Kassam Stadium - Oxford United

Oxford United - Kassam Stadium

Oxford United Football Club
Kassam Stadium
Grenoble Road
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX4 4XP



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Oxford United Official Website

HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE U'S:

• Oxford United were formed in 1893 as Headington, before being known as Headington United in 1911 after merging with Football Club Headington Quarry. The club was founded by Reverend John Scott-Tucker, the vicar as Saint Andrew's Church in Headington. The club were later renamed in 1960 from Headington United to Oxford United to give the club a higher profile.
• Oxford's 1st League Title win came in 1953, winning the Southern League Premier Division. In total they won it 3 times, 1953, 1961 and 1962.
• Ron Atkinson holds the most appearances for the club, with 560 appearances.
• Oxford were promoted to the 1st Division in 1985 after becoming Champions of the 2nd Division, beating Birmingham City to the title by 2 points. They would then get relegated in 1988.
• Oxford have only won the League Cup only the once, in the 1986 League Cup Final at Wembley in a crowd of 90,936 which saw Oxford beat Queens Park Rangers 3-0, Trevor Hebberd, Ray Houghton and Jeremy Charles getting the goals for the U's.
• Oxford's previous home was The Manor Ground. They played there from 1921-2001, the ground's capacity was 9,500 at closure.
• Oxford United's main rivals are Swindon Town. Over the years there have been heated matches between the two clubs. Other rivalries include Reading, Wycombe Wanderers and Luton Town.

THE GROUND:

Oxford United have been playing at The Kassam since 2001 after previously playing at their old ground The Manor Ground. The Kassam holds 12,500 with away supporters housed on one side of the North Stand which is towards the open end of the ground. It is located on the side of the pitch and if needs have it, over 5,000 can be allocated to away supporters. I've never been by train to Oxford, but I do believe the nearest station is Oxford Parkway but it isn't near walking distance, probably the best way to get to the ground by public transport would be bus or taxi from the station.

The East Stand currently under construction in the year 2000 at the Kassam.

MY VISITS:

VISIT 1: Oxford United 0-1 Gillingham 20/11/10

VISIT 2: Oxford United 0-0 Gillingham 14/4/12

VISIT 3: Oxford United 0-0 Gillingham 6/10/12
VISIT 4: Oxford United 1-0 Gillingham 22/11/16
VISIT 5: Oxford United 3-0 Gillingham 9/9/17
VISIT 6: Oxford United 1-0 Gillingham 17/11/18
VISIT 7: Oxford United 3-0 Gillingham 28/9/19

My 1st visit to The Kassam came in 2010. Gillingham went 18 months without winning away, we went an entire season without picking up a win from home in the 09/10 Season, so of course heading into the game, I wasn't slightly optimistic. But I knew somewhere along the lines an away win was due, and thankfully it came at Oxford and what a day that was as well. All I remember that day was getting a lift to the game with my Dad and a couple of his mates from work, and seeing Cody McDonald go round the keeper and slot it into an empty net. I believe at the end it was about 5 or 6 minutes added and I remember being on the phone the entire time of those minutes to a fellow Gills fan who is a mate and as soon as full-time finished, I literally pretty much said, Hawko, we've only gone and won away! The scenes at the end were unreal, it didn't even feel like we just won a game, it felt like we won the Cup Final, just an unbelievable day.

4TH VISIT TO THE KASSAM:

Oxford United 1-0 Gillingham
Tuesday 22nd November 2016
League One



I was quite looking forward to my 4th visit to The Kassam, first visit back in 4 years and always got fond memories of The Kassam, especially my first visit which will live long in the memory of most Gills fans I'm sure. As my dad wasn't able to make it due to work commitments, my girlfriend mentioned on coming with me, I immediately responded you must be bloody mad considering it was getting colder but anyway yes, we left home around lunchtime and got the train to Gillingham to catch the coach. After grabbing some lunch at McDonalds, we left Priestfield at 3 and had a half an hour stop at Beaconsfield Services which I thought was a lot better than the services we stopped off at the previous week whilst en route to Brackley. Spoilt the choice, McDonalds, Nandos, even a Wetherspoons. But decided to be boring and stick with McDonalds (yes again haha) anyway, got back on the coach and eventually arrived to the ground just after 6pm. Was thinking of having a quick game of bowling as Hollywood Bowl is by the ground but decided against it as I didn't really have much money left on me at the time so decided to play Cards on the coach to kill a bit of time. Anyway, onto the game itself, it was a weird game really. Neither side looked great, Oxford had chances but so did we, probably a 0-0 draw would have been fairer but wasn't to be. To sum it up, 1st half you could watch the game. 2nd half, you couldn't watch the game due to massive fog. Did make me smile when we were singing "Can't see the ball" "Can see the ball" "We've lost the ball" "We've got the ball" at times haha. Anyway, we lost 1-0 which was a shame really and eventually got through my front door at 2am due to some road works but was a fairly knackering night.




