The 2000–01 season saw

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

compete in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

where they finished in 24th position with 27 points and were relegated to the Third Division. It was also Oxford's final season at the Manor Ground before moving to the

Kassam Stadium The Kassam Stadium (also known as Grenoble Road) is the home of Oxford United Football Club, and is named after the ground's owner and former chairman of the football club, Firoz Kassam. The Kassam Stadium currently hosts League One (third t ...

Season summary

Any hopes that this season might mark a turn-around after two seasons of struggle were dashed right out of the gate, with Denis Smith's second spell as manager being brought to an end in early October after the team could only win one and draw one of their first ten outings. Club veteran Mike Ford took charge for the next five matches, but could manage a return of only one point. At the end of the month, the club announced a new management structure headed up by director of football Joe Kinnear, with

Dave Kemp David Michael Kemp (born 20 February 1953) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He is currently assistant manager at Middlesbrough FC. Playing career Kemp began his career with Harrow Borough, subsequently playing for Mai ...

installed as manager. Unfortunately, the change failed to result in any real improvement in results, and Kinnear departed shortly after the turn of the year to take over as manager of relegation rivals Luton Town. Ultimately, the team's terrible defensive record (they kept only three clean sheets all season, two of which were the result of goalless draws) meant that survival never looked realistically on the cards, and they finished in bottom place, with just twenty-seven points (half of what they would have needed to survive) to their name, and a hundred goals conceded. Though chairman

Firoz Kassam Firoz Kassam (born 1955) is a British businessman. Born and brought up in Tanzania, of Indian descent, he came to Britain at the age of 19. He owned Oxford United F.C. from 1999 to 2006, and was named the 309th wealthiest person in the UK in th ...

had initially indicated that Kemp would be allowed to remain for the following season and attempt to rebuild the squad, fan protests and a dreadful 6–2 loss to fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers soon changed his mind, and Kemp was sacked with two games remaining; his last game in charge would ironically result in a 3–1 victory over second-bottom

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. Ford stepped in as caretaker for the final two matches, before Kassam appointed Mark Wright as the manager to lead Oxford into their first fourth-tier campaign since 1965.

Final league table

Results

''Oxford United's score comes first''

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

Football League Cup

Football League Trophy

Squad statistics

References

External links

Oxford United 2000–01
at Soccerbase.com (select relevant season from dropdown list) {{DEFAULTSORT:2000-01 Oxford United F.C. season Oxford United F.C. seasons