Oxford United's Chairman, Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth, writes in the Crewe Alexandra programme:
Good evening everyone and welcome to our first night match at home this season. While most of you reading this will love being back under the lights, it will still mean a late night for me watching on iFollow in Thailand. But if the game is anything like Saturday’s against Charlton, then I am happy to stay up all night!
I enjoyed everything about Saturday’s game. I thought we looked a very good side, we scored two excellent goals and some of the passing and movement was wonderful at times. But for me, the best thing was seeing the ground full with the fans again. I was so emotional when the players came out for kick-off and the welcome you gave them was incredible.
I hope that moment marked the end of a very tough time and the start of ‘normal’ football again. I am sure some of you were anxious about coming back to be in a crowd and not quite sure what to expect, but I hope you felt comfortable, safe and at home again.
I worry that some fans will have got out of the habit of going to football after 18 months away – it will be interesting to see the crowd tonight in midweek – but I hope Saturday’s performance sparked everyone’s love for live football again. If you enjoyed it, then help us by telling people and spreading the word that football is back and you can come here, watch live sport and feel part of a passionate crowd once again.
Once again, I have to ask for a little patience, although in a good way! The last two seasons I have had to appeal to everyone to stay with us and allow the team to develop after very slow starts. This time I am pleased to be asking you not to get carried away after two games and one win! There is such a long way to go. We still have players to come into the squad during this window, we still have new players feeling their way into the team or settling into houses in the area. Saturday was encouraging but it will take time, just like the last two seasons, before things settle into a regular pattern for both the players and our amazing fans.
Finally, I want to congratulate our Women's team, who kicked off the season with a wonderful win against Gillingham on Sunday. We are committed to building a football club, not just one team. Good luck to our Under 21s against Huddersfield tomorrow night as well.
Tiger
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc