Meet the opposition | Oxford United
As Swansea City prepare to take on Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium, we take a closer look at the U's.
What's their story?
Established in 1893, Oxford United were originally set up as an amateur club called Headington, a village team affectionately known as ‘the boys from over the hill'.
Post-war The U’s added the name United to their name and in 1959, after ambitious planning to appeal the club to the city, their name was changed to Oxford United and they were elected to the Football League for the first time.
Their only major honor came in 1986 in the form of the League Cup when, under the leadership of Maurice Evans, when they beat Queens Park Rangers 3-0 at Wembley Stadium with former Swan Jeremy Charles among the scorers.
The 1980s also saw their highest-ever league placing. After back-to-back championship promotions from Division Two and Division Three, they spent three seasons in the top-flight, where they placed 18th twice before relegation.
The U’s have spent much of their recent history in the lower leagues and faced a spell out of the Football League after relegation in the 2005-2006 season. Four years in the Vanarama Conference followed before Chris Wilder guided Oxford back to the Football League with a 3-1 play-off final win over York in 2010.
Promotion to League One followed in 2016, and they are back in the second tier for the first time in a quarter of a century after beating Bolton in May’s play-off final
How's their form?
Solid. Oxford are yet to lose at home this season, and have suffered defeat in just two of their last nine Championship fixtures.
The U’s have proven tough to beat, drawing five of those nine games to sit 14th in the table.
Who’s the gaffer?
Des Buckingham. The Oxford-born 39-year-old was a goalkeeper in his playing days, spending time in the youth ranks with his hometown club and Reading.
He started coaching with Oxford at a young age, working with the club’s age-grade squads before graduating to the first-team staff during the 2013-14 season when Chris Wilder was at the helm.
Buckingham then spent time in New Zealand, where he joined the Wellington Phoenix staff, becoming interim head coach and then full-time boss, making him the youngest person to hold such a position in A-League history as they narrowly missed out on the play-offs.
He briefly returned to the UK with Stoke before returning to New Zealand, where he led their under-20s to the last 16 of their World Cup finals, and the under-23s to Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020, although he would not lead them at the latter tournament after it was delayed owing to the Covid pandemic.
His achievements had caught the eye of the City Football Group, and he enjoyed success with Melbourne City and Mumbai City, before returning to Oxford to succeed Liam Manning in November 2023 and leading them to promotion.
Who’s the captain?
Elliott Moore. The centre-back has spent five years with Oxford after joining the club from Leicester City in 2019.
Moore came through the ranks with the Foxes after joining the East Midlands club when aged just six. He played alongside the likes of Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes and was an unused substitute in a Premier League fixture against Tottenham in 2017.
He went on to have two successful loan spells with OH Leuven in Belgium, wearing the captain’s armband on a number of occasions, before moving to the Kassam Stadium.
He has made over 220 appearances since, and was named club captain at the outset of the 2020-21 campaign.
Who are the key men?
Mark Harris. The former Cardiff man has made a fine start to the campaign, with four goals to his name.
The Wales international came through Cardiff’s academy, and made his senior bow in 2017.
Loan spells with Newport County, Port Vale and Wrexham followed for the forward, before he became a regular part of Cardiff’s first-team squad.
After just shy of 100 league appearances, he departed to join Oxford in the summer of 2023, and netted 19 goals in all competitions as the U’s went on to secure promotion.
Forward Ruben Rodrigues will be a familiar face to Swans boss Luke Williams, who worked with Rodrigues at Notts County.
The Portuguese player had spells with a handful of Dutch clubs early in his career, but he truly found his feet after joining National League Notts County in 2020.
He quickly made an impact, scoring seven goals in a calendar month prior to the end of his first season with the club.
He contributed 19 more goals during the 2022-23 campaign, including a crucial equaliser in the play-off final, to help County return to the EFL before moving to Oxford that summer and going on to experience another promotion with the U’s.
Defender Ben Nelson has enjoyed a fine start to the season with Oxford after joining on loan from Leicester on deadline day.
The 20-year-old England youth international had previous loan spells in the EFL with Rochdale and Doncaster, and made his Championship bow for Leicester last term as the Foxes sealed an immediate return to the Premier League.