking it on the chin, stepping up and doing something about it so it didn't happen again. A lot of modern players and people in general today don't have that strength like they use to.

 

Bouncebackability !!

[fredmciverslovechild]

Used to be one of our bogey teams in the 70's, as I remember. At Hillsborough it would always be 0-0 or 0-1 and at their place they'd always score in the last minute.

 

Was quite a novelty when we went there in 1980 when we were on that long unbeaten run and they dominated possession but we won 2-0. Knew from then on we were going up!

[OxonOwl]

2 minutes ago, OxfordOwl said:

I remember going to the FA cup game in 1984. They (OUFC)were on a good run at the time, WIlkinson's boys roll into town and won 3-0! It was a tidy little ground the Manor (much better than the three sided shed that is the Kassam) -I was not an OxfordOwl then merely a WorksopOwl; little did I know Oxford would would be my home for 30 years.

 

 

Yeah, I went to that one. I went in the home end and to get the ticket I had to get tokens from attending some other Oxford home games.

 

I remember one game was against Orient I think and it was raining and I was in the ground at half one with my token clutched in my hand.

 

Sod it I thought and I went home and watched the rugby.

 

Earliest I have ever left any footbal match. 90 minutes before kickoff

 

 

[Beard]

I remember this, as when it happened (the booing) I angrily turned round and started sticking the rods up. Not at anyone in particular just in the general direction of where they were coming from because I couldn't believe what I was hearing and it wound me right up. Anyway at the final whistle out of nowhere two big pillocks appear threatening to kick my head in for sticking them the rods. Alot of shouting followed, them accusing me, me saying I didn't etc etc. Then they just buggered off. I'll never forget nor understand it.

[sage owl]

1 hour ago, Daniele Giovanni said:

They will all be 50 +years old those fans, they have kids too, would not expect them to be any better than their own fathers, like father like son (only worse) 

Probably the same morons that are are on Bannans case.

[hirstys_achilles]

1 hour ago, Pieman said:

Brilliant post  
 

People are fixated on mistakes. They can’t wait to pick up on the slightest error, in some bizarre God like belief that they never make mistakes. ‘I mean if all I did all day was play football, I’d be able to ping the perfect cross onto the centre halves forehead, every corner and we’d win 10-0 every week’… 
 

Over time, people then start to see a players attributes in the wider context and the role that they play within the team. As an example, Fox or Palmer are not the best fullbacks going forward and often make make errant passes. However, when they are part of a back four, we somehow seem to be more solid, which is more intangible than the 6 passes into touch. We therefore learn to live with the individual errors, realising the team is better walking off with a clean sheet and a 1-0 win, than Palmer being able to pass to a team mate. The heat goes away and the errors are met with an acceptance as opposed to vitriol and dogs abuse. Of course, when we don’t win 1-0, people will return to the stray passes and rightly so. This summarises the love hate relationship we have with Palmer. He’s good when we’re winning, shocking when we’re not - even though his individual performances seldom fluctuate that much. He’s being judged through the team lense first, individual second. For new players, it’s the other way round.

 

The question I have never understood about Wednesdayites, is why we do not give players the necessary time to bed in. A new team, a new club, a new manager, new colleagues, new style of play, etc. Players need time to build understanding and confidence. For some, that can take up to a year. I’m not saying they get a free pass (see what I did there) for that long, but for Christ’s sake, we need to be more patient than we are at times… Now we are back to having to develop and improve our own players, as opposed to buying the finished article, the crowd does play a part in how quickly players perform optimally. Confidence is huge in elite sport.

This is the strange thing that I see at Hillsborough. Some players are never given the chance to settle in. Other players are immune to the crowd getting on their backs. 

Perfect example is Laurie madden. He was absolutely useless for the first season at Wednesday. He looked slow rubbish at heading positional sense poor. Really nothing was going for him to be in the team. Over time he was given to settle down and improve. He turned out to be an excellent defender and very under appreciated by the opposition at how good he was at defending. 

Andy sinton was never given the treatment from the fans for his total failure at Hillsborough. Despite the huge amount of money we spent on him. 

It seems to me that if a player is brave enough to have a try at the things he not really suited for he will be given hell for it. But if the player does the only thing that he knows to do even if it is bad. They will get away with the bad things from the supporters. 

Another example. Is Fox. He played better than reach virtually every single game. Yet fox was vilified for trying. Reach was just accepted as a anomaly that has ability but not any consistency. 

[FreshOwl]

3 hours ago, Miffed said:

 

We do seem to have a pretty self destructive section of our fanbase at times, one that doesnt seem to learn from our history. Some of which seems to resonates true recently

 

Self destructive fan base all fans at every club do the same.
 

I never understand this notion that Wednesday fans are far worse than others 

[hirstys_achilles]

Oxford are definitely a bogey team for us. They will be rubbish in every game until playing us. Then everyone has a unbelievable game and we are left scratching our head wondering why we were so unable to play as we normally do 

 

[hirstys_achilles]

2 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

Self destructive fan base all fans at every club do the same.
 

I never understand this notion that Wednesday fans are far worse than others 

We are with the most impatient fans for all the reasons why we on the 3rd division atm

[FreshOwl]

7 minutes ago, hirstys_achilles said:

We are with the most impatient fans for all the reasons why we on the 3rd division atm

Eh?

[bradowl]

20 minutes ago, hirstys_achilles said:

Oxford are definitely a bogey team for us. They will be rubbish in every game until playing us. Then everyone has a unbelievable game and we are left scratching our head wondering why we were so unable to play as we normally do 

 

Oxford aren't on same level as Shrewsbury being a bogey team, we did double over them in 85-86 season and following season we beat them 6-1 at home. 

 

It was more in 1970s when they kept beating us 1-0. 

[Dollydaydream]

1 hour ago, hirstys_achilles said:

We are with the most impatient fans for all the reasons why we on the 3rd division atm

Can this come with subtitles