Please do not get me wrong. I still support West Ham. It is West Ham till I die. But…I really enjoyed an afternoon at the Kassam yesterday as the mighty Yellows (Oxford United) beat Cambridge United two nil in a League Two encounter. To be honest it could have been 5-2 but Oxford were clearly the better - of two not very good - sides.
It was the first time I’ve seen Oxford play and it was a family day out. The stadium has only three sides so behind one goal is a wall. Occasionally the ball was hoofed over it and a lad was sent out into the car park to chase it. We sat behind the other goal with the loudest section of the 5,900 crowd and it was a great (and cheap) day.
The referee really did not know what he was doing. For once, the chant was spot on. But then nor did quite a few of the players. In the Premier League a ball is hoofed up the park to hit a target. In League two it is hoofed up the park in hope as frankly anything can happen and that makes it all the more fun.
Having said that, the first Oxford goal was a cracking long range drive that would not have not looked out of place in the Premiership. There were occasional gems like that.
I tried hard to understand what the crowd were chanting. “We hate Swindon, we hate Swindon, we are Swindon haters” I got. “And we’re Oxford United, Oxford United FC, by far away the Greatest team the world has ever seen” was sung with gusto and irony as the yellows piled on the misery of Cambridge. But some of the other chants? Well I just could not make out what was going on. I think that might take a few more visits.
The total unpredictability of the game. The low cost relative to the Premiership. The convenience for me. They are the plus points. I will always look at up West Ham’s results first but in terms of actually going to games, the Hammers have been pretty dull all season and so next term, it is the mighty yellows for me.
After all it is the City of my birth and where I went to University. Until I was 18 I never lived more than 40 miles from the City of Lost Causes. And you cannot accuse me of supporting Oxford because they are good can you?