The 2017–18 season was Oxford United's second consecutive season in League One and their 124th year in existence. 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. His replacement Pep Clotet, formerly assistant manager at Leeds United, in contrast to Appleton's policy of signing promising young British players, signed a mix of foreign players, 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 from Position Nationality Name From Fee Ref. 1 July 2017 CB Fiacre Kelleher Celtic Free 1 July 2017 CB Charlie Raglan Chesterfield Free 1 July 2017 GK Scott Shearer Mansfield Town Free 6 July 2017 CF Jonathan Obika Swindon Town Free 12 July 2017 RW James Henry Wolverhampton Wanderers Free 13 July 2017 RB Dwight Tiendalli Free agent Free 18 July 2017 CM Xemi Fernández Barcelona B Free 26 July 2017 CB Mike Williamson Wolverhampton Wanderers Free 3 August 2017 LB Ricardinho Gabala Free 8 August 2017 CM Ivo Pękalski Halmstad Undisclosed 31 August 2017 CB John Mousinho Burton Albion Free 7 September 2017 CF Agon Mehmeti Free agent Free 1 December 2017 GK Max Harris Hereford Undisclosed 4 January 2018 CB Robert Dickie Reading Undisclosed 11 January 2018 CM Cameron Brannagan Liverpool Undisclosed
Transfers out Date from Position Nationality Name To Fee Ref. 1 July 2017 GK Benjamin Büchel Free agent Released 1 July 2017 CB Robbie Cundy Gloucester City Released 1 July 2017 CB Chey Dunkley Wigan Athletic Free 1 July 2017 RM Jonny Giles Free agent Released 1 July 2017 CF Jordan Graham Free agent Released 1 July 2017 CM Liam Sercombe Bristol Rovers Undisclosed 1 July 2017 LB Joe Skarz Bury Mutual consent 1 July 2017 CB Miles Welch-Hayes Bath City Released 20 July 2017 CF Chris Maguire Bury Free 25 July 2017 CM John Lundstram Sheffield United Undisclosed 31 August 2017 LM Marvin Johnson Middlesbrough Undisclosed 22 November 2017 RB Christian Ribeiro Retired 30 January 2018 CM Xemi Fernández Free agent Mutual consent
Loans in Start date Position Nationality Name From End date Ref. 28 July 2017 AM Jack Payne Huddersfield Town 15 January 2018 10 August 2017 FW Gino van Kessel Slavia Prague 30 June 2018 31 August 2017 CM Alex Mowatt Barnsley 30 June 2018 12 January 2018 FW Isaac Buckley-Ricketts Manchester City 30 June 2018 29 January 2018 DF Ashley Smith-Brown Manchester City 30 June 2018 31 January 2018 DF Todd Kane Chelsea 30 June 2018
Loans out Start date Position Nationality Name To End date Ref. 3 August 2017 CB Fiacre Kelleher Solihull Moors 30 June 2018 22 August 2017 FW Kane Hemmings Mansfield Town 30 June 2018 24 August 2017 GK Jack Stevens Oxford City January 2018 24 August 2017 MF Malachi Napa Hampton & Richmond Borough January 2018 29 August 2017 GK Manny Agboola North Leigh January 2018 15 December 2017 FW James Roberts Guiseley 30 June 2018 22 December 2017 MF Shandon Baptiste Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018 5 January 2018 GK Manny Agboola Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018 19 January 2018 GK Jack Stevens Tamworth February 2018 19 January 2018 DF Sam Long Hampton & Richmond Borough February 2018 30 January 2018 DF Charlie Raglan Port Vale 30 June 2018 16 February 2018 GK Manny Agboola Leatherhead 30 June 2018
Competitions Friendlies Oxford United played six pre-season friendlies, against Oxford City, Middlesbrough and Hull City (in Portugal), Brentford, Birmingham City and Leeds United. A proposed friendly against Lincoln City was cancelled.
League One League table
Result summary
Results by matchday
Matches On 21 June 2017, the league fixtures were announced.
FA Cup
On 16 October 2017, Oxford United were drawn away to Port Vale in the first round.
EFL Cup
On 16 June 2017, Oxford United were drawn at home to Cheltenham Town in the first round.
EFL Trophy
Squad statistics Appearances and goals
Top scorers
PlacePositionNationNumberNameLeague OneFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal1=FW 9 Wes Thomas 10 0 0 1 11MF 17 James Henry 10 0 0 1 113=MF 10 Jack Payne 3 0 0 4 7FW 20 Jon Obika 5 0 1 1 75MF 18 Joe Rothwell 5 0 0 1 66=FW 7 Robert Hall 2 0 0 3 5MF 14 Josh Ruffels 5 0 0 0 5FW 39 Gino van Kessel 3 0 0 2 59=MF 27 Alex Mowatt 2 0 0 1 3MF 8 Ryan Ledson 3 0 0 0 3DF 19 Todd Kane 3 0 0 0 3DF 21 Ricardinho 3 0 0 0 313MF 19 Xemi Fernández 1 0 1 0 214=DF 2 Christian Ribeiro 1 0 0 0 1DF 5 Curtis Nelson 1 0 0 0 1MF 11 Marvin Johnson 0 0 1 0 1DF 15 Robert Dickie 1 0 0 0 1FW 28 Agon Mehmeti 1 0 0 0 1DF 30 John Mousinho 1 0 0 0 1DF 35 Canice Carroll 1 0 0 0 1TOTALS60031477
Disciplinary record
NumberNationPositionNameLeague OneFA CupLeague CupFL TrophyTotal1 GK Simon Eastwood 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 02 DF Christian Ribeiro 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 03 DF Dwight Tiendalli 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 04 DF Mike Williamson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 05 DF Curtis Nelson 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 06 DF Aaron Martin 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 07 FW Robert Hall 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 08 MF Ryan Ledson 11 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 13 09 FW Wes Thomas 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 010 MF Jack Payne 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 011 MF Cameron Brannagan 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 014 MF Josh Ruffels 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 016 DF Robert Dickie 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 017 MF James Henry 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 018 MF Joe Rothwell 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 019 MF Xemi Fernández 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 019 DF Todd Kane 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 020 FW Jon Obika 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 021 DF Ricardinho 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 125 DF Charlie Raglan 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 027 MF Alex Mowatt 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 130 DF John Mousinho 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 035 DF Canice Carroll 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 0TOTALS66 2 2 0 3 0 8 0 79 2
References