Oxford united FC
Shock full details of Southampton spying on Oxford revealed
Saints were kicked out of the Championship play-off final last month after being found to have breached EFL rules by spying on Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town and the U’s.
After beating Boro in the semi-final, Southampton were replaced by the Teesside club in the final at Wembley who were then beaten 1-0 by Hull City, the Tigers securing promotion to the Premier League.
Previous details of Tonda Eckert’s side spying on Oxford back in December had been revealed, stating that the Saints boss wanted information on the formation of caretaker head coach Craig Short’s Yellows.
The St Mary’s club has since published a statement on their website in light of the recent details, as well as a statement from the chairman – he says he will not sack Eckert following the offences – and the head coach on social media.
The German boss has apologised to players, staff, and supporters, claiming he is responsible and saying: “I’m a young coach and made a mistake.”
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The panel’s written reasons for Saints’ spying on United read: “A few days before Christmas, Oxford sacked their Manager, Gary Rowett, and replaced him with an interim manager, Craig Short. Mr Rowett had usually played with a back five.
“At a Southampton coaching and analyst meeting in preparation for the match, Mr Eckert asked if someone could go to observe the Oxford training session to see how they were lining up and whether a particular player (Cameron Brannagan) was fit to play.
“Mr Eckert said that he did not see any issue in doing this: he said he was surprised to learn, after the Middlesbrough Incident, that observing an opposition team shortly before a match was a breach of the Regulations.
“The junior analyst intern duly attended Oxford’s training ground, where he was able to observe from public areas and footpaths.
“During the course of the training session, he sent updates, photographs and videos to analyst 1 and analyst 3 concerning matters such as tactical shape and player selection.
Saints instructed the intern to return the following day where he observed that Oxford would line up with a back four rather than a back five.
The written reasons continued: “Whilst Mr Eckert said that he did not personally view the footage from the training session and maintained that the information obtained had no impact on the match preparation, during the period of observation and following the provision of some information, analyst 1 messaged the junior analyst intern on WhatsApp: “Try and make out as much as you can please. You legend. Manager loved it.””
The U’s were defeated 2-0 by League One opponents Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup, bowing out in the first round.
Demetri Mitchell and Idris El Mizouni scored the two late goals after a tightly contested match saw the Yellows fall to a late loss .
Oxford were without Brian De Keersmaecker and Stan Mills at Brisbane Road with the two left out of the squad after missing training for some of the past week.
United kick off their league campaign next week at home to MK Dons.
“We’re disappointed with the result,” Ramsey admitted after the Orient defeat.
“We want to win games and it’s never nice losing them.
“If I take the game as a whole, I think we created some really good opportunities, just having that little bit more calmness and a clean final pass or shot, I think we could have executed that a bit better.
Aaron Ramsey says Stan Mills has trained on his own the last few days:
🗣️ “It was a medical decision for him to train over the last few days on his own to be able to re-join the group next week”#oufc 🟡
— malachi (@MalachiObrey) August 8, 2026
“But I’m not hiding behind the fact that my team…I want [us] to have a lot more control in the game and at times that did get away from us.
“But I said before that it’s not going to be perfect and it’s going to take a bit of time.
“I can’t hide behind the fact as well that the last five or six weeks have been really positive.
“What I’m looking forward to now is that we’re in front of our home fans next week.
“We’re getting into the right areas and we are creating them chances, then I’d be more concerned if we weren’t.
“But we did today, we did it on a few occasions; it’s just about being clinical in that final third.
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“We’re not getting too carried away when we win games like we have done in pre-season [and] we won’t get too low when we’ve lost games.”
The U’s started brightly in East London but were gradually restricted by Orient’s man-to-man marking.
Oxford must find a way to still pierce the defences of opposing teams.
🚨 Aaron Ramsey on Brian De Keersmaecker extended absence from the Oxford United squad:
🗣️ “Him and Stan were training back home and hopefully they can both join the group.
