Oxford United CEO thanks ‘inspirational’ Will Vaulks

Tuesday night saw Vaulks involved in a mental health workshop alongside the founder and the clinical director of the charity ‘Baton of Hope’ and the U’s head of media and PR, Ryan Maher.

Members of the Yellows squad attended the evening as did head coach Matt Bloomfield and CEO Williams.

“Of all the things that we do as a football club, this is the one thing that, when I sit here and watch Ryan and Will and the guys from Baton of Hope stand up and speak, there is a warmth that goes right through my body,” Williams said after the event.

Oxford United’s Will Vaulks takes photos after mental health workshop at Kassam Stadium (Image: Oxford United)

“It is truly inspirational to see so many people here, and some people who have actually been so brave to share their stories.

“We talk about this a lot with Oxford United in the community, we talk about it at the EFL, this is actually not just changing lives but hopefully saving lives.”

U’s player Vaulks has received recognition from FIFPRO for his work in promoting mental health and has recently been given £10,000 towards his work from the PFA.

“Will deserves every piece of congratulations that he gets, every plaudit, every award. Everyone that comes up to Will and tells him what a great job he’s doing, he deserves all of that.

Oxford United striker Mark Harris and teammates attend mental health workshop (Image: Oxford United)

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“But I think it’s kind of more than that. The great thing we can use Will for, and the great thing we can use football for, is the platform.

“Somebody said tonight, how do we actually get this out to the wider community? The brilliant thing about this is that every Saturday we have 11,500 people who can actually share.

“You think of the touchpoints of those people and how many degrees of separation they actually are from others, we can reach the entire county just by one football game.

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Oxford United chief executive Tim Williams celebrates at Wembley (Image: Mike Allen)

“That’s the beauty of football. Football can be used for such a power of good in this area and I think this is so important for us.”

The atmosphere around the club currently feels united thanks to these initiative and, of course, the recent positive Championship results.

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“We’re hoping for an up for the end of the season,” Williams continued.

“But you know what’s important is that actually we’re behaving in the right way going into the end of the season and that is with real belief, positivity, we’re talking, there’s enthusiasm around the training ground.

“We’ve got eight games to go and we’re going to go for it.”