Educating Oxford [Warning: Grown-Up Language]

[Chasing Lamely]

The sun was beginning to set on a glorious July afternoon as I looked across a stadium that had always brought out mixed feelings in me; as an Oxford-born Swindon fan, The Kassam was a ground I knew all too well. It was the home of the enemy and a frustrating bogey ground for us, but it was also somewhere I’d spent a lot of my youth; I’d often been here – and to the Manor - to play in county cup finals as a junior, I’d been a ball boy, and I’d been a steward in my younger days. In my early twenties, I’d decided to take my coaching licenses and started to build experience in the backroom staff at a few decent clubs, though primarily at Reading. But then the Oxford job had come up and I’d taken the advice of my old manager and mentor, Brian McDermott - “You should go for that, son” – so I did. And after an afternoon meeting with the chairman, Ian Lenagan, I’d been offered and accepted the job.

I was under no illusions as to why the offer had come my way. I knew this club far too well to have any illusions that it was anything other than simple mathematics: the club was broke, I was cheap and Brian had called to personally recommend me. I was the obvious choice.

I had never rated my predecessor, Chris Wilder, and now that I’d filled his shoes I could see that I was more right than I could have imagined. For a club with a limited budget, the distribution of resources as terrifyingly bad; we had Dave Kitson, undoubtedly too good for this level, taking up a massive proportion of our wage budget that I could’ve spent on two adequate strikers. In James Constable we had a striker who, though a hero at this club, was realistically never going to be able to play higher than League Two. I was lacking cover in key positions, such as at full-back. And I had a surplus of players who, simply put, were never going to be good enough to take this club beyond, at best, a lucky run to the play-offs.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lenagan had higher expectations than that. He wanted promotion, by any means necessary... as long as those means didn’t involve spending money. He also wanted me to develop players from our own youth team, an ambition I found particularly laughable considering the club’s consistent failures to take advantage of the youth system. Players like Sam Ricketts and Chris Hackett had gone on to decent careers in the top two divisions, but the club had failed to make any money on them. Worse still, local-born youngsters like Dexter Blackstock, Matty Taylor and Josh McEachran had gone on to play Premier League football without the club even noticing them. Even local non-league stars had escaped the club; Stuart Beavon, now at Preston, had cut his teeth at Wallingford and Didcot Town.

The most frustrating thing about this situation, though perhaps the one that excited me the most, was that this club genuinely had the potential to be one of the biggest clubs in the country. For the Us to be anywhere below the Championship is a travesty. For the last thirty years, this club had been known for only two things: winning the 1986 League Cup... and being a pub quiz answer to ‘who beat Manchester United in Alex Ferguson’s first game in charge?’

I may not be an Oxford fan, but even as a Swindon loyalist I knew that this club deserved better. And I was determined to be the man who brought success to this club.

[Chasing Lamely]

My first day in charge of the club was always going to set the tone for the rest of the summer break; I knew that I was going to have to do some major rebuilding work to get this team performing anywhere near my own expectations, let alone those of the board. I knew all too well that to get this team playing in the manner I expected, I was going to have to work hard to find the players that fit the bill... and to get those players, I was going to have to try and move some of the present squad on.

As I stood next to my assistant, long-time club stalwart Mickey Lewis, it very quickly became clear who represented ‘dead weight’ in the squad. “Mickey,” I said, turning to my assistant as we left the training ground, “Marsh, Smalley, Whing, Newey, Clarke, Raynes and Davies? Get rid of them.”

“Clarkey’s our best keeper, boss!”

“Max will be better soon enough. Let’s make the money whilst we can.”

I think, at that moment, Mickey became the first to realise that I wasn’t messing around. I was smart enough to realise that we’d be lucky to get anyone to actually pay money for anyone but Clarke and Whing, but freeing up six grand on the wage budget would give me the chance to bring in some decent youngsters that I could use to take the club forward.

The following morning, I came into the office and my first question was simple: “Where’s Mickey?” – I had to ask that question to about a dozen people before I discovered that my assistant had called the chairman the night before to resign because, and I quote, “the new gaffer is mental and I can’t watch him take us down.”

