Rate your own team - Oxford

At the start of the season Iles and all the other journalists doing the same job as Iles for their respective clubs did a season preview of their own teams chances.

Now that I'm a bit more flexible in posting stuff from the BEN because of the restrictions they placed on me and others that no longer live in Bolton, I've been able to go back and read it.

My intent is to post one of these for each team we play for the next few months - obviously new transfers (in or out) and injury's, change of managers will effect what they've said - to give us some idea what the locals think about their teams chances.

Name: James Roberts.

Publication: Oxford Mail.

Club: Oxford United.

Key ins: Marcus McGuane, Ryan Williams, Billy Bodin, Steve Seddon.

Key outs: Josh Ruffels, Rob Atkinson, Sean Clare, Kyran Lofthouse.

Reasons for optimism: Two successive play-off finishes show Karl Robinson's United know what is needed to compete at the top end of League One. The four signings to date have all done well in this division before, while some existing players could have big seasons ahead of them - Mark Sykes and Dan Agyei spring to mind. There is no reason to suggest United cannot strengthen in the areas they are light before the end of the transfer window too.

Reasons for caution: The flip side of that last point. United have lost the left-side of last season's defence and, while Steve Seddon looks a decent signing at left back, it would be unfair to expect Luke McNally to continue where Rob Atkinson left off in the middle. At the very least, they need a centre back and another winger. United's Covid outbreak, which left 12 players self-isolating, will not have helped pre-season preparations either and they must start far better than last year - especially with League One looking so strong.

Predicted finish: 9th - Will probably change depending on incomings/outgoings, but feel United will challenge for the play-offs again. There may be too many other decent sides though.

Three to go up: Ipswich, Portsmouth, Wigan.

Four to go down: Cambridge, Cheltenham, Crewe, Morecambe.

Hope for the season: I'm sure everyone will say this, but simply that grounds stay open with full capacity for the whole season. Will never take it for granted again.

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Again, why isn't this in the match thread?

Natasha Whittam wrote:Again, why isn't this in the match thread?

It could be but it would get lost in there I think.

The match thread really is about 'us' and most of us know little if anything of the opposition at the level we are playing.

I thought by putting this separately people could view things about 'them', the other team, and maybe lead to a separate discussion rather than what our team will be and should Doyle start, etc, etc, that we usually chat about in the match thread.

That's my reasoning anyway.

Funnily enough The Bolton News have just done exactly what I've done above, except they've updated it slightly following the start of the season!

Everything you need to know about Saturday's opponents [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Dan Barnes (@DanBarnesJourno) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Yup Iles has done an oppo journo every game so far.

I've been missing a few things occasionally with having limited access to the BEN and poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

It would have been good if a few others had bothered to step up and help out but it is what it is.

I hoping now to be back in the game a little more now and do a bit more, now that I know how to work my way around the BEN's constraints.

Maybe a few others might want to chip in as well rather than just take from the site all the time.

After all the forum is what people make it and the better it becomes the better we ALL enjoy it.

Sluffy wrote:I've been missing a few things occasionally with having limited access to the BEN and poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

It would have been good if a few others had bothered to step up and help out but it is what it is.

I hoping now to be back in the game a little more now and do a bit more, now that I know how to work my way around the BEN's constraints.

Maybe a few others might want to chip in as well rather than just take from the site all the time.

After all the forum is what people make it and the better it becomes the better we ALL enjoy it.

I've got a few interesting links I can post, if anyone's interested. It's just that Nat warns people against clicking on them. Perfectly harmless.

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Sluffy wrote:poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

The poor love, having to copy & paste a couple of articles a day. It must take it out of him. I don't know how he holds down a job at the same time.

Sluffy wrote:I've been missing a few things occasionally with having limited access to the BEN and poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

It would have been good if a few others had bothered to step up and help out but it is what it is.

I hoping now to be back in the game a little more now and do a bit more, now that I know how to work my way around the BEN's constraints.

Maybe a few others might want to chip in as well rather than just take from the site all the time.

After all the forum is what people make it and the better it becomes the better we ALL enjoy it.

Personally I think the "news" detracts from the site. If people want the latest quote from Evans or an update on Doyle's covid status they can find it elsewhere.

Surely people look at forums for opinions of other fans, and not news from the local paper.

boltonbonce wrote:I've got a few interesting links I can post, if anyone's interested. It's just that Nat warns people against clicking on them. Perfectly harmless.