VISIT 5 TO THE KASSAM, OXFORD 3-0 GILLINGHAM, PENNOCK OUT!

Oxford United 3-0 Gillingham
Saturday 9th September 2017
League One



Well, away days have once again come back after a 2 week period with 2 straight home games. I was looking forward to this one as I've always enjoyed visiting Oxford, one of my favourite away days. After visiting Tunbridge Wells vs Haywards Heath Town in the FA Cup on Tuesday which I quite enjoyed as well, £7 to get in, and 120 minutes of Football after Tunbridge Wells won in Extra-Time 3-0, it was back to away days with Gills again. After our dreadful start to the 2017/18 campaign, I wasn't hugely confident heading into the game. Only pleasing news was Gabriel Zakuani returning from International Duty with DR Congo and Conor Wilkinson returning from suspension after he got a straight red card which ruled him out for 3 games against Bradford. Anyway onto the day itself, I woke up at around 8.10am, got myself ready and left home at around 8.45am. After changing trains at Paddock Wood and Strood, I arrived into Gillingham at around 10.10am, and headed to McDonald's as I realised McDonald's breakfast was still going as that usually finishes around half 10, so I bought myself a Double Sausage and Egg McMuffin without the Egg in it, not majorly keen on the Egg anyway and ate it on the coach, was lovely. So anyway, I walked towards Woodlands Road to catch the coach, as I was walking past Priestfield anyway, I noticed the coach was at Priestfield even though it was meant to be at Woodlands Road, a couple of roads away. The coach driver asked me if I was catching the coach and if he was in the right place, so I directed him to Woodlands and got myself a seat already without anyone else on it, so that wasn't too bad. Although the coach wasn't full later on anyway. So anyway, I left Woodlands at 11am, picked other people along the way including my mate Dave and we were on our way to Oxford. No stop off for a break on the way, just straight to the ground which came in handy really as I fancied a pint when we got to Oxford as I was fearing it was going to be a long day and it turned out to be the case. We arrived to the ground at half 1, and went straight in and got a drink in the ground. I bought a Somersby Cider, I'd never tried it before and was fairly nice. After that, we found out the team line-up and headed to the back of the stand.

Looking at that team, I didn't think it was a bad line-up. I was surprised to see Hessenthaler start, I'd have liked to have seen a partnership of Wilkinson and Nash, but wasn't the case. Anyway, onto the game itself, what more can I say? I feel like I'm repeating myself each week. Same shit, different week. 1st half wasn't a bad half, defended well at times and went in the break playing ok. 2nd half, Oxford score, heads dropped and then at least 10 minutes later, we're 3-0 down. As soon as we're 3-0 down, Pennock then brings on 2 strikers which is a little bit late, and then later on he takes off Zakuani a centre half, and brings on Max Ehmer for another centre half. Odd. Only positive to take from the day is winning a tenner, as I had Jack Payne as first goalscorer on the coach. Other than that, same day at the office really. I was willing to give Pennock chance until at least October, but I've lost patience now. We've only won 1 game all season which was the JPT/EFL game which no one cares about now really as the whole competition has been ruined anyway and we don't even look like winning a game at the moment. And plus Pennock has a win ratio of at least 13% since January. Just simply not good enough now. I'm praying that come Monday morning Pennock's either handed in his resignation or that Scally's sacked him, but we shall see. Anyway, I arrived home shortly after 9pm from Oxford. Upcoming games for me are AFC Wimbledon away on Tuesday, followed by Charlton at home on the Saturday, then a re-visit to Selhurst Park for Crystal Palace vs Huddersfield in the League Cup.








GROUND PHOTOS:

A foggy Kassam Stadium.

Can just see myself at a foggy Kassam Stadium.