Well, so much for keeping him around. Bon voyage, Mickey! Besides, it gave me an opportunity to bring in my own man, and I knew that I could solve two of my problems in one go. I needed a new assistant, that was a granted, but I also needed a goalkeeper that would step aside when it became Max’s time to be my number one keeper. I placed a call to former England ‘keeper David James, who told me he’d ‘think about it.’ I was positive that he’d make the right decision.

The week that followed proved a frustrating one on the transfer front. The players I’d listed, it seemed, were so bad that even the ones I expected to be easy to offload were proving difficult; Cardiff showed a surprise interest in Ryan Clarke, but weren’t willing to pay the £75k asking price for him. I went back to them and offered him at fifty in the hopes that they’d take him off my hands. Meanwhile, Michael Raynes was attracting interest from the SPL. I was deeply hopeful that he’d decide to accept one of the offers we’d received from Partick or St. Mirren. Meanwhile, we had a slew of loan offers for young Kiwi goalkeeper Max Crocombe. Even though I’d hoped to develop him at the club, I realised that it couldn’t hurt for the youngster to spend a year in the Conference and accepted offers for him from Alfreton, Dartford and Nuneaton, who all promised him regular first-team football. Besides, barring serious injuries, David James’ arrival should leave me secure at the back. I just hoped he’d finally come back to me and say yes.

I was also happy to receive and accept an offer of just shy of £200k for Michael Raynes from St. Mirren and was more than happy to accept loan offers from various clubs for young defender Sam Long, who I knew had the potential (with the right experience) to be a top defender for the club in the future.

At the end of the week, I was hit by an early disappointment – as I prepared for the first friendly of the close season at Thame United, I got a call from David James telling me he’d decided to accept an offer to play for Rotherham. It seems he was more interested in the vast financial package they could offer him than developing his career.

It was only a glancing blow, though, and I’d managed to bring in Czech legend Tomas Repka on a week’s trial. Aside from everything else, my little fire sale was going to leave us in need of new defenders, and I wanted to add some experience at the back. I also made an approach for former Portsmouth and Newcastle full-back Andy Griffin to give my side a natural leader. But I still needed reinforcements and asked my scouting team to look for defensive options for us.

My Saturday rounded off nicely with a 5-2 victory at Meadow View Park, with loanee Nicky Wroe making an impact by scoring twice. Also, Michael Raynes completed his move to St. Mirren for ~£90k, a cracking price for an average player.

[Chasing Lamely]

Week two on the job, and I finally solved my assistant manager dilemma with the quick-fire hiring of Michel Billong; his application was unexpected, but very impressive. Although he lacks experience in English football – a single season at MK Dons as a player – I think he’s going to be an excellent asset in my backroom team. Meanwhile, Wolves came in with an attempt to poach my under 18s’ goalkeeping coach, but I decided the compensation money (£16k) was more useful to me than the coach himself, so I’m happy to let him leave if he so chooses.

Unfortunately, there was also a minor setback to my plans; it seems that in buying Michael Raynes, St. Mirren at left themselves unable to afford Andy Whing. It looked like I’d going to have to sell him for a cut price. Disappointing, but not surprising. To make matters worse, I still hadn’t found my goalkeeper for the season. I really had no desire to use Ryan Clarke, and Max Crocombe was on the way to Nuneaton on loan. Meanwhile, Sam Long made his long-awaited loan move to Macclesfield.

By midweek, things finally seemed to be shaking out. Des had decided not to join Wolves, I still couldn’t give Clarkey away (literally, I tried) and trying to sell Andy Whing was proving to be impossible. Luckily, it looked like Deane Smalley might finally be going, even if it was on a free.

My first addition to the playing staff was one for the future; 17-year-old Ismail H’Maidat, a Dutch winger recently released by Crystal Palace. His speed should make him an excellent weapon from the bench to start with, and he has the potential to become a top-class player. Another prospect for the future, 18-year-old left-back David Lynn, left us to join Sutton United on loan for the season.

Late in the week, we were lucky to have Aberdeen and Hibs come in for Andy Whing. He’d hopefully be on his way to Scotland by the weekend. In further transfer news, we missed out on Andy Griffin, and Deane Smalley’s move to Mansfield was complete.

