Loyalty not dead at Oxford

Saturday, 21/01/2012

by Graham Dunn, Shoot's Oxford United blogger

Call it a brilliantly played hand, a lucky punt or an increaingly rare moment of footballer loyalty. Whatever it was, for James Constable - aka Beano - to turn down the chance to even speak to arch rivals Swindon after Oxford accepted their offer was a dream result.

Judging from the outside it looks like the club got this right. They seem to have been up front with the player throughout and pretty reasonable (actually cheap) in the reported £250,000 price tag they put on the player. And I'm not sure a League 2 team has much other choice. You can't deny decent players the opportunity to play at a higher level or for more money, even if it means selling them to that lot down the road.

Some will say accepting the offer, especially from a play-off rival when Oxford are pretty handily placed themselves, shows a lack of ambition. But its a murky line between that and being realistic, and given reminders like Darlington this week, I would rather we were a little bit over cautious then risk over-stretching and paying the penalty. A few League 2 clubs are splashing it about a bit, but I doubt it will end up happily for all of them.

It would have helped the club that they must have had a feeling Beano would turn down the chance of the move. Ever since he arrived, everything he has said and done suggests he wants to stay and thinks he can achieve stuff through Oxford.

Turning down a move up a league to Bournemouth in the summer backed that up. I am not surprised by this show of loyalty from Beano. He's seen before that the grass is not always greener, after moving into the leagues with a pretty disasterous experience at Shrewsbury.

He quickly found himself out of the team and back in the Conference with Oxford having to start again. Moving is a risk and while Oxford continue to make progress - steady if not spectacular - he must figure there is a decent chance he will end up in League 1 anyway in the next year or two, and at the front of the queue of strikers.

I'm sure he will still move - and possibly still even in the January window now teams know our asking price - but it will need to be a decent step up for him to go.

All the drama over Beano has over-shadowed the other recent transfer business. Deane Smalley arrived in the summer with a decent track record and reputation, but has largely looked like an honest, hard-working player who's not going to score many goals (two in fact in 20 odd games).

He's never looked like displacing Beano and playing either side in a front three doesn't look his game. Lets hope he gets some goals at Bradford and comes back more confident (or even better the Pittman route of going loan and doing nothing, and oddly coming back a better player!).

With Smalley heading out, Wilder wasted no time in bringing in another striker. Oli Johnson once of Norwich. Apparently we've beaten a few League 1 teams to his signature says Wilder. Encouraging.

And his goal return? Four in 23 for Norwich and three in 26 for Yeovil. But after Beano turned Swindon down I'm feeling optimstic. So put to bed fears we've replaced one mis-firing striker for another - maybe this will be that last piece of the jigsaw that gets us going.

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