News Round-up

Players
My post-season assessment suggested that the Mighty Quinn should be released. This has blown up in my face with the news he has actually been promoted to team captain.

In my defence, I did say that Quinn may be considered for release because he could be squeezed out by Corcoran, Gilchrist, Willmott and the cheaper players like Foster and Day for the three centre-back slots.

Phil Gilchrist remains 'club captain' which sounds like an honorary position. The move would appear to signal that he is not being considered as a regular next season. This is no surprise; he was rattling around a bit last year, and it doesn't seem likely that position will improve. However, he'll be a reassuring sight coming off the bench when needed and a good man to have around.

It was no surprise to see the back of Andy Burgess, although his return to Rushden is an unlikely destination given that there was fanciful talk of Leeds looking at him last year. Burgess was the nobbly bit of the squad - difficult to know whether to chop it off or make it a feature. The wage cap means that it is probably prudent to go with the former.

Burgess' light shone brightly but briefly at the start of last season, but on balance his time at Oxford was one of unfulfilled promise.

Games
It's been a promising week as pre-season shifted up a gear into its 'league' phase; a decent win against Bournemouth and a draw against Wycombe bookended a defeat to Luton. All the new signings seem to have taken their opportunity to shine.

We shouldn't get too carried away with the results or the performances. It shouldn't be a surprise to see new signings taking centre stage; they've something to prove and everyone's looking closely at them anyway. Still, as pre-seasons go, it's not been a bad one.