As the weekend approached, I brought in a flurry of new faces. David Cornell came in on loan from Swansea and he was to be joined by Alan Martin; my goalkeeping crisis now took a different form: I had two top keepers to go with the one I couldn’t get rid of!

Goalkeepers aside, my shopping spree brought me a slew of trialists and a number of new youngsters... Ryan Doble rejoined the club after his release from Shrewsbury, having previously been loaned to the club from Southampton a couple of years before. Eddy Gnahore, the former Birmingham and Man City defensive midfielder, came in. Right-back Sadik El-Fitouri, also ex-Man City, joined them. I also picked up Robbie Gibbons, an Irish U21 midfielder recently released by Scunthorpe, and David Goldsmith, a Welsh striker released by West Brom. Ex-Liverpool winger Sam Gainford, former Liverpool right-back Emmanuel Mendy and former Cardiff midfielder Ibrahim Farah. QPR centre-half Max Ehmer also joined on loan for the season and former Doncaster centre-half Shelton Martis also joined the first team ranks.

On Saturday morning, Andy Whing joined Aberdeen for £150k. The perfect start to the day of my first real pre-season test: Oxford City away.

I decided to name an experimental line-up for the City game; Alan Martin would start in goal. At the back, Emmanuel Mendy would start at right-back with trialist Sylvain Monsoreau on the left. Jake Wright and Shelton Martis would start at centre-back. In midfield, Sam Gainford got the nod on the right, Sean Rigg takes the left and Robbie Gibbons lined up next to trialist Ante Tomic. David Goldsmith and Ryan Doble would be my all-Welsh front two. It wasn’t the strongest team I had available by any means, but it should have been enough to overcome our city rivals from two divisions below us.

When their line-up came in before kick-off, I knew I’d made the right selection. Obviously, there were some talents I knew; Darren Pond can be dangerous in midfield and Michael Pook was an outstanding Swindon youth team product a few years ago. The ex-United trio of Declan Benjamin, Chris Willmott and Steve Basham seemed destined to haunt us, too.

Our first half performance was a little disappointing, as we trudged back into the dressing room with the scoreline at 0-0. I could feel the fans’ frustration – they expected us to run up a cricket score – but my disappointment was more technical than that; I was looking for a very particular performance. A win? Sure, that’d be nice. But I was mostly interested in teaching my players to keep the ball at their feet, to pass to each other, to retain possession. And they weren’t doing a terribly good job of that in the first half. We were looking vulnerable all over the park, and giving the ball away too easily. I gave them a gentle bollocking, explained what I wanted again, and sent them out to try again. I also made a couple of subs: Kitson on for Doble and Farah replaced Gibbons. Neither change was tactical, just replacing two tired-looking players.

The second half saw a slight improvement in many respects; the team finally looked like embracing my short-passing, possession-based philosophy, even if we’re struggling to regain lost possession. But I had good reasons to be hopeful. This team is young, developing and has time to embrace my tactical style. Interestingly, the game finished 1-0 – an injury time winner from Dave Kitson – despite the fact that we finished the game playing a 2-1-4-1-2 formation. Why this ‘inspired’ formation? I made the mistake of only naming two defenders on the subs bench! It worked though, so clearly I’m a genius. Clearly.

To wrap up my week, I completed one more signing: US international right-back Frank Simek on a free transfer.

[Chasing Lamely]

“Are you ****ing mental?” were the first words I heard when I arrived in my office on Monday morning. It was one of the interchangeable Lenagans – there are about 75 of them on the board – and I knew exactly what it was about.

“The wage bill?” I asked.

“That and the half million new signings, yes. What are you playing at?”

“Nothing. We both wanted young players in the first team, I’m trying to get rid of some dead wood. I decided to gamble on being able to get rid of them before we get bent over by the fair play people.”

“You’d best be right then. Be a shame to have to fire you before the first league game.”

He walked off. I was fuming. How dare he question my judgement? ****. Still, I’d best get rid of Clarkey pretty sharpish. I listed Constable, too. Fifteen hundred quid a week is a lot of money to pay for a Conference striker. Especially when you’re in League Two. Early indications were that Ross County might take him. I didn’t much care – I had to cut weight, and wherever he ended up was find with me.

