James Constable will go down as one of the all-time greats for Oxford United.

That is mainly for the goals he scored on the way to securing the club’s Football League status once again but snubbing rivals Swindon Town when they came calling was the cherry on the cake for the fans.

Oxford and Swindon are fierce rivals, and although the U’s find themselves two divisions higher than the Robins, this wasn’t always the case.

Swindon trying to steal Constable

At the time, Oxford were a smaller side than Swindon, especially financially. They had just spent four years in the National League, and since 2001, Swindon had always been in a higher division than the Yellows.

So in January of 2012, when the Robins came calling for Oxford’s striker, who had been their top goalscorer for three seasons in a row, they made an offer United couldn’t refuse. It wasn’t their first offer, or their second either, which United both declined.

But when Swindon came back for a third time with a much-improved offer, Oxford allowed the player to talk to the club, who were managed by Paolo Di Canio at the time.

Di Canio had made his feelings known about ‘Beano’ as United fans call him. The Italian was very impressed with what he saw.

In a bid to initiate mind games before the derby, Di Canio told BBC Wiltshire “He’s a big Swindon fan through and through – the Oxford fans know it”. Constable, who grew up in Wiltshire, claims to be a Tottenham fan, however.

The former West Ham player went on to say “Constable is an important player for them, obviously. In the last few years, he is the one who has scored the goals.

“He has pace, he is tall, he can score with both feet and his physical presence is massive.”

The revised offer from Swindon was good, really good. To get Oxford to allow their star striker to begin negotiations with their biggest rivals should show how impressive the offer was. Constable had other ideas, however.

The striker took to Twitter, as reported by BBC Sport, to announce his intent to stay in the yellow and blue of Oxford United. He wrote: “This has been one of the toughest days I have had in my career, I never wanted to leave the football club, it means everything to me. I have never asked to speak to Swindon.”

The Aftermath

Oxford announced that Constable had declined to speak to Swindon and that he would be included in the squad for their upcoming game against Hereford United.

The news was met with relief and joy from the Oxford fans, who had feared the worst. Not only were they about to lose their best player and talisman, but they were going to lose him to their arch rivals, who were now in the same division as them.

The Swindon camp weren’t as thrilled about the news, however. Chairman Jeremy Wray told the BBC: “The deal is dead in the water. We were very hopeful, and we had agreed terms with Oxford.

“The player was due to come down and meet Paolo (Di Canio) but we were informed he didn’t want to take it any further.

“From Paolo’s point of view he only wants people who are 100% committed in coming to Swindon. As soon as he knew there was dithering on the part of the player, he felt it was right to move on to other targets.”

Constable vs Swindon

Early on in the 2011/12 season, before Swindon’s attempted steal in January, United played the Robins. Constable scored both goals as United won 2-1 in the first A420 derby since December 2002.

Di Canio had already made comments linking the forward to Swindon, Constable answered by kissing the United badge in celebration.

United welcomed Swindon to the Kassam two months after the transfer saga, in a game filled with tension and animosity. It was the first A420 derby in Oxford in nearly a decade, and it was electic.

There was a lot of attention given to Constable by both sets of fans, as a result of the transfer saga.

Maybe that got into the number nine’s head, as he was shown a straight red card after catching Joe Devera with what the referee deemed to be a deliberate elbow in the 10th minute.

The clash happened right in front of the Swindon fans in the away end, who were delighted to see the player who rejected them, sent off.

The incident only added more gas to the fire that needed no help in igniting in the first place. United were able to harness that energy and secure a famous 2-0 victory despite being a man down for most of the game.

James Constable, an Oxford legend

‘Beano’ joined the club on loan from Shrewsbury Town in the summer of 2008. In his first season, he scored 26 goals in 49 games for the club. A fantastic return that saw United offer him a three-year-deal at the club, along with fan’s and player’s player of the year awards, not to mention the Blue Square Premier’s player of the year.

His next few years at Oxford saw him link up with Matt Green, among others, to devastating effect. Constable scored at Wembley in the Blue Square Premier play-off final to take Oxford back to the football league.

Constable scored 106 goals in 280 games for the club, and is the second-highest goalscorer in the club’s history. Legendary Graham Atkinson holds the record with just one more goal.

‘Beano’ will go down as an Oxford legend. Oxford haven’t had a talisman like him since, and are crying out for one. He was a throwback to the old-school number nine with brute strength, aggression and pace, with fantastic finishing ability. Maybe Di Canio was on to something after all.