Oxford United were pleased to be part of the EFL’s Season Launch today as we welcomed our NHS Heroes to the training ground.
At the start of the pandemic we saluted the work of 25 U’s fans who have been fantastic during the Covid lockdown. Today it was our turn to thank them by inviting them, along with staff from the Kassam Stadium Vaccination Centre, to the Oxford Sports Park where they were met by Managing Director Niall McWilliams and then had a chance to talk about the coming season with Manager Karl Robinson.
Councillor Mark Lygo thanked them on behalf of the council before Matty Taylor, Mark Sykes, Cameron Brannagan, Dan Harris, Dan Agyei and Peter Rhoades-Brown all spent time with the group. After lunch and a tour of the facilities, the group stayed on to watch the U’s draw 1-1 with Barnet in the final pre-season friendly and will now be part of an emotional first home game of the season when they will form the Guard of Honour to welcome the U’s and Charlton onto the pitch.
“It should be the other way round,” Karl told us. “We should be the ones saluting the wonderful job that all of them have done.
“It was nice to give them a little of our time and to talk with them and find out more about the work they all do. Life has changed for all of us but it really brought home to me how everyone within the NHS and at the vaccination centres have put others before themselves. Hopefully today they got a chance to have a day in the sun, connect with their football club again, and we look forward to seeing them for that first home game along with all of our fans.”
HELP THE NHS
The club’s priority, as we look forward to welcoming supporters back for the new season, is keeping everyone as safe as possible when they attend matches at our stadium. We have worked so hard to ensure that supporters, who were sorely missed over the past 18 months, can be welcomed back to enjoy the live matchday experience.
All of us need to keep working together to make sure we are doing everything we can to mitigate against the spread of the virus and ensure we keep each other safe at football. As a club we urge supporters to keep following the current guidance to prevent the spread of the virus; please get tested if displaying symptoms, use the NHS vaccine app and ensure you have been vaccinated.
Please do not attend a match if there is a risk that you can pass on Covid.
