Oxford United chairman Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth wrote the following notes for the Sky Bet League One programme against Plymouth Argyle.
Good afternoon everyone and wherever you are watching today’s game I hope you enjoy what promises to be another very good game of football. After 43 games we now have just three more chances to try and claim a place in the play-offs and extend an already long season by a few more weeks.
We would all love for that to happen, but Tuesday night’s result at Wimbledon made life much harder for us. I thought we played well, but sometimes things go your way, sometimes the opposite. It is amazing how the highs of the last 20 minutes of the game against Gillingham can so quickly be replaced by two minutes at Wimbledon. I am sure that, like the fans, the players were hurt by that result on Tuesday, but every time they got hurt this season they showed a positive reaction and a lot of character. Right after the Tuesday night game, I told everyone keep good faith as I believe in all of you. I am sure they will do that again.
The play-offs are there for us still. I know other results now have to go our way, but as long as it is possible then we have to fight for every point we can and see how close that takes us. I definitely believe that this season has more twists and turns still to come.
It has been an incredible week for football in general, with the proposals for the European Super League creating so much discussion. I sat down to watch the Wimbledon game with the Super League very likely to happen and by the time I went to bed after the game the League had collapsed!
As a club we kept our views largely internal but throughout the club I can assure you that we were very against the idea from the start.
I have seen a lot of people saying that overseas investors in football clubs can never understand the history and the passion of the fans. That is not true. The owners of Oxford United are not UK based, we make no secret of that. But we are all football fans and maybe that is the difference for us?
We fell in love with the game itself, not the business side of things. Speaking personally, when I was growing up I became fascinated by the games I saw from England: the history of each individual club, the families who support them for generation after generation, the whole story of each individual club and the wonderful way that all of those stories mix together to make a sport that is still, for me, the greatest game in the world.
I wanted to be involved in some way and am so proud to be part of the Oxford United family. I tell you, all I want right now is to be at a game with you all; it is 13 months since I could come to Oxford. I hope the day we are reunited is not too far away now and when we can, whatever division we are in, I know that we will be in it together: Board, staff, players and the fans.
Tiger
Read the whole programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc