Oxford united FC
Ex-England pro details cause of Oxford United relegation
The U’s struggled to find consistency in form and team selection in the first half of the season under Rowett before Matt Bloomfield replaced the former boss in January.
After Bloomfield’s came in, United improved with the club 14th in the form table from the 42-year-old’s arrival to the end of the season.
Oxford finished 22nd in the second tier and were relegated to League One alongside Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday.
“Obviously disappointed that they didn’t quite manage to stay up in the end,” 19-time England international Mills said, whose son Stan picked up the Supporters’ and Player’s Player of the Year awards at the end of the season.
“They gave themselves too much to do. Lots of things didn’t work in that first half of the season.
“There wasn’t a huge amount of consistency. They struggled to find a settled team and it was changed very regularly, which is always disruptive.
“I think by the time the new manager and coaching staff came in, they were already behind the eight ball. It was always going to be very difficult and a bit of an uphill struggle. But I think the second half of the season was very, very bright. I think they had a good season overall.
“They gave it everything. They probably took it a little bit further than some people thought they would. They kept themselves in it right until the penultimate game of the season.
“The manager and coaching staff came in, and I think did very well. There was a much more settled structure and a lot more consistency.”
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Mills’ son and Oxford winger, Stan, enjoyed a strong year in yellow, performing consistently well whilst managing three goals and four assists in a struggling U’s side.
“It’s nice when a player is given the opportunity to show what he can do,” the senior Mills continued, courtesy of Betway.
“A couple of Player of the Season awards were good for Stan on a personal note. He was obviously very, very disappointed by the relegation.
“But I think Oxford will be very, very strong in League One. They’ve been there before. They’ve had a couple of seasons in the Championship. I expect they’ll retain a lot of their players and the nucleus of the squad.
“Some have already left and I’m sure there’ll be one or two changes before the window closes. But it’s a strong League One squad that has experience. From what I saw from the manager and coaching staff, next season they’ll go into it looking to bounce straight back to the Championship.”
League One club Oxford had a bid rejected for the 22-year-old last month, according to Pete O’Rourke , with the Baggies and newly-promoted Championship side Lincoln City also seeing offers denied.
West Brom have since progressed in their talks for the centre forward and have reportedly reached an agreement to secure Stewart’s services.
The former Queens Park Rangers trainee scored 10 goals in 21 appearances for Falkirk in the second half of last season, with the Bairns finishing sixth in the Scottish top tier.
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He has visited Birmingham and accepted the opportunity to play for James Morrison’s side, according to @talkwba , with Stewart wanting the move.
Contract details are still to be finalised with the signing announcement to follow.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Agreement reached for Barney Stewart to Join West Bromwich Albion. 22yo visited Birmingham recently & accepted opportunity; contract set to be finalised – announcement to follow. Primary target throughout + wanted #wba move. W/ @EyaWeGew @WestBromXtra pic.twitter.com/6DJJUozR6I
— westbrom.fc (@talkwba) June 15, 2026
The SFWA Young Player of the Year had addressed transfer links previously, saying: “It is insane.
“If it was to happen it would be a massive step and a quick rise if it does happen and one I would have to take in my stride.”
Oxford currently have strikers Nik Prelec and Mark Harris on their books but supporters are keen to see the club add a more prolific goal scorer to the ranks.
Martin has agreed a deal with the Foxes, who are the early bookmakers’ favourites to be promoted, to take over as head coach in League One after the club was relegated from the Championship last season.
Ex-U’s head coach Rowett took Leicester down in 23rd place after being sacked by Oxford back in December.
Rowett had taken over from Marti Cifuentes who was sacked in January following a 2-1 defeat to Matt Bloomfield’s Yellows.
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Former Queens Park Rangers boss Cifuentes had Leicester in 14th at the time and six points away from the play-off places but the club were then hit with a six-point deduction in February for breaching EFL financial rules.
Leicester’s new man charge has been out of work since being sacked by Scottish giants Rangers in October after a poor start to the Scottish Premiership season.
Martin previously took Southampton to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs in 2023/24.
He began his managerial career with MK Dons after retiring with the club before moving to Swansea City in 2021 where he spent two years.
The 40-year-old was a defender in his playing days, appearing in 586 matches across his career, 309 of which were for Norwich City.
Whing, who was a key figure at Oxford United under Chris Wilder and Michael Appleton and went on to coach the youth team, led the Puritans to promotion to the National League North for the first time in their history, winning the Southern League Premier Division Central title.
After keeping Banbury in the sixth tier in their first season, the former boss resigned in May 2023.
Whing went on to become to manager of his local club Solihull Moors, guiding them to the National League play-off final before joining Barrow in League Two.
After being sacked by the Bluebirds in December, the 41-year-old is now boss of National League North outfit Brackley Town.
“I’d been there for two-and-a-half or three years, and the rise of the club was unbelievable,” the ex-Coventry City and Brighton & Hove Albion defender exclusively told the Oxford Mail.
“A new stand, went from 300 or 400 fans to 1500 or 1600, 2500 at FA Cup games. It went through the roof and I wanted to keep that going and I just felt they couldn’t, or they wanted to slow down. I thought, if we slow down, we’ll go back down to where we’ve just come from, we need to keep going.
“They were too slow with certain things and I just knew that we were going to struggle next season, going to get relegated.
“One thing was how that would look personally on me and I didn’t want that to happen to the club so I just felt it was the right time for me to go. It was a big gamble because I didn’t have anything lined up.”
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The Banbury job was Whing’s first as manager of a club.
“When I was a youth team manager [at Oxford], we’d sent a few youth team lads out on loan to Banbury so I kind of knew of the club.
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“It happened out the blue really. I’d left Oxford, I had a stint at Kidderminster, a stint at Coventry Under-18s, a stint at Hereford. None of them really worked out.
“I was just working with my mates at a sofa warehouse, didn’t know where to go next, didn’t have a clue.
“I got phone call out of the blue asking if I wanted the Banbury job. And I just thought, it’s a great opportunity, it’s in Oxfordshire and I’ve got contacts in Oxfordshire. I’ve got the football club down the road who I can rely on to send me loan players, which they did do…anything I needed I could always get from them.
“I thought it was a perfect fit [and] luckily I got the job. In the end, it was an absolute perfect fit.”
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