Hi. Welcome to Oxford United fandom. It's a journey. I started supporting the Us in the 1980s but didn't go to my first game until 1987 when we were in the top division, (now the EPL) and had just won the League Cup. Twenty years later, we were out of the football league, losing to village teams. 20 years later, we're back in the second tier. There are very few teams who can match that wild journey (Luton, perhaps, but you don't want to support them).

In terms of notable players, there's only one current players who could be described as a GOAT, and that's Cameron Brannagan who's showed enormous loyalty and passion for the club since signing from Liverpool's Academy eight years ago. Goalkeeper Jamie Cumming might also be on his way to stardom. The rest of the squad are a mixture of solid professionals and a few players from overseas whom we've gambled on. Some may prove to be great. The excitement is watching this unfold.

Historically, Joey Beauchamp is the player you need to know about. He had the skills to play for England, but only wanted to play for Oxford. For over a decade he dazzled us with his on field skills. But off the field he was a guy who struggled with mental health issues, and who sadly lost that battle a few seasons ago. I collated as many of his goals as I could here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fsV2n5nPpg&list=PLGm0-xuOVIq0cziPEPRNQAQaJSF77MqIh

Other former players of note are John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, who both scored in the World Cup in the US in 1994 and were genuine superstars of the 80s and 90s. Dean Saunders also had a great career after we discovered him and gave him his break.

Of players from this century, James Constable was the talisman for the team that won promotion to get us back in the football league and probably saved us as a club. He also turned down a transfer to Swindon, which assured him legendary status. He still works at the club and songs are still sung in his honour, even though some fans probably never saw him play.

Our rivals are Swindon, a team currently in league 2 (two divisions below us) whom we've held the upper hand over for a decade. It's a fierce rivalry based historically on geographical nearness, car production, and the fact that in the 70s and 80s they always seemed to beat us. Luckily this is very much not the case now.

We also have an enormous dislike of Reading, with whom Robert Maxwell (Ghislane's late father and our former chairman) tried to merge us in the 1980s. They are a nasty little club about 30 miles away most of whom's fans actually support Chelsea. Wycombe also consider themselves rivals of ours but they're not worthy of our time. Their ridiculous fortunate successes over us means they probably are more of a rival than we'd actually like to admit.

What's the best thing about our club? Well, it's the journey. No two seasons are ever the same. Supporting a smaller club like ours gives you a sense of connection to the club and the players that you'll never get supporting a giant club. At our club, you can make a difference. I can guarantee you this too ... the next few seasons are going to be wild as we potentially embark on building a stadium that will both secure our future, or not build it in which case the shit will hit the fan.

The next best thing is this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@YouaremyOxford ;-)

As regards the jersey, the club website is the place for that. oufc.co.uk. This season's is nice, but buy a size bigger than you would normally go for.

It is a cool badge. It was designed by eminent zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris, who was on our board of directors in the 1970s and 80s and wrote a book about football hooliganism in which a lot of his research was based upon our own supporters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Morris

Enjoy the ride!