The U’s lost some key players after being relegated from the Championship, with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur striker Lankshear and Brentford midfielder Yunus Konak returning to their parent clubs.

Eastwood says the club must replace these players with quality whilst keeping their ‘core’.

The 36-year-old goalkeeper recently signed a new contract in OX4 as a coach, helping the next generation of shot-stopper whilst still training with the first team and to support the goalkeeping department.

“I’m happy to be here still,” Eastwood told The Dub, BBC Radio Oxford.

“Hopefully I can be here for a long time to give back my knowledge I’ve got over the years with this club. In League One, things happen, there are a lot of games in different competitions and I’m sure that if I’m called upon, I could come in and do a job when needed.

🧤 Simon Eastwood Signs New Coaching Contract.

Easty will officially help to coach the next generation of Oxford United goalkeepers and will continue to train with the Men’s Team to support the First Team goalkeepers. ⤵️

— Oxford United (@OUFCOfficial) May 27, 2026

“Will Lankshear, who probably won’t be coming back, will be a massive loss. Players like that, for me, we need to replace with good quality to get us some goals to get us straight back up.”

Oxford United striker Will Lankshear has returned to parent club Spurs (Image: Jason Dawson)

The veteran keeper is close with Yellows captain Cameron Brannagan, with the duo two of the longest-serving players at the club.

“I speak to Cam on a daily basis. He obviously loves the club as well, he’s been here a long time.

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Simon Eastwood signs new Oxford United player-coach contract (Image: James Williamson)

“He’s absolutely devastated to go down and he wants to be a Championship player, wants to play in the Championship, wants to do it with Oxford. As a team, we just need to bounce back as quickly as we can. Hopefully we can keep our core and our best players.”

Eastwood has been at the club for 10 years now after joining in 2016, his second spell with the club.

His first spell was an unsuccessful year in 2010/11 where he was second fiddle to Ryan Clarke and failed to make an appearance before being released.

“I’m very realistic and open about my career.

Cameron Brannagan on the ball for Oxford United (Image: Mike Allen)

“I’m not a Championship keeper. Five or 10 years ago, maybe I could’ve given it a good shot.

“Could I come in and do a job for a game or so? I think I could. But to be consistently playing, week-in, week-out, I probably don’t think I’m there anymore in the Championship.

“League One, I think, is a little bit different in the sense of I’m still good enough to…I’ve obviously played a lot of games in League One since I’ve been at Oxford and I know the standard.

“We’ve got two really good goalkeepers in Jamie [Cumming] and Matt [Ingram] at the moment, so I was never going into training every day or knocking on the manager’s door thinking I should be playing.”

Salford were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Notts County at Wembley to miss out on promotion to League One and a match with Matt Bloomfield’s Oxford in the third tier next season.

Alassana Jatta, Lucas Ness and Jodi Jones scored the goals to down the Ammie at Wembley.

Robinson led the club to a fourth-placed finish, narrowly missing out on third place and the automatic places by one point.

Salford City manager Karl Robinson after the Sky Bet League Two play-off final at Wembley Stadium, London (Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire)

City edged past Grimsby Town in the play-off semi-finals 4-3 on aggregate.

The defeat at Wembley last month was the second play-off final loss in Robinson’s managerial career after the 45-year-old suffered with the U’s in 2020.

United lost to Wycombe Wanderers, captained by current Oxford boss Bloomfield, in the League One play-off final in lockdown.

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Karl Robinson in charge of Oxford United (Image: David Fleming)

Joseph Jacobson scored the winner from the penalty spot after Mark Sykes had cancelled out Anthony Stewart’s ninth-minute opener for the Chairboys.

The U’s reached the play-offs again the following season but lost 6-3 on aggregate to Blackpool in the semi-final.

Robinson had arrived in OX4 in 2018 and left five years later in 2023 when he was dismissed following a run of eight games without a win.

The Mgroup Stadium played host to a smattering of former football stars including Souness, Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier and ex-Aston Villa and Oxford United striker Dean Saunders, with Souness’ team – DEBRA Legends – winning the mini-tournament.

Souness is president of the charity called DEBRA which supports and looks for a cure for Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), also known as ‘Butterfly Skin’.

The 73-year-old won three European Cups and five First Division titles in a six-year stay at Liverpool and also played for Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers, and Middlesbrough.

Souness went on to manage both the Reds and the Gers, as well six other clubs including Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers.

Graeme Souness managed DEBRA Legends at the charity match held at Oxford City (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

The former Scottish international returned to the dugout for the charity match in Oxford and spoke exclusively to the Oxford Mail.

“It’s a fun day,” Souness told the Mail.

“It’s all about awareness [and]…awareness means money.

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“Money means we can do something for these kids. I’ve been involved with Debra for seven years, and it’s only now that we’ve started to make inroads and help these children.

“We’re now repurposing drugs…and we’re getting results with it.

“There’s no reason why any of your listeners should know this, but if we discovered a drug today, it’s 10 to 15 years before it can get licenced, and it’s tens of millions of pounds to do that.

“We don’t have that kind of money. Big pharmaceuticals won’t go near it because there’s not enough people suffering from this, so they won’t throw money at it to find a cure for this.

Graeme Souness on the touchline at Oxford City (Image: Oxford City FC)

“So we’re left to paddle our own canoe, and our canoe can only be paddled if we get more and more people on board. And that means awareness, which ultimately means raising a few more quid, which enables us to fund more repurposing of drugs.

“To repurpose a drug, it’s costing us about half a million quid for one drug, and there must be, I don’t know the exact number, I think we’ve got three on trial at the moment, but we’re looking to be trialling 10.

“So it’s big money.

“I love football. Football has been so kind to me. It’s great to see some old faces, big ones here who I’ve known forever.

“It’s just great to be amongst some old people, that’s where I feel most comfortable.”

The match at Oxford City was sponsored by NUTMEG! – a nostalgic football manager game, set in the ’80s and ’90s. Manage the teams and iconic players from England’s top four divisions, and relive the glory days when tackles were hard and a goal was a goal.