2017–18 Oxford United F.C. season explained

Club:Oxford United
Season:2017–18
Manager:Pep Clotet
(until 22 January 2018)
Derek Fazackerley (caretaker)
(from 23 January 2018 till 22 March 2018)
Karl Robinson
(from 22 March 2018)
Mgrtitle:Head Coach
Chairman:Darryl Eales
(until February 2018)
Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth
(from February 2018)
Stadium:Kassam Stadium
League:League One
League Result:16th
Cup1:FA Cup
Cup1 Result:First round (eliminated by Port Vale)
Cup2:EFL Cup
Cup2 Result:First round (eliminated by Cheltenham Town)
Cup3:EFL Trophy
Cup3 Result:Fourth round (eliminated by Chelsea U21s)
League Topscorer:Wes Thomas, James Henry (10)
Season Topscorer:Wes Thomas, James Henry (11)
Highest Attendance:9,510 (v Portsmouth, 12 August)
Lowest Attendance:1,074 (v Brighton & Hove Albion U21s, 3 October)
Prevseason:2016–17
Nextseason:2018–19

The 2017–18 season was Oxford United's second consecutive season in League One and their 124th year in existence.[1] As well as competing in League One, the club participated in the FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.

Before the start of the season, manager Michael Appleton resigned to become assistant manager at Leicester City.[2] His replacement Pep Clotet, formerly assistant manager at Leeds United,[3] in contrast to Appleton's policy of signing promising young British players, signed a mix of foreign players,[4] among them Dwight Tiendalli, Xemi Fernández, Ivo Pękalski, Agon Mehmeti and Ricardinho (the first Brazilian to play for Oxford), and seasoned British pros including Jonathan Obika from rivals Swindon Town, James Henry, Mike Williamson and John Mousinho. A number of influential players, among them Chey Dunkley, Liam Sercombe, top scorer Chris Maguire, captain John Lundstram and record signing Marvin Johnson, left the club. Incoming loanees included Jack Payne from Huddersfield Town and Gino van Kessel from Slavia Prague. Striker Kane Hemmings and defender Charlie Raglan were given season-long loans at Mansfield Town and Port Vale respectively. Curtis Nelson was appointed club captain following the departure of Lundstram.

Results started reasonably with an away win over Oldham Athletic (who were to be relegated at the end of the season) and a home win over Portsmouth in front of what turned out to be the club's largest home crowd of the season. After 15 games the club were in the play-off places, but form declined through the late autumn. Curtis Nelson ruptured his Achilles tendon during a home defeat to Northampton Town in November, and John Mousinho was appointed captain in his place (until Nelson's eventual return in April). Oxford suffered a record 7–0 home defeat at the hands of eventual champions Wigan Athletic on 23 December. During the January transfer window, Payne was recalled by his parent club, Xemi was released from his contract and Robert Dickie and Cameron Brannagan were signed from Reading and Liverpool respectively. Three young loanees were recruited from Premier League clubs: Isaac Buckley-Ricketts and Ashley Smith-Brown from Manchester City and Todd Kane from Chelsea.

After a home defeat to bottom club Bury, Clotet was sacked with the club in 10th place. Caretaker-manager Derek Fazackerley presided over the team for two months, in which time they won only twice in eight games and dropped to 15th place.

Midway through Fazackerley's tenure, the club announced that Thai businessman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, formerly a member of the owning consortium at rivals Reading, had become the new owner of the club. Thanakarnjanasuth appointed Karl Robinson as the club's permanent manager on 22 March 2018. Robinson had to wait five games for his first win, but his aim of retaining the club's League One status was achieved with three wins from the last five games of the season. The club finished in 16th place on 56 points, six points above the relegation zone.

United were eliminated by lower-league opposition in the opening rounds of the League Cup and FA Cup, by Cheltenham Town and Port Vale respectively. Having been losing finalists for the previous two seasons, they reached the last 8 of the EFL Trophy but were eliminated by Chelsea U21s.

