Oxford United Transfer

As I’ve mentioned previously for Oxford, striker Alfie Potter is out for the season with a broken ankle, but I forgot that striker Tom Craddock is still out for the next few weeks as well. To top that off, Oxford United’s website reported that a third striker, Jon-Paul Pittman, will be out for four weeks with a hamstring injury. Pittman was really rising in his performance too since coming back from an earlier injury, so that latest news is rather disappointing. Apart from the injuries, second string striker Matthew Fletcher also has parted with the team has his loan deal came to a close. All of those combined, brought the Yellows down to three strikers – Constable, Rendell, and Johnson – with Constable being the only player who was with the side before January!

Being down to just those three forwards, Oxford were able to put through an emergency short-term loan deal for striker Mehdi Kerouche. (You can read about the injuries and the deal here on Ox Utd’s website.) Kerouche’s loan only lasts for a month, basically long enough to get Oxford through the injuries. He’s a good signing, but the real interesting thing is where he’s coming from. Kerouche is coming over from Swindon Town, Oxford’s rivals. I’m of the opinion that rivalries are often overblown (for the exception of ones that go deep like Celtic-Rangers), but the Oxford United forums a full of fans’ aversion to the deal, solely because it’s with Swindon. They don’t like that Oxford is giving Swindon money, they think it makes Oxford look desperate signing a rival’s unneeded player, and/or they think Kerouche will basically be a spy for Swindon’s manager Paolo di Canio (I wouldn’t put it past him).

I’ll say up front that from what I see on forums, I don’t like Swindon Town fans. I definitely do not like di Canio. However, as leery as I am about doing a deal with Swindon, let’s give this player the benefit of the doubt. Like many young League 2 players, he probably is overjoyed to be getting some good playing time to increase his chances of moving up through the leagues. I don’t think it should be too much of a worry that he’s been drinking di Canio’s red Kool-Aid. Doing some research I found articles here from the BBC and here from Givemefootball.com, that state just how much he’s fallen out with dictator di Canio. Any sane person should.

They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The hell with di Canio and Swindon Town. Come on Mehdi Kerouche and the rest of you Yellows!