Oxford United

Ben Ashton
BBC Sport England

Image source, Getty Images

Watford are getting relegated, Plymouth are staying up, Millwall are in the play-offs and Portsmouth are also battling for a top-six spot.

Does something sound a bit off? Well, that's what would have happened if the Championship season started on 1 January.

Here's a look at the 2025 calendar year table, showing who the form sides were in the second half of the season and who went into freefall.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the actual final top six and the 2025 version is that Millwall would be in the play-offs and Premier League-bound Sunderland would not.

Burnley and Leeds still comfortably occupy the automatic promotion spots, albeit the Clarets would be unbeaten at the top of the pile with the Whites in second.

Coventry improved significantly after Frank Lampard replaced Mark Robins and are third over the course of the year.

The Sky Blues would instead be pitted against Bristol City in the play-off semi-final as opposed to Sunderland. Who knows what difference that would have made to their promotion bid...

Image source, Rex Features

Portsmouth - who spent much of the season battling relegation and only secured their Championship safety with two games to spare - are seventh and just one point outside a play-off spot.

Pompey sit above Sunderland, who lost their final five games of the season and are down in eighth.

The data perhaps shows just how long Regis Le Bris' side effectively had a play-off spot sewn up before their victory at Wembley against Sheffield United to claim promotion.

Relegation battlers Oxford find themselves seven places higher than where they actually finished in the 2024-25 campaign (17th), reflecting the good work done by Gary Rowett after he took over as boss from Des Buckingham.

Image source, Rex Features

Plymouth would have survived comfortably had the season begun in January 2025, showing a significant uptick after Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney at the helm.

Middlesbrough tailed off significantly in the second half of the season, underpinning why they missed out on the play-offs. It was a drop off that ultimately cost Michael Carrick his job as head coach.

Norwich City conceded more goals (32) than any other side in 2025, which counteracted the hard work they'd done at the other end, having been the fourth top scorers (31) since the turn of the year.

Image source, Rex Features

Watford had a disappointing 2025, winning just five of their 23 games and losing 13 to finish bottom of the calendar year table.

The Hornets had the joint-worst goal difference along with Cardiff (-10) and head coach Tom Cleverley was sacked following the end of the season.

Preston and Cardiff won the fewest games of any side in 2025 (4), which cost the Bluebirds their Championship status and almost led to the Lilywhites dropping into League One as they avoided relegation by one point.

Paul Heckingbottom's side would be down if only games this year were counted.

Luton and Derby scored the fewest goals in 2025 (19) and attacking output was an issue that plagued both sides throughout the entire campaign.

It had major consequences for the Hatters with back-to-back relegations, while the Rams survived by a point - and only on goal difference in the yearly table.

Data collated from Transfermarkt

"The last seven or eight games were pretty tough if I'm being honest. It wasn't great."

The Dub's Robyn Cowen is joined by Oxford United midfielder Will Vaulks as they discuss his debut season with the U's, what the future holds for the 31-year-old and battling through pain to help the team avoid relegation.

Vaulks sustained an ankle injury towards the end of last season but chose to delay surgery until the U's had secured safety.

"There was no pressure from the club, it was more myself. It just didn't feel the right time to say 'I'll just get the operation now, look after myself and leave the players to it'," Vaulks said.

"If you would have asked my other four clubs I've had before now, 'reliable' probably would have been a word you'd have used to describe me.

"I had a couple of errors that led to goals that really affected me as well. It was tough coming to a place with a lot of expectation and then to be the one that was letting the team down. That's what hurts as a player."

Listen to the full episode and more on BBC Sounds.

Image source, PA Media

Oxford United striker Ole Romeny scored the only goal of the game for Indonesia in a 1-0 win over China in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday.

The 24-year-old netted from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time in a victory which guaranteed Indonesia's progress to the fourth round stage of qualifying.

Indonesia will now need to either win their mini three-team tiebreaker group or finish second and then win a two-legged play-off game to reach World Cup 2026 which is being held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Romeny's strike against China is his third in three international games for Indonesia since gaining citizenship in February this year.

He was born in the Netherlands and represented the Dutch national sides at youth level but his grandmother is Indonesian, meaning Romeny was able to switch his allegiance.

Romeny scored one goal in 14 Championship games for the U's after signing from Eredivisie club Utrecht in January.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Oxford United

Oxford United have agreed new deals with 20-year-old academy products Josh Johnson and James Golding.

Midfielder Johnson joined the club as a scholar and has made seven first team appearances in cup competitions since making his debut at 16, in addition to loan spells with Dartford, Welling, Banbury and Maidenhead.

