In the year Mikel Arteta was born, Oxford United began an adventure. It took them to new heights, to the top flight for the first time, where they hung out in prestigious company for three years and clinched what remains their only major trophy.
Along the way, their dilapidated Manor Ground became the stage for many cup upsets. Its tight confines, sloping pitch and raucous din with fans close enough to engage players in conversation earned a mythical status as a place where reputations were ruined.
By the time Arteta was out of primary school, it was over and they were on the slide again. But an FA Cup third-round tie with Arsenal heading to Oxford for the first time since 1988 has uncorked nostalgia for the era when they rocked football under Jim Smith and Maurice Evans.
Karl Robinson’s Oxford United side face Premier League leaders Arsenal in the FA Cup
‘We had a really good side, good players all over the park,’ says John Aldridge, signed from Newport County in 1984 and sold to Liverpool for £750,000, three years later. ‘We played attacking football. If they score two, don’t worry we’ll score three. A super time, and still in my heart.’
Don Howe brought a strong Arsenal side for a League Cup tie in 1984. Oxford were top of the old Division Two and had beaten Manchester United and Newcastle the previous season so TV cameras were there and ticketless fans were in the trees to find out if they could do it again.
‘It was always a great place to play on a night like that,’ recalls Billy Hamilton, who forged a prolific strike partnership with Aldridge. ‘A compact ground with an electric atmosphere. No team liked coming to play there.’
Graham Rix scored for Arsenal before Aldridge equalised, getting his head on a cross a split-second before Pat Jennings came out and flattened him. As he was loaded on to a stretcher, boss Smith told substitute Peter Rhoades-Brown to get ready.
‘I was getting stripped as John was carried around the pitch to massive applause,’ says former winger Rhoades-Brown, now Oxford’s business development manager, having served in various roles in 38 years of unbroken years of service since he signed from Chelsea.
‘As they carried him past the dugout, John opened one eye, turned towards us and said, “Jim, I’ll be back in a minute”. Jim put his hand on my leg and said, “Hang on Rosie, son”.
‘I put my top back on and we played on with 10 men. Big Billy scored the second. We’re 2-1 up and the place is rocking. Next thing, John sprints out of the tunnel to a standing ovation.’
Their clash with Arsenal brings back memories of Oxford’s success during the 1980s
It might not have met with modern protocol for head injuries, although Aldridge claims he never wanted to come off.
‘As they were getting me on the stretcher I was saying, “Don’t take me off”,’ he says. ‘By the time they’d carried me past the dug-out, I knew I’d be OK. I’d have run through brick walls for Jim Smith. I loved the man.’
When Rhoades-Brown went on, Oxford were 3-2 up. Ian Allinson equalised before David Langan scored from 30 yards out.
‘Great memories,’ says Hamilton. ‘A sensational rise up the divisions. As a team, we were always going forward. It was like a dream for a forward.’
Oxford’s rise started when the since-disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell saved them from bankruptcy in January 1982. ‘He would land his helicopter on the pitch pre-match and come into the tunnel, asking who we were playing, and which way was our dressing room,’ says Rhoades-Brown.
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Smith’s half-time team talks could be ferocious but captain Malcolm Shotton soon figured out the manager toned down his language when the owner was present. So, if the first half had gone badly and Maxwell was in the vicinity, Shotton would put an arm round the owner and usher him into the dressing room.
Maxwell was always looking for the next deal. His first significant proposal after completing his takeover was to try to merge with Reading to become Thames Valley Royals. He tried to buy Manchester United but eventually bought Derby, where he put his son Ian in charge.
His daughter, Ghislaine, now in prison for sex offences, joined the board at Oxford. ‘A lot of fingers in a lot of pies,’ as Rhoades-Brown says. The merger idea failed amid furious protest from both sets of fans, and Oxford prospered regardless in quite surreal surroundings.
Oxford rose up the leagues during the 1980s and even won the League Cup trophy in 1986
Smith and chief scout Evans worked wonders in the transfer market with Maxwell’s money, adding quality to talent at the club such as Kevin Brock and uncompromising centre-halves Shotton, who signed from Nuneaton where he worked part-time in a knitwear factory, and Gary Briggs.
‘I had some ding-dong battles with those two before I signed,’ says Hamilton. ‘One match at Burnley, me and Gary got involved in a few shenanigans. When I parked up at Oxford on my first day, he was the first person I saw. I thought, thank God I don’t have to play against him any more. He still kicked me in training, mind.’
They went up as champions of the old Division Three in 1984, won Division Two at the first attempt and climbed into the top flight of English football for the first time in their history for the 1985-86 season.
Smith was hugely popular among the players but as they reached the top flight, he fell out with Maxwell over a pay rise and quit for QPR. Evans took over, and went on to beat Smith’s team 3-0 in the League Cup final, then the Milk Cup, with goals by Trevor Hebberd, Ray Houghton and Jeremy Charles.
A fortnight after Wembley and Arsenal were back at the Manor Ground with Oxford needing to win to stay up. Again, they did it with flair as they won 3-0.
Maxwell embarked on a lap of honour as the players paraded the Milk Cup but those glory days ended in relegation and acrimony. Maxwell turned his attention to Derby, where he became chairman, handing control of Oxford to another of his sons, Kevin, then returned to sign top-scorer Dean Saunders behind the back of manager Mark Lawrenson.
Oxford crashed down through the divisions and Maxwell’s empire crumbled as he thieved from pension funds before fatally going overboard from the deck of his yacht in the Canary Islands, in 1991.
Oxford slipped into non-league in 2006 before clambering back up to the third tier when they remain – playing at Kassam Stadium which replaced the demolished Manor Ground
The Manor Ground was demolished in 2001 and the club slipped into non-league in 2006, before clambering back up to the third tier where they are in their seventh season, currently mid-table under Karl Robinson.
New owners, who completed a takeover in September, have plans to escape the Kassam Stadium, where they are locked into an unhappy marriage for three more seasons, and build a new home.
Then they might be able to cast their eyes back to the top and think about recapturing the success of the 1980s and emulating others in the modern game, such as Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth.
‘The divide is bigger than ever,’ says Rhoades-Brown. ‘If we get into the Championship with a new stadium, a base where we can get crowds of 18,000 and backing from the new owners, there’s no reason why we can’t do what others have done.’
First, a visit from Arsenal, the Premier League leaders, and an FA Cup tie to rekindle happy memories among Oxford United supporters of a certain vintage.