THIS WEEK ON WE ARE OXFORD UNITED

WAOU has started to realise over the last month that it feels far more eloquent on the subjects of failure, flaws, and disappointment, and has struggled to convey some of the bouyant optimism and general joie de vivre that Chris Wilder and the team he has assembled have delivered of late. We're sorry, and can only offer the general experience of the last ten years or so as one reason why we might find it easier to speak a more bitter language.

After a series of hurried editorial meetings and impromptu focus groups (okay, we got stuck next to some drunk bloke in the Blackbird), we decided this site needs 'repositioning'. Apparently, 'moving forward', we need to 'add value' to the 'supporter experience', providing a home for the bright future of Chris Wilder's Yellow Army. Right here on We Are Oxford United!

And we also promise to really try and stop expecting it all to go horribly wrong.

This new editorial direction starts ahead of our game against Torquay on Saturday, and make no mistake, this is A Big One - in front of the television cameras no less. A 'Setanta Super Slam Saturday' or something like that I expect. Rockin' n Rollin' Oxford find themselves pitched against their Nemesis of this season, Torquay, in a game that will provide a test of the established and aspirant play-off credentials of Torquay and Oxford, respectively. Setanta will be building up to this with a high-tempo montage of balls hitting the back of the net, fans gasping, and players celebrating, and WAOU will be the place to come for the blog version of this, as we've commissioned Dr. Hunter S. Thompson to provide us with a match preview, and you just know he's going to get excited about it. Keep your mojo wire tuned to this frequency, we're going to hype this game to within an inch of its televised life.



While we're on the subject of things forthcoming on WAOU, in keeping with our efforts to refocus exclusively on the positives at Oxford United, we've got the latest in our occasional pen portraits coming. George Eliot takes a look at The Goal Machine That Is James Constable This Season, and we've told her not to use any of that overdone fairy tale inspired nonsense, either. Where else are you going to find this kind of insight into all your OUFC heroes? We almost feel that we need to design one of those title sequences that would crash on to your computer screen with the sound of tonnes of granite landing on granite: JAMES CONSTABLE. EXCLUSIVELY. ON WAOU. BANG. BANG. BANG. THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF A DEAD VICTORIAN NOVELIST. BANG.

On a slightly more downbeat note, WAOU was saddened to read that James Clarke has been told he won't have his contract renewed at Oxford. It's probably symptomatic of Oxford doing so much better that a number of WAOU favourites have been released by Wilder (we didn't even have time to publish our piece on Phil Trainer), but if Chris Wilder does read overblown football websites, we'd really like him to urge him to reconsider this particular decision. We wrote a while ago that his heart alone could be the encapsulation the spirit of an Oxford side, and we stand by this.