Oxford were relegation favourites from this year’s Championship but a frantic season of recruitment in which they’ve brought in 21 players and a new manager looks like it’ll end in the consolidation they craved after a pair of brilliant home wins – Adam England takes us through it.

How's the season been for Oxford?

Outside Oxford it has felt for most of the season like everyone has expected us to be relegated. At times it has looked like we would be proving those naysayers right but we've at least made a fight of it. We've had some really terrific wins - opening day verses Norwich and most recently against our old manager Chris Wilder were particular highs. There have also been some bleak times when we've struggled and lost against some really poor teams - away at Hull having lead comes to mind.

Oxford in the league so far…
Oxford 2-0 Norwich Harris 28, Brannagan 58
Coventry 3-2 Oxford Wright 15, 90, van Ewijk 31 – Brown 22, Harris 55
Blackburn 2-1 Oxford Rankin-Costello 45, Sigurdsson 83 – Harris 44
Oxford 3-1 Preston Harris 20, Goodrham 53, Leigh 71 – Riis 3
Oxford 1-0 Stoke El Mizouni 48
Bristol City 2-1 Oxford Armstrong 57, Wells pen 76 – Rodrigues 28
Oxford 0-0 Burnley
Luton 2-2 Oxford Clark 10, Krauss 37 – Goodrham 45, Rodrigues 54
Pompey 1-1 Oxford O’Mahony 58 – Sibley 72
Oxford 1-1 West Brom Scarlett 90 – Grant 29
Oxford 1-1 Derby Scarlett 12 – Mendez-Laing 55
Sunderland 2-0 Oxford Bellingham 16, Isidor 63
Oxford 1-2 Swansea Scarlett 88 – Vipotnik 38, Bianchini 80
Oxford 1-0 Hull Avest 55
Watford 1-0 Oxford Bayo 54
Oxford 2-6 Boro leigh 24, Scarlett 72 – Latte Lath pen 37, 45, 49, Azaz 42, 83, Conway 80
Sheff Utd 3-0 Oxford O’Hare 10, Campbell 26, Rak-Sakyi 58
Oxford 1-1 Millwall Goodrham 85 – Tanganga 45
QPR 2-0 Oxford Field 53, 68
Oxford 1-3 Sheff Wed Leigh 17 – Windass 28, Lowe 49, Gassama 61
Leeds 4-0 Oxford James 9, Bogle 57, Aaronson 67, Solomon 73
Oxford 3-2 Cardiff Harris 41, Brown 53, Placheta 57 – Ashford 82, Robinson 90
Oxford 2-0 Plymouth Brown 14, Placheta 61
Millwall 0-1 Oxford Rodrigues 57
Preston 1-1 Oxford Keane 69 – Rodrigues 21
Plymouth 1-1 Oxford Al Hajj 63 – Vaulks 44
Oxford 1-0 Blackburn Brannagan 67
Oxford 3-2 Luton Helik 22, Brown 59, Leigh 69 – Krauss 11, McGuinness 26
Stoke 0-0 Oxford
Oxford 1-1 Bristol City Leigh 59 – Sykes 65
Burnley 1-0 Oxford Helik og 33
Derby 0-0 Oxford
Oxford 0-2 Portsmouth Dozzell 47, O’Mahony 90
West Brom 2-0 Oxford Mowatt 11, Swift 90
Oxford 2-3 Coventry Romenij 53, Moore 62 – Rudoni 7, Mason-Clark 58, Sakamoto 71
Norwich 1-1 Oxford Sargent 5 – Harris 18
Hull 2-1 Oxford Gelhardt 73, Puerta 76 – Helik 66
Oxford 1-0 Watford Dembele 82
Boro 2-1 Oxford Iheanacho 48, Borges 80 - Helik
Oxford 1-0 Sheff Utd Dembele 38

You guys seemed happy with Des Buckingham when we last spoke, then he got sacked immediately after losing at Loftus Road, so what changed and how do we look back on that decision now?

Yes, Des was much loved after getting us an unexpected promotion last year and there was a lot of shock and disappointment in the fanbase when it happened. The team had a strong start to life in the Championship but then had only won once in 14 games prior to the sacking. The performance away against what was an extremely poor QPR side (no malice intended (none taken, we were fucking horrendous – ed)) was frustrating but fan expectation was that we were probably going down anyway and Buckingham would be the one trusted to build a team for the future and bounce back stronger. The owners (rightly) disagreed with the fans... Accepting relegation as a fait accompli was not an option and the tough decisions were going to be made to give us the best possible chance of staying up. It hurt but we were sunk if we'd kept Des and Rowett has (so far) just about managed to keep our heads above the water line and some hope that we might just be able to cling on.

