We are delighted back a Manor Ground hero on Saturday when we take on AFC Wimbledon in Sky Bet League 1.
Forward Ken Skeen played 270 games for Oxford over a seven-year period, making his debut in August 1967 against Shrewsbury Town and becoming a regular in that 1967/68 season as United won the Third Division title.
“I always like coming back to Oxford because I still see a lot of the old players up there” he tells the match programme on Saturday. “Dick Lucas still goes regularly and Rodney Smithson. It’s amazing how many players who played when I did still live around Oxford. They’re always there and happy to come to games as guests. I like seeing Les Taylor as he used to clean my boots when I was an apprentice and know he’s on the coaching staff. So I like coming back – it’s not that far for me, just 40-odd miles, and I used to do that every day when I came up for training.”
In his seven years at the Manor, Ken played against some hugely impressive opponents:
“We played Liverpool in the League Cup when we lost 3-0 and there was the Manchester United game of course, when we drew 2-2 at home and then got beat 3-1 up there in the replay.”
In the home game, United were leading 2-1 until a late Bobby Charlton thunderbolt earned the Red Devils a replay.
“That Bobby Charlton shot came off my foot,” Ken relates. “I was just tackling him at the time when he struck it; we were right over on the left and I went to tackle him. It didn’t deflect much and it didn’t make any difference to the flight of the ball but I did get a touch on it when I went in for the tackle.”
Ken also scored one of Oxford’s goals in that game: “It was nice to score against that team, especially with all the stars they had in it back then. It was nice to play at Old Trafford too: that was an experience I’ll remember.”
You can read much more about Ken’s time at the Manor in the programme on Saturday, and of course you will make him welcome when he returns to the pitch to wave to the fans at half time.