Sheffield Wednesday’s League One rivals sack manager after 22 matches amid change at top of the club
Oxford United have sacked their manager six weeks after last season’s relegation was confirmed
Oxford United have dismissed head coach Matt Bloomfield following their relegation to League One last season.
The 42-year-old replaced Gary Rowett in January and initially made a promising start, avoiding defeat in his first three matches before steering the club to three consecutive victories between late February and early March, leading to many believing that a great escape could be on the cards.
However, Oxford’s two-year stay in the Championship came to an end on 25 April when the club’s relegation back to the third-tier was confirmed despite a 4-1 victory over a long-since relegated Sheffield Wednesday at the Kassam Stadium.
At the time of the club’s relegation, Bloomfield said after recording six wins from 22 matches that he was confident of keeping his job. “I’ve enjoyed my time at the club. It’s obviously not been the outcome that we wanted for the season. We’ve been pleasantly content with some of the improvements we have made but ultimately we wanted to stay in the league.
“I’ve not given much thought to my job and the bigger situation, and ultimately, as a manager or head coach, all you can do is focus on being the best you can be.”
Bloomfield looked to have done enough to keep his job and appeared to be in the process of planning for a promotion push when Oxford suddenly announced their decision to make a change.
Quite what prompted this decision to happen now rather than six weeks ago when the season ended remains unclear, but it could be linked to the series of changes which have happened at the top of the club with Dusan Bogdanovic coming in as chairman as part of a new era at the top of the club.
Oxford remain one of the early favourites for promotion in the eyes of the oddsmakers along with Stockport County, Huddersfield Town, Luton Town and Plymouth Argyle.
However, the top two favourites currently heading into pre-season remain Leicester City after their shock relegation and Sheffield Wednesday, who now have David Storch at the helm as the new owner.
Owls supporters will find out their fixtures for next season on Thursday 25 June at 12:00pm.