Former Republic of Ireland under-19 centre-back Golding has featured for the senior side nine times since making his debut in 2021, including three times in League One, and had loan spells at Maidenhead and Southend last season.

Head of football, Ed Waldron, told the club website, external: "It's really important for the club to have a strong core of young, promising players who have been developed within our system.

"Josh and James are two players who have shown real qualities over each age group and have since enjoyed strong loan spells at first-team level across the pyramid.

"We look forward to continuing to work with both as they aim to make an impact on our first team group."

Oxford United's plans for a new stadium will face a crucial planning hearing on 3 July, says the club's development director Jon Clarke.

The U's have agreed a deal to continue playing at the Kassam Stadium for a maximum of three years.

Oxford want to build a new ground at the Triangle site near Kidlington and their planning application will be heard by Cherwell councillors in six weeks time.

"We have a clear plan to deliver (the new stadium) and the next big step is to get that planning decision from the committee," Clarke told BBC Radio Oxford.

You can hear the full interview with Jon Clarke of BBC Radio Oxford's podcast, The Dub.

"It was almost like the season in a microcosm because it was much better than you expected, entertaining to the last, but I think I'd go further than that and talk about how vibrant it was, how the atmosphere was brilliant.

"It was an advert for what you want the Championship to be. The one thing it didn't have was the nail-biting, stomach-crushing pressure of some of the previous weeks."

BBC Radio Oxford's Jerome Sale shares his thoughts on the 3-3 draw at Swansea on the final day.

He joins BBC's Robyn Cowen, former U's defender Ben Purkiss and supporter and podcaster George Elek on the latest episode of The Dub podcast.

They reflect on Oxford's final week of the season, staying in the Championship and what might happen in the summer transfer window.

Listen to the full episode of The Dub podcast on BBC Sounds.

Swansea City and Oxford United are set to enjoy their final game of the season with nothing on the line - bar pride, of course.

The two will meet in Wales on Saturday (12:30 BST), with Swansea six points under the play-offs and Oxford no longer in relegation threat.

The U's secured safety last time out with a 2-0 victory over fourth placed Sunderland.

They go into this game knowing their goal has been achieved but the job is not done for either side, who will want to end their campaign with a bang.

• Swansea City are unbeaten across their last four league games against Oxford United, winning each of their last three in succession (D1).

• Oxford United have failed to win any of their last four away league games against Swansea City (D2 L2), since a 2-1 victory in November 2000.

• When playing at home on the final day of a league campaign, Swansea have lost three of their last four games (W1), including a 1-0 defeat to Millwall last season.

• After winning their last match 2-0 against Sunderland, Oxford will be looking to win successive league games for the first time since January.

• Since Alan Sheehan's first Championship game in charge of Swansea City, only Burnley (29), Leeds (25) and Millwall (24) have won more points than the Swans (P12 W7 D2 L3).

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United chief executive Tim Williams has doubled down on his stance that the club needs a new ground after retaining their Championship status.

The lease on the Kassam Stadium expires in June 2026 and the club is still awaiting a decision from planners about a proposed new 16,000-seater venue, which is expected this summer.

In April Williams said that without a new stadium, there would be no Oxford United, and that there was "nothing more important".

"Staying up is why we need a new stadium," he told BBC Radio Oxford. "If people had any doubts, then Saturday showed why it is needed.

"Up or down it doesn't matter, Oxfordshire needs a football club with its own stadium in the heart of the county and that is the most important thing. We're a Championship club for the second season and we deserve a Championship stadium.

"We've been through some tough times this season and we made some very difficult decisions on the way.

"But we've done it for the right reasons and they are that we stay in the league for another year. It's an extraordinary and brilliant achievement."

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United should be ambitious and look beyond just thinking about securing their Championship status, according to midfielder Cameron Brannagan.

The U's beat Sunderland 2-0 on Saturday to guarantee a second campaign in the second tier having been promoted via the League One play-offs last season.

"Ever since I've been here we've been little old Oxford and we don't mind that - keep writing us off," Brannagan told BBC Radio Oxford.

"I said in an interview this year I want to push for the Premier League and I stand by that - we want to regroup and having stayed in the Championship why can't we be ambitious and go as high as possible?"

Oxford finish their season at Swansea on Saturday (12:30 BST) and Brannagan is keen they get the three points despite having achieved their aim of safety.

"We can go an enjoy it but when the ball rolls we want to win, we want to finish on a high," he added. "People think it's done but we've got another game and want to go and win it."