Midfielder James Henry and striker Wes Thomas were the club's leading scorers, each with 11 goals (10 in the League). For the second season running, goalkeeper Simon Eastwood played every minute of every league game, though he was rested for a couple of EFL Trophy matches. Midfielder Ryan Ledson, the subject of persistent transfer rumours, was voted the Supporters' Player of the Season.

Transfers

Transfers in

Date fromPositionNationalityNameFromFeeRef.
1 July 2017 Fiacre Kelleher Free [5]
1 July 2017 Free [6]
1 July 2017 Free [7]
6 July 2017 Free [8]
12 July 2017 Free [9]
13 July 2017 Free [10]
18 July 2017 Free [11]
26 July 2017 Free [12]
3 August 2017 Free [13]
8 August 2017 Undisclosed [14]
31 August 2017 Free [15]
7 September 2017 Free agent Free [16]
1 December 2017 Max Harris Undisclosed [17]
4 January 2018 Undisclosed [18]
11 January 2018 Undisclosed [19]

Transfers out

Date fromPositionNationalityNameToFeeRef.
1 July 2017 Released [20]
1 July 2017 Released
1 July 2017 Free [21]
1 July 2017 Jonny Giles Released
1 July 2017 Jordan Graham Released
1 July 2017 Undisclosed [22]
1 July 2017 Mutual consent [23]
1 July 2017 Released
20 July 2017 Free [24]
25 July 2017 Undisclosed [25]
31 August 2017 Undisclosed [26]
22 November 2017 [27]
30 January 2018 Free agent Mutual consent [28]

Loans in

Start datePositionNationalityNameFromEnd dateRef.
28 July 2017 15 January 2018 [29] [30]
10 August 2017 30 June 2018 [31]
31 August 2017 30 June 2018 [32]
12 January 2018 30 June 2018 [33]
29 January 2018 Manchester City 30 June 2018 [34]
31 January 2018 30 June 2018 [35]

Loans out

Start datePositionNationalityNameToEnd dateRef.
3 August 2017 30 June 2018 [36] [37]
22 August 2017 30 June 2018 [38]
24 August 2017 January 2018 [39]
24 August 2017 January 2018 [40]
29 August 2017 Manny Agboola January 2018 [41]
15 December 2017 30 June 2018 [42] [43]
22 December 2017 Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018 [44] [45]
5 January 2018 Manny Agboola Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018
19 January 2018 February 2018 [46]
19 January 2018 Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018
30 January 2018 30 June 2018 [47]
16 February 2018 Manny Agboola 30 June 2018 [48]

Competitions

Friendlies

Oxford United played six pre-season friendlies, against Oxford City, Middlesbrough and Hull City[49] (in Portugal),[50] Brentford, Birmingham City[51] and Leeds United.[52] A proposed friendly against Lincoln City[53] was cancelled.[54]

League One

Matches

On 21 June 2017, the league fixtures were announced.[55] [56]

FA Cup

See main article: 2017–18 FA Cup.

On 16 October 2017, Oxford United were drawn away to Port Vale in the first round.[57]

EFL Cup

See main article: 2017–18 EFL Cup.

On 16 June 2017, Oxford United were drawn at home to Cheltenham Town in the first round.[58]

EFL Trophy

See main article: 2017–18 EFL Trophy.

Squad statistics

Top scorers

width=60Placewidth=60Positionwidth=60Nationwidth=60Numberwidth=150Namewidth=80League Onewidth=80FA Cupwidth=80League Cupwidth=80FL Trophywidth=80Total
1=FW 9 10 0 0 1 11
MF 17 10 0 0 1 11
3=MF 10 3 0 0 4 7
FW 20 5 0 1 1 7
5MF 18 5 0 0 1 6
6=FW 7 2 0 0 3 5
MF 14 5 0 0 0 5
FW 39 3 0 0 2 5
9=MF 27 2 0 0 1 3
MF 8 3 0 0 0 3
DF 19 3 0 0 0 3
DF 21 3 0 0 0 3
13MF 19 1 0 1 0 2
14=DF 2 1 0 0 0 1
DF 5 1 0 0 0 1
MF 11 0 0 1 0 1
DF 15 1 0 0 0 1
FW 28 1 0 0 0 1
DF 30 1 0 0 0 1
DF 35 1 0 0 0 1
TOTALS60031477