Still, if the Lenagans thought my rebuild would be finished by their little message, they were mistaken. I added Jamey Osborne, a 21-year-old central midfielder, on a free from Hednesford. My scouts seem pretty convinced he’s going to be a Championship player one day, though. One of my major frustrations with the board is their short-sightedness. Yes, I’m signing a lot of players, but there’s a common thread among them: they’re all young, and they’re all potentially good enough for the top two divisions. Short-term losses will lead to long-term profits. Surely any competent businessman knows that?

That said, this club is broke... so maybe I’m not working for the smartest businessmen! Unsurprisingly, my lunch was interrupted by one of the Lenagans calling me with the simple words “Which part of ‘the wage bill is too high’ confuses you? We need to lose four grand a week. Now.”

Four grand? Two hundred grand a year. ****. I listed club captain Jake Wright, and hoped someone would want him. And that the board would be happy with a mid-table finish. I also decided to see if any of the young talent I needed to develop might find suitors for loan moves. If I could give the impression of solvency for long enough, maybe the northern mafia would leave me alone for a while. The phone rang again.

“I know, cut the wage bill. Message received.” I shouted, assuming it was a Lenagan. It wasn’t. It was Des Buckingham – having turned down the job at Wolves last week, he was calling to tell me he was joining Burnley. Luckily, that meant they owed us compensation, and I wasted no time in transferring it to offset the wage bill a little. I signed another six players, turned off my phone and decided to have a nap. I knew what I was doing, and anyone who says otherwise is a fool.

When I woke up, I ha a short-term solution to some of the money problems. I released Tom Newey, David Hunt and Scott Davies, and saved about three grand in the process. Only four to go.

Wait, wasn’t that figure four grand earlier, before I released those players? ****, I’ve gotta stop signing players. As I was thinking about that problem, I signed two more players. One of whom, Mark Randall, might just turn out to be my best signing of the season; the talismanic midfielder had only led Chesterfield to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy a couple of years before.

On the positive side, my workday ended by receiving an offer of £250k from Partick for Jake Wright (bye!) and loan offers for Tyrone Marsh. He looked like he was going to be dropping a division or two to learn his trade and hopefully learn where the goal is.

Tuesday morning, St. Mirren called to tell me they weren’t interested in Jake Wright. ‘You couldn’t afford him’ I told them. They seemed upset, but that’s what you get when you mess me around. I’d already signed three more players before I even got to the office that day, which I guess means I must’ve been optimistic of selling Jake ahead of the day’s game at Kidderminster. I don’t care what the northern mafia says: my young players are going to lead this club to glory. I’d stake my reputation on it.

I spent most of the coach journey to Kidderminster fielding calls asking about Callum O’Dowda on loan. He’s one of the best prospects in our youth team, but he’s not going to feature much in the first team this year, so I’m happy to let him pick his own destination.

As kick-off approached, I made the final decision on the line-up to face Kidderminster:

Dean Santangelo, an Iranian goalkeeper picked up following his summer release from Man Utd, would start in goal. At the back, Simek starts on the right, Robin Dempsey, a former Aston Villa youth teamer, starts on the left. Danny Devine, signed on a free following his release from Villa, would partner trialist Jonathan Quartey – a Ghanaian international released by Nice – in the centre. The midfield saw Fulham loanee Ryan Williams start on the right, Ismail H’Maidat on the left and trialist Oliver Risser, the former Swindon captain, in the centre alongside Preston loanee Nicky Wroe. New signing Nicholas Bignall, formerly of Reading, started alongside ex-Hull, Wigan and Ireland striker Caleb Folan, who I’d brought in on trial.

I reiterated my instructions from the City game – I wanted them to keep possession, work on short passes, work the ball into space and into the box. I’d seen a lot of bitching about my supposedly ‘boring’ football from fans in the local press and on the internet, but I knew they just didn’t understand – I’m trying to teach my players to play a continental style. The Barcelona way, the Arsenal way, the Liverpool way. Teach them to play like the best and they’ll win like the best. Who cares if you have to grind out a lot of 1-0 wins? Slow and steady will win this race.

