At the start of the season we think we know what the narrative will be; we're not always right, but we think we know.
For the last two seasons in the Championship it was obvious. Can Oxford stay up? For more than a decade before that, it was "Can Oxford go up?"
This season? Insert your own IDK (I don't know) emoji here.
Oxford's particular set of circumstances is unique in the modern professional era; they go into the season with a squad that was entirely available to them last season.
The change of manager, with Aaron Ramsey coming in, showed ambition and looked promising in pre-season.
Days after his arrival, though, United failed to satisfy new League One financial rules, and they were hit with a restriction on registering any new players.
Faced with the transfer embargo, the club has doubled down on the policy of retention as a way of being competitive in the division.
Can Ramsey maintain harmony when at least some of the players he will wish to deploy might have expected their futures to lie elsewhere?
Oxford have a talented group, but after the cup defeat at Leyton Orient at the weekend, those who have been warning about a lack of depth were probably saying, "I told you so."
So, it's hard to suggest Oxford are major "bounce back at the first attempt" candidates when the club has been unable or unwilling to meet the new SCMP requirements, but now there's a further wrinkle with the PFA challenge to these rules.
The football world has been flailing around trying to apply the template for this scenario; United have spoilt those attempts.
Can you define anyone as a "crisis club" when the bills are being paid and far from there being a fire sale of top talent, it is quite the opposite?
In my time covering the club, there have been at least as many predicaments as there've been promotions.
What never seems to change when writing a piece like this about Oxford United is the importance of a new stadium to the club.
Owners, managers and players come and go, but for Oxford United to thrive for the supporters who will never move on, the biggest win of the coming year would be getting spades in the ground at The Triangle.
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