Liam Manning: Oxford United boss says work to evaluate players and club culture already under way
- Published
Oxford United's results improved under new head coach Liam Manning but he admits the club has a lot of work to do this off season
Oxford United head coach Liam Manning says work has started to evaluate players and the club's culture.
The U's' turbulent 2022-23 League One campaign came to a close with a loss to relegated Accrington Stanley on Sunday.
"We have to learn from this season," Manning told BBC Radio Oxford.
"It is such a difficult division, if you don't have the right culture, the right recruitment, if you don't coach right, you can find yourself in the position that this club has been in."
He added: "We have to make sure we evaluate all of that in the off season and put it right."
Without question, Oxford have improved under Manning, who was able to stop their slide down the table and towards the relegation zone as the season wound down.
Before he arrived at the Kassam Stadium the U's were losing more games and failing to claim even a single point from crucial matches.
Whilst the ex-MK Dons boss was not able to increase the number of wins secured by his predecessor Karl Robinson (both achieved two victories in 2023) he did turn potential defeats into draws, salvaging much needed points.
Manning says he will have a week-long break at some point during the off season but at the moment he and his staff are focused on rebuilding.
"The off-season process has already started, I've had meetings with recruitment, Tim Williams [chief executive], senior leadership and I've already started individual player meetings," he said.
"We have a lot of work to do on and off the pitch to make sure that we are driving the right standards, have the right culture and that we get the right players in to compete.
"We have to have people who the second they put on the shirt are ready to deliver and ready to win games."
Oxford United finished their 2022-23 League One campaign 19th in the table with 11 wins, 14 draws and 21 losses - two points off the bottom four and relegation.