Our first half performance was incredibly encouraging; we came in at the break with a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals from Nicholas Bignall and Nicky Wroe and we were playing the kind of football I was looking for, even if we still didn’t have quite as much of the possession as I’d like, and a few too many passing were going astray. That said, you have to look at the positives – Kidderminster are on a similar level to us in terms of quality of league and I’d fielded a team of youngsters and trialists, so we were nowhere near full strength. One of the great benefits we were gaining from the style of football I was trying to get the boys playing was that it masks weaknesses, because we’re constantly moving the ball and keeping possession, and that it was building the young players’ confidence. They were seeing so much of the ball that it was hard for them not to believe in their potential.

Kidderminster came out strongly in the second half, completely dominating the early position and I was beginning to wonder what was happening to my side. We managed two early shots on target, but both came from panicky clearances upfield, and that’s not the way I want us to play. All sense of calm, measure and rationale in our performance was disappearing. I threw on five subs in the hope of shaking things up a little and inspiring more focus from my team. Bignall got his second shortly thereafter to vindicate my changes, and Marshy, on as a sub, banged in number four on 89 minutes.

As the final whistle blew on the 4-0 win, my first instinct was to gloat at the United fans who’d criticized my methods for being ‘boring;’ luckily, I thought better of it and went into the dressing room to praise the boys. If we could beat a decent conference side like Kidderminster 4-0 on their own patch – with a weakened team, no less - we were in good shape for the coming season. And if Nicholas Bignall could play like that all year, we might even have a shot at the play-offs. That’d shut the Lenagans up. I was half-tempted to ring them and rub this in their face, but I could never remember which one was which, so I might end up calling one of the ones who hadn’t been a ****** yet this week.

On Wednesday morning, I decided to make a few changes to the way things were around the club. I named Frank Simek as my new captain and Shelton Martis as his number two. The decision proved wise, as it was swiftly followed by Jake Wright, the deposed captain, yelling expletives in my face and announcing he was joining Partick. Imagine my disappointment at having an extra quarter of a million quid in the bank and losing such a professional! The fans weren’t happy to see him go, but I didn’t see any of them volunteering quarter of a million quid to keep him here.

By Saturday, the wage bill was starting to slim down; aside from Wright’s departure, we’d had a multitude of loan and permanent offers for Tyrone Marsh as well as offloading O’Dowda, Josh Ashby and Aiden Hawtin on loans to Ebbsfleet, Dorchester and Bognor respectively. I was also waiting for Alfie Potter to decide whether he was interested in taking a £275k move to Kilmarnock. I hoped he was; not only could we use the money, but he was a good lad who, unfortunately, didn’t have any place in my plans this season. I couldn’t justify keeping him around as an impact sub, especially as one of the highest-paid players at the club.

We played a friendly away at Didcot Town that afternoon, and it was yet another opportunity to hammer home my belief system. The starting line-up was as follows:

Alan Martin; Frank Simek, Max Ehmer, Immanuel Parry, Shelton Martis; Sam Gainford, Sean Rigg, Jamey Osbourne, Robbie Gibbons; Ryan Doble, David Goldsmith.

We played out the first half with nothing short of immaculate discipline; my ‘keep ball’ philosophy led to us having almost two-thirds of the possession and completing around 80% of our passes, so I couldn’t have too many complaints. The team came in for the break with the score still at 0-0, but we’d had the only clear-cut chance and we were dominating the game in every way. The only downside was an injury to Jamey, but it gave me the perfect excuse to launch Mark Randall into battle for the first time.

The opening goal came just 49 seconds after the restart, with David Goldsmith getting his name on the scoresheet after some well-worked passes put him free and clear in the eighteen yard box. Sean Rigg would follow up in the 61st minute to put us free and clear with a 2-0 lead. As our third goal – Goldsmith’s second – rippled the net, you could almost feel the confidence from the players. I knew they were ready for the season ahead. Goldsmith completed his hat-trick after 81 minutes and our second 4-0 win of the week was in the bag... or so I thought. Victor Budyanskiy, one of our trialists, came off the bench and put away our fifth goal. Was my style of football still boring? 5-0 says no. And with 60% possession and 83% pass completion, we were still doing it my way.

Now we had nine days’ rest before our final friendly at home to Wolves, the biggest test of my team yet.

[Panpardus]

Ripping start, will be following along.

