Oxford united FC
Oxford United legend makes Anfield comparison with new stadium
The U’s saw a judicial review request from campaign group ‘Friends of Stratfield Brake’ refused by the High Court last week with the Judge concluding that the ground of challenge were unarguable.
Oxford were granted planning permission by Cherwell District Council earlier this year, with a new stadium dubbed crucial for the future of the club.
The new ground is set to be located on The Triangle in Kidlington, with the £130 million investment providing almost 1,000 jobs and hoping to boost the economy by £32 million a year.
Former Yellows striker and Milk Cup winner Aldridge has declared that the new stadium will make a ‘massive difference’ having played in stadiums from the old Manor Ground to Liverpool’s Anfield and Barcelona’s famous Camp Nou.
“Once they get there…it makes a massive difference,” the former U’s and Liverpool goal scorer announced.
“It makes you feel a bit more proud that you’re not residing in someone else’s back garden.
“I think the fact that they don’t own the ground will make it easy to walk away from. And the fact that there’s only three sides.
“It didn’t look quite like a football stadium.
“It looked like a baseball stadium in many ways.
“I feel sorry for teams that have to move or have moved…for the fans, the die-hard fans.
“Liverpool are lucky. We’ve built on what we’ve always had. Obviously, Anfield’s noted all over the world, one of the best stadiums in the world.
“We’re lucky to have that.”
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In a career that took him from Oxford to Liverpool to Spain, Aldridge played in a number of world-renowned grounds.
After making a name for himself with Newport County, the former Republic or Ireland international arrived at the famous Manor Ground where he went on to make a number of memories.
“There was a mini Kop…right behind us, you know, they made a difference and I’ll never forget that.
“I scored a worldie against Oxford for Newport from about, I must remember, 40 yards out; I think that might have just captured Jim Smith’s mind.
“But as memories go, I had so many.
“The hat-trick against Ipswich, three goals in, I think it was about six, seven minutes or something.
“We were getting beat 3-0, we scored just before half-time, went on to 3-3 and Neil Slatter scored the winner.
“When we knocked Arsenal out of the cup, beating Villa to go to Wembley over the two legs.
“It was brilliant to play there because of the atmosphere.
“It was a little bit intimidating to teams. We beat Chelsea 4-0, I think.
“Teams hated coming there, honestly.
“I think the Manor Ground kept us up over the years.”
The 50-year-old was in charge of Oxford from 2014 to 2017, leading the club to automatic promotion to League One in the 2015/16 season.
Appleton helped the club reach the final of the EFL Trophy in two consecutive campaigns but suffering defeat in both at the hands of Barnsley and Coventry City, respectively.
In his final season in charge, the former Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers boss led the U’s to eighth place in the third tier but left during the subsequent summer, joining Leicester as assistant to Craig Shakespeare.
Appleton had a positive relationship with then-chairman Darryl Eales, with fans ‘disappointed’ with his exit at the time.
“I had a couple of really honest conversations with Darryl at the end of the season before Leicester even came up,” the former Yellows boss revealed in an interview with EFL Debate.
“Within our conversations, I realised that if anything did come up, I’d have to really seriously think about it.
“It was around financials, how we rebuild, can we rebuild? There were a few things going on with Daryl at the time and… that didn’t go as well as what I thought it was going to do after two years of success.
“At the end of the day, we know how quickly things can turn in football.
“The Leicester one came up, and I felt it was just a fantastic opportunity to work with top, top players and international players, with someone who I knew and had respected for a while.
“Because I’d done it at West Bromwich Albion, I knew I was more than comfortable on that stage working with the players on the pitch.
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“When that opportunity came, it was a no brainer.
“To work with the likes of Vards [and] those six months I had with Riyad Mahrez, probably the best player I ever coached.”
Appleton led Oxford to deep runs in cup competitions alongside league success, particularly in his second and third seasons at the club.
“We had good people, good players, the place just exploded.
“[In 2015/16] we got promotion, we were great, we had a really good run in the FA Cup, we got to the final of the EFL Trophy and it was a good time.
“I think it was the second year and the third year, and I’ll have to get the absolute stats but I’ll only be out by one or two games, I think there was only Manchester City that, in the whole of the Football League and Premier League for two seasons on the run, that played more games than Oxford. I think we played 62 and 61 because of cup games.
“The football club at that time was really, really good for me.”
The 34-year-old ex-EFL striker will be available for Wednesday evening’s fixture against Bracknell Town.
Bodin has played for several EFL clubs, including Preston North End, Oxford, Burton Albion and Swindon.
Last season at Swindon, he made 27 appearances, including nine starts, and scored four goals in League Two.
His arrival gives Gosport another forward as the club sits 13th in the Premier Division South.
The side has scored 11 goals in eight league matches this season.
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Bodin joined Oxford in 2021, as a free agent on a one-year contract.
During his first season, Oxford narrowly missed out on a play-off place, while Bodin scored six league goals and one in the FA Cup.
He later helped Oxford win promotion to the Championship, then announced he would leave at the end of the 2023-24 season when his contract expired.
Bodin joined Burton after leaving Oxford before moving to Reading on loan.
The Swindon-born attacker was released by his local team when his contract expired at the end of last season.
Robinson was sacked as boss of League Two side Salford City in June just days after losing last season’s play-off final 3-0 against Notts County.
He has since been out of work whilst two League One clubs have already pulled the trigger and sacked their managers.
Wycombe Wanderers fired Michael Duff after just five games this season before Peterborough United dismissed Luke Williams after seven matches.
League leaders Bradford City are also managerless after losing Graham Alexander to Championship club Preston North End.
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire revealed that former U’s boss Robinson was seen leaving London Road on Tuesday afternoon as the Posh continue their search for a new boss.
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It comes after drama on Tuesday in which Forest Green Rovers released a statement announcing that manager Robbie Savage had been offered the job by Peterborough only for the Cambridgeshire club to come out and deny Rovers owner Dale Vince’s claims.
Peterborough manager search latest ➡️
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire understands former MK Dons and Oxford manager Karl Robinson was seen leaving London Road yesterday afternoon#pufc | #BBCEFL pic.twitter.com/XuuYgDXPZk
— BBC Cambs Sport (@BBCCambsSport) September 30, 2026
Former Salford and MK Dons boss Robinson managed Oxford for almost five years, reaching the League One play-off final in 2019/20 but losing 2-1 to Wycombe Wanderers.
The U’s reached the play-offs again the following season but were defeated in the semi-final by Blackpool with a 6-3 aggregate score line.
The 46-year-old was sacked in February 2023 after a run of eight games without a win.
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