We are giving Oxford United fans the chance to share their views on the club every Thursday this season. This week, Michael Chilcott tells us what it is like to follow the U’s from abroad.
I HAD a son last December, so things have felt very different this year.
Time feels stretched and squashed, responsibilities have shifted, and tiredness is on a level quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before.
One unexpected by-product of fatherhood is that I’m actually often free on Saturday afternoon, which means that more often than not I will be supervising a nap while watching Oxford United on iFollow.
Our early goal drought helped with the length of naps, but I’ve been enjoying recent results despite having to celebrate as quietly as humanly possible.
I live in Sweden, so I can watch almost any game on iFollow. But it’s a strange way to follow the club compared to the season ticket I held for years at the Manor Ground.
On the one hand, I generally get a decent view, replays and commentary which gives me a different perspective on what I’m seeing.
On the other, I don’t get a lot of the atmosphere, don’t feel the ebb and flow of the game from the stands, and my joy and frustration isn’t shared with thousands of others around me.
My partner isn’t interested either – she’s a Fluminense fan and hasn’t caught the Oxford bug yet.
I’ve sometimes looked to Twitter and internet forums to capture a bit of that feeling, but this isn’t a space where nuance is important – it’s increasingly polarised and frustrating to read so it’s generally best avoided, or at least worth treading carefully.
Being a U’s fan abroad somehow makes results a bit less important in the bigger picture – what’s most important to me is to feel connected to the club, and my life and history back in the city. United have been pretty good at doing that in recent years.
From international watch-alongs, to the lockdown video series, to the incredible response to the deaths of my personal heroes Joey Beauchamp and Mickey Lewis, the U’s have been doing a great job off the pitch to bring fans around the world to OX4.
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Of course, that doesn’t mean that results aren’t important – the Wycombe and Blackpool play-off games hurt like hell, and the wet lettuce of an end to last season put me in a funk for a while, but clubs are so much bigger than what happens on the pitch.
I think Karl Robinson gets this, too. I know he’s a bit 'Marmite', but for my money there haven’t been many managers in my time that have such a strength of passion for the club on and off the pitch.
His work in the community, as well as his advocacy for the importance of mental health, is all part of what gives the club its strength.
Of course, he’s by no means perfect and not exempt from criticism, and will ultimately be judged by what happens when the yellow and blue step over the white line, but I think he’s been one of the best United managers as a whole during my time.
But above all, the good results have come at the right time to get my son as hooked as I am, and maybe I can find more of that community within my own four walls. COYY.