Oxford United Stars F.C.
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| Oxford United Stars | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Oxford United Stars Football Club | ||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | "the U2s" | ||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1937 | ||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Swilley Stadium, Derry (Capacity Unknown) |
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| Chairman | Noel Crampsey | ||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||
| League | Irish Second Division | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005/06 | 10th | ||||||||||||||||
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- For the English football team, see Oxford United F.C.
Oxford United Stars F.C. is a Northern Ireland football club, founded in 1937, based in Derry. They currently compete in the Irish Second Division. The club should not be confused with the English club Oxford United F.C. They are however, known as the U2's in reference to Oxford United's nickname 'The U's'. The club graduated to the second division of the Irish League after competing in local amateur leagues, including the Derry and District League, which the reserve team, Oxford United, now plays in.
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[edit] History
Oxford United Stars played in the Derry and District League and numerous local cups and competitions for a number of years, but in 1978 the club was selected to compete in the Intermediate League. Northern Ireland World Cup 1986 squad-member, David Campbell, played with the club in his youth.
[edit] Reserve and Youth Squads
The club's youth team was founded in 1968 and their teams play in various levels in the Derry and District League.
Oxford colts is a reserve squad currently playing in the Sunday morning league in derry city. After struggling to make an impact on the league for the last couple of years, the colts have made a surprising comeback this year (2007-2008) with the appointment of new manager john Gallagher. This step up will prove a massive challenge for the young team but will also give them a great opportunity to improve their game. The colts have had an extremely good season despite the setback they suffered when they were taught a football lesson by the Bog Inn, the eventual winners of the league, early in the season. This only proved as a catalyst to spring the colts into life for the remainder of the season with a number of very impressive performances including a thrilling 4 - 3 win over close win over promotion rivals Carraig. They also notched up good wins against teams around them such as the 3 - 2 win against tristar which set up promotion and the 4 - 1 demolition of crescent who fell away in the title race. They also had to suffer setbacks with some influential players believing their footballing futures lay elsewhere such as Jimmy McCallion, Pol Dunne, Patrick Appleton and Big Rossi. Appleton had become disillusioned by the lack of first team opportunities he was getting at Oxford United Stars and he sought a move away from the Swilly club and this would have resulted in him being ineligible to play on a Sunday. City Colts tabled an offer and although reluctant, Oxford manager Neil Carlin decided to let him go on loan to the North West junior league club where he played week in week out but after that successful loan spell Oxford called him back despite the best efforts of City Colts to keep the player. As a result City Colts have yet to solve their ongoing goalkeeper problem and Appleton currently languishes in the reserves yet again at the Stars. McCallion however, had become unhappy at his Saturday morning chances and decided that in order to showcase his minimal talents he needed to move and in fact he moved up to the premier from the first division and he started his loan spell last week where he excelled in a successful 1 - 0 win for Newton Heath over Bohemians. Although he unlike Appleton has received a call up to the Stars squad for a recent cup game, he wanted regular football on a Saturday and he gets this with Newton Heath. This however does not affect his position with the Colts on a Sunday. Pol Dunne had been performing excellently for the Colts throughout the season. However, once the regular season had ended and it has now come to only cup games, Dunne wanted to continue playing league football and when Oxford Premier manager Maurice Curtis inquired to Gallagher about securing the services of Dunne, the player was only too happy to accept the offer and continue playing in a league format. This does affect his position within the Colts and they are still searching for an adequate replacement at centre half. The case with Big Rossi is quite complex and difficult to understand. He played a few games at the start of the season with the young Colts and his manliness and experienced helped them at times but did not have successful outcomes regarding to the scores of the games he was involved in. It is believed that Gallagher told Rossi that he envisaged the centre of midfield as two young bustling players and that Rossi would only be employed there in extreme circumstances. Gallagher believed that Rossi still had a future at the club helping the young players progress but rumours have since arose that after the Phoenix game tempers flared and after a heated exchange between Big Rossi and Gallagher, Rossi left Lisnagelvin and has since not been at training leading all involved with Oxford to believe that he has cut his ties with the club and he seeks a playing role away from Oxford. It is quite commendable to the Colts considering the circumstances of these particular players that they managed to concentrate on the football side of things and storm their way to promotion. They also know however that they and Gallagher face a stern test if they are to stay in the Premier League, let alone recreate the form which has served them so well this season in the first division, and that Gallagher will surely have to recruit and make a few loan buys whenever the April transfer window opens.
[edit] Club Colours
In 1966 the club adopted the black and blue strips, similar to that of Inter Milan, as the club colours hence avoiding a clash of colours with other teams. These colours remain synonymous with Oxford United.
[edit] League status
Oxford United Stars entered the Irish Second Division in 2004. The reserve team competes in the Derry and District League Premier Division and the most senior youth team competes in the First Division of the Sunday Morning League.
