U’s boss gives early insight into retained list and transfer plans

DES Buckingham has provided an early insight into what happens next for Oxford United, in terms of their retained list and summer transfer plans.

The U’s are preparing for life in Sky Bet Championship, following their League One play-off final victory against Bolton Wanderers.

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It is understood that United’s retained list should be announced this week, and when asked about it during yesterday’s open-top bus parade, U’s head coach Buckingham said: “We have to look after our own to start with. We’ve got decisions we have to make on players, and we’ll make sure we do that in the right way.

“Then we’ll look at what we’re going to need in the Championship. We want to play a certain way, and we have players in this building that can do that.

“That’s the pleasing thing for me, but now it’s about adding some additional quality to our group, to not only make sure we’re sustainable, but that we can play our Oxford way in the Championship.”

He added: “That work started before the final. We always do the what ifs and the scenario planning, and that’s always ongoing in the background.

“We’ve put a timescale on what we want to do and what that looks like. We’ve got some really good solid foundations in place now, that will allow us to do as much as we can, and the timeframes we need to get where we want to get to.”