[Chasing Lamely]

Thanks for coming along Panpardus, hopefully there are big things to come!

The following week was dominated by training and transfer activity; the players worked on a fitness heavy regime to get them ready for the season ahead, and Alfie Potter made his £275k move to Kilmarnock. Joining him on the exit list, Sam Humphreys joined Weymouth on loan, James Roberts was loaned to Bury Town and Tyrone Marsh moved to Motherwell for £40k. Otherwise, it was a pretty slow week; Ross County came in with a club record £155k bid for James Constable and it was more than enough to persuade me to part with him. Nine days flew by... and now Wolves were coming to the Kassam.

On the morning of the big match, Constable’s move to Scotland was completed – who said the Scots were tight? I’ve had 953,000 Scottish Pounds for six players, so far – and I was feeling good until the fans started to arrive. Apparently “Beano” is something of an icon to Oxford fans. Nice to know standards are so low.

For the first time in pre-season, I decided to name a full-strength side for the match. On-loan Swansea keeper David Cornell got the nod between the sticks. Frank Simek started at right-back, on-loan Bolton left-back Andy Kellett took the other flank. Max Ehmer and Shelton Martis started at centre-half. In midfield, Aussie U21 international Ryan Williams starts on the right, Ismail H’Maidat takes the left and Nicky Wroe and Mark Randall start in the centre. Dave Kitson and Nicholas Bignall are up front.

Wolves named a full-strength side, but they’re strongest down the left with O’Hara and Golbourne both likely to try and get forward. I’d be looking for Frankie Simek to shut them both down and hopefully unleash Ryan for counters. That said, if my ‘keep ball’ methodology continued to hold firm, they might not even get a chance to attack us.

The first half really vindicated what I was trying to achieve. We dominated possession for large periods of the half, won almost every tackle and header we went in for and our passes were finding their targets the vast majority of the time. And, to top it all off, we managed to come in at half-time with a 1-0 lead! Dave Kitson turned in a through ball from Mark Randall to send the Oxford Mail stand into raptures!

My team talk was pretty simple: keep it up. If we could maintain our lead and keep the bigger club on the ropes for another 45 minutes, we’d be sending out a loud and clear message to our League 2 rivals this season. It might be ‘just a friendly’ but I knew that a victory here would put the rest of the league on notice – not a bad thing with the season opener at Portsmouth just five days away!

Things went downhill in the second half; I decided to give some subs a run-out and my team collapsed almost immediately. Wolves got a 66th minute equalizer and we had a perfectly good winner disallowed, and the performance of the replacements was pretty abysmal all round. That strong statement I’d hoped to make going into the season became more of an idle threat. I was angry after the game and I told my players so. Forty-six games to play this season, and I hoped they’d not let me own like this again for a while. 1-1 was embarrassing considering our early domination. At least there was one bright spot: Mark Randall dominated the game whilst he was on the field.

[Chasing Lamely]

Pre-Season Summary

Friendly results:

Thame United (A) W 5-2 (Wroe (2), O’Dowda, Whing, Marsh)

Oxford City (A) W 1-0 (Kitson)

Kidderminster (A) W 4-0 (Bignall (2), Wroe, Marsh)

Didcot Town (A) W 5-0 (Goldsmith (3), Rigg, Budyanskiy)

Wolves (H) D 1-1 (Kitson)

Total: Won 4, Drew 1, Lost 0

Transfers:

In – 39

Out – 18

Transfer Profit/(Loss): £953k

[Chasing Lamely]

2013/14 Squad Summary

Goalkeepers

13. David Cornell – The 22-year-old is on loan to us from Swansea City, where he progressed through the youth ranks and has earned his way into the Welsh Under-21 squad. Has the raw potential to be the Welsh national team’s number one in the next few years.

33. Alan Martin – The 24-year-old was once touted as the next big thing in Scottish football, starting out at Motherwell before moving on to Leeds, who farmed him out to Conference and League Two sides. He joined us after being released by Crewe and he’s going to need first-team football before time runs out for him to reach his potential.

69. Dean Santangelo – The 19-year-old Iranian Under-20 international was released by Manchester United last season, which comes as a massive surprise because he really has the potential to be a top flight goalkeeper. He’ll be our number three this season, and he’s available for loan, but I intend for him to stake a claim for a place next season.