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I can't believe I just clicked that link. And worse, I found myself admiring some of the knobs and imagining them in my kitchen.

Natasha Whittam wrote:



I can't believe I just clicked that link. And worse, I found myself admiring some of the knobs and imagining them in my kitchen.

Or in your drawers?

boltonbonce wrote:Or in your drawers?

I deserved that.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

The poor love, having to copy & paste a couple of articles a day. It must take it out of him. I don't know how he holds down a job at the same time.

Haha made me laugh that

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:I've been missing a few things occasionally with having limited access to the BEN and poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

It would have been good if a few others had bothered to step up and help out but it is what it is.

I hoping now to be back in the game a little more now and do a bit more, now that I know how to work my way around the BEN's constraints.

Maybe a few others might want to chip in as well rather than just take from the site all the time.

After all the forum is what people make it and the better it becomes the better we ALL enjoy it.

Personally I think the "news" detracts from the site. If people want the latest quote from Evans or an update on Doyle's covid status they can find it elsewhere.

Surely people look at forums for opinions of other fans, and not news from the local paper.

That’s why we have a dedicated section for it no?

karlypants wrote:That’s why we have a dedicated section for it no?

You massive penis, I think all that copy and pasting has addled your brain. Post your "news" in the right section and I'm happy.

Nothing from the Bolton News should be in 'Bolton Wanderers Banter'. That should be original forum posts only.

I've told you before, sort yourself out or get replaced by Mo. He's currently on a 7 day 'copy & paste' training course. By 5pm tomorrow he will have a certificate and everything.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:I've been missing a few things occasionally with having limited access to the BEN and poor old Karly has been singlehandedly keeping the flow of articles on to Nuts for others to see.

It would have been good if a few others had bothered to step up and help out but it is what it is.

I hoping now to be back in the game a little more now and do a bit more, now that I know how to work my way around the BEN's constraints.

Maybe a few others might want to chip in as well rather than just take from the site all the time.

After all the forum is what people make it and the better it becomes the better we ALL enjoy it.

Personally I think the "news" detracts from the site. If people want the latest quote from Evans or an update on Doyle's covid status they can find it elsewhere.

Surely people look at forums for opinions of other fans, and not news from the local paper.

Well I for one can't, unless I live in Bolton and can see the BEN  for free.

Also people generally like an easy life, so if we can put up tit bits of news from the BEN, other papers, the club, twitter, or anywhere else, then Nuts becomes the place they automatically come to view - and hopefully start to post.

I believe if you want a good forum you have to put effort into having things for people to read and comment on.  For instance your BEL's draw in a huge audience, Karly's Radio Nuts has a loyal following and Bob's Vince Watch might not be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly is the butt of many jokes - all three in their own way benefit the site.

For all our recent troubles on here (and bringing back Wanderlust again might have been a big mistake on my part) we are still the second biggest BWFC forum around and that's because we do try to give people something new to view each and every day more or less.

Ok somethings may not be for you, somethings simply might not work but as they say, God loves a trier.

We aren't perfect on here but we attempt to do our best.

I appreciate you, Norpig and BTID chipping in by running the competitions, we all appreciate Bonce and his gentle humour.

We might be a dysfunctional family of sorts but that is what we are and we need to do our best if we want Nuts to continue and maybe even flourish again.

We finally had stopped all the shit that this site has inflicted upon itself over the last few years and I had hoped we could all move forward together, hence my calculated gamble on unbanning Lusty.

I'm not going back to those times ever again, I had hoped he had moved on but the early signs is that he hasn't.

Sometimes you simply have to cut your loses.

People simply get sick to death of all the arguing

We've got the news, we do have some banter, we just need to get the fun back once again and lose all the trolling and bitterness.

Onwards and upwards and all that.

Well I for one can't, unless I live in Bolton and can see the BEN  for free.

You have said this twice now and I'm a little confused by it.

The restrictions the BEN have put in place on the website affect us all. Whether we live in Bolton or as far as China.

I can understand why they have done this due to the loss of revenue last year when the lockdown started and not being able to sell the printed newspapers in newsagents due to them being closed.

There is another way of getting around these would be to use the built in privacy mode that's built in to most web browsers every time you wish to access it which will allow you to view the 20 articles every time you load this up.

This way is an easier alternative if you don't feel comfortable deleting the relevant cookies on a regular basis.

So we can search our cookies, delete the BN ones and get another 20 articles?