Opinions on Gary Rowett's appointment at the time, and how it's viewed now?

Having lost Des... Rowett's appointment went almost unnoticed in a time of high emotion. I jest! Looking back Oxford has never been a club to hire and fire managers and the choice of Rowett felt a bit run of the mill and uninspired. But it's amazing how winning football matches can change your opinion... Must-win home victories against Plymouth and Cardiff plus our only (to date) away win of the season against Millwall on new Year’s Day dragged us out of the relegation zone and almost instantly justified the decision to make a change.

A really strong start under the new manager but a poor run more recently, why so? What sort of Oxford are we facing this week?

I honestly couldn't tell you what has changed. Oxford had such a great start to 2025. To his credit, Rowett very quickly organised the players he inherited and refocused on an effective "back to basics" style of play. The issue being that as soon as an opposition team found some success against us, other teams soon learnt how to counteract how we want to play. Unfortunately, I don't think we have sufficient quality of players this season to do anything other than roll with the punches and hope that giving it 110% gets us over the line and we can strengthen in the summer.

As much as our defence has been our strength this year, even chipping in with a few vital goals, attack has been our weakness. On Wednesday night it's not going to be overly tactical or pretty, it'll be high tempo, lots of stray passes, lots of getting the ball wide and looking like we don't really know what to do with it but we'll keep it tight at the back and be in the game for the full 90, whether or not something falls for us who knows? (I reckon I do – ed)

How was January transfer window? What was done? What was left undone?

Nearly fifty years since Trevor Francis.... Oxford United spent £1m on a player for the first time. Ole Romeny signed from Ultrec in Holland looks promising in the ten position. I've got high hopes that he could be the star player next season. He will need support in the summer. Romeny aside it's the front four where the weakness are most evident. I'm looking forward to another transfer window with hopefully a Championship budget to build a squad could establish Oxford in the division next year.

Summer Ins >>> Peter Kioso, 24, RB, Rotherham, £750k >>> Jack Currie, 22, LB, Wimbledon, £450k >>> Idris El Mizouni, 23, CM, Ipswich, £400k >>> Louie Sibley, 22, CM, Derby, Free >>> Hidde ter Avest, 27, RB, Utrecht, Free >>> Przemyslaw Placheta, 26, LW, Swansea, Free >>> Jamie Cumming, 24, GK, Chelsea, Free >>> Will Vaulks, 30, CM, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Matt Phillips, 33, RW, West Brom, Free >>> Jacob Knightbridge, 20, GK, West Ham, Free >>> Marselino Ferdinan, 19, AM, KMSK Deinze, Free >>> Siriki Dembele, 27, LW, Birmingham, Undisclosed >>> Matt Ingram, 30, GK, Hull, Undisclosed >>> Malcolm Ebiowei, 20, RW, Palace, Loan >>> Dane Scarlett, 20, CF, Spurs, Loan >>> Ben Nelson, 20, CB, Leicester, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Kyle Edwards, 26, LW, Stevenage, Undisclosed >>> Ed McGinty, 25, GK, Shamrock Rovers, Undisclosed >>> Louie Sibley, 23, CM, Rotherham, Loan >>> Owen Dale, 26, RW, Wigan, Loan >>> Will Goodwin, 22, CF, Wigan, Loan >>> Stephan Negru, 22, CB, Salford, Loan >>> James Golding, 20, CB, Southend, Loan

Player of the season candidates?

Ciaran Brown - Northern Ireland international defender. Has grown with the club over the past three or four years, had now proved himself at Championship level and wouldn't be surprised if bigger clubs are interested this summer.

Jamie Cumming - goalkeeper. Has kept us in games at times the year with his shot-stopping... His distribution and command of his penalty area has massively improved over the past 12 months.

Weak links in the side?

Mark Harris... Won Championship player of the month in August but has only scored two goals since. Praised for his "work rate" but he's paid to put the ball in the back of the net and seldom does. I struggle to see why we persist.

A (dis)honourable mention to your former player Matt Phillips - applauded off by opposition fans in some games this year.

Will you guys see survival through?

Until Saturday's win against Sheffield United I thought we were down. We've now got a big four days ahead of us. It feels like another four or five points would be enough and we have a tantalising opportunity against Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday to grab a big haul of points and start thinking about next year. On the other hand lose on Wednesday and we'll be right back in danger.

Links >>> Oxford official website >>> Oxford Mail — Local Press >>> Last Word on Sport —Blog >>> Vital Oxford — Blog >>> Yellows Forum — Message Board >>> The Fence End — Podcast >>> T’Manor — Podcast

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