Disciplinary record

NumberNationPositionNameLeague OneFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal
width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"width=60 style="background: #FFEE99"width=60 style="background: #FF8888"
1 GK Simon Eastwood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2 DF Christian Ribeiro 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
3 DF Dwight Tiendalli 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
4 DF 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
5 DF Curtis Nelson 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
6 DF Aaron Martin 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
7 FW Robert Hall 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
8 MF Ryan Ledson 11 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 13 0
9 FW Wes Thomas 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
10 MF 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
11 MF Cameron Brannagan 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
14 MF Josh Ruffels 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
16 DF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
17 MF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
18 MF Joe Rothwell 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
19 MF Xemi Fernández 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 0
19 DF Todd Kane 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
20 FW Jon Obika 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
21 DF Ricardinho 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 1
25 DF Charlie Raglan 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
27 MF Alex Mowatt 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
30 DF John Mousinho 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 0
35 DF Canice Carroll 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 0
TOTALS66 2 2 0 3 0 8 0 79 2

Notes and References

  1. News: History . Statto . 2017-05-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150415133557/http://www.statto.com/football/teams/oxford-united/history . 2015-04-15 . dead .
  2. Web site: Leicester City: Michael Appleton leaves Oxford United to become Foxes assistant . BBC Sport . 20 June 2017 . 9 May 2018.
  3. Web site: Pep Clotet: Oxford United name ex-Leeds United and Swansea City coach as manager . BBC Sport . 1 July 2017 . 9 May 2018.
  4. News: ANALYSIS: What went wrong during Pep Clotet's time at Oxford United? . Oxford Mail . 23 January 2018 . David . Pritchard . 9 May 2018.
  5. News: Fiacre Kelleher Signs for the U's. 22 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 22 June 2017.
  6. News: Charlie Raglan Signs For The U's. 7 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 7 June 2017.
  7. News: Shearer set to join the U's . Oxford United Official Site . 16 May 2017 . 16 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170517220640/http://www.oufc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/oxford-united-scott-shearer-3716904.aspx . 17 May 2017 . dead . dmy-all .
  8. News: Jon Obika Joins Oxford United. 6 July 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 6 July 2017.
  9. News: James Henry Joins Oxford United. 12 July 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 12 July 2017.
  10. News: Dwight Tiendalli joins the U's. 14 July 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 13 July 2017.
  11. News: Oxford United Sign Barcelona Midfielder Xemi. 18 July 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 18 July 2017.
  12. News: Mike Williamson Joins Oxford United. 26 July 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 26 July 2017.
  13. Web site: Ricardinho Joins Oxford United. Oxford United F.C. . 3 August 2017. 3 August 2017.
  14. News: Ivo Pekalski Signs For Oxford United. 8 August 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 8 August 2017.
  15. News: John Mousinho Signs For Oxford United. 31 August 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 31 August 2017.
  16. News: Agon Mehmeti Joins Oxford United . 8 September 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 7 September 2017.
  17. News: United Sign Max Harris. 1 December 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 1 December 2017.
  18. News: Rob Dickie Joins Oxford United. 4 January 2018. Oxford United Official Site. 4 January 2018.
  19. News: Rob Dickie Joins Oxford United. 11 January 2018. Oxford United Official Site. 11 January 2018.
