Oxford United Chairman Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth wrote the following notes for the Sky Bet League One match programme against MK Dons:
This is the first opportunity I have had to express my sadness and pass on the best wishes of my entire family after the death of Queen Elizabeth. She was iconic, not just loved by everyone in the UK but also admired and respected all around the world. Her death has dominated the headlines here in Thailand and we send all our love. I know that the football club will do the right things today and that we will pay our respects correctly.
I watched the way things were handled at Plymouth on Tuesday night and was very moved by the minute’s silence and national anthem. I also believe it was the right thing to do to postpone last weekend’s fixtures. It was a difficult choice for the league to make and frustrating for all football fans not to have a game to enjoy, but I think they made the right decision in the end. We will catch that game up.
We wanted to play because we had just won three games in a row and were starting to gain ground on the teams at the top. Instead, we had to wait a few days and then lost a close game in Plymouth by just one goal. We played okay, but for the first time I thought we looked like we missed the players who are out injured at the moment. That is natural. We are without Moore, Wildschut, Murphy, Baldock and Taylor. Tell me any team in the division who would not miss those five players?
But they will come back and they will make us stronger. Marcus Browne has returned and is easing into the team again; Djavan Anderson made his debut on Tuesday and will be a good player for us. Once we have everyone available, we will be so much stronger.
I know that football is not about ‘what might happen’ but I do think our fans can see the enormous effort that our players and staff are putting into every game. People are working so hard; we are sticking together and we will continue to do that. We are eight games into the season with two home games now. Win those and we have 16 points from 10 games. I know we can do that, so let’s make that our aim.
Tiger
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc