The 2017–18 season was

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 ...

's second consecutive season in League One and their 124th year in existence. As well as competing in League One, the club participated in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

and

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. Before the start of the season, manager Michael Appleton resigned to become assistant manager at Leicester City. His replacement Pep Clotet, formerly assistant manager at Leeds United, in contrast to Appleton's policy of signing promising young British players, signed a mix of foreign players, among them

Dwight Tiendalli Dwight Marciano Tiendalli (; born 21 October 1985) is a Surinamese-born Dutch former professional footballer. He generally played as a full-back. Tiendalli is a former Dutch under-21 international, and was part of the FC Twente team that won ...

, Xemi Fernández,

Ivo Pękalski Ivo Dominik Pękalski ( born 3 November 1990) is a Swedish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Utsiktens BK. Beginning his career with Landskrona BoIS in 2007, he went on to represent Malmö FF, BK Häcken, Halmstads BK, and Oxford United b ...

Agon Mehmeti Agon Xhevat Mehmeti (born 20 November 1989) is an Albanian former professional footballer who last played as a striker for Örebro SK. Club career Malmö FF Mehmeti began his football career at IFK Malmö before moving to join Malmö FF in 20 ...

and Ricardinho (the first Brazilian to play for Oxford), and seasoned British pros including

Jonathan Obika Jonathan Chiedozie Obika (born 12 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League One club Morecambe. Club career Tottenham Obika is a product of the Tottenham Hotspur youth system and was the top score ...

from rivals Swindon Town, James Henry, Mike Williamson and

John Mousinho John Michael Lewis Mousinho (born 30 April 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for League One club Oxford United. He is the chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA). Mousinho began his prof ...

. A number of influential players, among them

Chey Dunkley Cheyenne Armani Keanu Roma "Chey" Dunkley (born 13 February 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Shrewsbury Town. Club career Early career Born in Wolverhampton, Dunkley joined Crewe Alexandra's youth setup ...

Liam Sercombe Liam Michael Sercombe (born 25 April 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cheltenham Town. Career Exeter City Sercombe came through the youth ranks at Exeter City, and signed a full professional contract wi ...

, top scorer

Chris Maguire Christopher Patrick Joseph Maguire (born 16 January 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer. He has previously played for Aberdeen, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Oxford United, Bury, Sunderland and Lincoln City, and ...

, captain

John Lundstram John David Lundstram (born 18 February 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Rangers. Lundstram started his career in Everton's academy. He signed his first professional contract in ...

and record signing Marvin Johnson, left the club. Incoming loanees included Jack Payne from Huddersfield Town and Gino van Kessel from Slavia Prague. Striker

Kane Hemmings Kane Ruudi Hemmings (born 8 April 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays for League Two club Tranmere Rovers. He has previously played for Tamworth, Rangers, Cowdenbeath, Dundee (twice), Barnsley, Oxford United, Mansfield Town, ...

and defender

Charlie Raglan Charles Jordan Clark Raglan (born 28 April 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Oldham Athletic. He began his career at Port Vale, but was allowed to join non-League Hinckley United in 2012 following ...

were given season-long loans at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

respectively.

Curtis Nelson Curtis Alexander Nelson (born 21 May 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Derby County. He has also played in the English Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Oxford United, Cardiff City and Blackpool. N ...

was appointed club captain following the departure of Lundstram. Results started reasonably with an away win over Oldham Athletic (who were to be relegated at the end of the season) and a home win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in front of what turned out to be the club's largest home crowd of the season. After 15 games the club were in the play-off places, but form declined through the late autumn. Curtis Nelson ruptured his Achilles tendon during a home defeat to Northampton Town in November, and John Mousinho was appointed captain in his place (until Nelson's eventual return in April). Oxford suffered a record 7–0 home defeat at the hands of eventual champions

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 23 December. During the January transfer window, Payne was recalled by his parent club, Xemi was released from his contract and

Robert Dickie Robert Dickie (23 June 1964 – 28 October 2010) was a Welsh professional boxer, fighting at both featherweight and super-featherweight. He was Scottish champion at featherweight, British champion at both weights and became WBC International su ...

and

Cameron Brannagan Cameron Mark Thomas Brannagan (born 9 May 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for League One club Oxford United. An academy graduate of Liverpool, Brannagan made his senior debut in 2015 but managed just nine ...

were signed from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

respectively. Three young loanees were recruited from Premier League clubs: Isaac Buckley-Ricketts and Ashley Smith-Brown from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Todd Kane Todd Arthur Lucien Kane (born 17 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays for Coventry City in the Championship. He plays primarily as a right back, but can also play at right midfielder or left back. He is also eligible t ...

from Chelsea. After a home defeat to bottom club

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, Clotet was sacked with the club in 10th place. Caretaker-manager

Derek Fazackerley Derek William Fazackerley (born 5 November 1951) is an English former footballer who is currently employed as the assistant manager at Oxford United, and managed the club on a caretaker basis for two months in 2018. He spent the majority of his ...

presided over the team for two months, in which time they won only twice in eight games and dropped to 15th place. Midway through Fazackerley's tenure, the club announced that Thai businessman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, formerly a member of the owning consortium at rivals Reading, had become the new owner of the club. Thanakarnjanasuth appointed

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

as the club's permanent manager on 22 March 2018. Robinson had to wait five games for his first win, but his aim of retaining the club's League One status was achieved with three wins from the last five games of the season. The club finished in 16th place on 56 points, six points above the relegation zone. United were eliminated by lower-league opposition in the opening rounds of the League Cup and

, by

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

and Port Vale respectively. Having been losing finalists for the previous two seasons, they reached the last 8 of the

but were eliminated by Chelsea U21s. Midfielder James Henry and striker

Wes Thomas Wes or WES may refer to: * Westmorland, county in England, Chapman code __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Wes (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Wes Madiko (1964–2021), Cameroonian musici ...

were the club's leading scorers, each with 11 goals (10 in the League). For the second season running, goalkeeper Simon Eastwood played every minute of every league game, though he was rested for a couple of EFL Trophy matches. Midfielder

Ryan Ledson Ryan Graham Ledson (born 19 August 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Preston North End. Club career Everton Ledson joined Everton's academy at the age of five. After progressing through the ranks at the ...

, the subject of persistent transfer rumours, was voted the Supporters' Player of the Season.

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

Competitions

Friendlies

Oxford United played six pre-season friendlies, against Oxford City,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and Hull City (in Portugal),

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

Competitions

Friendlies

League One

League table

Result summary

Results by matchday

Matches

FA Cup

EFL Cup

EFL Trophy

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

Top scorers

Disciplinary record

References