Goal Frames We Have Known and Loved: No.2

Manor Ground: 1971

The very definition of a 'box goal', Oxford United had continental style and panache long before anyone in England had the foresight or budget to match them... at either end of their ground, at least.

Oxford's goal frames were as unambiguous and no-nonsense as it was possible to get. With a sturdy metal tubing structure helping to maintain the very essence of a 3D rectangle, the masterstroke was undoubtedly the inclusion of a red net pulled tight across it.

There's something about a coloured net that makes a goal frame look ostentatious, in our view. Somehow it's possible to believe a world where, in the early 70's at least, teams playing in Brazil, Spain, Italy and beyond all had fancy coloured nets because unlike Great Britain, they weren't living life in black and white. And yet here in sleepy Oxford, someone had the brilliance to bring a touch of international quality to an ordinary Second Division club.

For what it's worth, the netting itself was formed of small squares that were just the right size to create a feint red glow behind the goal when seen from certain angles. True, there might have been a few fishing trawlers up in Grimsby lacking some of their equipment back in 1971, but we think it was a sacrifice worth making.

Subbuteo introduced their coloured World Cup Goals in 1972-73. Did Oxford United prompt them to add such a splendid accessory to their range? We'd like to think they did. Case closed.

Structure: 8
Net pattern: 8
Net colour: 9
Overall: 8.3

The Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever is... Wang!

Yes, it's official - after seven weeks of rigorous voting and contentious debate, The Football Attic is proud to proclaim Wang as the Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever!

The former American computer giant, whose name was once emblazoned on the shirts of Oxford United, beat off stiff opposition throughout, culminating in a titanic battle in the Final against Newcastle Brown Ale. Yet when Big Ben rang out to signal the end of our colossal vote-off (and the arrival of 2013), it was Wang who had undoubtedly gained the upper hand.

During the week-long Final itself we received a whopping 379 votes, and though the split was around 45%-55% in favour of Wang for most of the time, a last-day surge changed that share to 37%-63% by close of play.

It was the cherry on the cake of a fine campaign played out by fans of Wang and, to a considerable extent, Oxford United. Receiving a bye to the Second Round, they proceeded to bulldoze their way past Rank Xerox (70%-30%) and NEC (63%-37%) before encountering their toughest contest in Round Four against Crown Paints which they duly won by 56% to 44%.

After that, it was plain sailing all the way to the Final with wins over Carlsberg (Wimbledon) in the Quarter Finals (69%-31%) and Guinness in the Semi Finals (71%-29%). As an early fancied entrant, Wang showed their promise throughout and rarely looked a doubt to be our eventual champions.

Over seven weeks, we received 8,426 votes - an enormous amount and one that we're truly staggered by. For that, we'd like to send a huge thank you to all of you that took part in the voting at one time or another as we clearly had no idea that so many of you would be keen to take part. Obviously the title of Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever is one that many of you wanted to see bestowed upon your own team!

Before we draw a close to this momentous event, we'd finally like to send our warm and sincere thanks to John Devlin, a man who knows more about football shirt design than many of us would ever dream of. As the designer and creative genius behind the True Colours project, we were naturally honoured when John allowed us to illuminate our vote-offs by using his beautiful illustrations. Without his help and support, our competition would surely not have been so popular.

And with that, we say congratulations once again to Wang for becoming The Football Attic's Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever. An outstanding winner and a great champion.

Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever - The Final

Newcastle Brown & Wang! 

No, not a night out on Tyneside... well, maybe it is for some, but no, not here my fellows, for this is the Final of the Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever!!!

After starting out with 96 sponsors from the annals of English and Scottish football, we're down to the final two. And what a journey... Stone cold classics such as Crown Paints, Sharp, JVC and Granada Bingo (shut up!) have all fallen by the wayside and it's the mid-80s stars of Oxford United (remember them?) with Wang Computers against the north east stalwarts Newcastle Brown Ale... for Newcastle United, obviously.

Once again, our thanks and gratitude go out to John Devlin for kindly allowing us to use his fantastic illustrations. John's work can be found at the True Colours site and he is also on Twitter so pay him a visit and give him a follow.

Rules:

Ah sod the rules, it's the Final!

Voting closes at 23:59 GMT on Monday 31st December - so we will all get to start 2013 safe in the knowledge that the Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever will have been decided!

Right... Off you go!

Greatest Shirt Sponsor Ever - Semi Finals

So we're down to the final four, and despite it looking like the Final was to be a re-run of the 1986 Milk Cup Final between Oxford and QPR, fate has intervened and made it a semi final encounter instead.

In the other semi, that there London meets Oop North so expect bare-chested barrel-shaped supporters and plenty of apples and pears... or something...

So, will it be an all-London final? Or will you all go for some full on Wang action (honestly, this stuff writes itself)? Or will we all be gannin' doon tha' toon for a bottle o' Newky Broon?  Ant n Dec... Spuggy...

Once again, our thanks and gratitude go out to John Devlin for kindly allowing us to use his fantastic illustrations. John's work can be found at the True Colours site and he is also on Twitter so pay him a visit and give him a follow.

Rules:

1) You are voting for the SPONSOR, not the team that it adorned.

2) Voting for Round 2 closes at 23:59 GMT on Sunday 24th December - what a lovely present for the finalists on Christmas day!

3) This is a bit of fun... if you don't like the results, take a deep breath, smile and accept that democracy is flawed... ;-)

NB Again, the polls will no longer show the results after you've voted. Results will only be revealed at the end of the round.

Gor Blimey... Pet...