I am struck by what a strange business football business is. It makes money on the back of emotion, but congratulates itself when it makes decisions with emotion removed.
Des Buckingham’s connection with Oxford fans wasn’t just something intangible as it usually is when managers click at their clubs. As we would learn, he went to their schools, drank (and served ) in their bars, cheered on the same team – Oxford United – when the rest of the country had almost forgotten they existed.
Throw in an undoubted talent as a coach and delivering the greatest day any U’s fan under 25 can remember and he’s a popular guy.
Hence the shock, and in some cases downright outrage at the decision to part ways with a man they appointed 13 months ago – a young, marketable, globally experienced City Football Group product who delivered a promotion.
The club made the decision to get rid of Des Buckingham less than seven months after he produced a tactical masterclass in a Wembley play-off final to get the U’s into the Championship.
At points earlier in the promotion season, when times were undoubtedly tough, might he have been let go, had it not been for the ‘one of our own’ shield that he carried? It was powerless in the face of a run of one win in 16 though, even though United remain above the dreaded dotted line that marks the relegation zone.
Were there tell-tale signs that all was not well behind the scenes? There was football insider gossip about Buckingham being linked with other jobs, and with other people being linked with the Oxford job when he was still in it.
Perhaps in hindsight, him not being offered a new contract on the back of promotion – even with years left on his existing deal – was the red flag that should have been picked up on. But then I am not even convinced Buckingham saw this coming.
Not all fans wanted Des to remain as manager, but most did. I am sure that those in charge of the club have wrestled with the decision, and some on the board may not agree with it.
There are mitigating factors in the slump. Those who dispute the dismissal point to injuries, and individuals losing form at a club that by its own reckoning has one task this season, and that is to stay up.
There is a danger of generalising with terms like ‘the club,’ ‘the board’ or ‘the fans,’ but I am now going to use them, so forgive me. The club’s determination to remain in the Championship is evidently even more acute than it is for supporters. The owners have acted while there was little or no call for them to do so, so why?
When Oxford United were promoted, the value of the football club rose significantly. Fans had wanted to support a Championship club again for a quarter of a century – and it was delivered. Delivered by the players, the coaching staff, but also by the owners who bankrolled it from Indonesia. Their payback isn’t just kudos – their asset is now worth much more – maybe more than double.
They have a new stadium to get built too. Staying in the Championship is too valuable for emotion to get in the way. The same goes for the fact that the manager they have sacked is a decent man, who was an impressive figurehead on and off the field. It is simple, momentum has shifted the wrong way and they have been spooked.
Yes, they could have been more effusive in their praise of Buckingham in the club statement that also fudged whether he had been shown the door or quit – that seemed to irk United’s fanbase almost as much as the sacking itself.
It wasn’t just unkind or disrespectful, it was bad PR. The gracious statement released on Monday by Buckingham compounded that.
The chairman has since put out a statement which reads like the one on Sunday should have – and also at least addresses some of the angst of fans – but trust between the supporter base and those in charge has taken a big hit after months of unity.
Oxford have rolled the dice like almost every other Championship club does. It is a rude wake up call for those who say, “that’s not the Oxford United way”.
Whoever replaces Buckingham will have an unenviable task of winning them over in a punishing, relentless league. For some it may take longer, but come May, ‘the club’ and ‘the fans’ will again be more closely aligned… if Oxford remain in the Championship.