The U’s were relegated from the Championship last weekend after lunchtime results meant that Charlton Athletic and West Bromwich Albion clawed themselves out of the reach of Bloomfield’s side.

Arriving in January, The Yellows’ boss helped the club to an upturn in form after a poor first half of the season under Gary Rowett.

A run of just one defeat in eight games was halted by defeats to Derby County and Wrexham, ultimately leading to Oxford’s relegation.

With one more Championship fixture remaining this weekend against promotion chasing Millwall, Bloomfield touched on his position for next season.

“Yes, I’m confident,” the United boss declared in his pre-match press conference.

“I think I’ve enjoyed my time at the club. It’s obviously been not the outcome that we wanted for the season.

(Image: ©Jason Dawson)

“We knew we’d need to get to 50 points to try and stay in the league. But you never know how the league’s going to go and pan out. We’ve been pleasantly content with some of the improvements that we’ve made.

“But ultimately, we wanted to come stay in the league.

“I’ve just not given much thought to my job, to the bigger situation.

“And ultimately, as a manager or head coach, all you can do is focus on being the best you can be.

(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

After being chosen and appointed by the powers that be at The U’s, Bloomfield maintains that he still feels supported by his bosses.

“Yeah, absolutely,” the 42-year-old replied when asked whether he still feels backed.

“I’ve not heard anything to the contrary, so I keep doing my job. I don’t know anything else, so I keep working.

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“We’ve spent lots of time with Ed this week, as we always do, working, talking about everything that’s going on around the building, around the team. So from my side, nothing’s changed. So as a head coach and as a manager, I keep working.”

Oxford discovered their fate prior to their 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday but, despite a good performance, the reality of relegation was one which took its toll.

(Image: Jason Dawson)

“My weekend was not good,” Bloomfield continued.

“I had to apologise to my wife on Sunday before I went to the dinner. I was not nice to be around. I hate losing.

“But we’ve got another game to play at the weekend and it’s important that we now focus on what the future holds for our football club. You can’t change the past.

“All we can do is focus on the here and now, being the best we can be today and making sure we’re ready for the weekend and trying to build towards a brighter future.”

The legendary football coach, who managed clubs such as Leeds United, Crystal Palace, and Middlesbrough, appeared at Oxford’s training ground and posed with some of The U’s players on social media.

Yellows stars, Brodie Spencer, Ciaron Brown, Will Vaulks, and Michal Helik were all pictured with Warnock in a photo that the 77-year-old shared on his X account.

Warnock is a friend of Craig Short, a coach on the team at Oxford who has acted as caretaker boss on a number of occasions, with the duo spending two years together at Sheffield United from 2005 to 2007.

In Oxford today so popped in to see all the lads who I had signed over the years at various clubs!

Can you name them all? pic.twitter.com/wLXQDDRQMm

— Neil Warnock (@warnockofficial) April 29, 2026

Short was a defender for the Blades in that period whilst Warnock was in charge.

The U’s players pictured with the cult hero manager all played under him at various points in Warnock’s career.

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Spencer and Helik were both at Huddersfield Town during Warnock’s second spell the club in 2023 with lasted seven months.

Midfielder Vaulks played under the current Torquay United football advisor at Rotherham United whilst Brown was managed by him at Cardiff City.

The visit comes four days after relegation to League One was confirmed for The U’s and three days before their final Championship game of the season against Millwall.

The Yellows were relegated to League One last weekend ahead of their 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in which Will Lankshear scored an impressive brace, Will Vaulks and Myles Peart-Harris also getting on the scoresheet.

After a strong run of games which saw The U’s defeated only once in eight games, losses to Derby County and Wrexham proved the killer blow to their survival hopes.

A messy pre-season, lack of consistency and poor start to the campaign all proved factors in United’s struggle but one than data has highlighted is the late dropping of points in matches.

It has not happened on many occasions against Oxford, but if all Championship games so far this campaign were to have ended on the stroke of 90 minutes, The U’s would have retained their second-tier status.

An early example of this happening against The U’s was back in August when they were defeated 3-2 away at Hull City under Gary Rowett.

Rowett’s men had found themselves at 2-2 after just 26 minutes and were holding on for a draw in East Yorkshire.

Oxford United concede in stoppage time at Hull City (Image: Richard Parkes)

However, experienced striker Oli McBurnie had other ideas, finding a winner in the 93rd minute to break U’s hearts.

The most significant late disappointment, though, came more recently against relegation rivals Charlton Athletic in March.

A good performance and a first penalty in 675 days had seen Oxford lead 1-0 at the Kassam, Cameron Brannagan tucking away the long-awaited spot kick.

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Oxford United’s Cameron Brannagan celebrates scoring (Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire)

Late pressure came from the Addicks and a moment of weakness from centre back Ciaron Brown saw the Northern Ireland international pull Charlton defender Lloyd Jones to the floor in the penalty box.

Charlie Kelman stepped up in the 93rd minute to rescue a point for Nathan Jones’ side, snatching two from the grasp of Matt Bloomfield’s men.

Charlton Athletic’s Charlie Kelman celebrates scoring (Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire)

Charlton went on to be the closest rival to Oxford on the penultimate match day of the season, their draw against Hull last weekend seeing them climb out of The Yellows’ reach.

The late draw that the Addicks rescued in March is made all the more significant as, if stoppage time were not included this season, Charlton would be sitting in the relegation zone and six points worse off across the campaign.

The U’s would have one extra point, according to data from OLBG – each team’s position was calculated by taking away their goals scored in stoppage time and after the 75th minute in each respective game – and be out of the bottom three in 21st place.