AFC Totton
LEFT-BACK RICHARD McINTYRE has returned to the Snows Stadium for his second loan spell with AFC Totton — and this time, he brought a friend in fellow Oxford United youth team graduate, George Franklin.
McIntyre’s previous spell with The Stags began so suddenly and then ended so abruptly, that the AFC Totton Media team never got the chance to meet him or to even announce his arrival. Yet, his first spell in Jimmy Ball’s squad had him becoming the answer to a potentially impossible-to-get AFC Totton quiz question of the none too distant future.
Having already played on loan at Gosport Borough in early 2024/25, the 19-year-old switched teams to join The Stags in time to line up against the Privett Park club when Totton visited in November. The switch came late enough that McIntyre’s name was actually listed among the Gosport players on the back of their Matchday Programme.
But it effectviely became the debut that never was, because with The Stags producing one of their best performances of the season and leading Boro’ two-nil going into half-time, a sudden neighbourhood-wide power cut took out the ground’s floodlights, causing the match to be abandoned.
Richard McIntyre in action for AFC Totton during the Isuzu FA Trophy Second Round victory at Lewes in November 2024.
With that match stricken from the record, McIntyre’s Totton debut eventually came during the Isuzu FA Trophy win at Lewes. But he was subsequently injured in training and did not feature for The Stags again before returning to Oxford.
The teenager is a product of the Kassam Stadium club’s academy and made his Oxford United first team debut as a substitute in an EFL Trophy tie against AFC Wimbledon in January 2024, before going on to sign his first professional contract in the summer. Between those two milestones in his football career, he lined up against The Stags while playing on loan for Salisbury when a Scott Rendell penalty secured all three Southern League Premier Division South points at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium, just over a year ago.
George Franklin is a year older than McIntyre, but he has been at Oxford United since he was nine years-old. A right-back, central defender or defensive midfielder, he captained The U’s youth team to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup when he was a third-year scholar.
Franklin’s first team debut for Oxford came in September 2023, when he was named in the starting line-up for an EFL Trophy tie against Northampton Town. However, towards the end of the game he suffered an ACL injury that kept him out for three months, until he made his comeback against Forest Green Rovers in the same competition in December 2023.
He was on loan at Bracknell Town last season, and spent the first half of the current campaign in National League South playing for Salisbury, making a total of 17 appearances for The Whites, including nine starts.
AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball commented:
“I’m delighted to get Richard back in again after his spell out with injury. I was impressed with his attitude when he was with us earlier in the season and I’m looking forward to working with him, again.
“George has been playing in the league above during the first half of this season, and the reports I’ve had on him have been very promising, so I’m glad to be welcoming him, too.”
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of James Boyes