“They are two different cases where Brian hasn’t played any minutes. Stan has.
“Hopefully now next week…
— malachi (@MalachiObrey) August 8, 2026
“When teams do come man-to-man to us, it’s for us to recognise the press and play beyond there and then play off it.
“This is going to be good learning from this because we had the game last week against Ipswich, where I thought we were tremendous throughout the whole game.
“There’ll be plenty of things that we can look back on here. But also, in amongst that, there was some really positive stuff as well.
“We are going to be asked questions this season; there’s no doubt about that.
“I fully believe in the players and the way that we want to play.”
Oxford United travel to Leyton Orient for the first round of the Carabao Cup and Aaron Ramsey’s first competitive match in charge.
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The Yellows conceded a late duo of goals scored by Demetri Mitchell and Idris El Mizouni to bow out of the competition against their League One opponents.
It was a well-contested match at Brisbane Road until late on, the two strikes providing a disappointing end to former Arsenal midfielder Ramsey’s first taste of competitive management with the U’s.
United began brightly, Aidomo Emakhu immediately working space in the box to cross but could only find Nathan Baxter’s grasp.
The winger got beyond his man soon after and put another ball in looking for Siriki Dembele who was beaten to it by former Yellows loanee Fin Stevens.
Dembele was bright in the first period, winning a free kick which Cameron Brannagan sent just over the crossbar.
Ciaron Brown headed at corner at the keeper before the hosts found some momentum.
🚨 Aaron Ramsey on Brian De Keersmaecker extended absence from the Oxford United squad:
🗣️ “Him and Stan were training back home and hopefully they can both join the group.
“They are two different cases where Brian hasn’t played any minutes. Stan has.
“Hopefully now next week…
— malachi (@MalachiObrey) August 8, 2026
Efforts from Isaac Hayden and Yusuf Akhamrich failed to bother Jamie Cumming, but a good cross from Somto Boniface was turned just wide by the arriving Zech Obiero.
Oxford were forced to be patient as the O’s restricted their passing lanes, eventually seeing a shot from Dembele fly over from outside the box.
A blocked effort from Boniface saw out a tightly contested first half.
Again, the U’s started brightly, Dembele and Brannagan combining well but Harris could not turn the captain’s cross goalward.
Boniface and El Mizouni fired off target for the O’s before Emakhu saw a powerful shot saved by Baxter.
READ MORE: Oxford United player ratings in Leyton Orient cup defeat
READ MORE: Leyton Orient 2-0 Oxford United – Carabao Cup recap
Some space opened up on the front foot for Oxford through Emakhu and Harris, but both opted for the wrong options with the former failing to pick out the latter before the Welshman decided not to shoot in a good area.
The hosts, with the home advantage, began to fashion some late pressure.
The opener came with five minutes left on the clock, Mitchell improvising well to turn the ball in from a good cross.
A quickfire second saw the O’s secure the win, El Mizouni sliding the ball past Cumming from a low cross into the area.
Aaron Ramsey says Stan Mills has trained on his own the last few days:
🗣️ “It was a medical decision for him to train over the last few days on his own to be able to re-join the group next week”#oufc 🟡
— malachi (@MalachiObrey) August 8, 2026
The last-minute strikes saw Oxford bow out of the cup in the first round, with the League One opening day at home to MK Dons on the horizon.
Orient: Baxter, Stevens, Olowu, El Mizouni, Hayden, Dobra (Mitchell 70), Boniface (Morris 77), Akhamrich (Springett 70), Obiero (Wellens 83), Chinedu, Archibald (Kabia 70)
Oxford: Cumming, Spencer (Kioso 86), Long, Brown, Currie, McDonnell (Sibley 73), Brannagan, Emakhu, Goodrham (Elliott-Wheeler 73), Dembele (O’Donkor 62), Harris (Snowden 86)
Bookings: Stevens; Emakhu
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