1. Ryan Clarke – Still no takers for the club’s long-time number one. I handed him the jersey out of pity but he’s going to spend the year in the reserves unless he finds a move elsewhere. Unwanted even on a free, which shows that I made the right choice. Even Conference sides won’t take him for nothing.

We also have Max Crocombe out on loan, and Wayne Brown, who doubles up as our goalkeeping coach.

Defenders

2. Frank Simek – Club captain and first-choice at right back, Frankie started his career at Arsenal, but played the majority of his league football at Sheffield Wednesday, where he became a fan favourite. After two years at Carlisle, he’s come back south. At 28, it’s probably too late for him to add to his six US caps, but he’s a solid acquisition.

23. Emmanuel Mendy – The 23-year-old Spanish right-back has been out of the game for a year following his release from Liverpool. He’s never played a senior game, but he has the talent to be a solid option as back-up right back.

14. Johnny Mullins – Mr. Versatility - he can also play in midfield – and at 27, one of the senior members of the squad. A solid, if unremarkable, lower league journeyman who has notched up over 300 league games for the likes of Kidderminster, Mansfield, Stockport and Rotherham. Joined the club on loan at the back end of last season; making the move permanent was Wilder’s last act as manager.

3. Andy Kellett – The 19-year-old left-back is a product of Bolton’s youth system, and joins us on a season-long loan with the hope of getting some first-team experience under his belt. He’s got the potential to be a top player and might even force himself into the England Under-19s with a run of good form, but needs to get a run of games first. He’s the only out-and-out left-back in the first team squad (I have others in the youth team who are a way from ready, but good enough to cover) so that should be no problem.

5. Shelton Martis – the 30-year-old centre-half is my vice-captain and a representative of the Caribbean island of Curacao. He started his career with Feyenoord, but has been in the UK since he joined Darlington in 2005. Since then, he’s played for Hibs, in the Premier League for West Brom, and had spells at Doncaster and Scunthorpe. Has played almost 100 games at Championship level or above, which makes him easily my first-choice centre-half.

28. Daniel Devine – At just 20-years-old, Danny is one for the future. He was released by Aston Villa, where he was a youth tea m product, in the summer and he’s come to Oxford to build first-team experience. In my mind, he’s in the second-string at centre-half, but an injury crisis would thrust him into the limelight.

6. Max Ehmer – On loan to us from QPR, the 21-year-old German can also adapt to midfield if needed. Has amassed almost 70 League One games in loan spells at Yeovil, Preston and Stevenage, but is yet to play for his parent club. One, though, that I know they rate highly for the future.

Of the youngsters, Frenchman Samba Kanoute is going to get a few games, while ex-Stoke lad Immanuel Parry has done well in pre-season. Look out for ex-Man City centre-half George King and the heir-apparent to the left-back berth (though he can play all across the back) in ex-Villa youngster Robin Dempsey. Demps is only seventeen, too, and has a decent shot of playing himself into the Irish Under-19 side.

Midfielders

20. Jonathan Meades – the 21-year-old Welshman joined United from Wimbledon in the early summer and promptly sustained an ankle ligament injury that will sideline him until March at the earliest. I handed him a squad number, but I’d be very surprised if he’s fit for the end of season run-in. Was excellent in League Two last season, though. Hopefully he’ll still have some of that spark when he recovers.

17. Esteban Lopez – The 18-year-old Colombian winger joins us on a free following his summer release from Newcastle. He’s exceptionally quick, but still has a lot to learn and has never played a competitive game. Is expected to be a key figure in Orlando Perez’ Under-20 squad this season, though.

7. Danny Rose – In his second spell at the club, the former Manchester United youth team captain spent time at Newport, Fleetwood and Aldershot in the six year between spells at the Kassam. I have my doubts as to whether the 25-year-old really has a future here and I’d take an offer for him if it came in. A decent player in League Two, and he will feature, but this is his level, unfortunately.

15. Sean Rigg – Primarily a winger, but the 24-year-old can also play up front if needed. His pace is suspect and his technical skills are average, but he could mature into a decent League One player. Was solid for the club last season and played over 150 games previously across spells at Port Vale, Bristol Rovers and Forest Green.

