I LOVE you, Gem Olive, and now the world knows too, writes The Oxonian.

I am sure it’s not just Mrs Oxonian who would like to know who Gem is, but most of the people reading this will have seen or spoken with her over the last few years. She is a true unsung hero at Oxford United.

Gem is in charge of the ticket office at the Kassam Stadium. Can you imagine the sheer hell of manning those telephones and dealing with the emails this week as 30,000 people with at best a rudimentary grasp of how to book tickets for Wembley asked for her help? Twenty-nine thousand of them have no idea what their fan number might be. The other 1,000 rang her to check where their tickets had got to.

I spoke with someone behind the scenes at 6:15pm on Monday and they said ‘I’m just leaving but Gem still has 300 calls to return or make’. I very much doubt she got home for EastEnders that night.

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It’s not just one person. Her amazing mum Sue will have been in to support and help, the wonderful Charlotte will have been there early and late each day, and Beardy Bloke on the far window whose proper name escapes me, will have done his bit.

Part-time superwoman Alison may well have joined the fun. Be honest: you haven’t thought of them this week, have you?

When the club moved to the Kassam Stadium, Dawn Wylie went too, moving the ticket office with her. I vividly recall her ticking off seats in the new ground on an enormous printed map stretched across three trestle tables.

The last time Oxford fans went to Wembley, her successor Christine Greenough was there as lower case dawn broke across the Arch, seated in a concrete bunker to deal with fans who lost their tickets on the day. All for the love of the U’s.

Oxford Mail:

These people are amazing. It’s not the best paid job in the world and yet they are expected to put up with shouty, sometimes sweary, fans at the windows who can’t make online systems work or who don’t have a smartphone and want a printed ticket. They do so with good grace, a smile, and little gratitude from those they serve.

At heart they are fans. Gem’s mum and daughter have worked at the club, they will all be there on Saturday, and nobody will want the team to win more, despite the fact they will then have the nightmare of bigger crowds next season if the team do their jobs.

I am a dead Oxonian when she reads this because she hates attention but here’s the deal Oxford fans. If you see Gem, Sue or Charlotte at Wembley, buy them a drink. A small gesture. Trust me, I’ve seen them drink: 30,000 thank yous still won’t be enough…