  20. News: Retained List Update . Oxford United Official Site . 17 May 2017 . 17 May 2017.
  21. News: Chey Moves On. 5 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 5 June 2017.
  22. News: Liam Sercombe joins Bristol Rovers . Oxford United Official Site . 31 May 2017 . 31 May 2017.
  23. News: Joe Skarz leaves the U's . Oxford United Official Site . 31 May 2017 . 31 May 2017.
  24. News: CONFIRMED: Striker Maguire pens two-year deal . Bury F.C. . 20 July 2017 . 26 July 2017.
  25. News: Lundstram Signs . Sheffield United F.C. . 25 July 2017 . 26 July 2017.
  26. News: Marvin Completes Move to Middlesbrough. Oxford United Official Site. 31 August 2017 . 31 August 2017.
  27. News: Christian Ribeiro Retires. 24 November 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 22 November 2017.
  28. News: Xemi Moves On . 30 January 2018. Oxford United F.C.. 30 January 2018.
  29. News: Jack Payne Joins the U's. 28 July 2017. Oxford United F.C.. 28 July 2017.
  30. Web site: Jack Payne Recalled By Huddersfield . Oxford United F.C. . 15 January 2018 . 15 January 2018.
  31. News: Gino Van Kessel Joins Oxford United. 10 August 2017. Oxford United F.C.. 10 August 2017.
  32. News: Alex Mowatt Joins Oxford United. 31 August 2017. Oxford United F.C.. 31 August 2017.
  33. News: Man City Winger Isaac Buckley-Ricketts Joins Oxford United. 12 January 2018. Oxford United F.C.. 12 January 2018.
  34. Web site: United Sign Man City's Ashley Smith-Brown . Oxford United F.C. . 29 January 2018 . 30 January 2018.
  35. Web site: United Sign Todd Kane On Loan From Chelsea . Oxford United F.C. . 31 January 2018 . 31 January 2018.
  36. News: Kelleher Joins the Moors. 3 August 2017. Oxford United F.C.. 3 August 2017.
  37. News: Agboola joins Hampton and Richmond on Loan . 5 January 2018. Oxford United F.C.. 5 January 2018.
  38. News: Kane Hemmings: Mansfield Town sign Oxford United striker on season-long loan . 22 August 2017. BBC Sport. 22 August 2017.
  39. News: Oxford United loan out Jack Stevens and Malachi Napa . 24 August 2017. Oxford Mail . David . Pritchard. 24 August 2017.
  40. Web site: Napa Loan Extended . Oxford United F.C. . 26 September 2017 . 27 September 2017.
  41. News: Manny Goes on Loan. 29 August 2017. Oxford United F.C.. 29 August 2017.
  42. Web site: James Roberts Joins Guiseley On Loan . Oxford United F.C. . 15 December 2017 . 19 January 2018.
  43. Web site: Roberts Loan Extended . Oxford United F.C. . 17 January 2018 . 19 January 2018.
  44. Web site: Shandon Baptiste in loan move to Hampton & Richmond Borough after penning new Oxford United contract . Oxford Mail . 22 December 2017 . 22 December 2017.
  45. Web site: Shandon Baptiste Goes on Loan . Oxford United F.C. . 26 January 2018 . 26 January 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180126185413/https://www.oufc.co.uk/news/2018/january/shandon-loan/ . 26 January 2018 . dead .
  46. Web site: Long and Stevens Go Out On Loan . Oxford United F.C. . 19 January 2018 . 19 January 2018.
  47. Web site: Charlie Raglan Joins Port Vale On Loan . Oxford United F.C. . 30 January 2018 . 30 January 2018.
  48. Web site: Manny Agboola Joins Leatherhead On Loan . Oxford United F.C. . 15 February 2018.
  49. News: U's to Face Boro in Portugal. 29 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 29 June 2017.
  50. News: U's to take on Hull City in Portugal. 1 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 1 June 2017.
  51. News: U's to take on Brentford and Birmingham . Oxford United Official Site . 15 May 2017 . 15 May 2017 .
  52. News: Oxford United To Take On Leeds United. 26 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 23 June 2017.
  53. News: U's to take on Lincoln City. 8 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 8 June 2017.
  54. Web site: Oxford United cancel pre-season friendly at Lincoln City . Oxford Mail . 17 July 2017 . David . Pritchard . 17 July 2017.
  55. News: U's To Kick Off At Oldham. 29 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 21 June 2017.
  56. News: Fixture List. 29 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. June 2017.
  57. News: U's Draw Port Vale Away In The FA Cup. 18 October 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 16 October 2017.
  58. News: United to Face Cheltenham Town in Carabao Cup. 16 June 2017. Oxford United Official Site. 16 June 2017.

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