11. Ismail H’Maidat – The 17-year-old Dutchman is the youngest player that I expect to be a first-team regular and makes his home on the left wing. He’s quick but still developing physically and is going to be a magnificent player. I was surprised that Crystal Palace released him, and in the future I expect him to have to make the difficult choice between representing Holland and Morocco at international level. Will be top class, count on it.

4. Nicky Wroe – The 27-year-old journeyman midfielder joins us on loan from Preston, having previously had spells at Barnsley, Hamilton, Torquay, York and Bury. He’s going to be a threat from set pieces for us, but he’s still not an outstanding player.

16. Robbie Gibbons – A solid youngster, the 21-year-old has represented Ireland at Under-21 level and is still in the early stages of his career. A product of Forest’s youth team, but the majority of his thirteen senior appearances have been at his previous club, Scunthorpe. After two seasons there, he’ll be hungry for an opportunity.

19. Ryan Williams – The Australian Under-21 internerational is on loan to us from Fulham and his only previous league experience prior to joining us was four games played in the Championship whilst he was a Portsmouth player two seasons ago. He’s quick, though, and he’s going to be dangerous at this level. Someone at Fulham clearly saw a first-team player in him, so let’s hope that Premier League potential shines through.

24. Ibrahim Farah – In truth, I’ve pulled Farah off of the scrapheap; he’s had a year out of the game after his release from Cardiff, but I’d seen the lad play against us at youth level when I was at Reading and he’d stuck in my memory. He’s great with the ball at his feet, mentally very strong and only really needs to develop physically. I see him as second-string right now, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he forced himself into a first team place in the very near future.

10. Mark Randall – My secret weapon... or so I hoped. At just 23, Randall was a product of the Arsenal youth system and so highly-rated that Wenger had used him a few times in the first-team. He had strong loan spells at Burnley, Rotherham and Milton Keynes before spending two years at Chesterfield and lifting the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 2012. I was surprised to find him available, but I’m delighted to have him. He’s a sublime passer of the ball and he could be the engine of the side for a few years. I’d love to be able to take him back to the Premier League if he can keep developing.

Lower down the pecking order, ex-Coventry player Josh Ruffels, former Hednesford man Jamey Osborne and ex-West Brom trainee Elikem Amenku will make their way into the first team in the near future.

Strikers

8. Dave Kitson – He only joined the club in the summer and I’m in no doubt that he’s the best player at the club but his high weekly wage means I’m going to have to offload him as soon as possible, probably in January. I’m expecting him to chip in with a few goals before then, though, and teach the guys he’s playing alongside the tricks of the trade. Has 125 goals in 390 professional games and has proved outstanding in five years of Premier League football; should have been an international, but his steadfast refusal to play for Ireland has denied him the opportunity to compete on the world stage.

9. Nicholas Bignall – The former Reading man was one of my charges during my time in their youth system. He’s quick, he’s strong and he was unlucky not to get a real opportunity at the Madejski. Despite that, he’s still notched almost fifty league games in loan spells at various League One clubs over the years. Only has four senior goals, but that doesn’t worry me at all. I know this boy. I know how to get him firing. He’s going to become a legend at this club if I have anything to do with it.

25. Ryan Doble - The 22-year-old is one of my ‘Welsh wonders’ and, even though he’s probably my fourth-choice striker, still has a part to play this season. This is his second spell at the club, having previously been loaned here from Southampton, but he’s played seventeen League One games in the last two seasons. He’ll have to improve in front of goal, though. One goal at senior level in his entire career does not bode well, but he’s a lot like Biggers – quick and strong, just needs coaching to be more deadly in front of goal.

18. David Goldsmith – the other ‘Welsh Wonder’ will be nominally third choice this year, though in truth he’s a very different player to Dobs. While Dobs is a decent like-for-like replacement for Biggers, Goldy is the replacement for Kitson and he’s going to turn out to be just as good a player given time. He’s only eighteen, but he’s a ball playing striker that’s going to make as many chances as he puts away.

Behind those guys, ex-Portsmouth striker Chinedu Vine and ex-West Brom man Joel Ambalu will be making a challenge in years to come.