Oxford United F.C. is an English football team currently playing in Football League Two.
The club is owned by chairman Firoz Kassam and is managed by Ramon Diaz . Its home ground is the Kassam Stadium in Oxford with a capacity of 12,500.
History of the Club
The club was formed in 1893 as Headington with its home ground at The Manor in Headington , changing its name to Headington United the following year. It played for many seasons in local leagues, the last being the Spartan League. In 1949 the club was elected to the Southern League and became professional. In 1960 the name of the club was changed to Oxford United in a move to appeal to the city as a whole.
The club was elected to the Fourth Division of the football league in 1962, following the demise of Accrington Stanley. It gained promotion to the Third Division in 1963-4, the 2nd Division as Champions in 1967-68, then (for the first time in club history) relegated after eight consecutive seasons.
In 1982 the millionaire publisher Robert Maxwell saved the club from bankruptcy. This led to a sustained period of success under the guidance of Jim Smith, in which the club was succesively promoted to the then Division One. This included the feat of winning two consecutive Championships (Division Three and Division Two). It was to stay in Division One for three seasons which included winning the Milk Cup (League Cup) in 1986.
The team was relegated in 1988, and with the death of chairman Robert Maxwell it faced an uncertain future. In 1992 the Club was purchased from Maxwell's administrators by Robin Heard of Biomass Recycling. It was relegated to Division Two in the season of 1993-4, but was promoted back to Division One in the season of 1995-6.
The history of the Club was then dominated by financial problems and plans to move to a new ground, and was relegated back to Division Two at the end of the 1998-9 season.
In 1999 Firoz Kassam bought Oxford United F.C. for £1m, also taking over its debts and the newly-commissioned stadium which had ceased building. Oxford United was relegated to the Third Division (now Football League Two) at the end of the 2000-1 season. Firoz Kassam managed to stabilize the Club's financial situation, restarting work on the new Stadium and leisure complex at Minchery Farm. On 18 August 2001 the team played its first match at its new home ground, now called the Kassam Stadium.
Oxford United's most successful era was in the later half of the 1980s. It began when the club won the old Second Division championship in 1984-85 and gained promotion to the top division for the first time in its history, under manager Jim Smith. Smith then left Oxford to take over at Queens Park Rangers (he later took charge of Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Derby) and was replaced by little-known Maurice Evans whose biggest success had come several seasons earlier in the form of the Fourth Division Championship with Reading.
Evans guided Oxford to First Division survival in 1985-86 but the highlight of the season was a 3-0 win over Jim Smith's QPR in the League Cup final at Wembley. Oxford managed to avoid relegation again in 1986-87 but Evans was sacked in March 1988 with the club rooted to the foot of the First Division. Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender, was appointed as his replacement but was unable to save the club from relegation and was sacked the following autumn following a dispute with the board of directors over the £1million sale of striker Dean Saunders to Derby County.
Brian Horton became Oxford manager in October 1988 and remained in charge for five seasons until he moved to Manchester City, but was never able to mount a serious promotion challenge. His successor, Denis Smith, was unable to prevent Oxford sliding into the new Division Two at the end of the 1993-94 seasons but two years later they won promotion back to Division One.
In the autumn of 1997, it was announced that Oxford United had debts totalling around £10million which resulted in the entire playing staff being put up for sale and construction of a new stadium at Minchery Farm being suspended. Denis Smith moved to West Bromwich Albion just before Christmas but his successor Malcolm Crosby somehow managed to achieve a reasonable 11th place finish in the 1997-98 Division One table.
But the financial crisis at Oxford took its toll in 1998-99 and the club was relegated to Division Two. Crosby left soon afterwards to make way for the returning Smith, whose 18-month reign at West Bromwich Albion had ended in dismissal. Smith guided Oxford to survival in 1999-2000, by one point, but was sacked after a terrible start to the following season. His successor David Kemp was unable to save Oxford from relegation at the end of 2000-01 which saw the club bottom of Division Two with 100 goals conceded.
By this stage, however, the club's finances had been secured following a £1million takeover by Tanzanian hotel owner Firoz Kassam. The takeover had seen the revival of construction work at the club's new stadium and it was opened at the start of 2001-02. But with Oxford now in Division Three, the new Kassam Stadium had an initial all-seated capacity of just 12,500. The fourth side of the stadium was to be left vacant until the need arised for expansion.
For 2001-02, Oxford appointed the former Liverpool and England defender Mark Wright as manager, but he resigned in November after being disciplined by the Football League for remarks to a referee. Wright quickly returned to the game as manager of Chester City and in 2003-04 guided them back into the Football League before suddenly announcing his resignation.
Wright's short-lived reign as manager at Oxford saw the arrival of Ian Atkins as his replacement. Atkins had previously won the Division Three promotion playoffs with Northampton in 1997 and taken them to the final of the 1998 Division Two playoffs, but had spent the previous year as assistant manager of Cardiff City.
In 2001-02, Oxford finished 21st in Division Three - its lowest ever position in the league - but there was plenty of optimism for a better campaign in 2002-03. By Christmas, Oxford were third in the division and looked a good bet for automatic promotion. But a loss of form during the final weeks of the season resulted in an eighth-place finish - one place short of the playoffs.
After an excellent start to the 2003-04 season, Oxford was unbeaten at the top of Division Three by Christmas. But in March, Atkins was sacked by the club after it was announced he had been discussing the possibility of taking charge at Bristol Rovers and from then on it was downhill at the Kassam Stadium. Graham Rix , whose only previous managerial experience was one year in charge of Division One strugglers Portsmouth, was appointed manager but the club slid into ninth place in the final table. Missing out on even a playoff place was not acceptable for a club which just a few months earlier had looked all set for automatic promotion.
Oxford United began the 2004-05 Coca-Cola League Two season poorly, and in mid-November, with the club near the foot of the division, manager Graham Rix was relieved of his duties. Darren Patterson filled in as caretaker manager until a permament replacement was found.
Ramon Diaz was sensationally announced as Oxford United's new manager on 9 December 2004. Diaz, who was coach at Argentinian club River Plate and won the domestic title there five times, brought with him a massive backroom staff. Horatio Rodriguez as the new coach, Marcovic Raoul his assistant, working with David Oldfield, as well as Dr Rafael Giuilietti and physical trainer Paolo Fernandez.
Honours
- League Titles - Div. 2: Champions 1984-5, Runners Up 1995-6; Div. 3: Champions 1967-8, 1983-4; Div. 4: Promoted (4th) 1964-5
- FA Cup - Best season: 6th round, 1964 (A shared record for a 4th Division club).
- League Cup - Winners 1986.
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