Jerome Sale column: What can we expect from Oxford United in the 2023-24 season?
- Published
The vibe around the Kassam Stadium since Liam Manning's arrival at Oxford United has certainly changed
It feels very different at Oxford United compared with a year ago.
There are new outright owners, there is a new manager, and there are a lot of new players.
This time last year there may have been nagging doubts about Oxford's ability to put together yet another promotion push from League One, but few, if anyone, predicting the wheels spectacularly coming off, as they did, as winter turned to spring.
That was a spell of real turmoil - a challenge for the new board, with fans rightly fearing relegation.
If he was slow to sack Karl Robinson, United's chairman Grant Ferguson took a perfectly sensible amount of time to replace him with Liam Manning - a calm, measured man who steered the U's to safety in the final week of the campaign.
Unlike his predecessor, Manning is not a larger-than-life character, but his presence is felt at the club's training ground in other ways - it is business first and foremost, in every part of the building and on every pitch.
Oxford need their 'foot soldiers'
Oxford will need goalkeeper James Beadle, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion, to perform well from the get go
Another change is that recruitment is almost complete before the season has started - a diverse range of players have come in - young and older, from the Premier League to the National League, but so far none out of left field - think Yanic Wildschut from CSKA Sofia and Djavan Anderson from Lazio late in last summer's transfer window.
The club does mean business, and it is acting in accordance with stated aims of being a top-30 club, on and off the field. I can guarantee all supporters will welcome that ambition, though it is inevitable that there will be some abrasion as it changes its business model and alters processes in a bid to control its brand and its message.
To oil the relationships, the trick will be to limit any feeling of disenfranchisement for those who, in more straitened times, have been the lifeblood of the football club. The club will still need those people to be foot soldiers in the battle it has to win over political opinion about the merits of building a new stadium just north of the city. Winning football matches inevitably helps.
Veteran leadership and goals are needed
Oxford fans are demanding, but they are not stupid. Turning a bottom six campaign into one that ends in the top six is a big ask. Teenage recruits from the top flight - Stan Mills, and particularly goalkeeper James Beadle - will have to perform from the get-go.
Stalwarts of recent seasons like Elliott Moore and Cameron Brannagan cannot afford a dip, and more than anything United need, as a unit, to start scoring again. They netted 49 goals last season - 33 fewer than in the previous campaign. That has to be reversed if Oxford are to be successful.
They will not be a top-30 club this year. Getting back to being a top-50 team this season will be a major step in the right direction.
You can hear every Oxford United match live on BBC Radio Oxford with Jerome Sale.
